Mark your calendar: Coming June 8, 2012 at Carmel Retreat, Mahwah NJ

The Inner Spring: Writing memoir using love as the narrative thread

Workshop: Dinner Friday, June 8, through lunch Sunday, June 10

On a soul level, we each begin life the same way. We come into the world as pure love springing from a sacred source. All our stories are about what happens to that clear pool of serene divinity — our very essence — once we begin living within circumstances.

In this context, we will examine the many meanings of love and use a story matrix to trace and write the evolution of love in our own lives.  Sometimes we don’t have to live very long at all before everything seems to go wrong with love. We are not loved when we should be. We are loved in a way that isn’t right or good for us. We are injured in the name of love. We fall in love and then lose our beloved. We develop a false self and embrace a false love. Or our love is betrayed, or dismissed.

Whether you’re writing to understand yourself, grapple with a life challenge, or for publication, The Inner Spring will be useful for you. We will write to celebrate the triumph of true love wherever we have found it and untangle what is love from what is not — all to restore the inner spring to calmness.

We will learn the ways a few marvelous memoirists have explored the trajectory of love in their own lives — Meredith Maran, Karen Armstrong, and Diana Athill, among others.

Guest speaker

Saturday night, we will have a special guest speaker on our topic — Seijaku Roshi of Pine Wind Zen Center in Shamong, NJ, who has a crystalline speaking style. He has a way of weaving modern life and classical Buddhist wisdom that is not to be missed.

Location

We will live, study, and eat at the Carmel Retreat, a 30-acre country estate in the Ramapo Mountains of Mahwah, New Jersey, www.carmelretreat.com, adjacent to a wilderness preserve.

Our group will be based in the main and largest building at the retreat center — a 100-year-old estate home called The Priory.  On the first floor of The Priory we will hold our sessions and eat our meals, served family style, in the dining room.  Wireless Internet access is available in the parlor directly outside the workshop room.
During down time, participants can explore miles of walking paths, relax in two gardens, or sit on a huge stone terrace with a beautiful vista view.  Coffee, tea, and snacks are available in the dining room from early in the morning through bedtime, and there is a refrigerator available for participants to keep a few special dietary items they bring.

Accommodations

There are rooms for up to a dozen participants on the first and second floors of The Priory. Each participant will have his or her own bathroom. All rooms are comparable, many with a different but distinguishing feature. There are two completely handicapped accessible rooms available on the first floor of The Priory.

Rates

• Resident rate
  $670 ($635 if paid in full before April 21) gets it all: tuition, packet of workshop materials, single room with private bath for two nights, and all meals (dinner Friday through lunch Sunday) served family style in the dining room.
• Commuter rate
  $545 ($510 if paid in full before April 21) gets: tuition, packet of workshop materials, and these meals: Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch.

Payment policy

A $100 deposit reserves your spot; balance is due May 22 (except for early birds who reap the benefit of a discount by paying in full before April 21).

Optional services

Since creativity flows in a backdrop of safety and relaxation, the popular and nurturing Elle Levenson once again will join us and offer sessions of reflexology and champissage (supremely relaxing Indian head, neck and shoulder massage). A reflexology session costs $80; a champissage session costs $70. She is offering a retreat rate of $120 to those who would like both.

Cancellation policy

Payment made, excluding deposit, will be refunded in full if you cancel on or before May 24, 2012. If you cancel between May 25 and June 6, payment, excluding deposit, will be refunded at 50%. No refund or credit is available if you cancel on or after June 7, on the workshop’s arrival day, if you do not show up, if you do not notify us of cancellation, or if you leave an event early for any reason. In the unlikely event we cancel the workshop due to unforeseen circumstances, we will refund your payment in full.

How to sign up

Two really simple steps:

1. Email Lorraine to say you intend to come. This will hold you a spot for one week.
2. Your spot is not actually reserved for you until Lorraine receives a $100 deposit, which is non-refundable. You can send money through PayPal to lvash@optonline.net or send a check made payable to Lorraine Ash to the following address:
   

   Lorraine Ash
   P.O. Box 200
   Allendale, NJ  07401-0200

   That’s it! Sign-up starts now. First come, first served. After all spots fill, a wait list will begin.

Questions?

Contact Lorraine

Driving directions

www.carmelretreat.com/html/directions.html

About Lorraine

Lorraine Ash, MA, is the author of Life Touches Life: A Mother’s Story of Stillbirth and Healing (NewSage Press, 2004/2007/2011), a memoir that has reached mothers throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as in Mexico, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, and China. Her second book, A Sudden End to Seeking: Finding Peace and Purpose Within, will be published in 2012. She has taught workshops on memoir and writing to heal at conferences and other venues nationwide.

Lorraine also is a published playwright and essayist and, for 29 years, an award-winning journalist and newspaper columnist. In 2010, she won New Jersey Press Association awards for her Lifestyle and Entertainment Writing and Enterprise Writing portfolios.

For a schedule of Lorraine’s upcoming retreats and workshops, visit the Events and Appearances page. For descriptions of the different workshops Lorraine offers, visit the aptly named Lorraine’s Workshops page. For any questions not answered on the web site, contact Lorraine.