Profile of Skyros Facilitator: John Gloster-Smith

I’m really excited to be at the Skyros Village Centre in Greece this June delivering my programmes “Peace in your Heart” and “Peace in your Life” for Skyros Holidays.

So, here’s something about me...

I live in beautiful Wiltshire, UK, near to Avebury stone circle in crop circle country, and I’m married to a psychotherapist and interfaith minister. I’m a life coach and group facilitator, being accredited as a coach with the Association for Coaching and as a group facilitator with the UK Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners. I’ve trained in Gestalt and NLP and studied yogic philosophy and meditation. I’m a certified Laughter Yoga teacher. I also have a PGCE and have taught for 17 years, and I’ve coached many executives and run leadership development programmes in both the public and private sectors. So I have a very broad experience in developing people, or as I see it, helping them develop themselves.

My passion is helping people grow and fulfil their dreams and I have a particular interest in using awareness to connect with our inner spiritual self and in dealing with the ego. I see this work as acquiring a kind of direct line to inner contentment. In fact I have just finished writing a book on this subject called “Connecting to Inner Peace”.

About my workshops...

Peace in your Heart, 5 – 11 June 2010
Here’s where you can learn how to still your mind and connect with your true inner Self, which in Indian spirituality is your source of lasting contentment. Develop skill in being calm and present, in managing your mind, dealing with your ego, and knowing the splendour of your heart. Here’s where you can de-stress and learn the art of letting go and being connected to who you really are.

Peace in your Life, 12 – 18 June 2010
And in this workshop you can take the understandings of the first workshop forward and further develop your ability to be aware of and connect to your inner Self. However the focus of this second week is how you can also become more skilled at managing and resolving the challenges of everyday living, your reactions to situations and people, and your own “ego moments” in life, so as to manifest what you really want.

In both workshops we work using teaching, discussion, self-awareness coaching, small-group work, east-meets-west philosophy, yogic meditation, NLP visualisation, laughter yoga and music.

Superb for a holiday setting, a great place to reflect on what it’s all about and where you want to go in life – and meet lots of like-minded people. And the philosophic bits seem sort of appropriate for a Greek location. After all, it was over the door to the ancient Greek temple of Apollo at Delphi that visitors to the famous oracle would see the words “Know Thyself”.

John will be running his courses at the Skyros Centre, Skyros island, Greece from Saturday 5 to Friday 18 June (SC4). The two-week holiday also includes options for yoga, writing and painting. To find out more, visit www.skyros.com, call us on 01983 865566 or email office@skyros.com.

Julian Doyle joins Skyros-in-Cambodia

You might think directing a film ends with its release but ‘oh no!’ Publicity takes over your world. I was in the middle of this for my film ‘Chemical Wedding' and also caught up with the publicity for the New Monty Python documentary when I was rescued by a request from Skyros to help them out on their holiday in Cambodia. Film director Anna Campion had pulled out from teaching at the last minute. Could I help?





[Above: JULIAN DOYLE, BRUCE DICKINSON and SIMON CALLOW publicising their film, 'CHEMICAL WEDDING']

[Left: JULIAN DOYLE interviewed for MONTY PYTHON DOCUMENTARY]





So.... escape to the Jungle where I could imagine myself as Alan Quartermain showing how to shoot Elephants and Monkey’s – not with a gun but with a digital camera.

Keep your camera on automatic and wide angle, at the ready, then zoom in once you see your prey.



We tracked all day following the trail of elephant droppings finally out onto a grassy plane. Now I really felt like a scene from ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ as I brought up the rear of our snaking band. A few brief glimpses of wild game but as we returned to our landrovers – there were the monkeys waiting to scrounge off us by the road!



A few days later and I was Indian Jones in the TEMPLE OF DOOM – searching lost Temples hidden in the forests by huge waterfalls where massive trees whose roots snake round dark doorways. Now back to the cold of London and more interviews - it was all like a lovely dream that will stay with me.


Julian Doyle, one of the world's most versatile Film Makers, ran the Digital Photography and Film course for Skyros on it's overland tour in Cambodia this January, 2010. Find out more about the creative courses available in Greece this season at www.skyros.com.

Julian has written, directed, photographed, edited and created special Fx's in feature films all to the highest standards. He has also won awards for directing pop videos such as Kate Bush's 'CLOUDBUSTING' featuring Donald Sutherland and Iron Maiden's hit 'CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS'. He is most famous for editing MONTY PYTHON film 'LIFE OF BRIAN' and shooting the Fx's for Terry Gilliam's 'TIMEBANDITS' and 'BRAZIL' which he also edited. He has just completed 'CHEMICAL WEDDING', an occult thriller starring Simon Callow.