Cynefin Retreat: Mind, Body & World

Complexity is all about interconnection, interdependence, and emergent effects, constantly made in action. This is especially important when it comes to ourselves as physical beings. It is time to remember again that the “human” in anthrocomplexity is not a disembodied mind, it is not a mechanical body, and it is not an island, entire of itself. Complex humans are mind-body-world beings, all rolled into one.

So join us for this retreat as we explore those connections through faculty in medicine, neuroscience, and literature: how are our minds of our bodies? What does our cognition mean for our view of the world? What are the enabling constraints of the physical and mental worlds we inhabit?

We will undertake this exploration in the place where a pilgrimage begins, and this is not by accident; a pilgrimage is one of the places where these things come together as the pilgrim walks, contemplates, and seeks a destination in a very particular place and landscape, alongside others. Let’s be pilgrims together.

• Tuesday 1 October: Arrival day (from 3pm, no formal activities)
• Wednesday 2 October: Retreat full day
• Thursday 3 October: Retreat full day
• Friday 4 October: Retreat half day (morning)
• Saturday 5 October: Rest, travel and preparation day
• Sunday 6 October: Begin Camino

Distance: 126km
Duration: 7 nights

• Saturday 5 October: Transfer to Baiona and prepare for Camino
• Sunday 6 October: Begin Camino
• Sunday 13 October: Arrive Santiago de Compostela
• Monday 14 October: Recover and depart

Note – it is possible to join for part of the Camino only, however 100km is the minimum to get your certificate

Approximate cost: €2000 per person single, or €1650 per person sharing
This is payable to the Caminoways organisers and includes the full Camino accommodation, breakfasts, dinners, luggage transfers and transfer to Porto Airport for departures.

We will be booking our Camino trip via https://caminoways.com/ who coordinate group bookings and travel on the Camino. Individuals will book directly with them, linked to our group, to facilitate individual choice. You are welcome to join for part or all of the distance.

Note that should you wish to earn your official Camino pilgrim’s certificate, you need to join for the last 100km of the Camino at a minimum (from Vigo to Santiago).

Dr Mary Condren is the director of WomanSpiritIreland and teaches at the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Her degrees are in Religion Gender and Culture (Harvard), Religion and Social Ethics (Boston College), and Sociology, Social Anthropology, and Theology (University of Hull). She has published extensively on gender, social theory, representation and religion. Her doctoral thesis focused on the role of sacrifice in gendered representations. Her current work seeks out the indigenous roots of Irish culture, especially concerning the figure of Brigit—saint, goddess, living figure—a project she began in 1980. In 2023, the Irish Government made the Festival of Brigit a public holiday, in perpetuity, on February 1st, the time of the indigenous festival, Imbolc/Brigit.

Some of her publications can be found at this website: https://tcd.academia.edu/MaryCondren.

You can explore her online contributions at https://www.maternalgifteconomymovement.org/ and other collectives/organisations on YouTube.

Mari Fitzduff has more than 25 years of experience in coexistence policy development, practice and research. From 1990 to 1997, she served as chief executive of the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, which was at the forefront in developing governmental policies and local community programs to tackle many decades of violent conflict. More recently she served as director of UNU/INCORE, a United Nations University centre and one of the world’s leading organisations for international research on conflict. In addition to her consulting work, Mari is also engaged in training Mediators in situations of violent conflict.

Her current interest is in Conflict and Neuroscience and she has published an Introduction to Neuroscience and Peacebuilding for the conflict and peacebuilding field. Her current interests and research are in Cross Cultural Neuroscience, and Neuroscience and Followership. In 2017 she published an edited book ‘Why Irrational Politics Appeal – Understanding the Allure of Trump. Her latest book, published by Oxford University Press in 2021 is called Our Brains at War: The Neuroscience of Conflict and Peacebuilding.

Host or Publisher Scopphu Lda