Art Therapy Retreat

with Dynamic Meditation & Dance

14th-21st Sept 2026, Near Bilbao, Spain

Abstract painting — pale branches reaching through vivid pools of blue, magenta, orange and yellow

Make space for stillness, presence, and discovery.
Settle the body, quieten the mind.
Release your emotions, memories, and sensations through the creativity of art.
– Beena Menon

THE PRACTICE

What is Art Therapy?

In art therapy, a trained art therapist guides you to use materials to express what's:

hard to put into words
emotionally overwhelming
buried or unconscious

Making art can bypass the thinking brain and reach emotions, memories, and sensations directly.

You don't need to be good at art. It isn't about the product. It's about the process.

AN INVITATION

Quick Retreat Glance

Through guided painting, you're invited to set judgement aside and let the work open into presence and self-exploration. No experience is needed, only a willingness to be open and curious.

Alongside painting, the retreat includes dynamic meditation, dance, Kundalini meditation, therapeutic exercises, and personal sharing in a supportive group. Each is there to help you move from the mind into the body.

The workshop is conducted in English.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Deep Dive into Retreat

The retreat sets out to recover the spontaneous, unselfconscious way you painted before you learned to judge it, beneath habit and personality.

It opens with a process called Primal Painting: playing with colour, noticing the patterns you fall into, and moving past them without force. As the self-consciousness eases, the work starts to flow.

The second half moves outdoors, painting among apple trees heavy with fruit, or beside a stream in the woods, with the landscape as much a part of the work as the canvas.

WHAT IT IS

Why This Retreat

It is a painting retreat to re-connect with your creative impulse, with your joy and innocence. It is a meditative approach to promoting mental wellbeing.

It is a chance to set aside the everyday for a week and make space for yourself, in the quiet of the Basque countryside and among others doing the same.

No experience is needed. Nothing is asked of you but to begin.

A TYPICAL DAY

Retreat Schedule

Our daily schedule includes two active meditations and will look approximately like this: (Please note that the times are flexible and may be adjusted as needed)

7:45 – 9:00 Dynamic Meditation
9:00 – 10:30 Breakfast and time for shower
10:30 – 13:30 Workshop - Painting session
13.30 – 15:00 Lunchbreak
15:00 – 18:15 Workshop - Painting session
18:15 – 19:15 Kundalini Meditation
19:15 – 20:00 Break (for example: time for shower)
20:00 – 21:00 Dinner
21:15 – ca. 22.15 We offer some evening Sessions (for example: Night Painting Session, Personal Sharing amongst other activities)

*On the first day we meet at 10:00 for the workshop. You can have breakfast between 8:30 and 10:00.

*On the last day the workshop will end around 6:00pm (18:00).

WHERE YOU’LL BE

The Venue

This Art & Dynamic Meditation Retreat will take place in the beautiful Eco Hotel, Amalurra.

Located in a Mountain Valley in the Basque Region of Spain, this Retreat Centre is surrounded by nature designed to encourage group bonding, relaxation and creativity. Every moment invites reflection and connection.

Amalurra EcoHotel, Basque Country — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
The gardens at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
The kitchen garden at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
The stone labyrinth at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
The pool at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
The meditation hall at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
The grounds at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
Double room at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel
En-suite bathroom at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel

Rooms

All rooms are en-suite, with a choice of single or double occupancy. In a double, you and the person you’ve come with choose between twin and double beds at booking.

Wi-Fi reaches every room. Quiet corners are easy to find around the property — a chair on a terrace, a bench in the garden — for the hours that aren’t workshop hours.

A twin-bedded room at Amalurra with two single beds, soft natural light, and a window onto the Basque mountain valley. — Accommodation at Amalurra EcoHotel — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel

Breakfast laid out on a table at Amalurra — fresh fruit, bread, eggs, and condiments arranged for the morning meal. — Breakfast at Amalurra — image courtesy of Amalurra EcoHotel

Meals

Food at Amalurra is largely vegetarian, with fish on occasion and vegan dishes always available. Where it can, the kitchen draws on the hotel’s own garden.

Gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut allergies are catered for as standard. Tell us about anything else at booking and we’ll work it out.

Amalurra EcoHotel & Retreat Centre
Barrio la Reneja, 35C, 48879, Biscay, Spain

amalurra.com

WHO’S LEADING

Meet the Experts

Anu Soell

Workshop Leader

Art Therapy · Painting · Family Constellation · Trauma Healing

With a foundation in meditation and presence, Anu guides people to explore their inner world, find clarity and reconnect with their creative flow. In her meditative art and painting workshops, she shares her love for creativity, offering a space where painting becomes a journey of self-exploration and transformation.

Anu graduated as Social Pedagogue with a deep passion for working with people. In 2004, her journey took her to India, where she immersed herself in meditation and self-inquiry.

Anu is trained in the Art Therapy and Painting as well as in Family Constellation and Trauma Healing.

English · German

Arun Viglietti

Assistant

Art Therapy · Gestalt · Neurodiversity

Art therapist and teacher with a special focus on neurodiversity, graduated in Art History from University of Milan. He deepened his path in gestalt-oriented art therapy, developing an approach centered on authentic self-expression, body awareness and emotional growth.

English · Italian

Beena Menon

Organiser

Fine Art (Chelsea) · Wellness Coaching · The Hale Clinic, CEO

Beena, who runs The Hale Clinic, is part of the team organising our Integrative Art Therapy Retreat. Trained in Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art, University of London, she brings a lifelong devotion to creativity as a healing language. Drawing on her experience as a wellness coach and her work supporting neurodivergent children she helps create a calm, grounded space where art becomes a pathway to emotional balance, resilience, and quiet transformation.

Louisa Hill

Assistant Organiser

Health Coaching (CNM.Dip) · Psychology · Behavioural Therapy

Qualified Health Coach (CNM.Dip) with a background in Psychology and Behavioural Therapy, Louisa bridges science and holistic wellbeing.

The Hale Clinic on Harley Street has, for some years, been the space where Beena Menon and her team see clients. The work is therapy, integrative health, and quieter approaches to long-running conditions — slow, considered, held to a standard of attention that the noise of central London makes rare.

4 Harley St London W1G 9PB haleclinic.com

WHAT IT COSTS

Pricing

Double Occupancy

Shared ensuite room, per person, at Amalurra

£1,650 per person

Single Occupancy

Ensuite room for one person at Amalurra

£2,300

A £250 deposit per person holds your place; the balance is due sixty days before the retreat begins.

What’s included

Seven nights’ accommodation at Amalurra
All meals, with dietary needs accommodated
Painting workshops and all materials
Morning and evening meditations
Use of the gardens and grounds

What’s not included

Travel to and from Bilbao
Optional airport transfer (details at booking)
Travel insurance, which we recommend

FROM THE WORKSHOPS

The Night Painting — a monochrome abstract with bold gestural marks and splashes of white across a dark, textured ground.

A watercolour painting — washes of green and teal beneath a band of yellow, suggesting foliage and light.

A workshop participant painting on a vertical plastic sheet — vivid pink, green, yellow and orange splatters worked across the surface, hand visible mid-stroke.

View the full gallery

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Questions

How do I get to Amalurra?

The retreat begins at Amalurra on the afternoon of 14 September; you’ll want to land in Bilbao that morning or the day before. Bilbao Airport (BIO) is the most straightforward way in.

Taxi · About forty-five minutes’ drive, €85–€90 each way.

Hotel-arranged transfer · Amalurra can organise a private car; ask at booking.

Bus or train via central Bilbao · Slower, but practical if you’d like to see the city first; taxi out from there.

On the return on 21 September, the same options apply in reverse.

Are the rooms en-suite?

Yes — every room at Amalurra has its own en-suite bathroom.

Can dietary needs be accommodated?

Gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut allergies are catered for as standard. Other allergies and preferences are handled case by case at booking — tell us early.

Are painting materials provided?

Yes — paper, paints, brushes, the rest. Bring clothes you don’t mind getting paint on.

What should I pack?

Clothes you’re willing to paint in, comfortable layers for the meditations and the Basque autumn, and walking shoes if you’d like to spend time outside the property.

Can I arrive a day early or stay on at the end?

Yes — Amalurra welcomes guests outside the retreat dates. Arrange this directly with the hotel, separately from your retreat booking.

Is there an airport transfer?

Hale arranges a group transfer from Bilbao Airport, timed around arrivals on 14 September and departures on 21 September. Pickup time, cost, and how to opt in are confirmed at booking.

What if my partner doesn’t want to attend the workshops?

A partner who comes along but doesn’t join the workshops pays the same rate as an attendee. The price reflects the place — accommodation, meals, the use of the property — rather than the programme alone.

Do I need experience with meditation?

No. Both meditations are guided, and the shape of each is shown at the start of the week. Many guests come with no prior practice.

NEXT STEP

Register Your Interest

If you’re ready, a £250 deposit per person holds your place against the twenty-five available; the balance settles sixty days before the retreat begins.

If you’d rather ask a question first, send an enquiry below.

Whenever you’re ready.