Healthy Living and Yoga Retreat
Experience Nature and Connection as a Path to Wellness
TBD 2024
Earthaven Ecovillage
Near Asheville, NC
Naturopathic Physician, Monique Mazza, invites you to join her and a team of skilled facilitators in stepping beyond the world of reading about health and into the experience of it! Wellness recommendations come to life in this retreat where you will experience the elements of a healthy day as you flow through a variety of daily life-affirming activities, such as yoga, nature connection, learning with others, eating vital nutrient-dense foods, reflection, and self care.
Within this four-day retreat, we will be following nature’s lead and connecting to the medicine of the elements – air, water, earth, fire – as a pathway towards empowerment, nourishment, and connection to our inner world. Together, we will be exploring how we ourselves are an ecosystem, a part of and dependent on the health of the larger planetary ecosystem.
This program is for adults (and mature teens).
When we are witnessed as part of a group and are immersed in nature, our collective intentions enhance the possibility of healing.
Program
This retreat will take place in the Bella Via Gardens Neighborhood and the village center of Earthaven Ecovillage. Earthaven’s woodlands of the ancient Appalachian mountains, with streams, vital forests, and consciously-built infrastructure, will serve as our container, mentor, and classroom for this work.
Each day will include movement, experiential learning in the kitchen and garden, time in nature, yoga, and opportunities for self-care, integration, and growing meaningful, authentic connections.
Together, we will:
- Remember our connection to nature and explore the link between human health and soil health
- Expand the diversity of our inner microbiome while amending the garden soil to improve the nutrient levels in vegetables
- Taste vitality, harvest fresh plants from the garden, and forage for edible wild foods
- Prepare fermented foods that enhance vitality, such as sauerkraut and tempeh
- Get creative while preparing food as medicine in the form of delicious medicinal bon-bons
- Practice easy and quick nitric oxide enhancing exercises and feel the immediate benefits of improved energy and mental clarity
- Invigorate blood flow and enhance mood during a traditional Finnish sauna ceremony using handmade birch whisks to stimulate lymphatic cleansing.
- Expand our capacity for joy by honoring our grief
- And so much more!
Everyone is welcome. No previous experience necessary.
Personal Wellness Sessions
In addition to the core curriculum of the Healthy Living and Yoga Retreat, participants will have opportunities to schedule personal wellness sessions in the afternoons from a rich diversity of on-site practitioners. Modalities include esoteric and Chinese acupuncture; full-body effleurage massage; cranial sacral therapy; visceral manipulation; sound healing; and personalized yoga sessions. Click for information about the practitioners and modalities.
Tentative Schedule
Wednesday
1:00 Arrive. Check in to Accommodations and Retreat
2:30 Welcome Circle
4:00 Tour of Earthaven or Personal Wellness Session (Optional)
5:15 Personal Wellness Session (Optional)
6:45 Dinner
8:00-9:00 Opening Circle
Thursday – Saturday
7:15 Yoga
8:15 Breakfast
9:30 Morning Session
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Afternoon Session
5:00 Independent Time & Personal Wellness Sessions (optional)
6:45 Dinner
8:00-9:00 Evening Activity
Sunday
7:15 Yoga
8:15 Breakfast
9:30 Closing Session & Circle
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Depart
Sliding Scale Tuition
Because some people have more financial means than others, we have created a sliding scale fee system to accommodate a range of economic realities. The high-end of the scale reflects the value we believe the program holds, and the low-end offers a more accessible entry point.
By choosing a higher price point, you are helping make the program more accessible to others for whom the low-end may be cost-prohibitive. Please consider your needs and resources to determine what might be a stretch, but not a strain.
Cost
General
Tuition Sliding Scale
What’s Included
Tuition includes meals, instruction, and materials.
Camping, shared and private indoor lodging, transportation, and personal wellness sessions are available for an additional cost.
Scholarships
We offer partial scholarships (50% of the middle of the sliding scale) to black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) with financial needs who otherwise would not be able to afford to attend. We understand that BIPOC experience more financial and institutional barriers to participation, and this is one way we are able to create more access. If you identify as BIPOC with financial needs and would like to receive a scholarship, please contact us.
Logistics
Food
Fresh and delicious, omnivorous meals are prepared by talented culinary artists from the Earthaven community. Nutrient density and medicinal properties are the focal point of our selection of seasonal, local, organic, wildcrafted, and humanely-raised ingredients. As much food as possible is sourced from Earthaven and its surrounding farms and gardens, with some ingredients from local grocery stores.
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available. Snacks and beverages (medicinal tea, coffee, and mineral water) are provided.
Participants are invited to help with meal clean-up. Many hands make light work.
***If you have dietary needs beyond the ones listed here, please be prepared to bring supplemental food to support your nourishment and well-being. Our kitchen cannot accommodate all diets.
Program Specific Info
Twelve meals are included: Wednesday dinner through Sunday lunch.
Facilitation Team
Dr. Monique Mazza, ND
Faculty
Monique is a Naturopathic Physician, founder of Elements Naturopathic Medicine, regenerative biodynamic gardener, homesteader, mother and dedicated community member who has lived at Earthaven Ecovillage since 2016. Her passion for food as medicine fuels her efforts to sustainably grow and raise much of her family’s food including a diversity of vegetables, fruits, berries, laying hens, broiler chickens, turkeys, and even rainbow trout!
Yoga Faculty Garrell is an artist, designer, dreamer and currently a student, practitioner, and teacher of yoga, meditation and tantra. He is excited and privileged to be a part of helping shift consciousness through meditation, movement, and connection to the vital nexus of nature.
Garrell Bevirt
Yoga Faculty Griffin lives in Earthaven with her family and owns a small wine business called Alchemy Herbal Wines. She has been teaching yoga regularly since 2013 for children, teens, adults and seniors. Classes vary depending on interests and mobilities. Griffin says that her main goal in teaching yoga is to offer a safe container for others to listen to their body's wisdom. She emphasizes the importance of breath coordination and self-awareness, in order to safely and effectively deepen love and respect for the body.
Griffin Abee
Earthaven Experience Programs Faculty Dimitri is a naturalist, natural builder, and naturopathic doctor, one who teaches that wellness comes from cultivating a deep connection to the natural world. His other passions are nature awareness, foraging for food and medicine, gardening, and supporting bonds that engender a tightly-knit community.
Dimitrios Magiasis
In-person Programs Director, Faculty Throughout the last two decades, NikiAnne has been immersed in community and in service to a wide range of educational endeavors focused on nature connection, personal empowerment, and community resilience. No matter what she’s teaching, NikiAnne is always on the same mission: to raise awareness of our whole selves – gifts, passions, blind spots, shadows – and help those whole selves find and fill niches in their communities.
NikiAnne Feinberg
Registration
Complete the registration form once per participant. It takes 5-10 minutes, and you will complete your enrollment with a credit card authorization.
After your enrollment is processed, you will receive several confirmations…
- An automatic confirmation of receiving your registration form
- A payment confirmation from our card processor
- Confirmation that your registration has been processed
Note: Program participants may not bring pets to Earthaven. If you have a service dog, please contact us to discuss options before registering.
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