SPRING RISING

April 19-21, 2024

We’ve got an incredible line-up of experiences facilitated by wise guides who want to support your entire retreat experience.

In addition to the main sessions guided by Christa, there are workshops offered on Saturday afternoon.

You will be signing up for these workshops on Saturday morning before lunch.

MAIN SESSIONS

SPRING RISING is the theme of this year’s retreat, and Christa Hesselink is our guide for our main sessions. Each session will include thoughtful reflections, engaging story-telling, and facilitated experiences to support you in slowing down and tuning into your inner life.

Session 1: Waking Up from Hibernation

Session 2: From Bud to Bloom

Session 3: Alive Things Know How to Grow

Session 4: The Light That Carries Us

Christa Hesselink is the founder of SoulPlay.ca and has been guiding individuals and groups as they dig deeper into their spiritual life for her entire twenty-five-year career working in higher education, non-profit development, and church ministry.

As a well-respected keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and retreat leader, her greatest satisfaction comes when designing compelling experiences for people to slow down so they can wake up to their own soul.

Christa is a certified spiritual director with the Haden Institute, a certified Enneagram Coach with the highly respected Narrative Tradition, and a certified Yoga Alliance yoga instructor.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS

Connect to Your Body - Plant new seeds for change with Heidi Smith

Spring is the perfect time to shed what is no longer serving us and plant new seeds for change.  The wisdom of the body is always there, just below the surface.  The key is to tune inward and get curious.  During this interactive workshop we will explore some simple mindfulness and body awareness techniques as well as discuss practical ideas to nourish our days.  We'll explore intuitive eating strategies by tuning into our cues for hunger, satiety, stress, emotion and fatigue.  By reconnecting to our bodies, we can respond and take better care of ourselves.  The foundation of this approach is to practice curiosity and non-judgement so we can build new habits that foster self-compassion, self-care and vitality. 

Heidi Smith has been consulting for individuals and organizations for over 25 years.  Her approach combines an expertise in nutrition and exercise with her passion for practicing mindfulness and reconnecting to our intuition.  In addition to being a Registered Dietitian, Heidi is a certified facilitator of the MBSR program (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction), a trained SoulCollage® Facilitator and an Advanced Dream Pattern Analyst.   She is an award-winning presenter, an author and a mother of 3.   Heidi creates warm, non-judgemental, soulful spaces to explore our inner world.  Whether it’s through meditation, collage, dream analysis or intuitive eating, Heidi uses her facilitation skills to help you turn inward, to listen to your body, to be curious about your mind, to awaken your heart and to connect to your soul, so you can live life with vitality. 

Learn more about Heidi here: www.heidismithnutrition.com 

Eco-Spirituality: Re-membering your True Nature

You are a spiritual being.

We are also embodied beings. For many of us in the modern, Western world, our spirituality has become disembodied and disconnected from the earth. Ecospirituality is a re-membering of our whole selves within creation, remembering what our souls know but have forgotten. It is heeding the invitation to see ourselves and all of creation 'woven together in holiness.' In this workshop we will explore some eco-spiritual practices together and reflect on the invitations of spring. 

Wendy Janzen is a spiritual director, pastor (and founder) of Burning Bush Forest Church, and eco-minister for Mennonite Church Eastern Canada. She has explored eco-spirituality independently and through programs with the Seminary of the Wild Earth, the School for Earth and Soul, and the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. She lives in Kitchener with her husband Chip Bender, their two teenage sons, and their cat who brings an element of the wild into their lives. She is a child of the Canadian prairies, where the expansive sky and flowing rivers taught her of God's immanent presence.

Learn more about Wendy’s work here: https://www.burningbushforestchurch.ca

The Art & Soul of Rising with Deanna Underwood

Take this session to explore the more intuitive, creative, stirrings within. This workshop will be spent tuning into your inner life through images, and music, and creating your own work of art that expresses the terrain of your soul. You’ll have lots to process and uncover from the retreat sessions, and this is a perfect opportunity to slow down and tune in. Absolutely no “artistic” experience or skill is required.

Deanna Underwood is a student of the soul. She has completed a three-year intensive soul formation program and is a true artist who loves to create for the pure joy of it.

She has tremendous experience in a number of different mediums and desires to introduce people to the power of “creative crafting” as a practice to tune into the deep voice of our inner life. You can find her over at @teadrinker_dee .

Other Afternoon Options

The entire afternoon is yours to slow down and wake up to your life. You can choose to participate in any of these workshops, go on a special “farm” tour with Head Farmer Gillian, (and visit the spring lambs!), take time on a “Spring Rising Reflective Walk” (material provided), or take the time for yourself - to nap, walk the Labyrinth (supportive material provided), journal, or connect with friends in the lounge. Guelph is only minutes away, if the city happens to be calling.

The time is yours! What will your soul need?

Saturday Evening Concert

We are in for a treat!!

Award-winning musical duo, GATHERING SPARKS is the graceful collision of Eve Goldberg and Jane Lewis—musical friends who bonded over finely tuned harmonies and the craft of songwriting. Their inclusive approach embraces folk, pop, blues and gospel influences tastefully played on acoustic guitar, piano, accordion, and ukulele. 

With their infectious mix of styles and compelling vocal blend, Gathering Sparks has been making some big waves. Their debut 6-song CD was nominated for a 2014 Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, and they quickly became an audience favourite. Whether they are belting it out a capella style, tugging on your heartstrings with a folky original, crooning a jazzy swing tune, or getting into the spirit with a gospel-inflected singalong, Gathering Sparks performances make fans out of listeners with their stellar harmonies and fine musicianship. 

The retreat will be held on the traditional territory inhabited by the Chonnonton people before Europeans settled here. We acknowledge other First Nations neighbours including the Haudenosaunee, the Anishnaabe and The Métis nation. SoulPlay.ca seeks a new relationship with the Original Peoples of this land, and will weave honour and respect into the weekend retreat.