Skyros – if it doesn’t change your life, it will definitely float your boat

By Tom Morley

I’ve stayed at several Holistic Holiday centres, from Australia to Bali to India and the UK. Those retreats had elements of what I was looking for, but only Atsitsa, on the Greek island of Skyros, has them all and all at once.

Respect for modern rituals, yoga, bodywork, dance, massage, music and grounded therapeutic work, all held in place by young vibey staff and well-seasoned teachers. Not to mention the tastiest food and drink: yes, they do have a starlit bar.

The young ‘work-scholars’ who keep the cogs in sync don’t seem to know the word “Whatever”, or if they do they never use it. An intelligent enthusiasm seems to power them and together they set a great scene for weary travellers on arrival. Their authentic warmth is overwhelmingly attractive.

The accommodation is quirky, comfortable and respectful of the culture it’s drawing from. The ‘rooms’ simply say “Welcome, you’re safe here. Get ready for something new.”

All the food is confidently prepared with love. With the funkiest of tunes blasting out from the kitchen you just know that supper is going to taste good tonight. And so does every other meal, day after day after day.

The heart of the holiday, the courses, are unsurpassed. With each teacher bringing at least 20 years experience to Atsitsa you literally have centuries of wisdom here. It’s all delivered with the appropriate humour and sensitivity that only dark-side travellers can bring.

You’ve probably guessed we’re not talking happy-clappy holiday bar here. The Atsitsa centre is a temple of truth with a cutting edge soundtrack.

Slumdog Millionaire meets Blade Runner on the set of Mama Mia. And this is the editor’s cut. It’s an ambitious formula, perfected over decades.

So, whatever plane you’re coming on, fasten your seatbelt. This is tangible enlightenment, community worth it’s name, luxuriously buoyant swimming, therapy with a purpose and creativity with results.

Atsitsa. A sensually explicit catalogue of sessions that, even if it doesn’t change your life, will definitely float your boat.

Tom Morley, September 2011

www.blacktiewhitelie.com – tom@blacktiewhitelie.com – +44 (0)7753 802 952

For more information on holidays available with Skyros visit our website, pop us over an email or drop us a line by
phone! www.skyros.com – office@skyros.com – +44 (0)1983 86 55 66

If you've visited Atsitsa Bay or The Skyros Centre this summer and would like to let others know about your experience, we'd love for you to add a review to our Trip Advisor pages. Thank you in advance!
Atsitsa on Trip Advisor
The Skyros Centre on Trip Advisor

Forget about Glastonbury... Come to Skyros!

This August and September, you'll find a new variety of sounds floating across the Aegean as holidaymakers joining Skyros Holidays get musically attuned to the best the music world can offer! Guests on our renowned holidays on Skyros island will be able to take part in a number of different musical workshops run by experts from a whole spectrum of creative backgrounds. Chart topping singer Sarah Warwick, who has three number one hits under her belt, drummer and singer Tom Morley of pop group Scritti Politti fame, contemporary jazz singer Kate Daniels and expert in creative digital music making Colin Williams, will be just some of the facilitators there to share their talents. For more information see www.Skyros.com.

From perfecting their pitch to creating a musical masterpiece, guests will be able to let the melody run through them during their time with Skyros. And for those who believe they are tone deaf, or perhaps have two left feet, all the more reason to come along! The safe and supportive community found on a Skyros holiday provides the ideal atmosphere to try out those things you've never dared before.

Skyros island lies off the east coast of Greece and offers a perfect environment for all things creative. Whether visiting Atsitsa Bay or the Skyros Centre, participants can divide their time between relaxation and creative inspiration, with courses in music, art, writing, comedy and much more. One of our top performers/facilitators is Arthur Smith, renowned comedian, writer and broadcaster, who is currently appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. After performing all over the world and writing every form of comedy from stand up to one-liners to full-length plays and screenplays, Arthur will return to Skyros for his second year teaching at the Writer's Lab. He will be joined by a whole host of famous authors such as Monique Roffey and Louisa Young.

So what are you waiting for? All the world's a stage, and we challenge you to find one better than Skyros island...

For more information on what a holiday with Skyros offers, see www.skyros.com, email office@skyros.com, or call 01983 86 55 66.

Steps to successful living by Kate Daniels

Skyros facilitator Kate Daniels, a consultant systemic therapist and jazz singer, talks with fellow Skyros facilitator Alison Goldie about her course that is running at the Skyros Centre this September....

Alison: We have just done some music together at the Skyros in London cabaret and I gather you are running a life coaching course at Skyros this summer?

KD: Yes 'SC 14' which will be running at the Skyros Centre, 1 - 11 September. I do have a musical career but I have also been a Systemic therapist for almost 30 years. I enjoy both worlds! I have worked with organisations, couples and individuals and currently I am director of training for family therapy at The Tavistock Centre. The life coaching courses I run at Skyros draw from all these aspects of my work.

Alison: What are you covering on your course this year?

KD: The key aims are to help people get their lives and relationships on a course they define, and to develop their skills and resources with this in mind. Too often these days, people find themselves on a treadmill often trying to satisfy so many different competing agendas that they lose a sense of themselves as authors of their own destiny.

Alison: What makes your course different?

KD: My course is based on developing people’s strengths rather than focussing on their deficits. It is an antidote to self-help manuals. We live in a culture that reads like a school report: ‘could do better’ – Self-help manuals buy into this. They seem to encourage the view that one should always be striving. They imply that if you religiously follow all the rules and regimes they set out, make enough lists and get up early enough you WILL be happy and fulfilled. Of course they can be helpful but the risk is you can end up exhausted, anxious and feeling like a failure with nothing to show but bookshelves full of self help manuals.

Alison: So how is your course an antidote?

KD: I want to help people develop an appreciation of themselves rather than critical or tiring expectations. The research shows that the most successful and lasting change happens when people feel that they are in charge of the changes they make in their lives and also feel as though they are making the changes from a position of strength. In my course this is an important consideration. Using an Appreciative Enquiry approach participants are encouraged to develop a sense of their expertise about their lives and their capacity to make good choices. Equally they are encouraged to investigate and develop their own pace of change.

Alison: What do you mean by ‘pace of change’?

KD: Everyone has a different way of ‘doing’ change and it can help to explore it and decide how it works for you. Sometimes people feel so overwhelmed with their lives they despair of being able to change anything. Sometimes they keep trying to change things by applying and re-applying the same old solutions that haven’t worked. In my course we take the pressure off and play with different ideas and beliefs. For example change doesn’t have to be huge to be effective. I like the Systemic idea that small change at one part of a system resounds throughout and can have wide effect. Or the idea that change gathers momentum like a snowball

Alison: You say ‘play’ with different ideas...?

KD: Yes I don’t believe that change only happens accompanied by wailing and gnashing of teeth! We do enjoy ourselves on my course although indeed it can be challenging.

Alison: In what way ‘challenging’?

KD: Sometimes it is difficult for people to let go of old beliefs even though these might be beliefs that are disempowering and self critical. Beliefs that support and encourage a person to feel good about him or herself are often the ones that have the quietest voice. My aim is to give these more air time and turn them up.

Alison: What do you hope people will take home with them from your course?

KD: An emerging sense of confidence and optimism, some re-formulated beliefs about themselves and their world, skills and tools for developing and enriching their lives, and maybe as one past participant put it 'a host of admiring angels'!

For more information about Kate's course 'Successful Living', or for any other holidays with Skyros, call us on 01983 86 55 66 or email office@skyros.com.

10 Top Reasons to take a Skyros Holiday...

By Rochelle Snow (second pirate from the right!), a recent addition to the UK Skyros Team.



There is the occasional job out there that comes with a few added perks. Years back, I worked for a Mexican restaurant and managed to live off free burritos for an entire month. As you can imagine, it was a good month! However, when Skyros Holidays asked me to head out to Greece to experience the Skyros magic first hand, little did I know that this perk of the job would actually turn out to be my very own holiday of a lifetime....

So, as hard as it is to condense my time on Skyros into 10 top highlights, here I go!


1) Laugh as much as you did as a child. Remember that carefree laughter that can bring tears to your eyes? My muscles ached for a week after Skyros!


2) Meet some amazing people. It's a cliché, but from the younger work scholars to the participants that have been visiting Skyros since the 80's, amazing friendships are formed.


3) Relax on a completely new level. Swim in the crystal clear Aegean, fall asleep to goat bells and wake to the sound of the birds. Bliss!


4) Do all those crazy things you've always wanted, but never dared! Ten days in Skyros and I'm now a windsurfer-cum-guitar player... I can even do both at the same time. (Joking!)


5) Eat well, eat heartily and eat fresh! Spinach & ricotta pie... slow-roasted lamb shanks... Mediterranean mixed vegetables... fresh Greek salad... need I say more?


6) Renew your confidence. In life. In relationships. In yourself. 


7) Live your myth in an ancient land. Talk to Theseus, Achilles and Odysseus
and immerse yourself in a country bursting with beautiful architecture, history, culture and philosophy.


8) Remind yourself about what's important. Skyros helped remind me to love, laugh and live!


9) Get a suntan! It was a working HOLIDAY, after all....


10) Find out what all the fuss is about! It's such a joy to realise the attraction that brings people to Skyros year after year. I, for one, will definitely be heading back. And I'm glad to finally be in on the secret...




For more information on the holidays available with Skyros, or to reserve your place, call us on 01983 86 55 66.

A Book Signing - Skyros Style! By Jane Salvage

Ever been to a book launch? Like me, are you thinking London glitterati, flowing champagne, fancy canapés and signing a pile of books with a posh fountain pen? Now think again - of how a book launch at Skyros might be. The champagne has turned to retsina, the canapés are stuffed vine leaves and the glitterati are wearing bikinis and shorts.

This is the scenario I’m picturing for the launch of my new book, Skyros: island of dreams, at Atsitsa in July. Six instalments from it can already be downloaded at www.skyros.com, but my printed copy has only just rolled off the press. Call me old-fashioned, but websites and Kindles can never match the thrill of slipping a new unread book into your beach bag.

So I’ll be at Atsitsa for the end of session AT8 (July 10) and the beginning of AT9, to talk about the book, tell a few stories and hopefully sign a mountain of copies for my new readers. This launch has been a long time coming.

I’ve been visiting Skyros for 20 years as a participant, journalist, course teacher and tourist. As I thought about what it meant for my personal journey, and how my visits had enriched my life, I realised that the amazing story of the Skyros organization had never been fully told, let alone the stories of the people who went there. So I thought I’d give it a go.

Skyros has of course starred in innumerable articles, TV shows and novels, but never before in a full-length book. Skyros: Island of Dreams is based on my independent research and personal experience, with fascinating interviews and contributions from participants, staff and teachers. I hope it will be enjoyed not only by previous and potential Skyros participants, but also by anyone interested in personal growth, creativity and the future of our planet.

I’ve explored the island’s extraordinary history, geography and culture so it’s a also a guidebook. And as an added incentive – if you are a Skyros facilitator or a past participant, you might find yourself in the book! It’s packed with photos as well as stories, some of them pretty revealing… especially page 145...

Skyros: island of dreams by Jane Salvage is published by the Skyros Foundation (2011) and costs £7.99

To order your copy, call 01983 86 55 66, or take a holiday out to Skyros island and pick up a copy in person!

Skyros: Far away from the madness we call life. By Sarah McIntosh

There is a place, far away from the madness you call your life, where you are given permission to play, to be creative, to be free. It is called Skyros and to me it will always mean release...

I live in the north east of Scotland, a place of immense beauty but a place that challenges me with cold and intense light. For someone who was born and brought up in the gentle climes of South Wales, I find it tough at times. So tough that last year I had to take a holiday, from my children, my husband, my house.

Skyros was a name I had known from my London days, years ago, but popped back into my head just when I needed it. I booked. People asked where I was going for my holiday. “Alone?” they said, but I knew I would not be alone. Skyros is not a place for alone.

I arrived with no expectations and was surprised with the choices I made. I did not do yoga, but completed my solitary yoga salutations before the eight oʼclock class each morning. I took a course in sailing. Sailing? Me? But it was girl power with sails thanks to Shaz. I did Sound Therapy with Suzie and was party to the most amazing transformations of emotion whilst experiencing something that had only ever happened to me before in a floatation tank. To be sung to operatically without the distance of stage to audience is a truly incredible thing. For the eight oʼclock class, I chose Morning Pages with Mandy. The simplest things have the most profound effect. Mandy gave us permission to write. Just like that. After quite a few years of procrastination I was off, because Mandy sat in front of me and told me to do it. Each morning writing four or five pages of thought and feeling. On day four I wrote the beginnings of a short story. Just a sketch, but enough to now work on. It gave me the confidence to start the Creative Writing Masters I am now halfway through. Just because someone who didnʼt know me as a wife or a mother sat there and said “Now write...”

Back at the ranch, of course I donʼt do yoga every morning, though I always feel better for doing it when I can. I donʼt write every day, though when I do,the flow is confident. What changed on Skyros is that I did things that I didnʼt know I could do, I met people I wouldnʼt normally meet and I had the space to think my thoughts, not those for the benefit of other people. It was because of that that I was happy to return to this tough life in the far north, to the people I love, knowing that there are now more people I love and appreciate.

All because of that week on a small Greek island.

Thank You. x

That's Skyros For You, by Catherine Thompson

The skin has just about finished peeling off the end of my nose (not the most fetching look) having just returned from running my coaching programme in Skyros Centre.

Skyros has been the back drop of significant transformation for me over the last decade. I first turned up at Atsitsa a successful business woman but manic single parent, looking for a bloke.

I had procrastinated prior to booking because whilst I spouted the language of spirituality, I was a corporate-type, tree hugging, channelling angels and other such acts of the mystic were well out my spectrum of experience and comfort zone. However the lure of the Island, Skyros' down to earth approach and the prospect of more evolved potential suitors got me booked.

As it was to transpire, I was guided to Skyros to meet a man but it was not for courtship purposes. In between predating, I attended Malcolm Sterns Courage to Change workshop, most unexpectedly, I found myself screaming like a banshee as he held me with his incredible gaze, representing every man that had ever hurt or betrayed me.

Shy, did not begin to describe how I felt after that experience (I was certainly very furtive around the breakfast buffet) but I felt like I had gobbed up the most enormous psychological fur ball.

Several years later, after a lot of soul searching and a new husband (woohoo,) I was thrilled to be invited back as a facilitator.

Skyros draws to it the most eclectic mix of people. This time would be Writers, Chief Executives, Singles, International Marketers and those of more a mature disposition were all represented. Amongst us was a rare gem called Maya.

Maya is one of those delightful creatures of indeterminate age, with a twinkle in her eye that suggests a life fully and richly lived. Everyday this wonderful, irrepressible Lady would turn up clutching her beloved bottle of Retsina (before you have her down as a lush she is a modest tippler) and just lift us all with the sheer force of her positivity and childlike delight at all she sampled and surveyed.

One morning at Demos (our breakfast meeting) Amanda Smyth our course director and successful author, read this moving story of a man who sold up and travelled the world, unsuccessfully, in search of diamonds, only to die broken and abject. When on the very land he had left behind diamonds were discovered.

Just before a very emotional goodbye after a deeply rewarding week of kinship and endeavour the sun caught the sequins sewn on to Maya’s skirt and all around light sparkled on the floor like diamonds.

That’s Skyros for you..

For more information about Skyros Holidays visit www.skyros.com or call 01983 86 55 66