These Writing Workshops are designed for the serious writer, the amateur writer and the yoga student who is open to the idea of trying something new. Regardless of experience, all writers and would be writers will enjoy and benefit from these workshops. The primary objective is to encourage the natural voice of beginning writers and professional writers alike, and encourage them to write from body, mind and spirit.

Patricia Lewis will lead these workshops, assisted by one or more writing facilitators. She draws on the techniques of Amherst Writers and Artists, to create a supportive space for writers to generate new writing, hone their craft, overcome writer's block and enjoy revising their work.

At left, Writers gather together and Patricia leads a visualization and meditation, then suggests a writing exercise.

The joining of body and mind can open pathways into the feelings, memories, stories and images embedded in the tissues. Writing workshops during the retreat are designed to help you shift your awareness and write from those deeper levels of consciousness. Through Hatha Yoga, we will get in touch with our kinesthetic sense of self. We will use special meditation techniques to slow the mind and create a sense of the sacred. No writing or yoga experience is required - only a sense of adventure. Beginning and experienced writers will find a supportive, encouraging context in which to write from their deepest selves. We will write in response to exercises offered by Patricia Lee Lewis, MFA. In a small group, writers will be invited to read their work aloud, and the group will offer simple affirmations of what is done well and what stays in the memory.

Groups usually decide to meet out doors, but occasionally choose to use the living room area of Los Naranjos instead, especially in the evenings if better lighting is required.

As with the yoga classes and the meditation sessions, all workshops are optional, and often students choose to use this time to explore, or take a nap in a hammock.