Eyebody Retreat with Peter Grunwald

The Eyebody Retreat with Peter Grunwald is a six-day wellness retreat at Mana Retreat Centre in Coromandel, Waikato, New Zealand. It is an experiential course in natural vision education, built for people who want to understand how they see and who are curious about easing their dependence on glasses or contact lenses. The work looks at vision, eyesight, posture, movement, relaxation, imagination and brain function as one connected system.

What to Expect

The EYEBODY method is a principle-based educational process. Its starting point is that eyesight and vision are flexible and can change. The method is applied to many familiar visual symptoms, including myopia, presbyopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism, cataracts, light sensitivity and glaucoma. The course also includes work on crossed and lazy eyes and other vision disorders.

The retreat combines individual and group work. Over the six days you will:

- Understand the visual process and your own visual function
- Take your first steps without glasses or contacts
- Learn to apply the Eyebody principles to the act of seeing
- Enhance the primary control mechanism through depth perception
- Learn to bring the method into daily activities such as walking, driving and working

The method treats clear sight as only one part of vision. It aims to coordinate the brain and release tension in the eyes and the whole visual system, to integrate the senses (hearing in particular) and to ease over-focusing and under-focusing. Because the EYEBODY patterns reach the body indirectly, they can also have a positive effect on conditions such as neck, back and joint pain, asthma and general fatigue. The method is suitable for people of all ages, and in time many students have put their glasses aside completely or avoided needing them.

About Peter Grunwald

Peter Grunwald was myopic and astigmatic from early childhood and wore his first glasses at the age of three. He began to stutter, and his posture and self-esteem slumped. In 1984 he started a four-year full-time professional training in the Alexander Technique in Australia to address the stuttering and posture, and he emerged with his stuttering vastly improved and a sense of postural and mental poise.

He then studied in Germany with renowned vision leader Janet Goodrich, PhD, and within 18 months was able to let go of his very strong glasses. In 1992 he found the first intrinsic associations between the eyes and the body. These became the EYEBODY patterns, which describe how each part of the eyes, the visual pathway and the visual cortex connects to a specific area of the body, and how particular visual symptoms correspond with specific tensions. He has kept researching since and has developed a learning method under his own name. Peter consults privately, writes, and leads seminars in nine countries. He lives in New Zealand.

The Setting

Mana Retreat Centre sits on State Highway 25 near Coromandel. Mana provides accommodation and meals, while the teaching itself is supplied by Peter as an independent teacher. Meals are lacto-ovo vegetarian, so there is no fish or chicken, and the centre can cater for gluten free, dairy free and vegan diets. It is an alcohol and drug free environment.

Before You Go

Registration is a two-step process. You first register and pay on the Eyebody website, then book Mana accommodation. Mana asks for payment in full at the time of booking. The retreat needs a minimum number of participants to go ahead, and it may be cancelled if that number is not reached. Cancellation fees apply, and they are higher within 72 hours of the start. Check the cancellation terms before you register.