Vocal Alchemy Retreat
An opportunity to return to the sacred re-membering of your voice through Sound, Breath, Creative writing, Ecstatic Dance, Embodiment practices and Nature.
14th-16th November 2025
My deepest, most ecstatic life experiences and soul remembering have always been through sound.
In these moments, I have felt a profound connection to what I would call ‘home’—the purest expression of my soul. Our Voice is a door, a gateway to the depths of our infinite self.
I love to create spaces where women can reconnect with their authentic voice—the truest expression of who they are. Together with Polly,Ceri, and myself you are invited to soften, to listen, and to gently peel away the layers that have distanced you from the core of your being. From this sacred place, a voice emerges that is ancient, real, and wholly your own.
The well of a woman is deep, and her waters are wise.
In the disconnection from her song—and the severing of her voice—the blood of countless generations has been spilled. Still it spills.
But nature calls us back—to the unity of the One Song, the primordial song that unifies rather than separates.
"Together we stand, inseparable—one can't exist without the other."
We need to root to rise
Vocal Alchemy invites you into this descent.
It’s here that her song fully emerges. What wisdom, memory, or power might be waiting to be spoken, sung, or sounded—when you open to yourself and to others from this sacred well?
Join Talia, Polly and Ceri for a weekend immersion in Voice, Movement, and Creative Writing—a space to reclaim the fullness of your embodied aliveness.
Who is Vocal Alchemy for?
This is a retreat space for you if you’re curious about opening to deeper aspects of yourself and your Voice.
Our voice is very much a Vibrational fingerprint of who we are in this moment and how we show up in the world.
It’s intended for those who are examining how their voice is (or isn’t) heard in the world, and who wish to explore opening more fully to allow authentic expression. From an embodied lens we'll be bringing that expression into creative writing and movement exploration.
The writing is led by a published, award-winning author Polly Greeks who has many years of experience as a journalist, columnist (NZ Life & Leisure magazine) and creative writing teacher.
Movement is led by Ceri Blythe who leads regular somatic dance events here in Wanaka.
With us, you can fearlessly express your voice through a platform of embodied expression to gain an inner wisdom and insight into all parts of you.
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If you’re curious about how to open physically to allow full expression to pour forth, this workshop will assist you. It will help you gain more connection with your wild, uncensored voice and increase your confidence in expressing fully, even if your voice is clunky, out of tune, or simply unknown.
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If you have a sense of a deeper intelligence, this workshop will help you surrender to the experience of being breathed and played like a flute. It invites exploration into your body and how to open at both ends like a channel. It offers an opportunity to connect with Nature as well as your own wild nature.
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If you wish to explore your breath from a nonlinear place and feel more sense of connection with yourself and those around you, this workshop will facilitate that.
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If you’re investigating menopause or perimenopause, it will give you meaningful ways to meet the edges of yourself and gain clarity around the process of initiation as you approach your crone-years. It will help you embrace your unique voice and feel more rooted in yourself and your purpose.
Please note: This is for anyone who wants to explore their Voice and their body. If you already sing a lot you may find more layers to your Voice. If you think you can't sing, you may find sounds and notes you never knew existed. Everyone is welcome.
No one will be asked to sing on their own.
This is about exploring sound and your unique voice as a pathway to fuller expression, presence, and expansiveness.
What you may take away from the weekend:
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Gain tools to express a wider range of vocal expression in speaking and sounding.
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More acceptance of your voice and letting go of old patterns and stories around your voice.
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Increased awareness of your nervous system.
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Experience opening of the throat to let the voice move through the whole body.
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Increased sensation & feeling through breath, sound and movement.
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Increased awareness around ‘who is my voice and how does it show up in the world.’
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Enhanced confidence to speak up and say what you feel
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Yin ways of opening into the body and voice.
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More connection with your womb and sexuality.
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A deeper intimacy with self and other
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A deeper connection with your eco-sexual self
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Increased connection with nature and the elements and an understanding of how your voice is a vehicle to connect deeper to these elements.
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How voice, breath and movement interweave together
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Permission to be seen & witnessed in ALL parts of you.
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Connection with sisterhood and like-minded women.
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Increased trust in the wisdom and power of your written voice
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Writing techniques for self-exploration
During our time together you will be:
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Connecting more with your naked untamed voice in its’ primal form.
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Connecting with your voice as part of nature/your nature.
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Learning embodied practices with your voice.
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Connecting with your voice through the heart, womb, and sexuality.
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Exploring somatic practices to connect more to body/mind and to bring greater awareness to our nervous system and how it might affect us in our daily life.
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Participating in a 2 hour somatic dance
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Practicing breath awareness.
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Enjoying nature connection off-grid.
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Partaking in a cacao ceremony.
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Exploring your creative flow on the page.
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Have access to an amazing lake and nature walks
Location
The Beehive @
The Camp, Lake Hawea
15 mins from Wanaka
Cost
$777 NZD
Accomodation and some meals additional.
Accomodation is additional and there are several different options available for staying at the Camp in Lake Hawea. From sleeping in your own tent to glamping tents, cabins and cottages which you can share with up to 3 others.
Check out the options here.
If you want a bed it's best to book sooner than later or contact me as I know the campground well.
Retreat Programme
Friday evening: 4pm-8pm
An opening Karakia and sharing by the lake
Cacao ceremony and Vocal Alchemy introduction
Saturday 10am-2pm
Vocal Alchemy and Creative Writing
An exploration into your Voice finishing with some writing to integrate
5:00pm-8:00pm
Ecstatic Dance/Somatic Movement
How does the movement open your voice. As you breathe and move, what wants to pour forth?
Sunday: 10:00am-2:00pm
Vocal Alchemy. Closing.
Please note this is a guideline and isn’t fixed. We will be tuning into the ‘field’ & group as we go,
so what is offered may change as the field opens and guides us.
Meet Your Facilitators
Talia Brand
Talia is a Sound & Somatic Therapist who has worked extensively with sound and embodiment for many years. She weaves tools of sound, embodiment practices, somatic experiencing, embodied counseling, bodywork & shamanic womb work.
She is trauma-trained having completed a 3-year training in Somatic Experiencing in 2022 (working with trauma through the body based on the work of Peter Levine)
Her studies have included many years of Classical training & Performance, moving more into Sound Healing & working with the Voice in a non-linear way through embodied expression. Talia has also trained as a somatic sex educator with the Institute of Somatic Sexology & as an Embodied Counselor. She completed a 9-month shamanic Womb apprenticeship in 2016 working with the seven gates of the womb & has a particular interest in the physiological connection between the womb & the throat.
Talia has a particular love of the water element and aims to immerse herself most days in rivers & lakes. She has a deep connection with whales and the primordial sound & wisdom they hold.
Talia is passionate about women landing their full voice & expression through spirit & matter woven together. Coming home to the sacred remembering and wisdom we already hold inside waiting to be unveiled. She believes in deep listening & presence and in co-creative spaces where each woman weaves her wisdom with the whole.
Polly Greeks
Polly is an award-winning author of Embracing the Dragon, (runner-up Travcom NZ Travel Book of the Year), columnist (3x NZ Magazine Columnist of the Year) and journalist who has held numerous writing workshops for adults and children. She loves the power of free writing to reveal deeper knowing and insight and identify opportunities for rewriting our personal narratives.
Trained in Conscious Communication, she also holds space for people to verbally explore their stories and tune in to their feelings and needs.
Co-facilitator of a women’s Red Tent space for many years, she celebrates the sharing, support and deep opening that can occur when women come together.
Polly is currently investigating her own journey through the initiation of menopause and feels passionate about the power and embodied-belonging waiting for women who connect with both their authentic selves and the deeper, timeless wisdom waiting to be expressed through their voices.
For the last 14 years Polly and her husband have lived off-grid in remote Northland forest where they’re raising their children.
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Ceri Blythe
Ceri is a 200hr trained Vinyasa and Yin yoga teacher, a 200hr eco-somatic yoga guide, and a 300hr somatic dance facilitator, offering regular dance events in Wānaka.
She is currently studying Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) and will complete her training by the end of 2025.
Ceri is passionate about weaving together her love of nature, somatics, and community to create spaces for expression, healing, and embodied aliveness.
What previous participants have said:
“Talia I would like to thank you for my recent journey to better know and understand myself far more intimately than I ever have before. You created a space during the Sacred Remembering retreat that was safe, honouring, compassionate, professional and transformative.”
— Janine
“The journey was a dive deep into our bones, calling each of us to remember who we really are and honoring where we have come from. Rarely have I experienced such deep connection between participants in a workshop & such full participation in the practices.”
— Tina
“I am singing with a vocal range I lost in my late teens, I have found my powerful and sensual voice, I feel so alive in every aspect of myself!
I travelled to depths where I retrieved my breathing and voice. Messages from this weekend feel potent for changing my life.”
— Louise
“I was amazed at what came through. The words poured out without me even thinking about it. Lots of insights. It’s inspired me to get back into journaling.”
— Karen
“I loved Polly’s very creative and encouraging approach to writing. It was so interesting to put my unconscious mind on paper.”
— Kathryn
“Greeks writes with unflinching honesty and poetic verve.”
— Denis Welch, Listener
A Poem by Polly Greeks
In the gaps between breaths stretches timeless All.
Breathe with Her.
Let your breath rise and fall.
Feel the movement; the rhythm, set within the ringing silence of eternity. This is You, the receptacle, emptied out and present.
Listening into the realm of Creation.
What does She long for?
Connection.
That is, the remembrance of the connection.
The electric spark of two ends becoming unified into a sinuous, conscious life-force. She is awareness in its purest form.
Out here the planets sing.
Ancient lines, coded sound across the multiverse.
What you yearn for is a part of yourself.
That's why it's called Coming Home.