At a Glance
- 7-day immersive retreat in Byron Bay Hinterland, August 2026
- Explores soul-making through meditation, imaginal, and contemplative practice
- Secular foundation with sensitivity and spiritual discernment guidance
- Open to practitioners at all stages of inner work
- Facilitated by Kate Amy, psychologist and mindfulness teacher
There is a kind of knowing that does not live in the mind. It lives in image, in symbol, in the felt sense of something larger moving through us. Soul-making is the practice of turning toward that knowing, of allowing the inner life to become richer, stranger, and more textured than the flat surface of ordinary thinking.
This retreat invites you into that territory. Over seven days in the beauty of the Byron Bay Hinterland, we will slow down enough to listen to what has been waiting beneath the noise.
"Soul-making opens us to a range of felt experiences: meaning, calling, reverence, sacredness, love, dimensionality."
What Is Soul-Making?
Soul-making, as understood in depth psychology and contemplative traditions, is a set of understandings and practices oriented toward becoming less bound up in flat materiality and more open to a range of felt experiences. These include a sense of meaning, a calling, a sense of reverence, soulfulness itself, sacredness, unfathomability, senses of love, and dimensionality.
It is not about escaping the world. It is about inhabiting it more fully, with greater depth, sensitivity, and wonder. It is the difference between moving through life on the surface and being genuinely touched by it.
In my work as a psychologist and meditator, I have come to see soul-making not as something esoteric or rare, but as a natural unfolding that becomes possible when we slow down enough, and create the right conditions. This retreat is an attempt to create exactly those conditions.
The Imaginal Dimension
Central to this retreat is an encounter with what the depth psychological tradition calls the imaginal: images, figures, dreams, and presences that carry meaning beyond their literal form. In many traditions, these have been understood as gods, spirits, or archetypes. In a secular context, they can be approached as inner authorities, or as the symbolic language of the deeper self.
This retreat provides a space to engage with images or figures that could be seen as having an imaginal existence, rather than a purely physical one. We are not asking anyone to adopt a particular belief. We are inviting a quality of open, curious attention toward inner experience that is often neglected in modern life.
What we will explore together
- The theory and lived practice of soul-making in a secular, contemporary context
- Meditation as a doorway to deeper layers of inner experience
- Working with images, symbols, and figures that arise in practice
- Developing sensitivity and discernment when opening to imaginal fields
- What is helpful and what to watch out for in this kind of practice
- Somatic awareness as an anchor throughout the exploration
- Integration: how to bring insight into daily life
A Secular Foundation
While this retreat touches terrain that many traditions would call spiritual, it is grounded in a secular, psychologically informed approach. There is no requirement to hold any particular belief, and participants are encouraged to bring their own frameworks, their own curiosity, and their own discernment.
With that openness, however, comes the need for care. When we begin to open to subtler layers of experience, it is possible to become ungrounded, to over-interpret, or to lose the thread of ordinary discernment. This retreat provides clear guidance on both how to open and how to stay well-oriented throughout the process.
"What is helpful, and what to watch out for: developing the sensitivity to know the difference is itself the practice."
What the Week Looks Like
Arriving and settling
The first day is an invitation to slow down and arrive fully. Gentle orientation, introduction to the practice framework, and an evening meditation to begin opening the space.
Morning sits and teachings
Each day begins with a guided meditation followed by teaching on the theme for that day, drawing from depth psychology, Buddhist mindfulness, and contemplative traditions.
Afternoon practice and inquiry
Afternoons are given to deeper practice, small group inquiry, journaling, and time in nature to allow teachings to settle and inner material to surface.
Evening reflection
Each evening closes with a group sharing circle, a closing meditation, and space for questions. The night is kept quiet to support deep rest and integration.
Integration and closing
The final day focuses on integration: how to carry what has arisen back into daily life, and how to sustain the practice beyond the retreat container.
Daily Schedule
The retreat follows a structured daily rhythm designed to support both alertness and deep rest. Silence is held throughout, creating the conditions for sustained inner attention.
| Morning | |
| 6:15 | Wake up bell |
| 6:30 – 7:15 | Yoga |
| 7:15 – 8:00 | Sit |
| 8:00 – 8:45 | Breakfast |
| 8:45 – 9:30 | Work period |
| Late Morning | |
| 9:30 – 10:15 | Overview of practice for the morning; possibly additional points related to the previous evening's talk; partially guided meditation |
| 10:15 – 10:45 | Walk |
| 10:45 – 11:30 | Sit |
| 11:30 – 12:00 | Walk |
| 12:00 – 12:30 | Sit |
| Afternoon | |
| 12:30 – 2:15 | Lunch and rest |
| 2:15 – 3:00 | Overview of practice for the afternoon; partially guided meditation |
| 3:00 – 3:45 | Walk |
| 3:45 – 4:30 | Sit |
| 4:30 – 5:15 | Yoga or walk |
| 5:15 – 6:00 | Sit |
| Evening | |
| 6:00 – 7:15 | Dinner and clean up |
| 7:15 – 7:30 | Q & A |
| 7:30 – 8:15 | Talk |
| 8:15 – 8:25 | Stretch break |
| 8:25 – 9:10 | Sit |
Your Teachers
This retreat is co-facilitated by Kate Amy and Victor von der Heyde, bringing together psychological depth, decades of contemplative practice, and a shared passion for soul-work and the imaginal.
Victor von der Heyde has been practising meditation for thirty-five years. He has spent over two years in total in silent retreats and has taken dharma teaching roles since the mid-1990s. He was co-founder of Sydney Insight Meditators and of the Bodhgaya Development Association, and also trained in Gestalt Therapy, working for years as a counsellor.
Victor writes: "These days my passions in teaching and practice include ways of looking, exploring environmental ethics, soul-work and the ways that we get often stuck with particular concepts of self and world. My intention is to open up freeing and soulful possibilities for people."
In 2026, Victor has been offering a three-part series at Bluegum Sangha on Insight and Soul-work: Opening to the Imaginal, making this August retreat a rare opportunity to go deeper with this teaching in a residential silent retreat context.
View Victor's full profile and teachingsWho This Retreat Is For
This retreat is open to anyone drawn to deeper inquiry into the inner life, whether you come from a meditation background, a therapy context, or simply a felt sense that there is more to explore. You do not need prior experience with imaginal practice. You need only a genuine curiosity and a willingness to slow down.
This article is written by Kate Amy for informational purposes. Retreat details are subject to change. For the most current information, visit kateamy.com or contact Kate directly.
Reserve your place
Limited spaces available. Book a discovery call with Kate to discuss the retreat and confirm your place.