Between Earth and Sky
Seasonal One-Day Healing Retreats for Women
Saturday May 25th, 2024
Saturday July 27th, 2024
Saturday October 26th, 2024
1pm - 8pm
This human-centric world we have created is designed to pull us in, to keep our attention wrapped up in the comings and goings of the humans.
It makes it easy to forget who we are -
…sparks of Sacredness blossoming somewhere between Earth and Sky.
This forgetting leaves us feeling disconnected, isolated,
disempowered,
alone,
confused and lacking in vital force.
This one-day, heart-centered retreat is designed to help us re-kindle our relationship with the sacred so we can:
Touch in to our place of belonging in the world
Return to our bodies and senses
Reconnect to the natural world
Move out old blockages to our vital life force
Rest back into being held by that which is bigger than ourselves
What People Are Saying
“Kat is a wonderful facilitator who draws from her rich background to co-create a healing experience that feels much more profound and transformative than the relatively short duration would suggest possible. From the moment I passed through the gate onto her land, I felt I had crossed a threshold into an enchanted world, a respite from the busy-ness of my modern life, sacred and mysterious. Now, a week later, I still carry my expanded awareness from our time together. My senses are a bit keener and I have more peace of mind in my day-to-day. I highly recommend!.”
— JR, Asheville, NC
Kat is a very genuine and compassionate person. Spending an afternoon forest bathing was absolutely transformative in feeling grounded, in touch with nature and my body. I highly recommend it to anyone working though an internal or external issue or just wanting to experience going deep in nature and new ways of being/thinking
— AC, Asheville, NC
“Kat creates a very intentional and safe space to explore a greater connection to nature and self, allowing everyone to be their authentic self wherever they are at. She weaves poetry, somatic experiencing, movement, ceremony, creativity and the power of being witnessed and held in a sacred space, beautifully. I continue to leave her groups feeling inspired to lean into the many other ways of being and knowing outside of the rational thinking brain. I left her recent forest bathing session with a renewed curiosity and trust in the mirrors all around us in the natural world.”
— KC, Barnardsville, NC
What will we be doing?
Our day together includes:
Forest bathing
Cacao ceremony
BBTRS Breathwork (Learn more below)
Sound Healing
Nourishing dinner
The group is limited to 12 women * (anyone who lives their life with the social identity “woman” is welcome)
“If we surrendered
to earth’s intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.
Instead we entangle ourselves
in knots of our own making
and struggle, lonely and confused.
So like children, we begin again...
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before it can fly.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
Your Guides
Kat Houghton PhD, CPC
Hi! I’m Kat. I’m a Psychologist, a Certified Professional Coach and hold certificates in Transformational Eco-Therapy and Wilderness Rites of Passage Guiding. But none of that matters too much. What matters is that I went though some really dark times in life and I learned, with the guidance of some dear elders, to work with the more-than-human world to not only find solace but to tap into a wellspring of inspiration, creativity and energy that I had no idea was available to me. I have a strong desire to share this with others and love to engage in deep, soul-work with people.
I believe that the crises our modern world faces must be tackled at all levels, law and policy, community engagement and deep personal work. I work at all these levels but the one that calls to me the strongest is the personal soul-work, each of us digging into ourselves to understand why we are here now and what medicine we carry for the world.
Your Guides
Teresa “Tree” Thomas
Teresa is a gentle, powerful, licensed bodyworker, Rites of Passage Guide, BBTRS breathwork facilitator, and Certified Spiritual Sexual Educator who is deeply connected with nature and spirit. She trained at the Southeastern School of Neuromuscular Massage, the Rites of Passage Council, the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, the International School of Temple Arts (ISTA) and the Sacred Feminine Mystery School. She has a deep passion working with others in remembering their wholeness.
Tree is also widely known for creating health conscious, whole food meals, locally and organically sourced from the Asheville area when possible. Tree has a deep passion to be in service and believes in the magic of healing through food and loving intent. Like her Granny, she cooks from scratch while adding her own elements of herbal knowledge. Tree will be providing dinner for these healing retreats. www.spaceto-breathe.com
You will:
Unwind the knots you have formed by keeping it all together
Learn how to let the forest hold you
Connect deeply to the more-than-human world
Shift into a state of consciousness that allows you to receive guidance and nourishment, one where you don’t need to figure it out
Learn how to work with your breath to release tension and stress
Live from your heart
What is the Biodynamic Breathwork Trauma Release System (BBTRS)?
BBTRS was created with the intention to release trauma that may have been shut down from being fully expressed at various times in your life. Those painful experiences to which you may have reacted with fight, flight, freeze and/or fawn have a safe place to be transformed into joy and bliss through a practice called unwinding.
This is done with conscious connective breathing techniques, sound, movement, emotions, and meditation.
Tree will guide you to the edges of stuck energy, invite you to feel and move it slowly and consciously. You will be invited into body awareness, felt sense, and resourcing at various levels of activation depending all at your own pace and choice.
This deeply, embodied, practice provides space for the trauma cycle to complete in a conscious and gentle way, reprogramming the nervous system into ease, and teaching us to self-regulate.
The intention is to free up space in the body, learn how to regulate the nervous system and gain access to higher states of bliss!
In each season we will delve into different bands of tension typically held in the body. By the end of the series we will have covered the entire body.
If you have any concerns about the level of unexplored trauma you may carry in your body please reach out so we can decide together if this program might be a good fit for you or offer alternatives.
How Participants Describe Transformational Forest Bathing
Is this for you?
If you are in need of a deeply nourishing, safe space to do some soul work then this is for you.
If you have a life challenge or one of those soul questions that won’t go away - bring it.
If you are looking for a fun, light day out with the girls - this isn’t it!
“Kat's gifted way of opening a portal to the divine and guiding my connection with the bigger picture of my life's unfolding is grand. I feel very blessed to be a participant in her orb!.”
— MM, Asheville, NC
The Logistics
This is a 7 hour outdoor program. Please come prepared to be outdoors for the entire time. We will have shelter (no walls) for the breathwork and sound healing portions for the day.
We recommend flip-flops or shoes you can easily slip on and off (weather permitting). You are welcome to bring snacks as long as you pack out anything you bring in. We have spring water to drink or bring your own.
We will serve ceremonial cacao (optional) and a vegetarian dinner (other dietary requirements can be accommodated)
You will be asked to leave your cell phone in your car, so let your loved ones know you won’t be available during the program. Please bring a water bottle, a journal and pen and a yoga mat (if you have one).
Due to the ceremonial nature of this work we ask that you refrain from consuming alcohol or recreational drugs for 24 hours before the start of the program.
“Deep attention draws us inevitably into deep relationships,
information and energy are exchanged between the observer and the observed, neither partner in the exchange can be anonymous.”
— Robin Wall Kimmerer