October 11  |  11AM-5PM

Our August Retreat was a great success, so we’re tempting fate and doing it again in October.

If the weather is good, we will spend a day under resplendent Autumnal trees.

If it is not good, we will postpone the retreat and instead hang out at the Southbank.

We will make the call the day before, based on the weather forecast. We will notify everyone by email and also put a post up here.

If you weren’t there last time, here are some pictures of the August Retreat:

Click on the image below to see the full carousel :-)

We believe that humans are:

  • naturally creative

  • naturally social

  • naturally connected with nature.

But modern life squeezes our creativity, our time together, and our time outside.

We want to make space (physically, temporally, and economically) for people to come together, be creative, and connect with nature.

We’re aiming for a balance of organised activities and time to ‘hang out’, reflect, and relax. So there will be lots of opportunities to join in with activities, but never any pressure. 

❋  Relaxed Structure

Lots of you have reached out to say you’d be up for helping out with the day and the clean up. This is exactly the spirit we were hoping for :-) teamwork, collective effort, and connection through shared effort. 

❋ Collaborative Energy
❋ Amateur Facilitation & Amateur Participation

We are proudly ‘giving it a go’, as both facilitators and participants. There is no pressure to be ‘good’. Come as you are :-)

(A little aside: “Amateur” comes from the Latin ‘amare’, to love. To be an amateur rather than a professional means to do something for love, rather than for money.)

Many of the workshops are creative, and alongside them we’ll have a series of opportunities for creative co-production.

❋ A Creative Space
The rough

Feel free to drop in and out as you like. We may make some changes to the schedule as we go.

Arrival

11:00-11:30

SLOW TEiP 1

11:30-12:00

1st Activity Slot (50mins)

12:00-12:50

Lunch (with SLOW TEiP 2)

1:00-2:00

2nd Activity Slot (75mins)

2:00-3:15

3rd Activity Slot (75mins)

3:30-4:45

Closing & SLOW TEiP 3 (for the road/ afterparty)

5:00

  • One thought experiment with several ‘checkpoints’, to slowly unfold and provoke conversation throughout the day.

  • An inclusive introduction to Cuban Salsa. The goal is to give people the keys (basic steps) to enjoy social street dance salsa. Everyone welcome, no prior dancing experience necessary :-)

  • 30 minute session - mindful breathing, meditation, & reflection

  • Got it wrong? Congratulations! Practice finding joy in making mistakes with games that are designed to set you up for failure.

  • Design in the forest.

  • Throwing sounds, be some cheese, and get ready to interview an expert on TV

  • In small groups of three, one person shares something genuinely on their mind—a decision, a question, a knot they haven't quite worked out—while the other two simply listen and ask open, curious questions. No advice is given, and no problems are solved for anyone. This offers the rare experience of being properly heard and the chance to think out loud with real attention focused on you.

    The format borrows from coaching practice, where value comes not from being told what to do, but from the quality of the questions and the space to think clearly. Roles are simple: storyteller and listeners, swapping as you like across the day.

    It takes about 25 minutes, asks nothing of you beyond curiosity, and often leaves people surprised by what surfaces when someone else is truly paying attention. Come with something on your mind, or simply come to listen — both are full ways to take part.

  • Go on a pro-social litter picking adventure with a buddy and help us to leave the forest better than we found it.

  • You can choose from a range of folds from simple to mid-level. Neil will step you through each step, and have plenty of spare paper.

  • And the ground trembled

  • Tell the story of you in three Tarot cards: you right now, future you, and your hidden magic/ superpower.

    No Tarot skills required: just curiosity, imagination and a willingness to let the cards surprise you. Come shuffle, pick and play, and leave with a groovy little snapshot of the wonderfully weird and magical person that is you.

  • Depending on who arrives on the day, we could have a range of pop up experiences including: boardgames, origami, meditation, bodyweight workout, mindful walk, face-painting. Lets see what happens :-)

There are a few more still to be added.

  • FRAN

    THE THINKING GYM: PIRATE GOVERNANCE

    Fran is a writer, data analyst, visual artist, and a trainee London history guide interested in how interdisciplinary knowledge and technology can support stronger civic engagement.

    Originally from Cremona, Italy, she has studied and worked in the UK, France and the US. She moved to London in 2019 for a consulting job, and it has been home ever since. She brings to her projects an unusual combination of backgrounds: an analytical skillset from her consulting work, a researcher's focus in her study of technology and society, and a humanist's curiosity in her writing, artistic and guiding work.

    Fran believes all knowledge is interconnected and should be explored and crafted as such. Technology is a great enabler of interconnectedness, a conduit for knowledge, but it is also ruled by a set of political and economic incentives that seem to inevitably lead to resource and power accumulation. She is interested in how we can make technology work for human well-being, and what governance structures we need to establish to make this happen.

    If any of the above sparks an interest (or if you like modern board games!) do get in touch: Fran is always open to collaborations, curiosity chats and nerdiness.

  • SABRINA

    IMPROV

    Sabrina started doing improv after getting feedback at work she needed to be better at dealing with ambiguity. So she booked onto the most ambiguous hobby she could find where she wouldn’t know what the audience would say, or her teammates would do. Ten years on she is a regular performer and teacher at London’s biggest improv school - and much better at ambiguity!

  • JOTTIE

    MEDITATION & BREATHWORK

    Jottie is curious about understanding why we as humans do the things we do and think the things we think.

    Jottie is a breathwork, meditation and mindfulness practitioner and approaches self-awareness from philosophical and scientific lenses. He is passionate about exploring the complexities of our inner landscape, and believes in the power of awareness, thoughts and perspective.

    He loves nature, dancing, driving, photography, being active, loves being involved in social acitivities and cares about community and connection.

    Building presence everyday, training to be a life coach and thinking to meditate with others more!

    “Quiet the mind, Open the heart”

    — Ram Dass

  • LILLA

    CLOWN

    You know the feeling when you're at a party and someone asks, “So, what do you do?” Your heart sinks and your voice suddenly loses all enthusiasm.

    Lilla levelled up when she realised you don’t have to answer with what you do for a living, but with what makes you feel like you’re living.

    So now, at parties, Lilla talks about all the things she’s passionate about. How practising clown and improv can set you free and help you find joy on and off stage. How this August she took her first solo comedy show to the world’s largest performing arts festival, the Edinburgh Fringe. How she started doing improv back in Hungary 18 years ago. How, when she moved to the UK in 2014, she simply couldn’t live without it, so she picked it up again, ignoring all her fears about the language barrier. How she now performs and teaches improv and clown at London’s first improv theatre.

    And how she’s failed a lot, but also succeeded, because she just kept going for the love of it.

  • ANDY

    POETRY & IMPROV

    Andy is drawn to creativity, play and the slightly unexpected. He loves poetry and improv, and is interested in the ways that play, embodiment, imagination and experimentation can help us see and feel familiar things differently.

    He loves any opportunity to be a big kid and invite other people do the same.

    When he isn't using his playful side Andy likes to think deeply to understand the world more and it is this which drew him to TEIP. He likes spaces where people can be curious, try ideas out and learn from each other.

    These interests inform his work. Andy runs Citizenry, a consultancy which aims to build the capability of government to serve its citizens more effectively through consultancy and skills based training. A big part of that work is creating the space for public servants to think differently, question assumptions and find more imaginative ways to tackle difficult problems.

  • LENA

    COACHING

    Hi, I'm Lena

    People always talked to me. Really talked. I noticed what they weren't saying, long before I had any training to explain why.

    The training came later—a professional coaching certification, further work in motivational interviewing, and time guiding women through real behavioural change with the Canadian Cancer Society. But it was years of dance and movement that taught me the most: about attention, presence, and timing.

    Today, I'd love for us to practice something simple and a little rare: really listening to each other. 

  • ALEX

    CREATIVE IMAGERY

    Alex is a London-based graphic and motion designer with a curiosity about how we communicate, interpret and make sense of the world around us. He believes that using a creative mindset, we can learn to question assumptions, challenge our usual ways of thinking and look at familiar things from a different perspective.

    For Alex, creativity is not limited to making things. It is a way of thinking, exploring ideas and finding connections that might otherwise go unnoticed.

    Outside of design, Alex enjoys gaming, reading, learning guitar and generally falling down interesting rabbit holes.

  • BONNY

    TEiP

    Bonny is the founder of TEiP (THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBLIC) and general gathering enthusiast.

    She is inspired by peer-support networks, grassroots movements, and the many wonderful humans she meets at events.

    She also loves hanging out.

  • WILL

    WILL

    SALSA

    Will is a recording artist and a salsa dancer. Salsa has changed his life and he now shares it with others by teaching beginners the ‘keys to the street social dance’. 

    Will teaches on Fridays at the Southbank. He also offers private classes. You can see him dance and get in touch on Instagram @Wilfried2xm

  • JOYA

    DREAM INTERPRETATION & TAROT

    I’m Joya and I am a coach, astrologer, Tarot reader, dream interpreter and lover of symbols. I’ve written books on astro coaching and dream coaching, taught groovy workshops on astrology, dreams and Tarot, and I love sharing what I know in a simple, fun and whimsical way.

    Website: groovyworkshops.com

    Instagram: @groovy_workshops

  • NEIL

    ORIGAMI

    Neil likes folding paper and wants to share its simple joy with you.

  • MARY

    BREATHWORK & COACHING

    Mary is a marketing professional by day and a life coach, breathwork facilitator in training and someone deeply passionate about somatic healing by passion. She’s curious about the connection between mind, body and behaviour and loves creating spaces where people can reconnect, explore and discover new ways of being. These interests inspire her work both professionally and through her passion projects.

  • FOREST GUARDIANS

    FOREST GUARDIANS

    LOOKING AFTER THE HOME BASE

    Some of the forest guardians are pictured above: Hamza, Neil, Bonny, & Hana.

    Others will be identifiable by butterflies and TEiP patches on the day.

    They will be there to welcome, introduce, timekeep, and hang out.

    Hana is the forest fairy in chief and the one to look out for upon arrival :-)

ESSENTIAL

  • Water - recommended 2L

    (there is a water refill point on the way from Chingford Overground Station to Epping Forest)

  • Something to sit on

    (plastic bag, rug, chair, etc.)

  • Layers - it can be very cool in the forest even on a hot day.

  • Rain protection

    (jacket, umbrella, etc.)

  • Snacks to keep you going

OPTIONAL

  • Pen and paper

  • Packed lunch

  • If you’re planning to go on adventures through the undergrowth, it’s worth considering wearing long sleeves/trousers as there are deer in Epping Forest and ticks have been spotted.

You can read last time’s THOUGHT EXPERIMENTs here:

THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS

  • "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

    — Lao Tzu

  • "Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth."

    — Henry David Thoreau

  • "The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."

    — Rabindranath Tagore

  • "Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast."

    — Navy SEALS

  • "Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience."

    — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here is a Google Maps dropped pin.

Or you can click on the image below for the what3words link.

Step by step directions from Chingford Overground Station here.