Body As Earth Song: improvisations in creativity, community, playfulness, and presence
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Body As Earth Song: improvisations in creativity, community, playfulness, and presence *
Body as Earth Song
August 18-23, 2026
Six summer days of Relational Ecology,
through ecosomatic movement-based expressive arts:
kindling Vitality, Voice, & Vision
Register Here
*early bird rate is closing June 5th
all prices are listed in Canadian dollars
Relational Ecology
sustenance
ways to uncrumple, release tension, root down
a cauldron of creativity for vitality
the fertile ecotone between you and I
spaciousness and precision
listening together with Earth & Sky
conjuring playful currents of creative adaptation
embodied Soul nourishment
a Feast at Harvest Time
We are living through very turbulent and stressful times.
Many of us feel fear, grief, overwhelm, and exhaustion. Many of us long for a different way forward.
Perhaps you too have been feeling depletion or longing? Perhaps some kind, playful, and regenerative time in community would be of value?
Body Songs is a time for rest and for enlivenment. A time of soiltudes and vibratory collaboration. We will conjure a field of kindness and magic - a place for growing things of the heart that matter.
Movement, somatic listening, & deep relations with Earth. Our creative responses to our living and our longing - all of this and more…
there are two streams running through this workshop
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the center of the program is the retreat: a sustaining current of rest & play
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the retreat is also an experiential doorway for learning about creative, improvisational group facilitation
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there are two streams running through this workshop 〰️ the center of the program is the retreat: a sustaining current of rest & play 〰️ the retreat is also an experiential doorway for learning about creative, improvisational group facilitation 〰️
Six Accommodation Options
Book Now: Early Bird ends June 5
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(1) Shared Yurt
2 single beds, shared bathroom
Early Bird Rate: $2062 Canadian per person
Investment includes 5 nights accommodation, all meals, and 6 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(2) Shared Regular
2 beds, shared bathroom
Early Bird rate $2148 Canadian per person
Investment includes 5 night accommodation, all meals, and 6 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(3) Private Room, in the Bath House Building
1 bed, shared bathroom
Early Bird Rate $2378 Canadian per person
Investment includes 5 night accommodation, all meals, and 6 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(4) Private Regular
1 bed, shared bathroom
Early Bird Rate: $2378Canadian per person
Investment includes 5 night accommodation, all meals, and 6 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(5) Deluxe
2 beds, private bathroom
Early Bird Rate:
from $ 2378 CanadianInvestment includes 5 night accommodation, all meals, and 6 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
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(6) Tenting
A few tent sites are available on the lawn, shared bathroom in the shower house building. Participants must bring tenting gear with them to the land.
Early Bird $1804 Canadian per person
Investment includes 5 night accommodation, all meals, and 6 day workshop tuition
Inclusive of all GST, PST, and MRDT taxes and 5% credit card processing fee
Important details
Pay by direct payment for the best rate ( 7% less than credit card rates) - payments tendered through etransfer (for Canadians) or Venmo or Zelle (for US folks) - contact to arrange.
A 2-installment Payment plan is available - contact to arrange
Cancellation Policy:
Spaces are limited.
$350 of registration payment is considered a non-refundable deposit.
Cancellations after May 31st receive a 50% refund until June 30.
No refunds for cancellations after June 30th.
A training doorway through the retreat program
For those who would like to learn about creative, improvisational group facilitation, who would like to step through the Body As Earth Song experiential doorway into the Relational Ecology Collaboration School training program, come visit this portal
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"I was depleted from grief and burnout...I came away feeling more connected to myself, having made trusting connections with other participants, and refreshed in my personal presence practices. Katrina held space beautifully for participants who came from different geographical, political and emotional experiences, carrying a variety of stories in our bodies, and a variety of expectations about the experience. She offered us a lot of space just to be, and to enter the inquiry she offered in our own ways. We listened deeply to Birds, Wind, Trees with a sense of being among Kin everywhere. I felt nourished by the spaciousness and depths of our individual and group inquiries into listening – listening to body, listening to place, listening with nature…"
—A Fox, BSc Nursing, MA Creative Arts Therapies
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"Watching Katrina facilitate is a reminder that movement can be prayer, and group space can be a living organism.... Her work is deeply embodied and quietly profound. She listens to bodies, to breath, to the relational field, all with a kind of patience that invites truth rather than extracting it. As a fellow group facilitator, I’m struck by how naturally she weaves safety, depth, and freedom together. There is nothing rushed or imposed in her leadership. Instead, people are met exactly where they are, and something honest is allowed to unfold. I hold enormous respect for Katrina's integrity, presence, and devotion to soul-centered work. Being in space she leads is both grounding and quietly transformative.”
—Carmen Cool (she/her) Licensed Professional Counselor & Grief Ritual Facilitator, Boulder Colorado
FAQs
When:
August 18-23rd,
Arrival 3 pm on the 18th, departure 1pm on the 23rd.
Where:
This is a residential retreat at Stowel Lake Farm, on Salt Spring Island. We will be the only group gathering on the Land at this time.
190 Reynolds Road, Salt Spring Island, B.C.
Canada, V8K 1Y2
Salt Spring Island is an easy ferry ride
from Victoria, Swartz Bay to Fulford Harbour, about 35 minutes
or Vancouver, Tsawwassen to Long Harbour, about 1 hour and 25 minutes for a direct sailing
Stowel Lake Farm is located close to Fulford Harbour, a 4 minute drive, and is a 22 minute drive from Long Harbour.
Accomodations:
Beautiful, comfortable, cozy. Stowel Lake farm has a range of options for accomodations. Prices for the retreat vary based on accomodation choices. Three meals a day are provided.
Prices are listed in Canadian dollars, and include accommodation, all meals (3 organic meals a day on full days), and the tuition costs for the workshop.
Is there a commuter option?
This is a residential retreat - however, for Salt Spring Residents some commuter spaces are available. Please contact Katrina for more information.
What is the food like?
My gosh, the food! The food is fabulous farm to table - fresh, organic and made from local whole food ingredients. Much of the food comes directly from Stowel Lake Farm. The meal plan is primarily vegetarian, and the talented kitchen team can accommodate many dietary restrictions including dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan and non-vegetarian.
What will be doing?
Enjoying deep time and spaciousness with one another in a very beautiful location. Playing together, reflecting together, exploring voice, vision, and vitality together, through movement, arts, writing, and group process.
Who will be there?
Fellow voyagers of heart and soul. Folks who yearn to be creative with others. Folks who value embodied play and reflective opportunities. People who need some down time. People seeking renewal. People longing to feel more free and more alive. People feeling the times we are living through and who yearn to engage deeply with LIFE.
Queer & Trans Folks, BIPOC, Neurodivergent folks, & Women of all varieties are heartfully encouraged to come and gather for this retreat.
Accessibility?
The retreat spaces are in buildings with stairs and the paths on the land are some gravel and some earthen.
The degree of intensity of movement is particular to each participant - explorations into what feels restorative and expressive for each person in movement and stillness. There is no need to have any prior movement, art, or writing experience, nor to be in any kind of body shape or fitness level in order to participate. Come as you are.
Please email Katrina with any other accessibility inquires and concerns that you would need clarified prior to booking in for the retreat.
getting to Stowel Lake Farm, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada
Stowel Lake Farm is located at 190 Reynolds Road on Salt Spring Island, on the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia. Visitors to the farm and retreat guests will need to make their way to Salt Spring Island by foot, automobile, ferry, or airplane.
From Vancouver by Ferry
By Foot
Take the thru-fare trip to from Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to Fulford Harbour via Swartz Bay.
By Car
Take the thru-fare trip from Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to Fulford Harbour via Swartz Bay or take the direct ferry from Tsawwassen to Salt Spring Island (Long Harbour). It is highly recommended to make reservations with BC Ferries when travelling by car.
From Victoria by Ferry
Commute to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal and take the ferry from Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal to Salt Spring Island (Fulford Harbour).
Note: Reservations are not available between Swartz Bay and Fulford Harbour, it is first come first serve.
From Vancouver by Air
Option 1
Fly from Vancouver to Victoria Airport. Take a 10 minute cab ride to Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. Take the ferry from Swartz Bay to Fulford Harbour Terminal, Salt Spring Island.
Option 2
Take a floatplane (Harbour Air Seaplanes, SeaAir Seaplanes) from Vancouver to Ganges Harbour on Salt Spring Island.
Creative Rivers Nourish Vitality
When we unfold our creative currents through embodied improvisational explorations, within a playful approach, we reconnect with a place in us that is in flow, a place of presence - dynamic, intuitive, vibrant, grounded.
relational ecology
We will slow down together, arrive together, land together. We’ll roll our joints, curl and uncurl our spines in all directions, and visit with our embodied and mystical relations with Earth alone and together.
Wise practices to uncrumple our nervous systems, help us feel relaxation through breath, muscle, fascia. Practices that weave a tangible sense of our place in the collective, practices that support a deeper courage to connect with one another through the homeland of the beating heart.
Dyads, triads, and larger group configurations, through creative explorations that help us find our own rooted and generative place in the collective.
writing reflections
There is a wise voice who lives within, who comes from the hum of the murmuring deep, who comes to the surface when we write contemplatively, reflectively. This voice is ancient and personal both. Resting in with this curious voice offers a centering and a support that is visceral, palpable, surprising, delighting.
We will evoke this curious resonant thread of voice found through reflective creative writing - we’ll play with various scores that weave this written voice into spoken spaces, to play together with the wisdoms that run from this deep.
Structured and spacious inquiries to tend Vitality, Voice, and Vision, in this kind cauldron, dear heart.
song, Singing, Sound Play
Our voices are intimate to us. Voice is a place we contract when we are shamed. Voice is a place who holds the imprint of socializations and oppressions. And, voice is a place for liberation, a place for reclaiming our ‘I Am’, for tending our belonging, and for practicing fluidity in the range of our relational needs.
We will play with voice as a metaphor and also play with sound, soundscape, song smithery, singing - in the most titrated and invitational and supportive ways. You have a voice worth listening with, sounds that resonate the hum of who you are. Come, strengthen and supple your voice.
embodied listening
“This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness” Mary Oliver.
When we listen through our embodiment to the ripples of Life moving through us, alone and together, through the spaces between us, through the collective, and with Earth, we feel our place in the whole and we find solace in the midst of turbulence. Come, weave some magic in this vibrant land!
art making
Image is a place that brings into form the impressions, the gists, the felt sense, the longed for, the glimpsed and whispered elements of our experience. We have played with image since the beginning of time. Lines, squiggles, shapes, and symbols…we will play with materials that call our creative fire alive, finding unexpected and surprising meanings.
We will play with images woven through other creative forms, images that emerge from movement, words that stem from images, playing through art forms with a beginner’s mind of curious way finding.
Folks will be well-supported to play through a variety of art materials and ecoarts, no prior art making experience is necessary.
Come unfold your inner world wisdoms.
somatic movement play
Life is in motion and dynamic stillness. When we play together we kindle our aliveness. Playfulness through the body - in gesture and movement phrases - sings our hearts and souls into a state of warmth and freedom. Gentle, wild, curious improvisational movement is a wise way to become more at ease within ourselves in community.
We will explore different rivers of movement play, relations with Earth and Sky and one another, through inquiries rooted in the terrain of Authentic Movement, Expressive Movement, Soul Motion, & Somatic Psychotherapy Lineages.
Breath, bone, heart beat, fascia. Supple making inner dancing. Outer ripples of echo inspiration. Pausing together. Expanding and contracting and expanding again…. Dance is a Portal.
Come, step into
an alive field of
movement arts magic:
soulful loving care
for your body,
heart-mind,
and spirit,
through relations with Earth and creative community.
This retreat will nourish a myriad of rivers:
kind and connective time to rest, reconnect, & replenish
wild and gentle creative play in community
practices that rekindle and sustain aliveness in hard times
deep solace for aching hearts