About this Retreat
Nica guides breath, movement, and creative inquiry as pathways to strengthen self-trust and community connection. Her teaching creates spaces for embodied exploration through classes, interdisciplinary workshops, and collaborative art happenings that bridge contemplative practice with creative process. She holds an MFA from California College of the Arts and a BA from NYU’s Gallatin School, where she focused on visual language and the intersections of art, craft, and consciousness. Practicing and studying since 1998, Nica began teaching meditation and yoga in 2009 with the intention of serving where there is need. Rooted in nearly two decades of study with her primary teacher, Janet Stone (500-hour certified, with over 1,300 additional hours), she regularly collaborates with teachers, thinkers, and contemplative practitioners through her creative consultancy and design studio. Currently, Nica splits her time between Todos Santos, BCS and Cazadero, California. Her work continues to explore how subtle body awareness and creative expression can reconnect us to our inner and outer landscapes.
yogacraft.org |
nicacelly.com | @nicacelly
Jolene facilitates the practices of forest bathing (Shinrin Yoku), therapeutic massage, and somatic education for individuals and groups. Through touch, breath, movement, and deep listening, she invites participants to explore the embodied language of connection and to navigate their lived experiences with greater ease and discernment. Her approach weaves together immersive experiences in nature, therapeutic touch, and somatic inquiry as gentle, first-person pathways toward integration. Working in partnership with the more-than-human world, she helps others rediscover the innate intelligence of the body and the wider systems that hold it. Jolene’s journey began in 2005 with her graduation from the Canadian College of Massage and Hydrotherapy. She later became a certified Hanna Somatic Educator through the Novato Institute for Somatic Research and Training (2019) and a certified guide through the Association for Nature and Forest Therapy (2024). Through Freebird Bodywork, Jolene continues to evolve a practice that connects bodywork, somatic education, and the restorative wisdom of the natural world.
freebirdbodywork.com | @freebird.bodywork
Details of this retreat
To enter the understory is to practice listening below the surface: to slow down, to sense, and to reconnect with the fertile, unseen layers that sustain life both within and around us.
In this workshop-style, three-day retreat, Jolene and Nica will offer a sequence of embodiment practices designed to explore somatic wholeness through inquiries with the word, the body, and the natural landscape. Through new entry points into breath (pranayama), movement (yin and slow hatha yoga), and creative practice (writing and forest bathing), we will tend to our personal understory.
Our hope is that these experiential practices will nurture flow from the micro to the macro, from breath to landscape, restoring resilience in chaotic times.
This retreat is for those seeking a gentle, immersive, and creative reprieve. No prior experience is necessary, only an open curiosity and a willingness to begin.
Schedule (Subject to change):
FRIDAY
4:00PM: Opening Guided Meditation & Yin/Restorative Asana
5:30PM: Dinner
7:00 PM: Circle Up: Tending Your Understory - discussion and words
SATURDAY
6:20AM: Meditation (optional)
7:00a-8:00AM: Gentle Asana
8:00AM: Breakfast
10:00AM-12:15 Experience 1: Forest Bathing with Jolene
12:15PM Lunch
3:00p - 5:30PM: Experience 2: Writing Circle with Nica
5:30PM Dinner
7:30-9p: Resilience Discussion
SUNDAY
7:20a: Meditation (optional)
8:00-9:30AM: Asana / Movement
10:00AM Brunch
11:00 AM Wander and Words with Jolene and Nica
12:00 PM: Checkout and Convene at Stump Beach (optional)
For directions to Ratna Ling - Ratna Ling Retreat Center 35755 Hauser Bridge Rd Cazadero, CA 95421
Accommodations are beautiful lux cabins
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Transportation to/from Ratna Ling is NOT included - carpooling encouraged
Payments are nonrefundable and transferable to a future Ratna Ling retreat
Each cottage includes TWO private rooms with queen beds, large dining & living area, gas fireplace, spacious deck, jacuzzi tub, linens/towels/hand soap, kitchenette with tea & coffee, complimentary wireless internet.
Vegetarian meals are served during our weekend together.
What people are saying about our retreats:
“The accommodations were great along with the beautiful surroundings - everything was so peaceful and nurturing”
“It was exactly what I needed – to disconnect, get in tune with my soul and recharge my spirit.”
“It was exactly what I needed - to disconnect, get in tune with my soul and recharge my spirit. ."
“Space for reflection while also giving me anchor points through teachings.
“Space and time for meditation and movement classes were truly wonderful.”
“Being able to move at my own pace is a luxury. And of course the food was delicious."
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