Standard Rate: R2 430 (shared bathroom) | R2 990 (en-suite)

Generous Rate: R2 990  (shared bathroom) | R3 530 (en-suite)

This retreat is an invitation to slow down in a fast world and find your way back – to yourself, to your hands, to the present moment. The guide for this journey is clay.

We will approach clay not as something to master or dominate, but as a partner in a gentle conversation. Clay is a wise teacher. It asks for presence, not perfection.

When we stop trying to control the outcome and simply listen – with our fingers, our hands, our whole bodies – the clay begins to speak. It teaches us about yielding and letting go. It responds to pressure. If we resist, it cracks. But if we soften, if we go with it, it supports us. The marks we make become something more than objects; they become a record of our inner state.

This is not a skills-based workshop. There will be no instruction on “how to” make a perfect pot. Instead, we will explore clay with the curiosity of a child – squeezing, patting, rolling, pressing and discovering. We will search the Emoyeni landscape for textures and outlines from nature to impress into the surface. We will ask “what if?” and follow where our hands lead.

Our time with clay will be woven together with Qigong, meditation and mindful walks.

Come and discover what wants to emerge from your hands. Come and enter into a conversation with the earth.

No previous clay experience is necessary – only a willingness to slow down, to play and to listen.

Kate Shand is an art therapist and lecturer on the art therapy programme at the University of Johannesburg. Clay is her first love. She runs a pottery teaching studio in Melville with her sister, renowned ceramicist Nina Shand. Kate’s gentle and encouraging approach creates a safe space for participants to explore, express, and simply be.