Exploring the Divided Brain
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All speakers and workshop leaders have been chosen because their work/talks have a clear link with the writings of Iain McGilchrist and the divided brain is a common theme running throughout everything. Both left and right hemisphere type activities are available; each informing the other and offering different ways of ‘knowing’. You can choose between theory and practise or move from one to the other as you create your own personal programme. Feel free to start and end each day at a time that suits you to manage and balance your own energy as each day unfolds.
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Saturday
We start with settling in, getting to know each other, orientation around the hotel and understanding the structure of the wrap around experience. Iain McGilchrist will then open the event via live stream from his home in Scotland with a talk and Q&A. The programme then opens up with relevant live, well known, international speakers linking hemisphere theory with their work and research. Alternatively take the chance to enjoy a number of potentially mind-altering, right-hemisphere experiences and experiential workshops that embody our theoretical framework. There will also be the chance to catch up on the best of Iain’s talks from previous years and facilitated discussion groups. The choice is yours.
10.00 – 11.00 Registration and welcome teas and coffees
11.00 – 12.15 Keynote speaker: Iain McGilchrist streamed in live : ‘Why exploring The Divided Brain is so important to us as individuals, society and to the future of mankind as a whole’ (Lecture Theatre 1)
12.15 – 12.45 Welcome and introduction to the event by, Samantha Field, Founder Owner and Creative Director of ‘Field & Field’, Facilitator, Artist and Dancer (Lecture Theatre 1)
12.45 – 1.45 Lunch (The restaurant)
1.45 – 2.20 Samantha Field introduces the talks, discussion groups and other things on offer over the 4 days (Lecture Theatre 1),
2.30 – 3.30 Choice of:
- Talk with Alistair Duncan – ‘A Potential “Bohmian” journey of return to the right hemisphere’ (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Talk by Paul Cavacuiti on ‘William Blake and the Two Hemispheres’ (Workshop Space)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – Introduction to the Hemispheres / The Matter with Things
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – ‘What do we know about the Hemispheres?’ (Discussion area 1)
- Discussion Panel Group 2 – ‘Healthcare Problems, both Mental and Physical, and the Divided Brain’ (Discussion area 2)
- Drawing and Painting Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
3.30 – 3.45 Refreshment break (opportunity to pick up room key for those who are resident at the hotel)
3.45 – 4.45 choice of:
- Panel of speakers with Q&A on “The effect of individual, collective, current and historical trauma on the way we see the world, and thoughts about how to heal those wounds (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Workshop/Talk with Paul Cavaciuti –‘The Music of the Hemispheres part 1′ (Workshop Space)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – Brain Disorders of the Hemispheres
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this morning (Discussion area 1)
- Facilitated Discussion – ‘The Science behind Cognitive Restructuring as we Practise a more Right-hemisphere way of being’ (Discussion area 2)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
4.45 – 5.00 Refreshment break (opportunity to pick up room key for those who are resident at the hotel)
5.00 – 6.00 choice of:
- Workshop/Talk with Paul Cavaciuti –‘The Music of the Hemispheres part 2’ (Workshop Space)
- Talk with Robert Franklin ‘The Holocaust: Connection and Rupture – a Hemispheric Approach’ (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – What is language for?
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened earlier this afternoon (Discussion area 1)
- Facilitated Discussion – ‘Trauma: Individual, Collective and Historical in relation to the Divided Brain’ with Philippa Smedhurst (Discussion area 2)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
7.30 – Dinner
8:45 – choice of:
- After Dinner Unaccompanied Singing Session with Ann Ryan
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Drinks in the bar
Click on the Timetable to enlarge it

Sunday
Continues like day one and hosts a great mix of live speakers, Q&A’s, premiere screenings of Iain McGilchrist lectures and related discussion groups. Also, if you wish, there is the chance to move more into right-hemisphere practices and more deeply into somatic work. It offers everything from feeling energy to a range of very different meditation practices with some of the best facilitators in the country.
7.15 – 8.00 Choice of:
- Workshop led meditation/trance with John White (Workshop Space)
- Authors are invited to set up and run their own book stall until start of lectures at 9:00 am (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Swim, gym, run or walk around the grounds
7.15 – 8.45 Breakfast.
9.00 – 9:15 Introduction to the day with Samantha Field
9.15 – 10.15 Choice of:
- Lecture with Iain McClure – ‘Edvard Munch – A Divided Brain? Part 1(Lecture Theatre 1)
- Workshop 9.15 -11.15 ‘Bee ing In The Body-Sound Bridge’ with Anne L Ryan (Workshop Space). Bring your own yoga mat
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Value and Limits of Science
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened yesterday afternoon (Discussion area 1)
- Talk and Facilitated Discussion Group 2 – ‘Problems within Education and the Divided Brain’ with Karen Wilson (Discussion area 2)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
10.15 – 10.30 Morning tea/coffee and pastries
10.30 – 11.30 Choice of:
- Lecture with Iain McClure – ‘Edvard Munch – A Divided Brain? Part 2 (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Value and Limits of Reason
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this morning (Discussion area 1)
- Facilitated Discussion Group 2 – ‘The Importance of the Arts’
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
11.45 – 1.00 Choice of:
- Workshop part 1 with Alistair Duncan – An introduction to: ‘The felt sense of thinking’ (Meet in the Piano Bar)
- Lecture by John Miller ‘How did Psychology get Dehumanised?’ (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Yoga with Ruth White intro (Workshop Space)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Value and Limits of Intuition
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this morning (Discussion area 1)
- Talk and Facilitated Discussion with Sara Adhitya – Moving Towards more Right-Hemisphere Design Solutions (Discussion area 2)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch
2.00 – 3.30 Choice of:
- Outdoors in Nature part 2 with Alistair Duncan – ‘Take your right hemisphere out into the woods‘ (In nearby woodland – bring suitable clothing and footwear. Meet in the Piano Bar)
- Discussion group ‘The Importance of Creative Vision in a Time of Emergence’ with Susan Holliday (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Time Line with Jane Turner (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Yoga with Ruth White part 2 (Workshop Space)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – What is Imagination?
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this morning (Discussion area 1)
- Facilitated Discussion Group 2 – TBA
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
3.30 – 3.45 Refreshment break
3.45 – 4.45 Choice of:
- Talk on ‘Awakening the Ecological Self: Resolving the fractured human mind and body to address Planetary Crises’ by Dr. M. Paul Pulé (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Workshop with Miriam Orriss ‘A Practical Exploration in Working with the Field – Making the Invisible Visible’ (Workshop Space)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Coincidence of Opposites
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this afternoon (Discussion area 1)
- Facilitated Discussion Group 2 – Social Inequalities and the Divided Brain (Discussion area 2)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
4.45 – 5.00 Refreshment break
5.00 – 6.00 Choice of:
- Talk by Gary Goldberg – An Emerging World View (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Workshop with Miriam Orriss ‘A Practical Exploration in Working with the Field – Making the Invisible Visible’ (Workshop Space)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The One and the Many
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this afternoon (Discussion area 1)
- Facilitated Discussion Group 2 – ‘Masculine and Feminine Archetypes and the Divided Brain’ with Sue Hale (Discussion area 2)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Quiet reflection time
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
7.30 – Dinner
8.45 – 10.15 Choice of:
- After Supper Freestyle Musical Jamming & Singing Session – bring your own instruments (Lancastrian suite)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Discussion group
- Drinks in the bar
Click on the Timetable to enlarge it

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Monday
Again as in the last couple of days, both right and left hemisphere modes of learning and discovery are open, but with the added option of moving towards Systemic Constellations work led by Charles O’Malley. Following an introductory session, facilitation will continue for the rest of the day for those who want to deep dive into this right-hemisphere tool. Alternatively for those who prefer to learn and process in a different way, as always, fascinating lectures and discussion groups are scheduled in parallel.
7.15 – 8.00 Choice of:
- Conscious Somatic Dance with Samantha Field (Workshop Space)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – ‘Flow (Workshop Space)
7.15 – 8.45 Breakfast
9:00 – 9.10 Introduction to the day with Samantha Field
9.15 – 11:30 Choice of:
- ‘Another Way of Knowing’ Charles O’Malley introduces the concept of Constellation Work (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
11.30 – 11:45 Morning tea/coffee and pastries
11.45 – 1.00 Choice of:
- Constellation Workshop with Charles O’Malley and Liz Sleeper (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Nature of Time
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this morning (Discussion area 1)
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch
2.00 – 3.30 Choice of:
- Constellation Workshop (continued) with Charles O’Malley and Liz Sleeper (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – Matter & Consciousness
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this morning (Discussion area 1)
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
3.30 – 3.45 Refreshment break
3.45 – 4.45
- Constellation Workshop (continued) with Charles O’Malley and Liz Sleeper (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – What are Values?
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this afternoon (Discussion area 1)
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
4.45 – 5.00 Refreshment break
5.00 – 6.00 Choice of:
- Constellation Workshop (continued) with Charles O’Malley and Liz Sleeper (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist – The Sense of the Sacred
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this afternoon (Discussion area 1)
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
7.30 – Dinner
8:45 – Choice of:
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist ‘The Power of No’
- Facilitated Discussion Group 1 – on the lecture by Iain McGilchrist screened this afternoon (Discussion area 1)
- After Supper Freestyle Musical Jamming & Singing Session – bring your own instruments (Lancastrian suite)
- Drawing and Painting Studio Time – equipment & art materials are provided (Art Space)
- Discussion group
- Drinks in the bar
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Tuesday
Here we offer plenty of time for feedback, sharing and final questions. All content will naturally drift back to being more cerebral and more left-hemisphere in nature – reflecting on shifts, changes and revelations over the previous few days. We explore feelings and visions for the future, plus thoughts and ideas on taking it forward and out into the world. Dr. Roz Savage OBE will be giving a talk around her soon to be published book ‘The Ocean in a Drop’ which gives a vision for the future, then we have a guest panel of experts for ‘Question Time’, group discussions and feedback followed by summary from Samantha Field and our final closing ceremony.
7.15 – 8.00 Choice of:
- Premiere screening of lecture by Iain McGilchrist “In Concluding….” Final Talk (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Morning Meditation/Yoga with Ruth White (Workshop Space), or choice of swim, run or walk around the grounds
7.15 – 8.45 Breakfast and room check out
9:00 – 9.10 Introduction to the day with Samantha Field
9.15 – 10.15 Choice of:
- Talk with Roz Savage – ‘A Paradigm Shift’ (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
10.00 – 10.30 Morning tea/coffee and pastries and last chance to check out of room before 11 am
10.30 – 11.30 Choice of:
- Question Time – Pooran Desai – Q&A with our Panel of Speakers (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Use of spa, sports, leisure facilities and/or walks/runs etc.
11.30 – 11.45 Intro to next session and refreshment break in break out spaces
11.45 – 1:00 Facilitated discussion groups (Please take your refreshments with you). Choose one from the following:
- Topic 1: What have these past 4-days meant to us on a personal level (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Topic 2: If we achieve the necessary paradigm shift how will we know that it has happened? What might it look, sound and feel like? (Lecture Theatre 1)
- Topic 3: How can we take our learning forward and out into the world? (Lecture Theatre 1)
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch
2:00 – 2.30 Feedback from discussion groups and integration facilitated by Samantha Field (Lecture Theatre 1)
2.30 – 3.30 Final Talk ‘Moving From “What” to “How – Connecting With Our Senses’ with Samantha Field (Lecture Theatre 1)
3.30 – 4:00– Refreshments, chats and goodbyes in the bar and lounges before heading home
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N.B. This schedule is subject to change
Click here to find out more about the event and to register interest