I have been back to my life in Cape Town for several weeks now, but I keep making so many references about my time at the Rest in the Karoo, I am surprised no one has told me to shut up about it already. I am a broken record singing the Rest’s praise because so much good came from my stay there.
I went to the Rest because they were hosting a life writing course by Dawn Garisch. Dawn is the founding member of the Life Righting Collective, an NGO that address the difficulties we experience as individuals and communities through promoting life writing as a tool for mental health and personal development. I’ve done Dawn’s course before, and I have experienced how transformative they can be first hand. But I do think partaking in this course in the vastness and beauty of the Karoo made the course even more transformative.
On my first night there, I was sitting in the lounge of the Shepard’s Cottage when I felt a sweeping impetus to write. Mind you, we had just spend about eleven hours on the road driving from Cape Town, and I was utterly exhausted. But still, the need to write persisted, so I wrote. It is very rare that I am able to write a poem in one single sitting and have it need very little editing. I am not one of those poets. But on rare occasions I get to experience what these poets experience on a regular basis. A tugging by a poem, and furious writing that does not stop despite the pain my arm and fingers are experiencing. It’s an exhilarating feeling. This is how a poem I had been struggling for weeks to write about came to me on my first night at the Rest. And this set the tone for my stay there. Once my body, head, and heart sensed that we were finally resting and making time to write and reflect, it brought up so much to the surface. I was able to look at several issues that had been nagging and pleading me to look at them for months.
I will admit and be frank, I was a little sceptical about heading out to the Karoo. No internet? Mostly farm fresh food? Sharing a room? No other people in sight for kilometres and kilometres? This all seemed very scary to this city girl. There was so much to do, so many poems demanding to be written, so many conversations to have that I really did not miss the internet that much. The food was absolutely delicious, friendly for the both the vegetarians and meat lovers. I quickly embraced being around endless stretches of nature; I enjoyed the morning walks, sitting by the river, and witnessing one of the most stunning sunsets and moonrises I’ve ever experienced.
My roommate was very nice, Paula introduced us to each other, and we got to know each other before our trip. She was very lovely, and accommodating of my no cats in the room rule. The cottage was cosy, eclectically decorated and welcoming. Paula has beautiful and endearing family, who are very lovely to be around.
Okay, I’ve bragged enough, go the Rest already! Although Dawn is not hosting a workshop there anytime soon, Paula is a trained dramatherapist who runs regular workshops there too, which I am sure are equally as moving as Dawn’s. Sooo… when are you going?
P.S. Dawn’s next Life Writing Course on The Rest is from the 25th till the 28th of October. 2018 It is followed by a week intensive writing course.