Writing is about a conversation with yourself and with others. An exchange of energies. It is a skill drawn from attention, presence and openness – an organic process rather than a talent.

Discover the writer inside you. In this wordshop we explore our innate creativity and imagination and find the words to tell our stories… to make them more alive. We discover the connection between writing and meditation. We write and meditate on the many changes and transformations we experience as we journey down the river of our lives. We consider how creativity and imagination steady the boat and how writing helps us dip the oars into dark water so we may navigate the river safely.

The wordshop also focuses on how to pay attention, be present in your writing and engage the reader as a creative partner. And source your bliss. Beginners are welcome.

Time to walk, circle the garden, sit amidst blue glass and be….

Dorian is the purest storyteller I have encountered. Archetypes cling to his coat tails and hide in his book-bag hoping for a mention in his next work. Every creative writer should work with Dorian. Like Pilates for creative spirits, he re-awakens the story loving child within. (Tess Fairweather)

Looking at your image in a clear stream, you answer the question by your very presence

For a number of years I have facilitated this wordshop at the Buddhist Retreat Centre Ixopo. Now I’m bringing it to Temenos (a sacred enclosure) for the third time.

Part of the 2016 group

Dates: Fri 31 March 17.00 – Mon 3 April 11.00

The cost of R3645 pp includes:

• Temenos accommodation – two nights

• 2 brunches and 3 suppers in Tibaldi’s (ex Mon breakfast)

• Teas (drinks own account)

• the retreat

• a gift related to writing

• a story evening (Oom Schalk. Nasrudin, Rumi the Rabbi and You)

for bookings contact Madie at Temenos temenos@lando.co.za 023 625 1871

Living a larger Life- Storytelling Evening: Oom Schalk, Nasrudin, Rumi, the Rabbi and You (Sat night 1 April ) R80 for public

Stories start a conversation with ourselves and with our community. We enter the world of story to recover our creativity, zest, energy and passion. We allow the imagination to lead us. We consider how attention to life stories and fiction, so rich in image, symbol and rhythm, can rekindle joy, help us heal and create a more abundant life. Everybody has a story. Come and listen to OOm Schalk, the veld philosopher, Nasrudin the trickster, to Rumi the mystic, to the quirky Rabbi. Come and raise your story IQ.

All you need do is change the name and it's about YOU, this story' (Horace)

Dorian Haarhoff is a story-teller, poet, speaker and a writing mentor. A former Prof of English Literature (Univ of Namibia) he has also taught in a Canadian faculty. Dorian now facilitates writing and story-telling wordshops. He has frequently led writing retreats at Temenos and other centres such as the Buddhist Retreat Centre near Ixopo. Several of his poems appear in the Cake the Buddha Ate*. Dorian is passionate about developing innate creativity and imagination. He believes in the power of stories and images to create new realities. To bring healing. To build our belonging. His workshops are based on his texts, The Writer’s Voice. A Workbook for Writer’s in Africa. and The Halo and the Noose: the Power of Story-telling and Story-listening in Business Life (co-authored)

A Long Loaf*

I bite into a slice of Ixopo toast

spread with butter and marmalade.

each mouthful stretches a long way.

do the ancestors lick their lips

at the mark of my teeth in the bite?

and the rhythm of my circling mouth?

there are as many of them watching

as there are crumbs in the loaves

rising from today’s baking.

each bite is for the hunger

of my mother and fourteen siblings,

my grandmother and her hunger

and thirst for righteousness.

for all the forefathers

who hungered for enough,

such as my grandfather

who looked through a bottle

at the kaleidoscope of his life.

I chew for my father’s line -

his brother killed in war,

his sister dying in infancy.

this butter is not scraped thin

but lies thick as curd.

the rind and peel bitter-sweet,

layered rich as an autumn stream,

spills over the edge of the bread.

come ancestors, dip your fingers

in this syrup, lick them clean.

share the gold crust, this family manna.

may you taste fragrance

in lemon and orange blossom.

I bite this bread for all of us.

Dorian