A one-day Creativity + Courage retreat using tools of naturalists — observation, notation, and curiosity — to turn the lens creatively on ourselves. We'll study dormant trees beginning to bud and learn to recognize what holds shape for blossoming: the architecture of being, its scars, its reach, its sway, its intelligence.

Too often we see ourselves only through what we've internalized by what’s been done to us, or only what we output. These two methods of identifying ourselves neglect to see the actual architecture of our being, the patterns that have been shaping us all along. 

Drawing from dendrology and phenology — the sciences of reading trees by their form, and  their relationship to time and what grows around and with them— we'll practice a mode of observation that asks: what does the outside bare shape of a tree reveal about itself and its growing patterns? 

This day is an invitation to notice our actual shape, devoid of our makings or doings — we will notice how we arch towards the light, where we’ve grown around a wound, where we are stunted and where we are reaching.

The day is experiential and process-based engaging with our full senses. A private chef-prepared spring picnic will nurture us with green medicine of the season, foraged from this place and time of year.

You'll leave with an empowering creative practice: a new way of seeing yourself with curiosity and admiration; one that provides insight into the shapes and patterns that we must live with versus removing and a new love for who we are.

May 1st 10am–3pm || Outdoors || Claremont NY || $330pp

+Spring greens picnic prepared by private chef — foraged and seasonal