Fall Rejuvenation Women's Retreat
October 7-9
at Deer Hill Basecamp, Mancos, Colorado
Fall is a time of change, and a perfect time to reset your nervous system and digestive tract. Join us for a weekend of nourishing rituals and ayurvedic food to restore and rejuvenate your whole being. We’ll slow down from this speeding culture and give ourselves a sacred pause to listen to our bodies and practice true self love. We’ll invoke the feminine qualities of compassion, receptivity, softness, sensuality, and ease and give our bodies, hearts and minds a much needed rest.
The retreat includes:
Staying on site in your choice of bunkhouse lodging or upgrading to a loft room October 7th and 8th
6 Ayurvedic meals, ghee, tea, and herbs for a weekend cleanse
Discussion with Ayurvedic Practitioner Sheryl McGourty on why and how to do a seasonal ayurvedic cleanse with instructions for cleansing at home
Gentle flow and restorative yoga with Lily Russo
Sound Bath with Tracy Baumann
Singing, dancing, connection, ritual, and sisterhood
This retreat costs between $450-475 (camping or bunkhouse lodging) and $615-650 (shared or private bedroom), including meals and all activities. Scroll down for lodging and purchase options.
The Land:
Our gathering place, Deer Hill basecamp, in Mancos, Colorado, is located on 130 acres of meadowland and pinion-juniper forest at the base of Menefee Mountain in the Mancos River Valley. Located 30 miles west of Durango, CO, and six miles from Mesa Verde National Park, the Mancos Valley has a long tradition of agriculture, kept alive today in multigenerational ranches and small organic farms.
At Deer Hill, you’ll enjoy cozy common spaces, beautiful grounds, and a ranch-like feel. The strawbale-constructed Meeting Place, with its many south-facing windows, wood floors, and custom woodwork provides an inspiring venue for indoor movement and sound workshops.
Deer Hill’s beautiful outdoor grounds include lush grassy fields, shady cottonwood trees, hiking opportunities right from the property, and a great palapa on which to relax in the shade by the pond. Our outdoor gatherings will take place in the soft grass beneath the biggest cottonwood; this gathering space will be affectionately called The Cottonwood.
The House, where the kitchen is located, is a great place to relax, connect, read a book or play a game, and will be our indoor alternative in case of rain for any outdoor workshops. The House creates an incredibly authentic, homey feel at Deer Hill, as it was our Founders, Doug and Beverly Capelin’s, primary residence for most of Deer Hill’s history.
The bunkhouse cabins have an open floor plan, with bunkbeds along the perimeter. Tucked amongst the piñon and juniper trees, these cabins provide the classic “camp experience” for guests. Bunkhouse guests share the bathrooms in The Showerhouse nearby.
The bedrooms are located in the House or the Loft. Beds are each equipped with comfortable bedding, and share a bathroom.
Retreat Facilitators:
Lily Russo: As a Sacred Sensuality Guide, Yoga Teacher, Retreat Organizer, Podcaster and Ayurvedic Wellness Coach, I empower others to access the great cosmic source of radiance, creativity, and healing. My deepest passion is connecting with women and guiding them to fully cultivate their innate feminine powers of sensuality, intuition, creativity and compassion, so that they may reverse the effects of burnout and uncover their inner radiance!
During this retreat I will be facilitating ceremony, movement medicine, song circle, and connection between all guests and the land we will be gathering on.
Find out more at www.lilyrussoyoga.com
Sheryl McGourty: I have been a student of yoga for over half my life, finding the practices illuminating, revealing, challenging and ultimately comforting. I co-founded Yogadurango in 2006 and have mothered a community space to allow people to explore, grow and connect. It is my path to create circles, form connections, ask questions and facilitate creative and impressionable experiences. As a student of the natural world and Ayurveda, I strive to merge and integrate my lived experiences into communicating and expressing the wholeness of Yoga.
Find out more at:
Tracy Baumann: Unbeknownst to me, my sound healing journey began many years ago with a love of meditation and kirtan. Then, seven years ago, I fell asleep to the sounds of Tibetan singing bowls and woke with a tremendous sense of well being and knew I needed to explore that path. It has been a wild and wonderful ride filled with love, joy, creativity, collaboration, connection, curiosity, deep groundedness, and amazing sound/vibration experiences. I am honored and grateful to be on this path, and to be able to offer these experiences to others.
I have certifications from the Sound Healing Academy in Integral Sound Healing (multi instruments) and Sound Healing with Tuning Forks as well as completed courses in Working with Tibetan Singing Bowls and Working With Musical Intervals. Initially I began creating sound baths with a professional musician, and then with a yoga instructor, and we offered them at yoga studios in both Teton Valley, ID (Driggs/Victor) and Teton Valley, WY (Wilson). I branched out on my own when I moved to Bayfield, CO and currently offer sound baths and tuning fork sessions in a variety of different venues.
Sometimes described as "a concert for the soul," sound baths include Tibetan and crystal singing bowls, gongs, drums, tuning forks, chimes, and more to create a unique sound experience designed to relax the body and calm the mind. Vibrations, as well as the silences that follow, are equally important as the sounds heard. I consider sound baths a type of meditation, where a deep state of relaxation, peace, and an overall sense of well being is cultivated.
Schedule
Subject to Change
Friday
4 Arrive and get set up in your lodging
5 Gather under the Cottonwood Tree for the Opening Circle
6 Dinner
7:30 Gather at the Meeting Place to connect through words, song, and movement
Saturday
7-8 Start your day with a big cleansing cup of hot water (with optional lemon, honey, and ginger)
8 Slow Yoga with Sheryl McGourty at the Meeting Place
9:30 Breakfast
10:30 Sheryl McGourty will lead a class on Seasonal Cleansing at the Meeting Place
1 Kitchari Lunch followed by some time to rest, journal, read, walk, shower
4 Gentle Yoga Flow + Embodied Meditation at the Meeting Place
6 Dinner
7:30 Song Circle in the House
Sunday
7-8 Start your day with a big cleansing cup of hot water (with optional lemon, honey, and ginger)
8 Gentle Yoga Flow at the Meeting Place
9:30 Breakfast
10:30 Ayurvedic Cooking Class in the Kitchen (Make red lentil dahl and golden milk)
12:30 Lunch
2 Sound Healing with Tracy Baumann + Chanting with Lily at the Meeting Place
3:30pm Reflections and Closing Circle at the House
Things to Bring:
Bedding if in Bunkhouse, yoga mat, thermos, bolster and/or blocks if you have them, blanket or cushion to sit on, journal, rain gear in case of rain, towel, toiletries.
Ayurvedic Meals:
This weekend we’ll be cleansing our bodies while at the same time nourishing them through Ayurvedic seasonal cleansing protocols. We’ll eat simply, favoring warm and wet, to give our digestive tracts a chance to relax and release toxins. Each morning we’ll start the day with a big glass of hot water, with optional lemon, ginger, and honey. We’ll share simple meals featuring fresh cooked fruit and vegetables, grains and small legumes such as red lentils and mung beans, seasoned with digestive spices, and topped with lime, ghee, and cilantro. Meals will be vegetarian, gluten-free, and free of onions and garlic. Hot water and herbal teas will be available throughout the day. You’re recommended to sip hot water every 10-15 minutes throughout the day to keep your digestive tract stimulated and lubricated. We also suggest taking the ayurvedic super herb trio Triphala to support elimination each evening which will be available in tablet form. Please check with your health care provider prior to attending to make sure this diet and herbal support does not interfere with any treatments or medications you are currently on.
Testimonials from Former Awakened Heart Retreats
Dot Clemens: “A small part of me shifted and I know I will never be the same. Of course, I feel deeply connected and grounded right now while I am here, but I know I am taking this sacred pause with me for life.”
Cree Cox: “All I can say is WOW! The Wild Heart Women's Gathering was so incredible! I feel so fed and nourished and am walking away from the weekend with a full heart and a cup that overfloweth. From the workshops, to the land, to the amazing, high vibe food and all the women who participated, it was a potent container that provided a beautiful alchemy for healing, connection and transformation.”
Jaclyn Kotula: “The experience I had on this retreat was incredible. I learned so much about yoga, meditation, and self-awareness. The experience was invaluable.”
Emma Hooper: “Attending a women’s gathering of this magnitude under the guidance, and nurturing of Lily and Kayla gave me a place to fit in. A place that I did not realize I so desperately needed and longed for. Having this many women together, talking of subjects that are taboo in this day in age, is truly healing. We spoke together, felt together, and healed together. The power of feminine togetherness has the capacity to change the world. My divine feminine felt this union in my bones and soul. It was cathartic in an ancient way. A way that my soul applauded for finally figuring out. This event changed me. It has made me more confident as a wombman, more accepting as a human, and most importantly announced a call to action for my purpose here. I have deep gratitude for this event and its facilitators. The space held at the Wild Heart Women’s Gathering was divinely designed for true growth. It was a magical container to aid me in my transformation and I am truly blessed to have been a part of it. I would recommend this event to any wombman in my life without a hint of hesitation.”