warm your bones Day Retreat
8th November 2025
With Joanne Faulkner & David Millard
A nourishing, empowering day of Qi Gong movement, food medicine, breathwork & connection so that you feel restored, balanced and deeply nourished, body mind and soul.
Retreat Details
Date: Saturday, 8th November 2025
Time: 11.00am – 4.00pm plus optional sauna under the stars
- Location: Cnoc na mBan, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow
- Cost: includes lunch, all sessions, recipes, and resources
- Full day: €115 / €95 for Chi Flow with Jo members
Optional Sauna & Plunge: add-on €15
Schedule for the Day
11.00 Welcome Tea & Intention Circle
11.30 Seated or Standing Shibashi Qi Gong
12.15 Breathwork with Davy
12.45 Cooking Demo: Nourishing the Nervous System
1.15 Delicious, seasonal, functional lunch
2.30 Healing Sounds Practice
3.00 Guided Relaxation Meditation
3.30 Group Reflection
4.00 Optional Sauna
Who This Retreat Is For
✔️ Chi Flow with Jo members (enjoy an exclusive discount)
✔️ Women navigating hormonal change or seeking reconnection to their body’s natural rhythm
✔️ People living with Parkinson’s, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), or other long-term conditions
✔️ Carers, partners, and loved ones seeking a day of rest and inspiration
✔️ Anyone feeling burnt out, stuck, or in need of deep restoration and grounded flow
No prior experience of Qi Gong, Chinese Medicine or meditation is needed, just a willingness to receive, soften, and show up for yourself.
What You’ll Leave With
✔️ Easy daily tools for managing stiffness, anxiety & fatigue
✔️ Deeper understanding of physical conditions through the lens of Chinese Medicine
✔️ Personalised support & meaningful connection
✔️ A renewed sense of possibility, warmth, connection & inner calm
What You’ll Experience
🔹 Gentle, Accessible Qi Gong
Move energy through the body with powerful yet easy exercises adapted for all abilities. Helps improve balance, reduce tremors, and bring calm to the mind.
🔹 Healing Food Medicine
Discover foods that reduce inflammation, support dopamine production, and nourish your nervous system. Includes hands-on cooking demo and a delicious seasonal lunch.
🔹 Self-Acupressure & Shiatsu Techniques
Learn simple points to ease pain, lift mood, and improve digestion and sleep. You’ll be able to use these daily at home.
🔹 Breathwork & Taoist Meditation
Practice Microcosmic Orbit breathing and healing sound meditations to calm anxiety, improve clarity, and restore your inner flow.
🔹 Real Talk with Davy
Hear David’s story—raw, honest, and hopeful. What helps. What doesn’t. What keeps him moving, loving, and laughing every day.
🔹 Safe Space for Sharing
Join a circle of understanding. Share your experience (only if you want to) and feel held in community.
Why This Retreat Is Different
Most support for chronic conditions such as Chronic Fatigue or Parkinson’s focuses on medication and physical therapy. That’s important, but we go deeper.
We explore the energetic body, the role of the Kidneys in brain and bone health, and how fear, frustration, and fatigue can be transformed through Qi Gong, food, and healing touch.
Retreat Schedule
Morning Qi Gong Session
Breathwork Practice
Learn Taoist breathwork and simple visualisation that clears stress and supports dopamine production, sleep and digestion.
Nourishing the Nervous System with Food
Understanding Kidney Jing, Liver wind, digestion, inflammation and the nervous system through the Five Elements and Five Flavours of food.
Seasonal Lunch
Food Medicine in Practice: Enjoy a delicious and functional meal that supports your body’s needs, prepared with care and expertise.
Guided Meditation & Healing Sounds Practice
Deep rest and guided inner journey. Plus Taoist sound healing to shift emotion and support the body’s organs energetically. Especially helpful for anxiety, frustration, grief or fear
Group Reflection & Closing Tea
Sauna & Plunge
Heat/cold therapy for circulation, joint mobility, mood and immunity
Meet Your Hosts
Joanne Faulkner is a Qi Gong teacher, Shiatsu practitioner, and food medicine expert with over 20 years of experience in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Her passion is making healing joyful, grounded, and accessible.
David Millard (Davy) is living proof that you can live well with Parkinson’s. His insight, humour, and courage create a space where everyone feels seen and supported. Together, they co-wrote the upcoming book Find Your Flow: Live Well with Parkinson’s (2026).
The Venue: Cnoc na mBan
Nestled in the serene embrace of Cnoc na mBan, the “Hill of Women” in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, we welcome you to our “Warm Your Bones; Ease into Flow.” Day Retreat on 8th November 2025.
You are invited to pause, listen, and return home to your body, to reclaim your energy, your rhythm, and your joy.
Surrounded by mountains, forests, and open skies, it’s the perfect haven to gently land and expand.
“It felt like the land itself was holding us.” – previous participant
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t find your answer below, email us at joanne@joannefaulkner.ie and we’d be happy to help!
Will I be able to keep up with the practices if I have limited mobility or fatigue?
Absolutely. All practices—including Qi Gong and breathwork—can be done seated or standing, and you are encouraged to listen to your body and rest when needed. This day is about nourishing, not pushing.
I have Parkinson’s/fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue—what if I need breaks or can’t do everything?
That’s completely fine. Everything is designed to be gentle, adaptable and supportive. You are free to pause, rest, or even nap during sessions. There is no pressure or expectation to complete everything—just being in the space is healing.
Is this retreat suitable if I’m coming alone?
Yes, many people attend alone, and the small group size (10 max) means you’ll feel warmly welcomed and connected. This retreat is a safe space to be yourself, whether you want quiet reflection or shared conversation.
Do I need to be fit or flexible to do Qi Gong?
Not at all. Qi Gong is a slow, flowing practice based on breath and energy. It’s suitable for all levels—including complete beginners and those with physical limitations.
I’ve never done anything like this before. Will I feel out of place?
Not at all. This retreat is designed for beginners and those new to Chinese Medicine, meditation or healing practices. Everything is explained clearly and guided with kindness.
What should I bring?
Bring warm, comfortable clothes, a water bottle, a notebook if you’d like to jot down insights, and a towel and swimwear if you plan to enjoy the sauna and plunge. All food and materials are provided.
Is the venue accessible?
Cnoc na mBan is a cosy, purpose-built healing space with flat indoor access. If you have specific mobility or access needs, let us know, we’ll do our best to accommodate you.
Is lunch included? What kind of food will be served?
Yes! A warming, seasonal Five Elements lunch is included, designed to support kidney and nervous system health. The meal is vegetarian, nourishing, and beautifully prepared with your needs in mind.
Can someone attend with me (like my partner or carer)?
Yes, partners, carers and close companions are welcome. This retreat is especially inclusive for those supporting someone with a chronic condition or navigating their own healing journey.
How do I book, and is there a discount for Chi Flow members?
You can book online HERE. Chi Flow with Jo members receive a special discounted rate.
Five Element Food Medicine Cookbooks
Joanne's books combine Five Element Food Medicine, Qi Gong, Acupressure and Chinese Medicine healing wisdom to help people improve energy, digestion, hormones, sleep and healthy ageing naturally.
They are written for anyone wanting practical, nourishing ways to feel stronger, calmer and more vibrant in everyday life.
INTRODUCTION TO ENERGETICS OF FOOD
Increase energy and vitality.
Mid, Post and Peri Menopause.
SPECIAL OFFER: BOOK BUNDLE
Find Your Flow: Live Well with Parkinson's
Paperback & eBook (with Audio Companion)
Find Your Flow: Live Well with Parkinson's is more than just a book, it's a supportive companion for anyone living with Parkinson's or caring for a loved one. Written by Joanne Faulkner, Qi Gong teacher and Traditional Chinese Medicine expert, together with her husband David Millard, who lives with Parkinson's, this resource blends practical tools with lived experience.
You'll discover simple daily practices to ease fatigue, stiffness, and overwhelm, including:
- Qi Gong exercises for balance and energy
- Acupressure points for relief and calm
- Food medicine recipes to nourish body and mind
- Encouragement and real-life insights from Jo & Davy's journey
Available in multiple formats:
eBook & Audiobook (€12.99) - read or listen on the go
Paperback (€15.99 + P&P) - a bedside or kitchen companion
Bundle (€24.99 + P&P) - get all three formats for the best value
Special offers include gift options, signed copies, and bundle discounts for therapists and support groups.
What if your body has been speaking to you all along, through your energy, emotions, cravings, symptoms and seasons of life? Good Food: Better Sex is a nourishing food medicine guide about rebuilding a loving, respectful relationship with your body, your health and your life force, without shame.
In Chinese Medicine, sexual energy is not simply about sex, it is the deep root of vitality, creativity, confidence, ageing well and feeling fully alive. This book helps you understand what your body is asking for through different seasons, emotions and physical symptoms, so you can choose foods that warm, cool, strengthen, soothe, move and nourish you.
It is an invitation to stop fighting your body and start listening to it, to feed yourself with care, restore your energy from the inside out, and cultivate the kind of life force that helps you live long, love deeply and prosper in every part of your life.
What if cooking could become a way of listening to your body, understanding your energy, and caring for yourself through the seasons, emotions and organs?
In Chinese Medicine, food is understood through its relationship with the Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Each element connects with different organs, emotions, seasons, flavours and physical symptoms. Wood relates to the Liver and the movement of energy, Fire to the Heart and joy, Earth to the Spleen and digestion, Metal to the Lungs and letting go, and Water to the Kidneys and deep vitality.
This little book helps you begin to understand how food can warm, cool, move, strengthen, dry, moisten or settle the body, so you can make simple choices that support digestion, mood, energy, immunity and emotional balance.
INTERMITTENT FASTING HEALTHY, EASY & FUN
REDUCE SWEET CRAVINGS AND RESTORE STEADY ENERGY NATURALLY.
