Prices Starting at:
$238/night/person - Double Occupancy
$300/night/person - Single Occupancy
*All Inclusive
We are nature. We may have forgotten, yet our wellbeing and Earth’s depends more than ever on our developing a more intimate and reciprocal relationship with nature, day to day. This weekend is dedicated to helping our hearts and bodies remember our own unique sense of place and belonging within the web of life.
We are honored to welcome Robin Wall Kimmerer, mother, decorated professor, enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and author of Braiding Sweetgrass as our keynote speaker to share with us indigenous perspective and teachings on healing our relationship with the natural world.
Saturday, we will begin with an introduction to the wellness practice of Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku) through a guided forest walk where we will immerse ourselves in all the sights, smells, sounds, textures and tastes of an Adirondack forest, allowing us to take in all that the natural world around us has to offer. Discover for yourself how using your senses with intention anchors you in your body, making you mindful effortlessly, renewing your sense of wonder and awe.
Enjoy free time for relaxation, exploration and reflection before we come together again late afternoon to share some Adirondack herbal lore and a Wild Tea Ceremony. Make and take your own fragrant, healing Boreal Forest Pouch! An interactive workshop to help you develop a nature sensory practice adapted to your home environment will follow. After dinner we will gather around the campfire for storytelling and to weave a deeper sense of community between us.
Sunday morning will combine sensory elements with prompted nature journaling and the creation of individual forest art to acknowledge all that each of us has received from the forest and its infinite life forms throughout the weekend.
Keynote - Robin Wall Kimmerer
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. In 2022, Braiding Sweetgrass was adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. This new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us.
Robin tours widely and has been featured on NPR’s On Being with Krista Tippett and in 2015 addressed the general assembly of the United Nations on the topic of “Healing Our Relationship with Nature.” Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability. In 2022 she was named a MacArthur Fellow.
As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land. She holds a BS in Botany from SUNY ESF, an MS and PhD in Botany from the University of Wisconsin and is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology. As a writer and a scientist, her interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities, but restoration of our relationships to land. She lives on an old farm in upstate New York, tending gardens both cultivated and wild.
Program Facilitators
Helene Gibbens
Helene has been teaching yoga, meditation and wellness for over 20 years. After growing up in Montreal, she found her heart yearned for open spaces. Taking her yoga practice out of doors brought her great joy and led her to the practice of Forest Bathing. Helene is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide, NY State Licensed Hiking & Paddling Guide and Certified Yoga Teacher. She cherishes meandering time in nature, re-kindling her sense of wonder for all the wisdom of the natural world, in addition to skiing, hiking and gardening.
Deborah Denome
Deborah Denome grew up in the wilds of the Fingers Lakes of NY and is an educator, Registered Horticultural Therapist and Certified Forest Therapy Guide. Deb's greatest joy is in helping individuals to deepen their own relationship with Earth, each other, and our own true nature. She finds Forest Bathing/Shinrin-Yoku to be a profound yet simple and accessible path to expanding these connections. For 28 years, Deb served as Director for the Shimmering Light Farm & Renewal Center, a non-profit educational organization in South Bristol, NY that explores, models and inspires restorative ways of life. Here, overlooking Canandaigua Lake, she raised three fascinating young adults, tends abundant herb gardens, and dances as often as possible.
Suzanne Weirich
Suzanne grew up exploring the woods, streams and fields around the North Country. Her passion for nature has never left her. She spent much of her career as a classroom educator, including leading youths on weekend outdoor excursions. Suzanne is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide, NY State Licensed Hiking Guide with a Masters in Outdoor Education. She enjoys skiing and kayaking in addition to spending quiet time in the woods.
