About You
Do you lead a stressful lifestyle? Are circumstances, at the moment, overwhelming?
Is it getting progressively difficult to live in present time and make mindful choices?
This creative mental wellness retreat is based on art therapy techniques and will help rejuvenate body and soul.
Join our group in a playful setting where we sketch, paint and sculpt after morning yoga. Let your creativity flow and re-discover your "inner child". Use art therapy techniques in a safe space to create, reflect, become aware of emotions, freely express and experiment without judgment.
In Artful Retreats we passionately use art therapy to help our participants express and deal with stresses of everyday life, explore thoughts and difficult emotions which unexpressed could lead to trauma. In these retreats we look at art not only as a powerful healing approach but also as a preventive therapy helping mental wellbeing, self discovery and personal growth.
Time and time again we, as art therapists, observe how mindful creativity makes people connect with what truly matters in life.
You don’t have to be “good at art”, and you won’t learn how to draw or paint.
Creativity is our birthright, an integral part of being human (John D. Loori).
From Hippocrates to Neuroscience
Art in the form of theatre and music were prescribed together with sports, diet and herbs as part of a toolbox of medical remedies and interventions in ancient Greece.
Fast forward couple of thousand years and the belief stays firm. Evidence from 3,000 studies about the positive impact of arts in health was presented by the World Health Organisation in 2019. Canada and UK's health systems prescribe free visits to museums as a way to help people suffering from post trauma, anxiety and stress. Dance, music and painting are among the most used art therapy techniques.
Structural brain changes, neurogenesis and new neural connections are among the first findings of the positive effects of art in mental health and health overall.
"Artful Retreats are unique in mental wellness travel"
The National Geographic, October 2017.
The healing effects of art making
"Health is a Dynamic Process which depends on our capacity to Self Manage. Connecting with arts is not a matter of skill. It is a matter of choice to support a good health"
World Health Organization, Arts Health and Wellbeing, 2019
pick YOUR TREAT
Reset
October 1 to 6
6 days
Crete
A 5-night creative journey filled with self reflection and insights. Draw inspiration from local artists and landscapes. In a safe space express difficult emotions and create space for new perspectives and beginnings.
From:
1,480€
Discovery
June 3 to 6
4 days
Crete
A 3-night pampered stay in a picturesque olive grove estate to discover how art therapy tools can free expression from judgment and how the uniqueness of own creativity can lead to self discovery.
From:
€
Discovery
October 7 to 10
4 days
Crete
A 3-night pampered stay in a picturesque olive grove estate to discover how art therapy tools can free expression from judgment and how the uniqueness of own creativity can lead to self discovery.
From:
980€
Reset
May 28 to June 2
6 days
Crete
A 5-night creative journey filled with self reflection and insights. Draw inspiration from local artists and landscapes. In a safe space express difficult emotions and create space for new perspectives and beginnings.
From:
€
“In the 21st century, culture will be what physical activity was for health in the 20th century”,
Nathalie Bondil, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Director General
art guides
Penelope Orfanoudaki
