This is for you if you are a woman or GNC person of color who is ready to deepen in somatic, spiritual, and creative practices. This is an offering for folks with trust, curiosity, and perhaps some foundational experience with somatic and land-based practices. It is a space for practicing decolonizing in our bodies, in relation to each other, and in connection with land. This may be for you if you are wanting and ready to:

Slow down, taste, and savor moments of embodied liberation, ease, and connection

Be and feel more of yourself in relationship with others and the land

Sink into abundance through enriching conversation, storytelling, singing, dancing,  moving and playing together

Sync with the rhythms of the natural world and trust the magic that arises

Please note that this is a practice space, not an intellectual space for discussing decolonizing. For a conceptual understanding of this work, we highly recommend: The book, Decolonizing the Body, Kelsey’s DtB Course and the Embodiment Basics Course from the Embodiment Institute. 

• Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner + Snacks. We’ll serve fresh, locally sourced, seasonal, and nourishing meals. 

• Shared accommodations in a beautiful lodge, hand-crafted with sustainably harvested wood from the surrounding forest. 

• Programming and facilitation

• All supplies

Does not include:

• Flight or other travel to NS/ Mi’kma’ki

• Local travel to and from the retreat space. The Halifax airport is about 130 km (1.5 hour drive) from Asitu’lisk and it is easy to get a Taxi from the airport to the retreat space. There is also a possibility of connecting with other participants to explore carpooling options.

Halifax Stanfield International Airport is the closest city and airport, about 130 km. from the retreat space.

We’ll begin at noon on April 16th and wrap up after lunch on April 20th. Arrive with enough time to land and easefully join us by noon on the 16th and plan to leave after lunch on the 20th.

The retreat will be hosted in Asitu’lisk, meaning that which gives you balance. Asitu’lisk is an enchanting landscape of ancient Wapane’kati forest and its riparian zones on the shores of Atuomkuk (Wentzell) Lake and the Pijnuiskaq (LaHave) River, on the south shore of Nova Scotia, about a 1.5 hour drive from Halifax. It is a place where the ancestors of the Mi’kmaq flourished for thousands of years. In 2021, as part of a historic land-back initiative, the land was returned to its rightful caregivers, the Mi’kmaq, the original people of this land. Asitu’lisk is a place to connect the generations and a place to heal and grow for all peoples. 

In our time together, we will practice indoors and on the land. Our main indoor gathering space is in the main lodge, a beautiful rambling building hand-crafted from sustainably harvested wood from the surrounding forest and filled with natural light. We’ll eat delicious and nourishing seasonal food prepared with care and intention, walk the forest trails through mossy hemlock groves and sit by the stone-strewn brooks, watched over by grandmother Maple.

Asitu’lisk is located near Sin So’sepe’katik (Bridgewater) on the south shore of Nova Scotia, about a 1.5 hour drive from Halifax which is where the closest airport is located.  It is easy to get a Taxi from the airport to the retreat space. There is also a possibility of connecting with other participants to explore carpooling options. You’ll have a chance to let us know if you’re interested in this option on the application form.

Comfortable clothing for a range of weather conditions. Temperatures in April in Mi’kma’ki can range between 0-20℃/ 30-70℉.  April is a variable and potent time of year. Layers work well for a coastal climate where weather conditions can change quickly. As the local saying goes “if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes.”

• Warm layers including socks, a warm hat, and mittens

• Basic rain gear

• Footwear that is suitable for moist and uneven ground conditions and for dancing

• Personal care items & medications

• Anything else that will support you in feeling settled and comfortable in the space

• One thing that connects you to the landscape you call home (a leaf, rock, shell, seed)

• Your songs

• The medicines that you bring and offer to the collective

• A bathing suit (for the polar bear plungers!)

We’ll serve freshly prepared and nourishing meals made on site from locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. Meals will be simple, abundant, flavorful, and primarily vegetarian. One celebration meal may include meat for those who eat it which will be sourced from a local farm that practices humane farming practices. We will ask about your dietary needs during the application process and be in communication around any requests we foresee as challenging to meet. Our intention is to have everyone well-fed in all the ways!

Rooms are shared between yourself and one other. You are welcome to request your roommate if you have a preference. Each room has two twin beds.

Accommodations are located in clusters of rooms tucked in each corner of the main lodge. These clusters include a bathroom, small living room/ rest area and kitchenette. These communal spaces are shared between roughly 3-4 beds. To get an idea, see the pictures below.

No. We anticipate it will be a bit brisk for camping this time of year.