Using poetry as a portal, please join us for an intimate retreat to invigorate our well-being and creativity in the stunning landscape of Abruzzo, Italy. Santo Spirito, an eight-hundred year old monastery, will be our home for the week.

Over the course of seven days, we’ll explore the seven pillars of mindfulness; receive instruction and support in mediation exercises; and discuss classic and contemporary poems that explore themes of presence and mindful attention. Through prompts and writing exercises, we’ll write our own texts in reflection on our surroundings, and in conversation with each other and the inspiring poets we’ll read together.

No previous experience is necessary, just your kind attention and openness to

explore these topics with curiosity in community.

"Listen to the presence inside poems,

Let them take you where they will." - Rumi

Take time to nurture your creative expression as we integrate mindfulness practices into our lives surrounded by the beauty of nature and history. Our retreat offers a restful and rejuvenating seven-day schedule that includes meditation, forest baths, writing, all-inclusive meals, and the option to explore local points of interest. Together, we will create a nurturing community of practice. Our seven-day experience is suitable for beginners and advanced practitioners of both poetry and meditation.

Wordsworth's described poetry as "emotion recollected in tranquility." Come experience the tranquility of rural Italy and immerse yourself in poetry and practice.

Nestled at the base of the Apennines in Italy, the Monastero Fortezza di Santo Spirito, will be ours for the retreat. It is located in the municipality of Ocre in the province of L’Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. Approximately 2 hours from Rome by bus, the monastery is surrounded by forest and hiking trails that were historically used by shepherds in what is now the Sirente-Velino National Park. The monastery will be ours for the retreat. The Monastery’s 12 bedrooms, each named after a particular wind, have been modernized from the ancient dormitories on the first floor in the east and west wings. Simple and cozy, these double-rooms  overlook  the central courtyard. Each room has its own bathroom.

With the exception of arrival day, each morning will begin at 7am with a guided meditation. You will then have a chance to shower and get ready before enjoying a light continental breakfast. Around 9:15am Catherine will introduce another pillar of mindfulness, followed by meditation and a sharing circle. Allison will facilitate discussion of the readings and offer prompts for your writing. You will then enjoy some free writing time before lunch. After lunch you will have time to rest, wander around the monastery, hike the nearby trails, or ponder in the garden. Each afternoon session will begin around 2:30 or 3pm for 2-3 hours of activities followed by a shared dinner. One afternoon will be free for the group to consider an excursion to a local point of interest. Dinner will typically be served at 7 or 8pm, followed by our own blend of herbal teas. Our last evening we will enjoy a celebratory dinner at a local restaurant and the next day, we will part after a light lunch.

These optional services are an opportunity to have one-on-one time with Catherine and Allison during free time. We may not be able to accommodate all requests.

• Naturopathic consultation, counseling, Reiki, cranial-sacral therapy with Catherine
• One-on-one writing feedback and manuscript consultation with Allison (up to 20 pages)
• Visits to local points of interest and activities other than those specified in the schedule

Allison DeLauer's poems and texts have appeared in journals, onstage, and in the anthologies Weatherings, and Playing Shakespeare's Lovers. Her performance collaboration, Umanita Book I, premiered at Teatro dei Venti in 2013. From 2019-2022 she lived in the small medieval village of Fontecchio, Italy where she worked with the local municipalities to bring artists-in-residence to Abruzzo. 2020 awakened her love of photography and the presence that results from close consideration of natural forms. She has exhibited her work in Italy and provided cover art for

Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Allison has practiced mindfulness meditation since her early twenties, longer if you count the "forest bathing" she practiced everyday as a child in the blue oak savannah of Three Rivers, California, her childhood home.

Catherine is a naturopath, counselor and chef who specializes in stress management, self-care, prevention, strengthening the immune system, and healing subtle body trauma. Trained in multiple modalities, she offers one-on-one sessions and group workshops in psychosomatic plant therapy, Bach Flower therapy, cranial sacral treatments, Reiki, and mindful meditation. Catherine honed her interest in seasonal, natural cooking, which led her to teach and write about eating for optimal health. Her life journey has taken her from the bustling city of New York to the rural landscapes of Abruzzo – by way of Florence, Paris, Los Angeles, and Brussels. Each home granted her philosophies, ideas, and energies that deeply inform her holistic approach to health and wellbeing. Catherine's practice is shaped by the people, cultures, markets, and places she’s had the good fortune to explore.

Born in Lima, Peru, Sebastian Alvarez is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker currently based in Abruzzo, Italy. His practice and project collaborations address the interrelations and breakdown between living systems and the built environment. Alvarez's research-based work manifests in film, infographics, performative lectures, and experimental music composition. His award-winning documentary, A Machine to Live In, links the cosmic power structures of the state to the mystical architecture of cults and utopian cities in the distant hinterlands of Brazil. 

As part of a collective, he has facilitated workshops and staged performances at San Quentin State Prison. He has taught and lectured at the San Francisco Art Institute. Alvarez has presented work at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), the Museum of

Contemporary Art (Chicago), the Hyde Park Art Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, the

Whitney Biennial (NYC), Townhouse Gallery (Cairo, Egypt), the École Nationale Supérieure

d'Art Bourges (Bourges, France), Wiener Festwochen (Vienna, Austria), and many international

film festivals. He received his MFA in performance studies, at the School at the Art Institute of Chicago.