Retreet to Regrow

Join ACER and friends for a 2 (or 3) hour online ‘Retreet’.

We invite you to create a cosy ‘nest’ in your home ahead of time. You might like to make nests for a few friends to be with you for this Retreet. We suggest forming pods between 2-6 people, but you can also Retreet solo, as you will be tuning in to a warm, welcoming and inclusive online community. If you invite friends to share your physical space, choose people you know and trust. We are all carrying a lot, and we want everyone to feel safe to feel whatever they are feeling throughout the Retreet.

The first hour is about feeling, the second hour is about sharing and talking, the third hour is to learn more about ACER Integration if you are able to stay with us.

4-5pm UK. We begin with music meditation, introduced by the exclusive piece’s composer and creator Jon Hopkins. Next, ACER Integration’s Lee Mendeloff will guide us through a restorative breathwork practice. Ros from ACER will introduce a short film ‘Superblooming the Aftermath: turning burned soil into networks of beauty’ and then a ‘Forest Reblooming’ guided imagery journey set to bespoke music by Finn Petcher. Our stubborn visioning of beauty is an act of creative resistance, and it is stronger when we do it together.

5.10-6.10pm UK. We move into facilitated sharing circles in breakout rooms, to share a few words about our experience in the “forest Reblooming’ journey. If you are joining us from a pod in your living room, you will hold a structured sharing circle IRL - we will provide the guidelines for how to do this. If you prefer not to join a sharing circle, you can log out and rejoin the link at 5.40pm UK, in time for a conversation plus Q&A with Ros Watts from ACER, Anya Oleksiuk from Psyaware, and Hein Pijnnaken from the Microdosing Institute about forming networks of care and solidarity in our communities, in ways that fit around our maxed-out lives. As many of our audience may be engaging in psychedelic therapy/ microdosing we will talk about how these practices can either increase self optimisation/ ego-boosting/ narcissism (ie Musk/ ketamine) or increase our sense of connectedness to others and the natural world, and how we can consciously move towards the latter. We will talk about how to build community around these practices to make them more focused on what we want to change in our inner and outer worlds, and as safe, ethical, and supported as possible.

6.10-7pm UK. You are welcome to stay on for an ‘ACER Taster’ including a Redwood guided imagery journey and large group sharing circle with Ros and Lee.

NOTE: Dr Watts has written a Medium piece called Superblooming the Aftermath to accompany the event which you can read here.

About ACER

ACER is a 12 month program for people who want change in their inner and outer worlds. Many of our members find us after psychedelic experiences which helped them see what is possible. We embark together on a shared journey of homecoming: a slow and circular process of reconnecting to deep self, others, and nature. We learn to organise like forests: developing mycelial networks of listening and care in our local and online communities.