This workshop is for individuals who want to amplify their health through gentle stretch, learn how to ease their own aches and pains they have not been able to get a handle on and bring this knowledge and inner awareness back home into their daily lives.

This retreat is also for trainees to hone their skills and gain greater confidence in their own personal practice, or gain more training towards certification as a Somatic Stretch® teacher.

If you can sit on the floor, you can do these exercises! Once you learn how to relate to the stretch reflex you will be amazed how little you need to move to expand flexibility and increase blood flow so radically!

If you are very flexible you will gain deeper insight into patterns that protect you, areas you didn't realise were hiding and how you can align and move energy even more easily through your body to improve health. 

To learn more about Somatic Stretch® click here. 

We will be covering;

* In depth understanding of the stretch reflex. This is the core teaching of Somatic Stretch® ~ re-educating the mind to recognize the point in movement where flexibility can greatly increase without strain. Understanding the role of postural alignment is emphasized once the essentials of the stretch reflex are covered, and both are integrated into a full, somatic awareness for each individual by the week’s end.

* We will be learning about Fractal Anatomy, how to see the geometric structure of the nervous system to witness core tension patterns in the body. This helps us to understand how the nervous system and our emotions play a part in our tension responses, and how to access this for better health results. 

* We will learn how to read tension patterns in bodies to better understand a students process, giving us insight into what we are holding and where, what we are ready to release and what will take some time, and how best to move through that territory. This is a fun class where you get to give and receive deeper information about the bodies of you and your classmates, helping each other to work with your own patterning - or those of your students if you teach - so much more. 

*Emotional response and release is often part of the process of letting physical pain go. This can happen and these emotions are held in a safe space where one person’s vulnerability actually affects and releases tension in other participants – it’s all part of an alchemy you don’t need to prepare for or be nervous about. Anything that happens in these retreats happen with a lot of ease and less stress than you can imagine. Even ‘anti-group people’ who come with concerns about meeting other humans leave happy! One such student emailed me after a retreat and said,

“I feel so crazy blessed to have met so many wonderful people and  shared so much deep emotion, the likes of which I have never experienced before… “

* We will be learning a lot about trigger point work/acupuncture points you can do on yourself to work with your specific issue, as well as how to begin understanding how to help others by using particular points that unlock significant areas holding tension.

* One of the big attractions – aside from the classic Maine architecture, wooden paneled bedrooms and bathrooms, gorgeous property, inviting hot tub and loons calling on the lake as you fall asleep – is the fact that Wilhelm Reich’s home and laboratory is right down the road.

This pioneer was a contemporary of Freud’s in Vienna starting at the young age of 23, and he grew to be famous, infamous and imprisoned by the American government after fleeing the fascist regimes in Europe. He published many books as he scientifically went about researching how to quantify ‘life force’ in the body and his books were the only ones ever burned by the US government when he was sent to prison, where he died in 1957 at the age of 60.

His property, home and lab in Rangeley has been kept with great care, just as he left it 60 years ago, down to the coats and shoes he left in the closet the day he left his home to go to jail to never return.

What did this man do to provoke such a massive governmental response and what significance is his work today? 

Here is a video to learn more.

We will be taking a tour through his lab and museum, learning about the world of ‘character armoring’ and how our tensions affect the psyche. There is so much to say about Reich that I will save it for the retreat, and can only say now that I will be offering a very rare wander through his life and work as I have been studying him for many years, and also have had the good fortune to study at his lab with MD’s and PhD’s dedicated to keeping his work alive.

• Paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing, hiking and relaxing are all available, every day.

For those interested in a more comprehensive study between Western and Eastern medical systems you can learn more through the free, short videos online on my webpage here. 

Those coming for their own personal reboot, or daily auditors of the courses are free to design their own time around our schedule. You can learn as much or as little as you feel called to, and relax the rest of the time.

Early arrival: Free accommodation is available the day before for those who wish to settle in and/or receive bodywork sessions with Meredith. Meredith meets with each student before the retreat gets underway and early arrival gives you plenty of time to get settled, play and get ready for a beautiful dive into the somatic depths!

Day 1: Retreat begins: Dinner gathering early evening 7:30 pm

Day 2: 

7:00 – 8:00 am: Morning Meditation (always optional)

8:00 – 9:00 : Breakfast

9:00 – 10:15 : Welcoming circle and introductions

10:15 – 12:30 : Stretch class – stretch reflex integration

12:30 – 2:00 : Lunch and siesta / paddleboard etc.

2:00 – 4:30 : The Anatomy of Posture with stretching

4:30 – 5:00 : Break

5:00 – 6:00 : Body reading and tension pattern busting

6:30 : Dinner and personal time

Day 3: 

7:00 – 8:00 am: Morning Meditation

8:00 – 9:00 : Breakfast

9:00 – 10:15 : Integrations/check in

10:15 – 12:30 : Stretch class

12:30 – 2:00 : Lunch and siesta / paddleboard etc.

2:00 – 4:30 : Fractal Anatomy and Geometry of Healing

4:30 – 5:00 : Break

5:00 – 6:00 : Voice meditation

6:15 – 8:15 : Dinner and personal time

8:30 – 9:30 : Fractal Anatomy film

Day 4: 

7:00 – 8:00 am: Morning Meditation

8:00 – 9:00 : Breakfast

9:00 – 10:15 : Integrations/Check in

10:15 – 12:30 : Stretch

12:30 – 2:15: Lunch in town

2:30 – 5:00: Wilhelm Reich museum, film and tour

5:00 – 6:00 : Break

6:00 – 8:00 : Dinner and personal time

8:30-9:30 – evening wind down stretch and breath (optional)

Day 5:

7:00 – 8:00 am: Morning Meditation

8:00 – 9:00 : Breakfast

9:00 – 10:15 : Integrations/check-in

10:15 – 12:30 : Stretch class

12:30 – 2:00 : Lunch and downtime

2:00 – 6:00 – afternoon hiking, kayaking, paddleboarding, resting or reading

6:15 – 8:30 : Dinner in town

8:30 – personal time

Day 6: 

7:00 – 8:00 am: Morning Meditation

8:00 – 9:00 : Breakfast

9:00 – 10:00 : Integrations/check-in

10:15 – 12:30 : Stretch class

12:30 – 2:00 : Lunch and siesta / paddleboard etc.

2:00 – 4:30 : Closing intentions

4:30 – 6:00 : Personal time

6:15 : Dinner 

Day 7: 

7:00 – 8:00 am: Morning Meditation

8:00 – 9:00 : Breakfast

11:00 : morning departure

Early bird price for luxury accommodation, home-cooked, organic meals and all of the classes, paddleboarding, hiking and canoeing you can do scales from lower to higher depending upon your accommodation choice…. 

Note that one lunch and one dinner in the seven days will be in town, and this is an added expense if you wish to join us, or have your own free time!

See below to find all rooms and pricing

Refund policy: 

Your deposit is $497 and is refundable minus a $75 administration fee up to 60 days before your retreat. If you cancel your booking less than 8 weeks out: 

- Cancellation 2 weeks or less before due arrival date, 0% refund

- Cancellation 2 to 4 weeks before due arrival date, 25% refund less deposit

- Cancellation 4 to 8 weeks before due arrival date, 50% refund less deposit

- Cancellation more than 8 weeks before due arrival date, 100% refund less deposit

Full payment is due 60 days before the start of the retreat: payment due by May 4, 2020. 

For those wanting to come for single days, there is a daily audit cost with no food or lodging @ $200/day. Food costs can be added for the day(s) you choose. 

Transportation addition: Rangeley is a four-hour drive from either Montreal or Boston, and two-hours from Portland. If you don’t drive to the retreat, car pooling from an airport can be arranged once students sign up and a private drive for $150 to or from Portland airport can be arranged.

This is a small, intimate retreat designed to give you a great deal of emotional, and physical support, where food, activity and accommodation are all high on the list of priorities for a powerful journey within.