​HOLISTIC RETREATS
AND JOURNEYS
We decided we have to bring our Journey’s to a new level. We start to talk with healers and spiritual seekers to enrich our service, and we added Retreat’s.
In contrast to Journey, Retreat’s respect the training of awareness and following the natural flows and cycles by taking more time for rest, nurturing, reflection and contemplation. Besides daily body-mind-spirit work, evening sharing circles & meditations, a great emphasis is on ancient healing practices. Focus is on more gentle spiritual approach, less mentation and more physical processing.
We have connected with Okarina Tours agency - they have embraced us and gave us legal and operational security.
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WE ARE BEST AT
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artful combination of travel, dance &healing
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experiental learning in direct connection to nature and culture
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establishing harmonious group dynamics
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choosing best experts in their fields of expertise to run holistic programs
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providing transformational experiences
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providing creativity & joy through moving your body and traveling
THE TEAM
Sandra Anais
facilitator & organization
Goran Bogdanovski
facilitator & organization
“I've developed a high degree of tolerance for “not getting it right” in dance so I will not teach you to repeat steps after me - but rather facilitate conditions for self- exploration, provide you tools for improvisation and guide your body in creation of unique movements & qualities!
I dare to apply extraordinary approach in teaching dance and that will guide you in a way, that you will most likely be able to express introverted aspects of yourself. By translating emotions into movements, you will learn to cherish yourself, without seeking approval from outside.”
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I've always been an individualist and had a strong need to express my emotions through movement & dance.
By the time I finished my Cultural Studies, I already went through variety of dance styles, but at the same time I was unable to get rid of feeling empty inside. I was walking around with stiff & painful muscles always, even though on the outside my movement looked elegant and others perceived my body as being perfectly fit.
Through improvisational dance, I discovered the freedom and joy, that comes from moving your body without a need to get the steps right or from controlled, disciplined and perfect traditional forms of dance that often push you to the limits.
Apart from dancing, I’ve always been curious of the “world out there” and felt passionate joy in traveling. Nothing have seemed more exciting to me than discovering new places, isolated & stunning locations, extravagant houses ....
...dancing in desserts, coasts, woods, rivers & meeting adventurous people from different cultural backgrounds.
As a kid I was doing Gymnastic’s and than Ballet, besides regular schooling. My father asked me: “What you will do in your life?”I answered: “I will Dance!”“OK, but what you will do to earn money?”, he asked again.“Dancing!” was clear to me.And I was. I was dancing professionally 10 years for more than 70 different choreographers in the field of performing arts, also for Slovenian National Theatre Opera & Ballet.
Eventually I had a major crises, too many roles lived inside of me and I crashed down, stopped dancing - and looking for motives why and how to continue… throwing out everything, that was not mine but was residing inside of my body, mind and emotions, to finally sense the emptiness and peace. In this space I have noticed a sparkle of creation and started to choreograph.
7 years of Creation and Touring around the world with my own Dance company.
Rock’n’Roll!
Sky Diving!
…
On the way I was helping others.
Together with colleagues, we opened up a Venue as a rehearsal space & production for contemporary dance and theatre. We launched a national Contemporary Dance festival and established a regional Nomadic Dance Academy.
After 7 years, another breakdown.
The financial crisis has struck heavily for creation of Art in the country I live. I was broke overnight and had to work all kind of jobs to brake even, got a son and started searching for deeper meaning and my purpose through all kinds of processes: Dynamic & Kundalini meditation, Intensives of enlightenment, Dervish, Gurdjieff dances, Shamanism, Dancing on Fire …
And I started to give Trainings and Workshops for adults with simple philosophy:
"We will train our body, mind and spirit through dance and creation.”
“Before my first inhale and after my last exhale everything already exists.
I only have to be.
To move from point A to point B with acceptance, understanding, and sincerity.”
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By attending our programs, you will learn how to
safely express your emotional states and soften your perfectionist and individualistic tendencies to overcome shyness
and find your
blissful dancing self
through
direct and honest communication,
sense of humor
and
acute sensitivity to fragile aspects of your character.
These programs came out from a need to share our experience of liberating ourselves from “perfection of form”
and to dedicate our time to help people developing authentic SELF -
through expanding body- mind & spirit
in balanced exchange of
Journeys and Retreats
worldwide.
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Eager to Learn French all by myself, when I was 18 in summer camp in Paris? Let’s try, no need to be afraid.
Backpacking, sleeping on the deck and camping in Croatian Islands of Dalmatia....
That's fun!
Riding camels and visiting Bedouins in Egypt, boasting with Turkish Delights in Istanbul, getting lost in romantic streets of Rome, picking grapes in France and wandering through Andalusia....
In short, my traveling was restless, adventurous, passionate and ending up in creating a bit complicated personal relationships ...
Despite the fact that I was able to creatively express myself through body and travel without hesitation, from childhood until late twenties, I struggled with occasional depressions, regular burn-outs and mixed feelings of belonging to places, people and groups.
I sought solace in excessive partying and restless, often unhealthy lifestyle and I knew something was wrong on a deeper - spiritual level, because having lots of energy, many flexible skills gathered on all those travels and plenty of artistic talents just wasn’t enough to solve my problems in relationships and feelings of being empty inside.
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So this is how my real inward oriented life journey begins.....
Thankfully, a Life Purpose workshop in 2012, where I met Brazilian and Slovenian shamans, came along my path. These shamans performed a traditional ceremony with in-depth cleansing that was so profound that besides healing my body and purifying my mind and soul, it encouraged me to quit my regular job, to stop with unhealthy habits (such as smoking and excessive partying) and start freelancing.
That created a huge shift in my mindset.
This experience, with simultaneous discovery of Osho Active Meditations and Dervish Dance, completely transformed my purpose and direction in life. I started perceiving dance as a tool to support every day creativity, personal self - growth and as an expressive tool for healing unstable emotions..
I got over some of my self-limiting beliefs (still working on many - but isn’t that a life time process???), re-opened my heart, gained back self-love and started to cultivate my hidden inner artist & nurturer archetype.
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The path of TRAVEL, DANCE & IN- DEPTH LEARNING HAS tackled the borders of my body-mind-spirit practices in Xiamen, has made me inventing AstroBody & Archetypes through dance improvisation in Tenerife , teach Contact Dance in Bali Journey and also led me to meet my soul partner Goran (also a dancer).
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Besides having a teenage patchwork family together, we now run Holistic Retreats and Journeys!
I had an opportunity to pass the knowledge and understanding of dance to more than 2500 participants and groups (dancers, actors, choreographers, heart entrepreneurs, CEO’s, students, professors ... ) in 23 different countries.
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On the way I wanted to help the contemporary dance scene in Slovenia again and entered cultural politics - with aim to establish first public institution for Contemporary Dance in Slovenia - working together with Sandra and with other NGOs, after 2 year process, I was exhausted and deprived of believing in politics....because nothing really happened. It exists on paper, but was abolished due to political interests.
Now together with Sandra
we are dancing through life!
We run Holistic Retreats & Journeys, intertwined path of moving the body and journeying through places … a place for healing and creation!
And after another cycle of 7 years of teaching,
what have I learned,
what can I offer to others?
I love traveling around the world helping people to expand their awareness
of the body, mind, emotions and spirit
through dance improvisation and creation.
I learned that I liked to work on topics:
Improvisation, Being present, Group consciousness, Group Dynamics, Artistic Creation, Shamanism and Synergy.
We trust that most effective learning and deep happiness come
from direct and holistic experiences - in establishing true bonds
with people from different cultures,
through regular body-mind-spirit work,
and by developing true tolerance and acceptance of self and others.
I’m a Guardian of Balance
and soft Communication.
The Peace Keeper and
a Rock Stone in times of crisis.
A Lone riding Wolf
that can activate my Tribe and raise the energy to a high level.
Throwing the arrow far in the sky and then running fast,
effortlessly trusting the flow.
During this project …
I divorced,
I have met (and still meeting) my soul mate, love and my new life partner Sandra
and lost my best friend.
"Walks Tall Woman and The Soul of a journey
Guardian of New Paths and Keeper of Persistence.
Letting the Heart Desire to take the Lead.
Aims for Perfection, but still is Vulnerable and Human.
Emotional and taking care of the stream of emotions to flow free.
Worshipper of Animal Spirits."
They are transformative in way that most people start questioning their friendships, identity & spirituality in relation to improvisation of every day habits and learn to accept gifts of nature & culture
and putting them in advantage to your needs.
These journeys offer great opportunity for listening and clarifying, providing a space to experience great surprises, express wonders, practice gratitude and take courage of being fragile in front of others.
On Journey’s we have observed and realized that people were experiencing profound personal transformations and besides expressing creativity, also healing processes emerged.
On the way we have been witnessing profound transformations happening in people. We realised that people are perceiving our workshops as Artistic experience, Dance training, Improvisation dance practice, Therapy, Personal growth, Spiritual practice, Fun ... And they have been applying our tools and principles in their daily lives, relationships and work.
This realization was a major breaking point in our work. We decided to take a wild step:)
In 2013 we (Sandra Anais & Goran Bogdanovski) started to organize Fico Dance Journey’s
in Slovenia, Croatia and Bali, from a 1 to 3 weeks long journeys in nature,
with co-living principles, daily body-mind-spirit practice and traveling.
@Mantas Hesthaven
@Tyler Mullins
If you are creative, cultural or spiritual seeker,
body- mind- spirit explorer,
mover - dancer,
life adventurer,
heart-minded wanderer,
ecologically aware nomad & traveler
or
just interested in any of above mentioned
then
THESE TRIPS ARE YOUR CUP OF TEA!
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Holistic Retreats & Journeys is a collaboration between artists, healers, tour guides, accommodation providers and spiritual seekers
&
created with aim
to provide
profound transformational experience
for YOU!
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Our TRIPS are holistic - besides voyaging and seeing world wonders, we provide daily body-mind-spirit practice, healthy food and accommodation in ecological environment as much as possible.
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@ Seth Doyle
Every Body Can Dance
@Pedro de Sausa
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How did it all begin?
16 years ago we opened an NGO in a field of art- contemporary dance with focus on production, education and festivals. With our artistic work we toured in 25 countries around the world and present art projects in our festivals in Slovenia.
10 Years ago we started to help people through trainings and workshops, which had opened the doors for all social groups with simple philosophy:
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@Svyatoslav Romanov
