This is a sweet space for you to slow down, give your body some love, and replenish your energy. Stretch, strengthen, breathe and feel connected. Eat delicious, fresh, bright, allergen-free, waste-free catered refreshments. Indulge in a siesta or stroll. Savour flavanoid-rich, antioxidant-packed chocolate tasting and learn about the bean-to-bar process from a professional chocolate curator.

And then, of course, there are two scrumptious yoga classes. This retreat at 1805 Gaspe Ave (off of St Laurent) is designed for you. Carve out this one day.
Please Note: These retreats fill very quickly once registration opens. Start lining up your babysitter/dogsitter now, and maybe invite a friend to join you.

Itinerary:

10:00-10:30 am
Arrive:

Carrying your yoga mat, you’ll arrive at the bright, zen, newly-renovated space at 1805 Gaspe, which is located right HERE. The easiest parking is in the back, behind the building, from where you can enter through the back door.

The building is nestled beside lots of green space, including pastures. You might see some some of the elegant RCMP horses who perform in the annual Musical Ride and are stabled here! We’ll be a short walk from the Ottawa River Pathway.

Unroll your mat, turn off your phone, lie down near other lovely humans, and sigh with relief. Everyone will have a different body, with varying levels of experience, and everyone will belong.

Refreshing Yoga:

10:30-11:30 am
Refreshing Yoga:

This first yoga class is all about circulation, movement, and detoxifing your body. We’ll get that cerebrospinal fluid to rinse out your whole brain. We’ll open up our bronchial tissues, lovingly, in this all-levels, all-bodies class.

In this uplifting yoga class, you’ll revitalize, build strength, regain mobility, tone your core, and stretch out the sticky spots. I’ll offer modifications to suit your injuries. You’ll want 2 yoga blocks to make this class safe and accessible (if you don’t have any yoga blocks, indicate so upon registration).

Lunch & Siesta:

11:30-12:30 pm
Lunch & Siesta:

Savour fresh provisions to revive your body. These beautiful plant-based refreshments are gluten-free, dairy-free, and catered in such a way as to be waste-free (meaning no garbage). Stephanie Wheaton and I are having fun planning a tasty, nutritious refreshment for you.

For your siesta, it’s only a 3-min walk to the scenic Ottawa River Pathway that winds along the river, where you can stroll & daydream. However, you could also choose to chat & laugh with others on the walk. Or even stay in for some golden silence. You might read, write, sketch, or nap. Stretch out on your mat, yawn, or close your eyes. True self-care.

Be back, ready, and on your mat by 12:25 pm…

Chocolate Tasting:

12:30-1:45 pm
Chocolate Tasting:

The lovely “chocolate curator,” Joanne Mutter, will educate us about bean-to-bar chocolate. What does that mean? Joanne says that, “it’s the exact opposite of Industrial Chocolate. The term refers to chocolate that is crafted directly from the cocoa bean, often produced in small batches and primarily by artisan chocolate makers.”

Based on any allergies in our group, Joanne will carefully select & introduce to us samples of exquisite bean-to-bar chocolate. We’ll learn a bit about soil care, micro-climate, how to detect the different roasting flavours, and even stories about the actual chocolate makers behind each chocolate that we taste—-just like at a wine tasting.

(I asked Joanne to bring a few extra bars in case you wanted to purchase some, via credit card/square or cash)

Soothing Yoga Class:

1:45-3:15 pm
Nourishing Yoga Class:

This second yoga class is about replenishing your energy and recharging your battery. Unwind deeply and completely. During this soothing yoga class, we’ll stretch out the sticky spots, mindfully strengthen our muscles, and open up our lungs. You’ll notice a feeling of comfort in the sounds of each other breathing, chuckling, sighing with relief. Those are the sounds of community and a shared sense of belonging.

3:15-3:30 pm
Good byes

Say your goodbyes, get some hugs, and float home in your relaxed and refreshed body.

What to bring:

What to bring:

Layers & Slippers just in case it’s muddy/rainy/cold.

1 Yoga mat, 1 blanket, and 2 yoga blocks Can’t bring these? Hopefully you already indicated this upon registration. If not, let me know!

Water bottle

A good book/journal/sketch pad/camera if you want a more introverted, quiet siesta time. Everyone recharges their energy differently.

Hesitant?

Hesitant?

My teaching style is safe, uplifting, and refreshing. I also have a hidden superpower. I can make yoga accessible to everyone in the room---beginners and seasoned yogis alike. Both Netflix potatoes and marathon runners.

So bring your hunched shoulders, bring your aches, and bring your juicy body. You belong with me.

Arrival & Refreshing Yoga:

2:00-2:30 pm
Arrive:

Carrying your yoga mat, you’ll arrive at the bright, zen, newly-renovated space at 1805 Gaspe, which is located right HERE. The building is nestled beside lots of green space, including horses!

Unroll your mat, turn off your phone, lie down near other lovely humans, and sigh with relief. Everyone will have a different body, with varying levels of experience, and everyone will belong.

Refreshing Yoga:

2:30-3:30 pm
Refreshing Yoga

Revitalize with this uplifting yoga class to flush your circulation and cleanse out toxins. We’ll mindfully build strength, regain mobility, tone our core, and stretch out the sticky spots. I’ll offer modifications to suit your joints & injuries. You’ll want 1 or 2 yoga blocks to make this class safe and accessible (if you don’t have any yoga blocks, indicate so upon registration).

This is the yoga class where we’ll move and detoxify our whole body. We’ll get that cerebrospinal fluid to rinse out your whole brain. We’ll open up our bronchial tissues, lovingly, in this all-levels, all-bodies, all-ages class.

Delectable Bites & Stroll:

3:30-4:30 pm
Delectable Bites & Stroll:

Savour fresh provisions to revive your body and uplift your mood. These beautiful plant-based refreshments are gluten-free, dairy-free, and are catered in such a way as to be waste-free (meaning no garbage). Stephanie Wheaton and I are having fun planning a tasty, nutrient-dense, rainbow-coloured, light meal for you.

If you’re relishing the rare opportunity for quiet, then you might bundle up and take a stroll to hear your own thoughts. It’s only a 3-min walk to the scenic Ottawa River Pathway that winds along the river. And you might also spy some some of the elegant horses from the RCMP Musical Ride that are stabled here! However, you could also choose to chat & laugh with the other participants on the walk. Or even stay in for a quiet siesta. You might read, write, sketch, or nap. Stretch out on your mat, yawn, or close your eyes. True self-care.

The three (3) RMTs and I will be setting up for the Restorative Yoga & Massage. We might have moved your mats around.

Around 4:20 pm, get all cozy and ready for the Restorative Yoga & Massage portion.

Restorative Yoga & Massage

4:30-6:00 pm
Restorative Yoga & Massage

Next, immerse yourself in relaxation. Restorative yoga postures offer deep rejuvenation to shift you out of the stress response, and into the parasympathetic nervous response, where your body can finally unwind, repair, and nudge your digestive system back into life.

This is the class when you’ll need the most props/blankets/cushions (to use as bolsters). The props are used hold up your body in these supported restorative shapes. We stay in each restful posture for several minutes. Remember how sometimes we begin/end the class with a reclining pose where we use lots of props, blankets, and cushions to support the length of your body and you almost fall asleep? Well this is a whole class like that! Yes. Can you believe it?

Mini Massages:

Mini Massages:

During each luxurious pose, the three (3) massage therapists will circulate around sequentially to give each of you a mini massage, depending on which body part is accessible and injury-free in that pose.

For example, in the first pose an RMT might massage your skull or neck. In the next posture, either the same or a different RMT might massage your back or your hip, and so on. You might even fall asleep because the whole class is spa-like and glorious.

You’ll be given an anatomy card where you can circle any body parts that you don’t want to have massaged, in case of injuries, complications, etc.

This Restorative Yoga with Massage is a great way to digest food and integrate your new wellbeing into your brain’s scaffolding. Like pressing “save” on a document, we want to repattern our nervous system so that you’ll be able to return to this new default setting whenever you want.

6:00-6:30 pm Goodbye

We’ll pack up our belongings, and float home with a refreshed sense of calm and levity.

Benefits of Massage

Soak up the benefits of massage to your sense of self—-physically, mentally, emotionally.

• improved circulation

• stimulation of the lymphatic system

• reduction of stress hormones

• relaxation

• increased joint mobility and flexibility

• improved skin tone

• improved recovery of soft tissue injuries

• heightened mental alertness

• reduced anxiety and depression.

• reduced muscle tension

Itinerary:

2:00-2:30 pm
Arrive

2:30-3:30 pm
Refreshing Yoga with Zoe

3:30-4:30 pm
Delectable Bites & Stroll or Siesta

4:30-6:00 pm
Restorative Yoga with Zoe, and Massage with three (3) RMTs circulating around the class in each pose.

6:00-6:30 pm
Say goodbye and float home.

What to bring:

Slippers to wear inside the building, just in case there’s slush/salt tracked in, and to stay extra cozy.

Yoga mat Can’t bring your own? Hopefully you already indicated this upon registration. If not, then let me know asap :)

Layers to peel off if you’re too warm/cold.

Water bottle

Two (2) yoga blocks If you can’t bring your own, then hopefully you already indicated so upon registration. If not, then let me know asap :)

3 blankets (what??) Yes. Two of the blankets are for propping/supporting in the restorative poses. The third blanket is for warmth, cushioning underneath you, and for neck support. If you own a bolster, then you could bring your bolster. But I’ve designed the class to work with 3 blankets & 2 blocks :)

A good book/journal/sketch pad if you prefer a more introverted, quiet break time. Everyone recharges their energy differently.

Science of sound therapy:

According to studies exploring the effects of singing bowls, participants demonstrated these physiological benefits more than the people in the control group:

• Decreased heart rate

• Reduction in negative mood.

• Lower anxiety & stress.

• Changes in heart rate variability (this varying fraction of a second between each heart beat is a very strong indicator of your health outcomes).

• Decreased symptoms of distress, depression, pain.

• Improvements in blood pressure & respiratory rate.

• Reduced tension & fatigue.

• Increased positive mood.

Sat Aug 19:

9:30-10:00 am
You arrive & get settled

10:00-11:00 am
Refreshing Yoga class with Zoe

11:00-11:15 am
Bio Break

11:15-12:15 pm
Sound Bath with Heather & Restorative Yoga with Zoe

12:15-1:15 pm
Tasty, fresh, catered lunch (allergen-free), and siesta free time (sketch, walk, journal, or chat with others).

1:15-1:45
A guided moving meditation & breathwork

1:45-2:00 pm
Say goodbye & float home. 

What to pack:

Yoga mat (can’t bring your own? Please reserve one upon registration).

Layers to peel off if you’re too warm.

Water bottle

1 or 2 yoga blocks (can’t bring your own? Please reserve one upon registration). Do you have osteoporosis, back pain, really tight hamstrings? Then I suggest you bring 2 blocks.

4 blankets (what??) Yes. 4 blankets that we’ll use as bolsters in the Restorative Class. If you can’t bring 4 blankets, then bring 2 blankets + 2 cushions (an even number of each).

A good book/journal/sketch pad if you prefer a more introverted, quiet siesta time. Everyone recharges their energy differently.

Hesitant?

My teaching style is safe, uplifting, and refreshing. I also have a hidden superpower. I can make yoga accessible to everyone in the room---beginners and seasoned yogis alike. Both Netflix potatoes and marathon runners.

We use props to make yoga suit your specific body. In this case, you’ll need the 4 blankets & yoga block to create the supported postures in the restorative class, as well as for a safe spine in the more refreshing class.

So bring your hunched shoulders, bring your aches, and bring your juicy body. You belong with me.

Only two (2) spots left tomorrow!

Mini Yoga Retreat: Majestic Menopause

Is this only for people in menopause? Nope. This 1/2-day mini yoga retreat is designed for anyone ready for self-care and learning. Come and be kind to yourself, refill your cup, and re-energize. Let yourself be spoiled. Finally take care of your own body and mental health. We’ll practise yoga, eat delicious healthy food, re-learn peri- and post- menopause, have some laughs, and then practise yoga again.

When kids lose their baby teeth, we take photos, we celebrate, there might be a treat or visits from the toothfairy, and we regale each other with funny tooth-losing stories (the time I tied one end of the dental floss to a hammer, and dropped the hammer). And remember how much time and attention we spent learning about each aspect of puberty (body odour, zits, sexuality, tampons). By the time it was our turn, we knew a few things. So why all the mystery around menopause? We’re going to re-brand majestic, marvelous, magical, magnificent menopause (if you haven’t arrived there yet, then come learn what’s around the corner). How does yoga help us thrive through magnificent menopause?

Itinerary

• Arrive and relax.

• Indulge in an uplifting asana (yoga) class to flush your circulation, clear your mind, and reacquaint yourself with your unique body.

• Savour fresh, light, gluten-free, litter-free catered provisions during our break (please notify me of any allergens upon registering). Or treat yourself at home if attending over zoom. Then relax, daydream, read, write, sketch. This is your siesta!

• Soak up an informative workshop about peri- and post- menopause.

• Close the retreat with a nourishing and reassuring asana class to restore your energy levels.

• Say goodbye :)

Logistics:

When: Sun Oct 24th from 10:00-1:00 EST
Where: All outdoors, at Fairbairn House in Wakefield, Quebec (map is HERE).
Who: All lovely humans belong here.
Why: Replenish your energy levels, oxygenate your body, and reassure your nervous system. Lovingly invest in your wellbeing.
Investment: Sliding scale for pandemic times!
To pack: Warm blanket, thermoses with hot beverages, yoga props (mat, blocks, strap), extra pair boots/shoes if you don’t want to muddy your mat, full outdoor gear for rain/snow (gloves, hat, long underwear, jacket…I might even wear snowpants…this will be hilarious), mask for certain moments, proof of vaccination (easy to do right HERE), your smile & a readiness to go with the flow!

Includes:

The best of all pandemic variables:
2 safe outdoor yoga classes
Tasty nourishing provisions (plant-based, waste-free, without dairy, gluten, nuts)
Hike or Leisure time
Port-a-potties on site & a roof to protect us from rain
Everyone is verified double-vaccinated
Oodles of space to spread out; everything takes place outdoors
A feeling of belonging & comraderie in-person (that’s right, not Zoom!)

If it’s sunny:

First, you dress very warmly, with more layers than you think you’ll need. You park at the Fairbairn House Heritage Centre in Wakefield, Quebec (map HERE). Carrying your own yoga mat, blanket, and a warm thermos, we‘ll meet at this wooden sound stage, which is on the Fairbairn House property. We’ll greet each other and space out our mats on the grass around the stage. We’ll probably giggle, because the grass will be uneven, and we’re out of practise with socializing!

If it rains:

In the event of inclement weather, we’ll walk across the road (less than a 1-minute walk), and meet under this lovingly-restored red-covered bridge. We’ll spread out our mats inside this airy, capacious, vaulted covered bridge (a well-loved wedding reception venue!).

Opening yoga class & meditation:

Once on your yoga mat, you unwind deeply and completely. During this safe, refreshing, and accessible yoga class, we’ll stretch out the sticky spots, mindfully strengthen our muscles, and open up our lungs. You’ll notice a feeling of comfort in the sounds of nature—water, birds, breeze—and especially in the sounds of each other breathing, chuckling, sighing with relief. Those are the sounds of comraderie, community, and a shared sense of belonging.

Leisure or Hike:

You choose. You might seize this opportunity to read, write, sketch, nap in the sun: true self-care. Or you might be ready for some “forest bathing,” which has a powerful effect on our memory, cognitive skills, mood, and self-regulation. Right on the Fairbairn House property is the beginning of Hendrick Trail—a short hike (1.8 km loop trail) that brings you through the woods, across fields, back into the woods, and past a waterfall (or the reverse, depending on which way you start the loop).

Delicious, healthy food:

Savour some delicious, healthy, brightly-coloured provisions to nourish your body and uplift your mood. This plant-based lunch is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, and is catered in such a way as to be waste-free (meaning no litter, no garbage). The caterer and I have been dreaming together to make the entire meal tasty, nutrient-dense, rainbow-coloured, and easy to digest. We can eat under the soundstage, or at the many large picnic tables around the Fairbairn House grounds. Or, if you’re relishing the rare opportunity for quiet, then choose one of the many benches around the property where you can process and hear your own thoughts.

Final meditation & movement:

This is a much shorter yoga class to help us digest our food and integrate this feeling of wellbeing into our bodies and minds. It’s kind of like pressing “save” on a document; we want to repattern our nervous system to recognize and remember this grounded feeling that comes from self-care. As always, this class is safe and accessible for all bodies.