Resonances
Vocal retreat on Aegina island, Greece
22–25 October 2026 · 4 days · 7 participants max
What happens to your voice when the walls answer back?
For four days, on a Greek island where the earth has been carved for millennia to hold water, explore the harmonics of your own voice — outdoors among centuries-old olive trees, then inside underground cisterns where the reverberation is so vivid that a single sustained tone multiplies, wraps around you, and passes through your body.
Aegina — between earth, sea, and memory
Forty minutes by ferry from Piraeus, Aegina is one of the quiet gems of the Saronic Gulf. Not a postcard island, but a lived-in place with a depth you feel the moment you step off the boat — in the light, in the air, in the slow rhythm of the days.
The south of the island unfolds a mineral, arid landscape — almost lunar in places — punctuated by olive trees several centuries old. The ancient olive grove of Aegina, Αρχαίος ελαιώνας της Αίγινας, whose twisted trunks carry the trace of centuries of wind and drought. This is where, in the volcanic rock, the island’s inhabitants carved open-air water reservoirs called souvales — some possibly dating back to the Bronze Age. Basins cut from living stone, witnesses to an ancient relationship between people, rock, and water.
In mythology, it was on this island that Zeus transformed ants into human beings to repopulate the kingdom of Aeacus — the Myrmidons, Achilles’ people, born from the earth itself. Strabo tells us they were given this name because, like ants, they dug spaces into the ground. The earth of Aegina, from the very beginning, is an earth that has been hollowed out.
That gesture never stopped. The underground cisterns found on the island today continue the same ancient know-how — digging into the earth to hold water in a land that lacks it. And it’s inside these enclosed spaces, heirs to that millennial gesture, that the human voice encounters extraordinary acoustics. The walls return the sound, amplify it, multiply it. What was built for water becomes a place of revelation for the voice.
In ancient Greece, enclosed spaces dedicated to the cult of Pan were already chosen for their acoustic properties. The archaeologist Nektarios Yioutsos describes them as “natural musical instruments” — places where sound became a physical, collective, sacred experience. The archaeoacoustician Iégor Reznikoff has shown that in prehistoric caves, the placement of paintings correlates with the acoustic qualities of those locations — our ancestors marked the places where sound came most alive. The cisterns of Aegina, in their own way, carry something of that same ancient relationship between human beings, enclosed spaces, and the resonance of the voice.
Four days, four pillars
The retreat follows the Resonant S.E.L.F. progression — four pillars that take you, day by day, from listening to the world toward listening to yourself.
Soundscape · Embodiment · Listening · Focus
Day 1 — Soundscape: The sonic landscape of Aegina
Arrival on the island. Before placing the voice, we open the ear.
This is not a warm-up exercise — it’s the philosophical foundation of the entire retreat. In every culture where overtone singing developed, it emerged from people who knew how to listen to their environment with extraordinary attention. The Tuvan herder listening to a river bend. The Sardinian shepherd hearing stone walls amplify his voice. The practice was born from the landscape before it became a technique.
We begin the same way. A listening walk among the ancient olive trees. Discovery of the souvales — those open-air water reservoirs carved into volcanic rock, witnesses to millennia of relationship between people and stone. We observe. We listen. What does the wind do when it crosses a stone basin? What happens to your footsteps between open air and a sunken path? What overtones are already present in the sounds around you, before you make a single vocal sound?
By the end of the first day, your ear is already different. And that difference is what everything else will build on.
Day 2 — Embodiment: Sound in the body
The voice is born in the body — in bone, cavities, tissue. Work on breath, grounding, then exploration of vowels and their physical effects. Where does the sound settle in your body? Where does it meet resistance? In the afternoon, a first encounter with enclosed spaces: how the same sound transforms between an open olive grove, a sunken path, and a vaulted chamber. Your ear sharpens. Your voice finds its anchor.
Day 3 — Listening: What the stone reveals
The heart of the retreat. We descend into an underground cistern with astonishing reverberation. The duduk opens the sonic path, then each person places their voice. A single sustained tone multiplies against the walls and envelops you — a physical experience before it’s an intellectual one. Introduction to overtone singing: the acoustics of the enclosed space help you hear harmonics you’ve never noticed. We close the day with a shared vocal meditation in the cistern.
Day 4 — Focus: Integration and autonomy
The final morning draws the threads together. What have you heard? What has shifted? We revisit the key exercises, adapt them to your daily practice, and anchor the experience so it continues beyond the retreat. Closing circle among the olive trees.
Practical information
Dates: 22–25 October 2026 Location: Aegina, Greece (exact venues communicated upon registration) Group size: 7 participants maximum Level: All levels welcome. No prior overtone singing experience required. Language: English (I also speak French and Greek)
What’s included:
- All sessions (approx. 5 hours/day)
- Access to the underground cistern and outdoor practice spaces (olive groves, souvales)
- Daily guidance and personalized feedback
- Small group: genuine individual attention
What’s not included:
- Travel to Aegina (see “How to get there” below)
- Accommodation (I’ll send a list of recommended options on Aegina)
- Meals
Price: 690 € Early bird (before 30 June 2026): 590 €
Prices in euros. Your bank converts to your local currency at the current rate.
To register or ask a question: Write to me →
How to get there
Fly into Athens International Airport (ATH). From there, take the metro or bus to Piraeus port (about 1 hour). Ferries to Aegina depart frequently from Piraeus — the ride takes approximately 40 minutes and costs around 15 €. I’ll send detailed travel instructions upon registration.
If you’d like to arrive a day early to settle in and explore the island, I can recommend accommodation and things to see.
This retreat is for you if...
- You’re drawn to the experience of singing in acoustically alive spaces
- You want to explore overtone singing (or deepen an existing practice) in a setting that can’t be replicated online
- You value small groups, personal attention, and time for silence
- You’re comfortable with an approach that’s both experiential and grounded in acoustic understanding
This retreat is not a therapy retreat, a silent meditation retreat, or a performance workshop. It’s an exploration — of sound, space, resonance, and what your voice reveals when the environment listens back.
About Aegina
Aegina sits in the Saronic Gulf, easily reached from Athens. The island is home to the Temple of Aphaia — one of the three points of the “sacred triangle” alongside the Parthenon and the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion. October brings warm days (around 22°C / 72°F), cooler evenings, calm seas, and the unhurried calm of the Greek islands after summer.
The retreat takes place in the rural south of the island, among olive groves, stone walls, and volcanic terrain. It’s a landscape that invites slowness and attention — which is exactly what the voice needs.