When I reflect back on the month long morning sessions with Toni, how she had immersed us in the Joy (and Sorrows) of writing, equipped us with tools which we practiced in and out of session, it is the life cycle of Chasmanthe Floribunda that comes to mind. The soil here on the Cape Flats continues to grow richer with fallen leaves now become mulch; my Soul/Soil is richer for the confidence I gained through her careful coaching allowing me to reach deeper, quieten, reflect and journal. Her carefully curated lessons and prompts continue to urge me to adventure, compost my words and language in ways that are wholly mine. I continue to grow my writing practice as the temporality of time with Toni is not a once off or linear time. It is now layered into the rhythm of my day. I am deeply grateful. [Photo: Carl Collison]

Deirdre Prins-Solani [Sep 2025]

Education.Culture.Heritage specialist.SpiritualEcologist

The Writer’s Oasis was an invaluable space for me while I was writing my book. Toni is clearly an expert in her craft both as a poet/writer and as a teacher of the art of writing. The exercises that she took us through enabled me to open up my own language and re-energise the metaphorical palette that I was using in the book. It made for far richer expression. The course is delivered in micro workshops which are perfect for busy people. I actually stepped out of a work reception once to do the 30 minute session! The Writer’s Oasis is both practical and profound.

Jessica Horn [Feb 2023]

Author of African Feminist Praxis: Cartographies of Liberatory Worldmaking and Speaking in Tongues

Even though I am not formally trained in writing, over the years, through editorial feedback loops and publishing, I have become trained and conditioned. To add to that, while trying to sustain myself as a writer, I've found that overtime the whims of editors, trends, and grants have informed how I write and what I write about. For that reason my writing has been disembodied for a long time, and has become a little more palatable. Through the guided meditations and writing exercises offered in The Writer’s Oasis, I was able, after a long time, to locate in my body what words and thoughts wish to come out and to find their source. I felt and sensed, as opposed to thinking and crafting. I allowed myself to feel into my history, to give word to what my inner self is saying, to let the logic break apart, to face the fear, to unravel a bit and accept the truth of what my current work is about. But mostly to emerge into something else, something more honest.

Mathapelo Mofokeng [Sep 2024]

Writer (Fiction & Flim), End-of-Life Companion, Abortion Doula

I arrived at The Writer’s Oasis knowing I needed a space which would help me reclaim my creative voice. From time to time I find that it gets consumed or has to compete with academic writing which behaves like a jealous lover. With February also being my birthday month and my word for the year being honour, The Writer's Oasis was both a gift and a way of honouring myself and my creativity. Knowing that I had to commit for a month I was able to learn to say no and protect the time dedicated to the scheduled sessions. It's no longer difficult for me to simply say no if the ask is something that will affect my writing time. It is now a way of life. It's amazing how much magic can happen in 30 minutes when we show up with full dedication. Toni's gentle facilitation is definitely part of the magic which is met with the alchemy of showing up with and for the writing. The Writer’s Oasis has been a gift that keeps on giving.

Athambile Masola [Feb 2025]

Researcher, Writer, Poet

The Writer's Oasis is a 30-day spell! Gently and deeply, reaching into the subconscious obstructions to my creative visioning and flow.  I was profoundly re-minded of the wealth of my personal archives of memory, journaling, half-forgotten works-in-progress and years of wild dreaming around concepts that I later downscaled or left on the shelf, having lost faith or the initial fire of momentum. There were subtle layers like accumulated dust or cataracts grown over time, gradually blinding me to what has been here —within me— all along. The 30-day commitment to a dedicated and intentional space, has been a revitalizing practice of consistency, daily prioritizing my own deepest desires, grounding me in a paradoxically liberating routine. This simple showing up, day after day, has been healing my shaky confidence in keeping such promises to myself. I entered each session with joyful ease and anticipation of adventure, because I travelled into spaces within my body and imagination that surprised me again and again. Toni's ability to co-create a beautiful and safe container for this kind of re(dis)covery, is truly extraordinary. She clearly knows this path from having walked it and listened well to its teachings. I was tired of my old "not enough time and resources" song and bored with my own vocabulary even when approaching new projects. The prompts and encompassing processes embedded in this course feel like serious play, full permission to let go of self-imposed boundaries on what's possible in my work and life, here and now. The Writer's Oasis helped me shed weathered skin, reawakening my sensory and intuitive ways of exploring what I want to bring into the world through my art and my being. I am immeasurably grateful for this and excited about what more my older and current projects can reveal to me, through this fresh way of navigating.

Malika Ndlovu [Feb 2024]

Poet, Performer & Creative Applied Arts Practitioner

When my time on The Writer's Oasis came to an end, all I could do was thank Toni for developing and sharing a writing practice that is genuinely fit for purpose. These workshops provided me with the multi-dimensional support I needed; they met me where I was, with what I was struggling with, and offered me a stream of supportive community, perspectives, tools, techniques, and even playlists. Toni has artfully blended her life's practice, which she shares as joyful medicine for fellow creatives (the beauty of listening to Toni read or talk about poems!). I highly recommend this course to anyone seeking an oasis in life; you will come away with much more than you expect, and Toni is a guide par excellence.

Jeri-Lee Mowers [Feb 2024]

Co-Founder and Chief Project Officer: Research Advisory Institute

Thank you for helping me find my voice again in writting, I feel so much more confident now to use my written words. I've been using what I learnt and it's been helping greatly, especially the exercise you taught us of just writting the words and letting them flow from the heart without thinking too much. Just this exercise has helped me to feel comfortable in writting (this project) we're still working on the fear of where is this going and what must be done with it when done. Thank you for your work and for your understanding with words and how they come through us as messages to help us re-member whomst we are.

Nomathamsanqa Makade [Feb 2023]

Owner & Creator: Gaia's Love

It's an attempt to convey just how transformative and cathartic the live calls are with you. You have a gentle, yet unquivering way of evoking the deeper, grittier work to be done. I am so good at staying in the comfort zone, where it's cosy and easy, —but that's seldom where any real growth and healing happens. And learning to write, with you, has been more real, and more powerful in moving the tectonic plates inside of me, than many other therapies or ways of processing and learning. Thank you (and at the same time those two words don't feel nearly sufficient)!

Claire Coetzee [Feb & June 2023]

Artist & Writer

The Writer’s Oasis is imperative; not only for writers or those who want to write, but for all artists. It is a workshop which awakens. Where you are gently held and nurtured to reconnect with the heart and express and create from that enlivened place. The Writer’s Oasis evolved and transformed my writing and its practice. To feel the quiet yet exigent spaces within and give them voice and truth. It made me aware that this creative space is a refuge, a haven and the life blood of our inspiration and momentum. It allowed me to not only fully connect with the project I am working on, but to reconnect my writing and all my creative practices, with my heart so that it is an embodied experience of creation and play.

Nathaniel-Antonio Lloyd [Feb 2023]

Writer, Actor, Film Script Developer

One always longs for a safe space in which to bring the the vulnerability of one's writing projects and give them space in which to breathe, unfold, and find the courage to reveal their potential expansiveness and wonder. You have created that space for me. Instead of pressure and deadlines, this space gave me permission to allow my writing to unveil its treasures in its own time. I have learnt how to come to my writing with a buzzing anticipatory joy instead of feeling crippled with trepidation and overwhelm. I have learnt how to listen and breathe, and listen to what wants to be written. I have learnt how to find and activate the positive practices that support my writing, so that I am drawing on the abundance of a rich and resourceful foundation. And with all this, has come the clarity and patience to consistently show up at the page and trust in the process- that what needs to be written, the nature of its framework and the unfolding of its content, will reveal it’s form and structure in its own time. It has also empowered me with the knowing and affirmed that I am committed to my writing life, and that it is worth committing to because it fills me with the satisfied thrumming of a deep contentment and peace, which feeds and enriches my life exponentially in a myriad different ways. I am truly able to recognise and see the value of writing for my life and the need for it to be shared with with others.

Tina Schouw [Feb 2024]

Heartist, Singer-Songwriter, Writer

The Writer's Oasis was a transformational experience. I met that part of myself that writes with joy and ease, and gave her space to breathe and play. Toni's facilitation is gentle and deep. She nurtures, nourishes and invites you into creativity. She creates a safe space to go into the edgy areas where growth happens. The gifts from this month continue to unfold for me. I can't recommend this experience enough

Maia Marie [Feb 2023]

Healer, Facilitator & Writer