Returning to Your Body, Mind and Heart | using Somatic Movement and Creativity

Tamalpa UK Summer Retreat
In Person with Lian Wilson MSMT/MSME
25th–26th July 2026 | Sandgate, Kent Coast

If you love to dance — whether in a studio, in your own practice, or barefoot in your kitchen — and feel curious about the wisdom your body holds, we warmly invite you to join us for our annual Summer Weekend Retreat on the beautiful Kent coast in the vibrant, laid back viallage of Sandgate.

This is a space to pause, breathe, move, and reconnect.

At Tamalpa UK, we believe creativity is not separate from life — it is life. When we move, create, and express from our lived experience, we access a deeper source of wellbeing and personal growth.

Rather than striving for performance or perfect form, we explore an aesthetic rooted in authenticity — the beauty of what is real, present, and true in the moment.

Over two nourishing days, you’ll be introduced to key Tamalpa Life/Art Process® tools through:

• 
  
• Guided somatic movement explorations
  
• Creative practices and mark-making
  
• Reflective journaling
  
• Individual and shared inquiry
  

Skilfully facilitated by Lian Wilson, this retreat offers a supportive environment to explore your inner landscape, ignite your creativity, and reconnect with what matters most to you.

Dedicate a weekend for yourself to feel recharged, inspired, and equipped with practical creative tools to support your current life goals — grounded in the intelligence of your own body.

“I found the Tamalpa tools helped me to cut through the clutter of everyday life and be kind to myself for a couple of days. I had time to relax and evaluate what was important to me and create some positive ideas to make space in my life for the things that have real meaning to me, amazing!” ~ Retreat participant

The Retreat is a dynamic embodied experience of the Tamalpa Life Art Process®️ and introuduction to the work of Anna Halprin and Daria Halprin. It can be used as a stand alone experience or a an introduction to the larger Tamalpa trainings.

Join us this July for an opportunity to unwind, relax and recharge, physically, emotionally and mentally, facilitated in a safe and compassionate way.

No dance or art experience necessary.

Date: 25th & 26th July 2026

Time: Saturday 25th 10.00am – 5.00pm

Sunday 26th10.00am – 4.30pm

Cost : £210 (concession rates £175 available)

Example of a typical retreat day:

Morning session 1

10.00am – 13.30pm (includes a short break)

• Arrival and welcome

• Guided somatic movement explorations – ‘Arriving in Your Body’

• Creative drawing & writing explorations – ‘Identifying what your body needs’

13.30: Lunch Break – 1 hour

Afternoon session 2

14.00pm – 17.00pm (includes a short break)

• Guided movement explorations – ‘Reigniting Life Vitality’

• Introduction to a key basic Tamalpa Life Art Process® tool

• Further expressive art explorations – ‘Identifying Life Resources’

• Digestive quite time

• Closing activities

17:00: Finish

What you will need:

• 
  
• Note book and pen
  
• Layers of clothing to keep you warm between art activities
  
• Bottle of water
  
• Travel Mug
  

Please note all movement and activities will take place inside the Chichester Memorial Hall in Sandgate. For further information please contact us via our website: www.tamalpa-uk.org

Tel: 01303 488 538

The Tamalpa Life/Art Process® is a creative and embodied approach to personal and social transformation, developed at the Tamalpa Institute in California by Founders Anna Halprin and Daria Halprin.

At its heart is a simple yet powerful belief: the body holds our lived experience — and movement is its primary language.

Through movement and dance, creative expression, somatic awareness, and reflective practices, we explore the wisdom of the body and the imagination. Rather than analysing life from a distance, we embody it — listening to what our sensations, gestures, impulses and images reveal.

Each art form deepens and informs the others, allowing insight to unfold organically.

In the Tamalpa approach, movement is not about technique or performance — it is about authenticity. Movement is life in action. It is personality and soul made visible. Dance becomes the integration of body, feeling, and imagination in motion.

We understand that when we move, we access more than muscles and bones — we access memory, emotion, story, resilience and possibility. Through this embodied exploration, we can:

• 
  
• Strengthen our relationship to ourselves
  
• Engage more consciously with social and cultural realities
  
• Support healing and integration
  
• Cultivate creativity as a living practice
  

The Tamalpa Life/Art Process® invites people of all backgrounds — not just trained dancers or artists — to live more fully embodied and creatively engaged lives.

When we reconnect to movement, we reconnect to ourselves.

Image credits: Tamalpa UK, Camiila Tiefensee-Schroeder & Cottonbro Studio

Image: Beach coastline from Folkestone to Sandgate in Kent. Participants love and enjoy their quite or social time by the sea and in the surrounding natural landscapes.

About the Facilitator

Lian Wilson MSMT/MSME

Lian Wilson is a Master Somatic Movement Therapist (MSMT) and Master Somatic Movement Educator (MSME), accredited by the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA). She is a certified Tamalpa Practitioner, dancer, and the Creative Director of Tamalpa UK, and is internationally respected for her teaching of the Tamalpa Life/Art Process®.

Lian graduated from the Tamalpa Institute in California in 2003 and has since worked closely with founders Anna and Daria Halprin, assisting on professional trainings, workshops, performances, and international events. In 2012, she was invited to establish the UK branch of Tamalpa in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter. Since then, she has led professional trainings and public workshops across Folkestone, Sandgate, London, and Scotland, as well as offering online programmes to a growing international community.

Her work is rooted in a deep commitment to health and wellbeing — supporting individuals and diverse communities through dance, somatic movement, and expressive arts. She is passionate about making the transformative principles of the Tamalpa Life/Art Process® and the Halprin Legacy accessible, practical, and relevant to contemporary life.

Lian also served as an Assistant Researcher at the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health at Canterbury Christ Church University, contributing to research exploring the impact of arts and health initiatives, including dance and dementia and dance for falls prevention.

In both her professional and personal life, Lian is guided by her love of movement, creativity, nature, and a daily embodied practice that sustains vitality and resilience.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Tamalpa UK