Find your True Voice. Live from it.
The Men's Table
Sound, ancestral song and life enquiry, ending in a ritual feast
with Anthony Johnston
Eight Monday evenings · Mon 26th Oct – Mon 14th Dec 2026
Village Soul Project Studio, Ashburton, Devon TQ11 0JT
Read these words lightly. There may be some new ideas here. The evenings will bring more than these words can carry.
Voice, sound and song once formed part of men's daily experience, marking life's transitions: the seasons, births, deaths, marriages. Song and dance defined and affirmed a deep sense of belonging to the village and to the culture. They connected men to their ancestors. In song, we can celebrate, honour, praise and bless. With a song, the moment and our collective experience can be raised up into a different dimension. Song offers us the possibility of soulful belonging.
Dark Nights - Inner Flame
Winter can deepen isolation. Through the darkest weeks of the year, we meet each week in voice, song and contact, ending with a feast in mid-December.
The winter months needn't be about putting our heads down, grinning and bearing it, and just getting through. We need some inner sustenance to carry us through. Each Monday we gather to tend the inner flame, keeping it alive and bright, so that winter can become a time of [nourishment and] connection.
What Happens at the Table
Life Enquiry
Each evening has a structured time for Life Enquiry. I offer a theme and a few questions, and you contemplate them in pairs: one man speaks while the other listens, then you change over. Themes this term may include what really matters, ancestors, fathers, mothers, partners, children, love, purpose, and grief and loss. One evening is given to the mystery of life. Group sharing is kept short, so each man has more time to be listened to, to be received, and to find his own words.
This isn't a therapy group, and it isn't a place to bring your everyday problems. It's a place to step back from them, look at your life from a wider angle, and put what you find into words and sound with other men.
Sound, Song and a Different Way of Meeting
I have experienced the power of group sound many times. When men sound together in this particular way, with attention and care for each other, something happens that words can't reach. Sound frees us from the need to explain. It takes us beyond the story, and gives us direct communication and connection with each other.
The songs we use come from Caucasus Georgia. We learn them until they're known well enough to own and claim. This is not choir. At most, it's an introduction to Georgian song. We're not working towards performance.
We get to choose how we relate and how we communicate. At the Men's Table we step outside our everyday ways of talking with each other, and practise a different way of meeting. We listen fully, speak what's true, and receive each other without judgement or advice.
The Ritual Feast
Everything we do over the eight weeks leads to the feast: the themes we contemplate, the songs we learn, the sound we make together. On Mon 14th Dec it all comes to the table. The feast is inspired by the Georgian Supra and my travels to that country. It brings together food, and song, toasts, and the goodwill between us. A toast here is not a speech. You stand and speak from your heart, as truthfully as you can, so that your words land in the heart of the other men. We raise a toast to the themes we have been contemplating throughout the term. Toasts such as to life, to friendship, to love, to the children, to the ancestors and those who came before us, we will toast to our victory. We will bring the songs we have learned -a feast without song is not really a feast.
There's no wine or alcohol at our table. The food we bring to the table will be the food that we make with our own hands.
How we'll be working
We work with breath, sound, voice and song - looking for where your power lives: in pairs, in small groups, and with the whole group.
This is a practice: a life skill and a relationship skill we can bring to our own lives. How we show up, how we listen and receive, and how we give and express ourselves.
The day builds on small wins: yours, and the ones you see other men making. Each risk you take is your victory, and our inspiration.
We go step by step, with consent, confidentiality and clear agreements. You won't be forced or pushed into anything you're not comfortable with, and you won't be left alone with whatever you've been carrying. No screaming, no forced emotional release. Your boundaries are respected at all times. When the time's right, you will know it.
There will be chances to give voice on your own before the group. Whether you take them is always your choice. We close with a sound ritual and a final circle.
This is therapeutic, but not therapy. It doesn't involve talking about your problems. It's an opportunity to let your problem-solving mind go, and to find yourself in the goodwill and connection of other men.
Who Is This For?
You don't need to know how to use your singing voice, or even be comfortable with it. Whether you sing regularly or haven't sung since school, there's a place for you here.
This day may be for you if you:
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sense there's more of you wanting to be expressed, but don't know how to reach it
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want something that goes deeper than words
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are happy to explore sound, voice and song as a way of communicating and connecting
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want something for yourself, outside your roles as partner, father or provider
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are drawn to what's soulful, authentic and real inside you, and want to meet other men there
Come as you are. That's who we want: your grief, your loss, your broken-heartedness, your edges and your grit.
Be open to stepping outside the everyday agreements about how men relate, into a way of meeting that keeps your dignity and respect intact.
Reflections and Comments from Previous Participants
"Anthony held people at the very edge of their comfort zone with such skill and care that they were able to choose just how much they wanted to open themselves."
Fergus Ryan
"Impeccably held… perhaps the most impactful stand-alone retreat from ten years of attending such events… understated and softly profound."
Adam Powell
"I have previously ventured into self development and process work quite deeply, and this experience sits at the top of all the work that I have done on myself… (I would definitely consider myself a non-singer.) Being welcomed to express myself, however I am, with all my frailties and imperfections, was a beautiful and liberating experience that I will remember always."
Tom Otter
Anthony Johnston
Anthony has spent more than thirty years exploring the power of the human voice as a path to personal and spiritual growth. The approach he has developed helps people express deeper parts of themselves that are rarely given a voice in everyday life. He has led more than fifty residential retreats in the UK and Europe.
He founded Borjghali Georgian Choir in Bristol and directed it for some twenty years. He has been returning to Georgia for its songs and cultural inspiration since 2006.
He is a certified Mind Clearing practitioner and a trained Enlightenment Intensive Master, and brings both teachings into his work with the voice and authentic communication.
Practical Information
Venue
Venue: Caddaford Barns Studio, Caddaford Farm, Buckfastleigh, Devon TQ11 0JT.
Directions
Five minutes from the A38, just off the A384 Buckfastleigh to Totnes road. Park on the concrete yard opposite the farmhouse or on the lane, not in the courtyard. Full directions will be sent to you when you book.
Date
Sunday 25th October 2026
Time
Arrive from 9:45am for a 10:15am start. We'll finish by 6pm.
Group size
Up to 16 men.
Lunch
Please bring food to share and please label anything containing nuts or other common allergens.
Teas and coffee are provided.
Price
£60 Supported - if money is tight
£70 Standard
£80 Supporter
Choose the rate that fits your circumstances
On the door: £80.
Booking
Places are limited. Book in advance by the end of Wed 21st Oct.
Your place is confirmed once we receive your full payment.
To book your place, or if you'd like to ask any questions before booking, please contact Anthony.
Contact
Anthony Johnston · info@realvoice.co.uk · 07950 052100
Cancellations
If you need to cancel your place, let me know by the end of Wed 21st Oct and I'll refund you, less 20% to cover admin, within a week of the day. Or you can pass your place to another man in full, as long as he contacts me himself by the end of Fri 23rd Oct. After Wed 21st Oct, the fee isn't refundable. In the unlikely event of the day being cancelled, you'll get a full refund.
Other ways of working with Anthony
Clearing - 1:1 sessions for Clear Living
Making peace with your past and living from its wisdom
If you're looking to work through a particular problem, these sessions may serve you better than a group.
Clearing is about finding clarity and insight from the past, so we can live with greater choice and awareness, in our relationships and in how we show up in life. I offer a no-obligation call to talk it through.
Singing in the Wild Retreats
For a deeper exploration and immersion into the power of your voice, I run five-day Singing in the Wild retreats.