Interbeing 06: creative expression + flow + nature connection

Full Camping Weekend :: $349* || Friday – Sunday, June 28-30, 2024
Saturday Day Pass + Dinner :: $199* || Saturday, June 29
Ages 18+

*Discounted tickets available for Early Birds!
Register by May 6, 2024 and use promo code “EARLYBIRD” for $70 off your ticket!

@ Silvae Spiritus Northwoods Nature Retreat
68441 Rhine Lake Rd Finlayson, MN 55735

Program:

Welcome to Interbeing 06: artistic expression + flow + nature connection, a transformative event curated by multidisciplinary artists to awaken and enliven creative expression and “flow state” in partnership with Nature.  Centered around community and supported by wellness modalities, every participant is valued and encouraged to explore the intersection of nature, creativity, wisdom, and healing. Unlike traditional lecture-based gatherings, this is an interactive and collaborative experience, fostering collective participation and shared growth.

Explore 30 acres of wild and tended forests, meadows, ephemeral ponds, with walking trails throughout as you camp for the weekend. We provide morning and evening meals, and guests are encouraged to bring their own food to share or enjoy at their leisure. Embrace nature’s beauty and nourish your soul in this inclusive and serene environment with abundant wildlife and expansive skies. Discounted single-day passes are available for Saturday’s programming, which includes dinner.

Interbeing 06 offers the unique opportunity to recharge, explore, learn, play, and immerse yourself in the harmonious entwining of art and nature. As you connect with like-minded souls, you’ll find yourself elevated in mind, body, and spirit, leaving with newfound energy and a sense of wholeness.

We take deep pride in the feedback from our past attendees, who have described Interbeing events as “life-changing.” This testimonial is our greatest honor, inspiring us to mindfully curate an experience that allows the spaciousness for authentic resonance, touching hearts and transforming lives.

Join us at Interbeing 06, where community, wellness, and interconnectedness awaits. 

Sessions:

Drawing With the Forest
Hosted by Laurie Richardson Johnson

Draw Near to the Forest as the forest draws near to you.

Have you ever considered that the forest is drawing you as much as you are drawing the forest? 

The universal language of drawing is all about making marks to discover, listen, delight in, and deepen perception and memory. The forest pulls us to what and to where we need to pay attention, to what we need to learn, to understand, to bring us joy and often healing. I am always surprised and grateful. 

No matter where you are on your drawing/mark-making journey, whether a seasoned drawer or someone who stopped drawing in second grade, let’s get together and meander in the forest and meadows, discovering how nature is drawing us, teaching us, sensing us, beckoning us to slow down and see for the first time.

All are welcome! We first will meet in the gathering Lounge to give everyone a few tools of the trade to enhance your experience, to dispel any age-old anxiety some may feel in approaching drawing. Drawing is a visual voice—your unique voice to connect with our world.

Materials: Bring a sketchbook that will fit into your backpack, even smaller ones, like 3” x 5”, are great for hiking and camping; drawing pens are fun (permanent/waterproof ink like Micron); pencils (#2 or softer/darker); charcoal pieces (I will bring some, too). Bring what you have or what calls to you (colored pencils?) We can experiment with a variety of materials. If you’d like to work larger, I will have some drawing boards and clips. Let’s listen to the whispers of the forest through drawing.

Guided Forest Bathing
Hosted by Leigha Horton

Forest Bathing is a slow-moving, deeply sensory, mindful, and bodyful walk in Nature that has shown to result in measurable physiological, cognitive, and emotional benefits – most importantly, a reconnection to Nature alongside our inner nature.  This session is intended to establish our relation with the land of Silvae Spiritus prior to the day’s art sessions, calling the land in to co-creative partnership, rather than simply serving as a venue. Participants will be guided through the 30 acres of woods and meadows and past the ephemeral ponds along the trails of Silvae Spiritus. We find that rain heightens the senses and can make for truly magical experiences, and therefore the walk will take place outdoors rain or shine. 

Impermanence Practice Group 2
Hosted by Erin Lavelle

In this practice on impermanence we will collaboratively make / unmake / remake an evolving installation of natural materials. Through guided breathing, listening, observation, dialogue and activity we will welcome the changing nature of everything.

This session takes place outside! Participants may wish to bring garden gloves to protect their hands (we will enact an indoor weather plan with a related activity only if absolutely necessary).

Intuitive Abstraction with Walnut Dye Painting
Hosted by Annie Hejny

How can we bring our connection with nature into a creative space? What does it look like to honor our intuitive sensibilities while playing with visual abstraction? Join visual artist Annie Hejny in a hands-on exploration of these questions using handmade black walnut dye on paper. You’ll be invited to practice painting and collaging tree-inspired abstract shapes to create a set of greeting cards or postcards. (No previous art experience required.)

Meditative Sound Immersion
Hosted by Dendrotic

An exploration of the resonance between your inner nature and the natural world. An invitation into the harmony of mental + physical health. A vacation from stress and rumination wherein we allow ourselves to fully relax into the spaciousness of ambient soundscapes and gently welcome ourselves into the shared home we call the present moment. An opportunity to find your frequency and amplify your strength, intuition, and personal motivation. Drawing on my long history of live electronic music performance and interweaving the acoustic energy generation of melodic drums, crystal singing bowls, chimes, bells, and percussion I’ll be seeking to create and hold space for you to enter into a state of being highly conducive to restoring balance in both body and mind. My hope will be for participants to leave with the kind of physiological refreshment and psychological clarity that can serve as a foundation for deeply engaging with and contributing to the co-creation of the more beautiful and limitless world that awaits us…

What to bring: any pillows or blankets you’d like help find your cozy place; an open mind + a compassionate heart + curious ears

Morning Yoga
Hosted by Mary McCallum

Start the day with a nourishing mindful movement practice to connect with yourself and nature. Our morning yoga sessions will include gentle flow, breathwork, meditation, and self care practices to prepare you for the day ahead. No previous yoga experience required.

What to bring: yoga mat or blanket and any props you’d like to support your practice (blanket, pillow, blocks, etc.)

Nature-based Healing Earth Art + Ritual
Hosted by Leigha Horton

Nature-based Healing Earth Art + Ritual is a multisensory, mindful and bodyful exploration of, and interplay with, natural materials, colors, shapes, and patterns to create impermanent art infused with personal resonance and generous intention.  

This early-Summer session will be guided through the 30 acres of woods and meadows and past the ephemeral ponds along the trails of Silvae Spiritus, and we will be working with found and foraged objects to artfully and meaningfully express ourselves. During this Morning Altars-based practice, the land serves as a partner in co-creation, as well as the canvas to hold our works and our stories.

We find that rain heightens the senses and can make for truly magical experiences, and therefore the session will take place outdoors rain or shine. 

Nature Play
Hosted by Carin Vagle

“Beyond ideas of wrong-doing or right-doing there is a field, I will meet you there”. -Rumi

There is no way to do it wrong if you are following what feels right to you when you are creating art.  Each instinct leads us on a path of possibilities and unexpected outcomes.  We will access the incredible inspiration of nature from the woods around Silvae Spiritus to create a playful group art installation.  This installation will include our reverence, insight, intuition, amazing mishaps, intentions and our unique conversations/communion with the natural world and our own inner landscape.  Participants will be guided on a journey through found nature objects, paint, and collage to create this group altar/installation.

Process Art
Hosted by Christine D’Esposito

Process art is a unique approach to art making that allows us to interact with the unknown of the blank canvas or page in a celebration of discovery. In process art, the final product is always unique and the focus lies in the creation of the work, not the outcome. The value is in the free exploration, creative process, and the hands-on experience.

Tree Portraits
Hosted by Robin Garwood

This workshop will demonstrate how to make “tree portraits,” unique hand-made pressure prints of individual trees’ specific bark patterns. Participants will have the opportunity to choose a tree on the Silvae Spiritus grounds that speaks to them, and the artist will walk them through the process of using printmaking tools – paper or cloth, ink rollers (called brayers) and ink – to create their own portrait of that tree, and learn the skills to make portraits of other trees that have meaning to them.

Wood-fired Sauna + Cold Plunge + Wood-fired Hot Tub + Bonfire
Hosted by Leigha Horton and Travis Norman

Hot. Cold. Rest. Rehydrate. Repeat.

Thermic Bathing Cultures can be found around the world and throughout history. Finnish Sauna, Korean Jimjilbang, Native American Sweat Lodges, Mexican Temezcal, Turkish Hammam, Icelandic Spa, Japanese Sento, and Russian Banya all have one thing in common: people coming together in community to experience the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing that can occur with exposure to intense heat and steam. 

Our clean, modern wood-fired sauna nestled in the woods and designed to be harmonious with the landscape features high-quality heat from an elegant wood-fired stove surrounded by heavy stones, fresh air ventilation, natural steam, and large windows with 360-degree forest views to bring you into closer connection with nature. The exterior features a cold water bucket-shower and two cold plunge tubs, a Goodland wood-fired hot tub, as well as outdoor seating with a Solo Stove fire pit for those looking to join the community but stay temperate.

An antidote to the pace and distraction of modern life, this restorative session is an opportunity to refresh and revitalize while reconnecting us with ourselves, each other, and our living world.

Woodland Dance Party Under the Stars
Hosted by Dendrotic

Out past Cricket Circle, past The Orchard, past the Hidden Stream, on the far side of the Far Meadow’s Nursery lies the bushcraft-style Woodland DJ Booth.  There, techno-artist, sound sculptor & musical explorer, Dendrotic, will entwine danceable beats with the abundant nature surrounding us.  Will Wanhala will continue guiding Elemental Exploration for those who wish to paint instead of dance.  Bonfires and fire torches will light our surroundings, and the starry sky will arc high above.  Come as you are, move how you like.

Retreat Agenda:

Friday:

2:30 pm – Guests welcome to start arriving and fully set up campsites prior to event start

5 – 5:15 pm  – Welcome + Orientation (The Lounge)

5:15 – 6:15 pm  – Opening Circle  (The Lounge)

6:30 – 7:45 pm – Dinner – grilling (Patio)

8 – 8:45 pm – Meditative Sound Immersion (The Lounge)

9 – Midnight – Wood-fired Sauna + Cold Plunge + Wood-fired Hot Tub + Bonfire (Thermic Oasis)

Saturday:

9 – 9:45 am – Morning Yoga (Outdoor or Lounge)

10 – 11:30 am – Brunch for Full Weekend Guests (Guesthouse)

11:45 am – 1:15 pm – Forest Bathing (Outdoors)

1:30 – 2:15 pm – Process Art (The Lounge or Cricket Circle)

2:30 – 3:30 pm – Drawing with the Forest (Outdoors)

3:45 pm – 5:15 pm – Intuitive Abstraction with Walnut Dye Painting (Outdoors)

5:30 – 6:15 pm – Impermanence Practice Group 2 (Cricket Circle) 

6:30 – 8 pm – Dinner for Full Weekend AND Day Pass Guests – taco bar (Guesthouse) 

8:15 – 9:15 pm – Nature Play (Outdoors)

9:30 pm – 1 am – Dance Party with Dendrotic (Woodland DJ booth in Far Meadow)

Sunday:  

9 – 9:45 am – Morning Yoga (Outdoor or Lounge)

10 – 11:00 am – Brunch (Guesthouse)

11:15 – 12:45 pm – Tree Portraits (Outdoors)

1 – 2 pm –  Nature-based Healing Earth Art + Ritual (The Lawn)

2:15 – 3 pm – Closing Circle (The Lawn)

3 pm – Depart

Facilitators:

Dendrotic
Dendrotic, aka event host Travis Norman, is a co-founder of Silvae Spiritus, sound sculptor & musical explorer committed to staying curious and helping others deepen their relationship with our living world. A certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide and purveyor of ways in which sound and frequency can help welcome us into the home we call the present moment. instagram.com/dendrotic

Christine D’Esposito

Christine D’Esposito (she/her) is a skilled mentor, doula, and facilitator with over twenty years of experience in the field of birth. Her life’s work includes honoring and celebrating rites of passage including birth, postpartum, coming of age, death, and the many thresholds in between. Christine is a natural leader and innovator with a strength for navigating the unknown; she aspires to be an agent of change in the world. In addition to her many years of experience and the technical expertise that comes with it, Christine brings to her work a sense of playfulness paired with deep life wisdom. This unique combination of traits makes her a truly effective mentor who invites all of us to keep diving into the ongoing work and play of life’s journey.

Annie Irene Hejny

Annie Irene Hejny is a Minneapolis-based visual artist and environmental activist. As a certified Minnesota Water Steward and Nature & Forest Therapy Guide, her artwork reflects our human connection with nature through an emphasis on freshwater. She has exhibited nationally including at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, and Phipps Center for the Arts. Hejny has been awarded notable grants and artist residencies, and her artwork is held in private collections in 30 states and internationally. www.anniehejny.com | @anniehejny

Robin Garwood

Robin Garwood is an artist based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He primarily works in book arts, printmaking, and installation. His work focuses on themes of ecology, particularity, and the connections between human-made and natural systems. His work has been shown at Northern Spark Art Festival, Art Shanty Projects, the Cargill Gallery, the Mary Jo Van Dell Studio, and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts gallery.

Leigha Horton
From a free-range childhood of playing in the woods, catching fireflies in her grandparents’ back yard, and family camping and fishing trips, to an adulthood exploring our sacred wild places (Yosemite National Park, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and Dunmore Head being favorites) Leigha’s love affair with Nature was planted at a very young age, tenderly nurtured, and has flourished in the decades since culminating in full certification from the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs (ANFT), and her present studies as a Morning Altars Teacher-in-Training.

A communicator by training and by trade, she has spent over 17 years as a professional voiceover actor – voicing and producing national television and radio commercials, museum exhibits, documentaries, video games, training films, educational games, animation, and audio books – and has contributed to several medical research grants by conceiving, facilitating, and producing audio-guided Forest Bathing walks for study participants. With nearly 15 years additional experience in the museum field – developing and delivering programming about science, history, and arts to tens of thousands of visitors at the Walker Art Center, The Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Minnesota History Center, Leigha now continues her passion for guiding and teaching through inquiry via nature-connected modalities – Forest Bathing, Morning Altars, and Woodland Sauna, on behalf of Silvae Spiritus – co-created in 2018 with her husband, Travis Norman.

Erin Lavelle
Erin Lavelle (she/her) is a Minneapolis-based artist working in interdisciplinary media: fiber arts, performance and social practice. As both a facilitator and maker, she works with people and their stories to create delicately handcrafted objects and experiential installations. Examples include: co-sewing garments with library patrons (Impermanence Practice Group), matchmaking stories and objects between neighbors (Something Good), and collecting underwear for use in public installations (Intimate Collection). She primarily works with found, gifted, secondhand and natural materials, including human hair.

Lavelle designed her own MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College, which merged fiber arts with mindfulness and public engagement. Her work is informed by: childhood sewing lessons from her seamstress grandmother, classes at North House Folk School, and training at Common Ground and Spirit Rock meditation centers. She was a Lanesboro Arts Artist in Residence and is a recipient of a Hemera Foundation Tending Space Fellowship for Contemplative Artists and a Jerome Foundation / Textile Center Project Grant for Emerging Artists.

She has presented public work in Hennepin County Libraries, Minneapolis Parks, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, and the Minnesota State Fair; at public art events: Northern Spark, Art Shanty Projects, Greenway Glow; and in galleries, including: Textile Center, Modus Locus, Intermedia Arts, and 410 Project. She has been the Artistic Director of Art Shanty Projects since 2019 and was the longtime producer of the beloved Northern Spark festival.

Mary McCallum

Mary is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy and an E-RYT200 YACEP certified yoga instructor specializing in accessible yoga for beginners.

As a yoga instructor, Mary is known for her ability to help discouraged folks find their way to safe and welcoming movement so they can enjoy more adventures, activities, and the bold lives they deserve. She loves educating her students to create a personal practice that relieves pain, provides movement freedom, and amplifies emotional well-being. Her goal is to create a fun, inclusive, supportive, and non-intimidating environment for all ages, sizes, and abilities.

In addition to teaching yoga and leading forest therapy walks, Mary is also the Director of Partnerships and a regular contributor to Midwest Yoga + Life Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys strength training, hiking, dancing, and learning how to DJ.

Laurie Richardson Johnson

Laurie Richardson Johnson’s artist’s life began in her childhood as a sidewalk artist, a fort builder, a tree climber and an observer and drawer of the natural world. Questions and explorations of nature, history, dreams, and spirit followed closely and have become the heart of Laurie’s artistic discovery and expression through her two and three dimensional work (drawing, painting, and building from natural materials) as well as writing and illustrating stories. She has always been drawn to the unseen. 

Laurie’s teaching experiences with people of all ages include numerous residency programs in educational and spiritual communities, conferences, retreats, and museums including the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul where she worked as a museum educator and storyteller. Laurie has developed and taught Drawing From the Earth and Drawing as Daily Prayer (after Eugene Delacroix) in a variety of settings, including her creative and heart-space, Blue River Studio.

Carin Vagle

Carin Vagle is a multi-disciplinary artist out of Minneapolis Minnesota.  Her visual and vocal arts carry a unique frequency of spiritual realms.  They center spontaneity, instinct, playfulness and sacred story.  Her visual creations and singing wash the psyche, inviting authentic soul space communion.  Her work invokes love, energetic wisdom and emerges fresh in the moment.  Carin believes to create art is to bridge worlds.  

Additional Considerations:

• Arrival: When you arrive (event opens at 2:30 pm on Friday) you’ll be greeted and have a chance to choose a campsite and get settled in.
  
• Amenities: You will have 24 hour access to “The Lounge” which includes an indoor restroom, plenty of power outlets you may charge things in, and a hot tea + coffee preparation station. 
  
• Comfort + Safety: Please bring a flashlight for navigating at night, and clothing to accommodate all types of weather.
  
• Food: We will be providing dinners on Friday & Saturday as well as brunch on Sunday; vegetarian options will be on the menu (please inform us if you have any allergies or other considerations); please bring your own mid-day snacks and lunches. Any treats and beverages you’d like to share with the group are very much welcome.
  
• Trash + Recycling: Please plan to pack out any trash & recycling as you would at a state campground.
  
• Prepare: We will be relaxing together in the sauna, cold plunge tubs, and wood-fired hot tub; please bring a swimsuit, flip flops or other easy on/off sandals, and towel. Forest Bathing and Earth Art Medicine Practice will take place outdoors, rain or shine – and the weather is often quickly changeable – dress accordingly for comfort.
  
• Cell Service: Verizon cell service here is excellent; other providers sometimes have a weak signal. Limited Wi-Fi available, but subject to event usage load.

Registration:

All are welcome (ages 18+), registration required no less than 24 hours prior to event start.

Full weekend + camping passes – $349 per person
Saturday-only day passes – $199 per person

Discounted tickets available for Early Birds! Register by May 6, 2024 and use promo code “EARLYBIRD” for $70 off your ticket!

---

ABOUT INTERBEING EVENTS AT SILVAE SPIRITUS

We focus on the wisdom at the center of the circle:

At Silvae Spiritus, we embrace a philosophy of personal awakening and development within a context of “progress, not perfection” – an attempt to meet people wherever they are on their journey, and an acknowledgement that each step along that path is necessary and can be offered spaciousness.

Our Interbeing Events give participants an opportunity to slow down, shift from your everyday routine, and re-focus your attention toward yourself in relation to community. In contrast to the vast majority of wellness events, ours are a more interactive experience: rather than solely absorbing what we and our guest facilitators offer, participants are invited to contribute their own insights and unique gifts, thereby co-creating a more richly nuanced and memorable experience for everyone.

One of our foundational beliefs is that when we come together to immerse ourselves in shared authenticity, a deep wisdom may be accessed; one which emanates not from any particular individual, but arises from the center of the circle: the point of intersection which joins each perspective and coalesces into something greater than, and more true than, any individual would be capable of on our own. We don’t come with any answers or prescriptions for how to best navigate these complicated times, but we are honored to hold space for the conversation to unfold.

We believe effective ecology starts with love:

One of the most simple and accurate definitions of the word “love” is the expansion of self to include another. Within the context of deep ecology, the term “ecological self” describes how a natural maturation of the human is toward ever-widening fields of relevance and caring, as your self-interest expands from being just what affects you (constrained by long embedded notions of yourself as a discrete and isolated entity) to encompass your family or community or country, to eventually include what happens to Earth.

People protect what they love.

The levels of energy, buoyancy, optimism, and compassion available to a person actively enraptured in the process of falling in love are unequaled in the vast scope of human experience. This abundance is just what we will need to meet the challenges ahead. Join us at an Interbeing Event as we remember how to fall in love with Earth.

We encourage nourishment for body + mind:

All Interbeing Events at Silvae Spiritus include Nature as an active participant, not just a setting. Whether Forest Bathing, thermic cycling through the practice of Sauna + Cold Plunge, Star-gazing, Bonfire-sitting, or immersing in an ambient sound exploration, we believe an embodied interaction with the community of flora and fauna are what supports full, grounded wellness.

What to expect when you arrive at an Interbeing Event:

Whether you’re new to the practices and modalities on offer, or an experienced enthusiast, and whether the totality of your experience with nature is a houseplant or you’re a lifelong wilderness backpacker, we believe that nature is for everyone and all are welcome here.

Upon arrival you will be greeted, checked-in, and given an agenda and an overview of the land and available facilities. Coffee, tea, water, and healthy snacks are always provided.

We’ll fully communicate with you to ensure you arrive prepared and have anything you might need to comfortably participate.

Questions? Contact us anytime.

“In ecology, we understand that the wellbeing of one is inseparable from the wellbeing of all… In the story of Interbeing, life is a gift. The world and everything in it is a gift.” 

— Charles Eisenstein