The Heart of Harvest - A Yoga Retreat

5 nights 6 days

September 17 - 22nd, 2021

Stowel Lake Farm

Retreat to beautiful Stowel Lake Farm on Salt Spring Island right in the heart of the Harvest.  Each day will offer simple morning and evening meditation, morning yoga practice and Buddhist Philosophy, soundwork, breath, and somatic restorative practices to prepare for sleep.  The afternoons are for free time, resting, reading, and exploring Salt Spring Island.

The last year and a half has been like no other.  Some of the new habits we've adapted are wonderful and some we may want to leave behind and start fresh.  Retreat provides steady practices and space to take a backward step, to sit down and reflect on our lives with the support of good hearted humble people.   What has ripened and matured for us over the past year?  Let's take this time to really gather in, harvest what is really good in our lives, so that we can fully receive the benefit and step forward to serve our families, community and world.

One of the many incredible things about Stowel Lake is the farm to table food. Retreat attendees always remark how fantastic they feel after a week of eating plant based food from the well tended soil at this farm.  On this retreat we welcome Shauna Gardiner from the Vibrant Veggie as our special guest.  Each day just before dinner, Shauna will share her wisdom and many inspiring stories of people who have changed their health and lives completely around from learning and adapting into a plant based lifestyle.  We will also join Shauna in the kitchen to learn how to make one of her amazing dinners.

*Melissa offers movement practices informed by yoga, somatic movement, functional range conditioning, pilates, feldenkrais and trauma informed care.  Meditation practices are offered with a wide range of sitting postures, instruction on alignment, subtle movement, simple techniques, a wide variety of props and trauma informed care.  

Schedule

Friday

3-5 pm  ||  arrival

5 pm  ||  orientation

6 pm  ||  fireside dinner

7:45  pm  ||  Stretch - Nervous Systems - Meditation Instruction 

8:30 pm  ||  meditation

9 pm  ||  closing chant (silent into the evening)

Saturday - Tuesday

7:15 am  ||  meditation (silent morning)

8 am ||  breakfast (bell rings to end silence 8:15 am)
9:45 - 11:45 am ||  Yoga Practice & Buddhist Philosophy

12:30 pm ||  lunch  

1:30 pm ||  work practice (day 2/3/4) - feeling the reciprocity of farm life.

2:30 pm ||  free time

5:00 pm  ||  Plant-based learning and stories

6:00 pm  ||  Fireside Dinner

7:45 pm  ||  Nervous System Exploration - Somative Movement

8:30 pm ||  Meditation

9 pm ||  Closing Evening Chant (silent into the evening)

Wednesday

7:15 am  ||  meditation

8 am ||  breakfast 

9 am ||  open time

10 am  ||  closing circle (silence ends)

12 pm  ||  lunch

Departure

Working Towards Health & Safety Together

Stowel Lake Farm and Melissa have taken great measures to work towards our greatest possible health and safety.  Here are a few simple simple guidelines.- We are not able to accommodate any sickness on retreat.  In the event that anyone becomes sick, they will need to return to home.- Daily sanitation practices are thorough.- Personal hand sanitation is available on all sites.

Refund Policy

A full refund will be provided in the following circumstances.

-  A Province wide call for a third period of physical distancing.

-  If you become sick and provide a formal doctors note.

Otherwise all registrations are final 30 days prior to retreat start date.   No refunds will be provided 30 days prior to retreat.  If you find someone to take your place you are welcome to arrange.

Stowel Lake Farm and Travel

Stowel Lake Farm on Salt Spring Island is just beautiful.  Check it out here ~

https://www.stowellakefarm.com/aboutus

You are probably travelling by ferry my friends.  If in the event you leave your car behind, we can pick you up and drop you off at the ferry (fulford harbour only).  We will arrange pick up times one month prior to retreat.

What to Bring

- Bring layered clothes for varying temperatures inside and outside.

- Flashlight

- Journal and pen.

- Loose, comfortable and modest clothing.

- Outdoor wear for helping on the farm.

-slip on shoes for ease.

Shauna Gardiner

Shauna Gardiner is a passionate advocate of a plant-based lifestyle. She has been Whole Food Plant-based for 5 years, and was vegetarian for 8 years prior to that.  In 2016 she received a “Plant-based Nutrition Certificate” and a “Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate” from E-Cornell University.  She writes has a website called www.thevibrantveggie.com where she offers free recipes and plant-based guidance. 

Her interest in nutrition and healthy living started in her twenties when she lost her father to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, her grandmother to stomach cancer and her grandfather to dementia.  Wanting to raise two healthy daughters, she searched for an alternative to the Standard American Diet (SAD), which is known to be one of the main causes of disease.  In 2008, she read the book, “The China Study” by Dr. T. Colin Campbell.  It clearly demonstrates how a plant-based diet aids in disease prevention and adds years to life. That was a pivotal moment in her journey. 

Shauna enjoys spending time with her family, leading a non-for profit vegetable garden, yoga, travel and attending Plant-Based Nutrition conventions. 

Melissa Berry Appleton Seikai

I am a Buddhist Chaplain trained at Upaya Zen Centre, student of Roshi Joan Halifax and lay-ordained in the Soto Zen Prajna Mountain Order.  Chaplaincy guides me to consider how I might come along side the ways people suffer, while supporting the restoration of goodness in their body, heart/mind, and world.  I have 20 years of Yoga training as a teacher.  My classical training in Iyengar and Ashtanga has morphed like a jazz musician through time into a creative practice to meet our 21st century bodies.  I gather the resources of my life, the generosity of my teachers and 2500 years of wisdom through lineage to consider what might serve.  

My current work explores The Domestic Monastery, community life, ritual/ceremony, cultural anxiety, trauma, addiction, consumption of information technology, time, and the greater impact on the future of our world.  How does self-care and spiritual formation serve as a collective 'we care' ultimately unfolding our greatest aspirations for parenting, partnership, intimacy, ecological connection, social justice, meaningful work, and influence on generations moving forward.

I teach a weekly class and bi-annual meditation practice periods at MODO Kelowna and specialize in workshops and retreats in Canada and Internationally.  I am a Chaplain in Residence with Third Space Charity and Counselling to support University graduate Interns from the Masters of Social Work, Psychology and Clinical Counselling Programs.  I am also a graduate student in the Masters of Clinical Counselling and Social Justice Program.  

As you might have guessed, I love the art of collaboration and have the honour of working with amazing community leaders, Buddhist Practitioners, Clinical Counsellors, Yoga & Movement Specialists, and Wilderness Guides.

I am married, have three teens (two off to University), a big black lab and a home tucked into the woods with chores that are never complete.  I used to work as a Music & Recreation Therapist, Addiction Counsellor, and Director of a charity,  but then everything changed.  Everything is still shifting and moving today.

www.melissaberryappleton.com