At this live Special Event hosted from my Mountain Rise writing retreat on June 22, 2023, I took attendees on a virtual tour of Chalet Alpenheim, our gorgeous retreat venue in the Swiss Alpine village of Wengen. Following a greeting from some of this year’s retreat participants and a brief Q&A session, I guided my visitors through a reflective Walking and Writing exercise designed to shift them into the relaxed-but-energized creative mindset of writing on retreat. We ended with a surprise video — read on to find out more!
Below is WriteSPACE Event Manager Amy Lewis’ first-person account of the live event.
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“Freeing and creatively sustaining” . . . “Ridiculously scenic” . . . “A great community” . . .
These are just some of the phrases that came up to describe the Mountain Rise retreat during this live Open Chalet session. We wanted to open the door so you could see what a mountain retreat might look like for you — whether that be a physical retreat next year in Switzerland or a virtual retreat in the comfort of your own workspace — and meet some of the 2023 retreat participants.
During this week-long retreat, we atended at daily workshops with Helen, where she guided us through various experiments to tackle some of our writing-related problems: from improving book structures to forging more productive habits; from playing with creative expressions of our research to undertaking nitty-gritty editing….
I found Helen’s retreat workshop on structure particularly insightful and useful. It involved creating several metaphors designed to deepen my understanding of my project’s layout and guide the reader through my work in a concrete and considered way. My Master’s thesis suddenly became like the Lauterbrunnen valley, our spectacular retreat venue. In my notebook, I drew an ascending cable car, the introduction where my readers begin their journey. Which information will help set the scene and carry them up to the mountaintop? The lookout spot represents the heart of my work, where the key concepts shine. The reader then travels along a ridge-top path and ascends three undulating rises — aka the case studies — before traveling down gently on a cogwheel train through the discussion and conclusion.
Amy’s map of her reader’s journey to the top of mountain and back down again.
After a greeting from some of this year’s retreaters and a brief Q&A, Helen took our Open Chalet visitors on a similar journey, complete with photos and videos marking every stage along the track. It’s well worth setting aside half an hour to follow along with the live video in WriteSPACE Videos, notebook in hand (timestamp 12:20 - 43:30). Alternatively, you can respond to these prompts:
Begin your journey in a village halfway up the side of a mountain. This is your standing place, where you spend most of your time. What does it look like to you? For example, ‘I am starting from a place of anxiety’ or ‘I am starting a new project that is exciting but needs quite a lot of mental heavy lifting.’ (3 minutes)
Take the cable car up the steep mountainside above the village and walk along the ridge until you reach a viewing platform shaped like a crown. What are the crown jewels of your writing project or your writing practice? These gems are your values or touchstones that motivate your practice forward and inspire you when you feel fatigued. Write a list of as many as you can, then pick the three most sparkling jewels. (3 minutes)
Continue your hike along the ridgeline high above the valley—it curves up and along to a destination just out of sight. Where do you want this journey to take you? What is the overall goal of your project? (2 minutes)
Now you arrive at a small alpine café and stop for a break. What fuels you to keep going? Who is there with you? (2 minutes)
Farther along the path, we encounter some alphorn players. What melody do you want to send out to your listeners (readers!) in the next valley? (2 minutes)
Travel up and over the ridge. Now you’re approaching the end of your journey — but how will you bring yourself back down to your starting place? Helen offered us a few options (5 minutes). :
- Take a train – peaceful and gentle.
- Walk down the steep track – quite a challenge but great for fitness.
- Follow Helen’s example and paraglide your way down – an adventure!
Helen celebrating her birthday on June 21 by paragliding over the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
I want to say a big thank you to the retreaters who were there during the open chalet, to all the writers who came along and simulated their own retreats with us, and to Helen for guiding us through the insightful writing prompts. As always, it was such a privilege.
If you would like to know more about our retreats or have any new questions, we would love to hear from you!
A recording of this two-part WriteSPACE Special Event is now available in WriteSPACE Videos.
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