Body Songs: explorations in creativity, community, playfulness, and presence
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Body Songs: explorations in creativity, community, playfulness, and presence *
Body as Earth Song: vitality, voice, & vision.
Creativity & community amid turbulent times
A Residential Retreat on SaltSpring Island - a place known for its deeply artistic community and gorgeous Forested landscape.
We will gather at Stowel Lake Farm, an organic farm and retreat center, offering nourishing space, food, and atmosphere for creative rejuvenation.
Many of us are feeling the strain of these turbulent times. Many of us are carrying grief in relation to human violence and the suffering of Earth.
Many of us feel disconnected or depleted and need time and space to replenish our relations with Earth, heart, soul, and community. Many of us long for kindness, wholeness, belonging, and creative participation.
Some of us feel called to participate more deeply, but are not sure how to do so. Many of us long to offer a generative current but need support to grow our voices and our vision for engagement.
This retreat will offer a cauldron of creativity to nourish a myriad of rivers: time to rest, reconnect, replenish, and reflect; time for creative play in community; a place to deepen into practices that rekindle and sustain aliveness; a time of solace for aching hearts; a collective gathering to hone and strengthen your creative voice; a spaciously evocative and reflective retreat for tending the vision that is emerging within you for your creative participation in life in the challenging times we are living within.
Between each you and I there is a fertile ecotone. We will conjure a dynamic and spacious field for restoration and enlivenment through a gathering of depth, soul nourishment, and grounded solidarity.
FAQs
When:
July 31st to August 4th,
Arrival 3 pm on the 31st, departure 1pm on the 4th.
Where:
This is a residential retreat at Stowel Lake Farm, on Salt Spring Island. We will be the only group gathering on the land at this time.
190 Reynolds Road, Salt Spring Island, B.C.
Canada, V8K 1Y2
accomodations:
Beautiful, comfortable, cozy. Stowel Lake farm has a range of options for accomodations. Prices for the retreat vary based on accomodation choices. See this booking link for more details.
Is there a commuter option?
This is a residential retreat. However, for Salt Spring residents some commuter spaces are available. Please contact Katrina for more information.
what is the food like?
Stowel Lake Farm retreat cuisine is fresh, organic and made from whole food ingredients. The meal plan is primarily vegetarian, however, the talented kitchen team can accommodate many dietary restrictions including dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan and non-vegetarian.
What will be doing?
Enjoying deep time and spaciousness with one another in a very beautiful location. Playing together, reflecting together, exploring voice, vision, and vitality together, through movement, arts, writing, and group process.
who will be there?
Fellow voyagers of heart and soul. Folks who yearn to be creative with others. Folks who value embodied play and reflective opportunities. People who need some down time. People seeking renewal. People longing to feel more free and more alive.
Queer & Trans Folks, BIPOC, Neurodivergent folks, & Women of all varieties are encouraged to gather!
Accessibility?
The retreat spaces are in buildings with stairs and the paths on the land are some gravel and some earthen.
The degree of intensity of movement is particular to each participant - explorations into what feels restorative and expressive for each person in movement and stillness. There is no need to have any prior movement, art, or writing experience, nor to be in any kind of body shape or fitness level in order to participate. Come as you are.
Please email Katrina with any other accessibility inquires and concerns that you would need clarified prior to booking in for the retreat.
Six Accommodation options below * Scroll down for Direct payment discount, payment plans, and cancellation policy below *
Six Accommodation options below * Scroll down for Direct payment discount, payment plans, and cancellation policy below *
Six Accommodation Options
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(1) Shared Yurt
2 single beds, shared bathroom
Super early bird rate until January 15th, 2025: $1439 Canadian per person
Early bird rate until March 15th, 2025: $1639 Canadian per person
Regular rate until July 15th, 2025: $1839 Canadian per person
Investment includes 4 night accommodation, all meals, and 5 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(2) Shared Regular
2 beds, shared bathroom
Super early bird rate until January 15, 2025: $1499 Canadian per person
Early bird rate until March 15th, 2025: $1699 Canadian per person
Regular rate until July 15th, 2025: $1899 Canadian per person
Investment includes 4 night accommodation, all meals, and 5 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(3) Private Room, in the Bath House Building
1 bed, shared bathroom
Super early bird rate until January 15th, 2025: $1659 Canadian per person,
Early bird rate until March 15th, 2025: $1859 Canadian per person, early bird rate until March 15th, 2025
Regular rate until July 15th, 2025: $2059 Canadian per person
Investment includes 4 night accommodation, all meals, and 5 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(4) Private Regular
1 bed, shared bathroom
Super early bird rate until January 15th, 2025: $1659 Canadian per person,
Early bird rate until March 15th, 2025: $1859 Canadian per person
Regular rate until July 15, 2025: $2059 Canadian per person
Investment includes 4 night accommodation, all meals, and 5 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(5) Deluxe
2 beds, private bathroom
Super early bird rate until January 15th, 2025
$1659 CAD per person SHARED
$2212 CAD per person PRIVATEEarly bird rate until March 15th, 2025
$1859 CAD per person SHARED
$2412 CAD per person PRIVATERegular rate until July 15, 2025
$2059 CAD per person SHARED
$2612 CAD per person PRIVATEInvestment includes 4 night accommodation, all meals, and 5 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(6) Tenting
A few tent sites are available on the lawn, shared bathroom in the shower house building. Participants must bring tenting gear with them to the land.
Super early bird rate until January 15th, 2025: $1259 Canadian per person
Early bird rate until March 15th, 2025: $1459 Canadian per person
Regular rate until July 15, 2025: $1659 Canadian per person
Investment includes 4 night accommodation, all meals, and 5 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
Important details
Direct Payment Discount: a 5% discount available for payments tendered through etransfer (for Canadians) or Venmo or Zelle (for US folks) - contact to arrange.
A 2-installment Payment plan is available - contact to arrange
Cancellation Policy:
Spaces are limited.
$350 of registration payment is considered a non-refundable deposit.
Cancellations after May 31st receive a 50% refund until June 30.
No refunds for cancellations after June 30th.
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Movement
Explorations in Relational Ecology through embodied play with Earth and Sky and one another. Authentic Movement, Expressive Movement, Soul Motion Explorations, & Somatic Inquiries.
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Gathering
explorations into voice, vision, and vitality, weaving community, through group process, dyadic and triadic moments and collective play.
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Arts Making
time spent in creative reflection through image, writing, and ecoarts on the land, digesting the experiences and unfolding your own emergent wisdom and vision.
Creative rivers that kindle vitality
When we unfold our creative currents through embodied improvisational explorations, within a playful approach, we reconnect with a place in our soul that is flow, that is presence - dynamic, intuitive, vibrant, grounded.
Relational ecology
We will slow down together to experience our embodied and mystical relations with Earth. These practices help us feel a relaxation in our nervous systems, help us feel a genuine sense of place in the collective, and find a deeper courage to connect with one another in presence.
Through spacious inquiries we will gather in dyads, triads, and larger group configurations, through creative explorations that help us find our own rooted and generative place in the collective.
Writing reflections
There is a wise voice that is available, that comes to the surface, when we write reflectively. This voice is from the deep currents within. Connecting with this voice can feel very centering and supportive. We will evoke this voice, strengthen this voice, and weave this voice into spoken spaces. Structured and spacious inquiries will help strengthen your wise voice in this kind cauldron, dear heart.
embodied listening
“This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness” Mary Oliver.
When we listen through our embodiment to the ripples of Life moving through us, alone and together, through the spaces between us, through the collective, and with Earth, we feel our place in the whole and we find solace in the midst of turbulence. Come, weave some magic in this vibrant land!
art making
Image is a place that brings into form the impressions, the gists, the felt sense, the longed for, the glimpsed and whispered elements of our experience. We will play with materials that call our creative fire alive, creating magic - finding unexpected and surprising meanings. We will play with images through writing and movement, finding center, ground, freedom, and heart spaciousness. Folks will be well-supported to play through art materials and ecoarts to unfold their inner world wisdoms.
movement play
Life is in motion and dynamic stillness. When we play together we kindle our aliveness. Playfulness through the body sings our hearts and souls into a state of warmth and freedom. Improvisation is a wise way to feel more at ease in ourselves in community.
We will explore different rivers of movement play, exploring relations with Earth and Sky and one another, through inquiries rooted in the terrain of Authentic Movement, Expressive Movement, Soul Motion, & Somatic Inquiries.
getting to Stowel Lake Farm, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
Stowel Lake Farm is located at 190 Reynolds Road on Salt Spring Island, on the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia. Visitors to the farm and retreat guests will need to make their way to Salt Spring Island by foot, automobile, ferry, or airplane.
From Vancouver by Ferry
By Foot
Take the thru-fare trip to from Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to Fulford Harbour via Swartz Bay.
By Car
Take the thru-fare trip from Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to Fulford Harbour via Swartz Bay or take the direct ferry from Tsawwassen to Salt Spring Island (Long Harbour). It is highly recommended to make reservations with BC Ferries when travelling by car.
From Victoria by Ferry
Commute to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal and take the ferry from Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal to Salt Spring Island (Fulford Harbour).
Note: Reservations are not available between Swartz Bay and Fulford Harbour, it is first come first serve.
From Vancouver by Air
Option 1
Fly from Vancouver to Victoria Airport. Take a 10 minute cab ride to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. Take the ferry from Swartz Bay to Fulford Harbour Terminal, Salt Spring Island.
Option 2
Take a floatplane (Harbour Air Seaplanes, SeaAir Seaplanes) from Vancouver to Ganges Harbour on Salt Spring Island.