Retreat: Re-Center & Re-Discover

Here is an overview of our recent daylong retreat on Fri, Sep 27, 2019. We look forward to having another one at some point in the future…

House & Grounds

The house and grounds were gorgeous and the overall atmosphere was made even more special by the absolutely stunning weather – which was only outdone by Brianna’s wonderful hospitality. Here below is an angled view of the front face of the main house.

Here is the side, and the Wicomico river is in the background.

A look onto the back patio where we held many of our sessions.

View from the back of the house overlooking the grounds that lead right up to the Wicomico.

Below is a guest house that Brianna’s husband built as a “test run” that turned out perfectly; it is a quaint, one-room timber frame structure.

Here is their very beautiful, top-notch barn and stables.

This is the Great Room, where we did our intros and morning meditation – more about both of those programs below.

Local Resident

Absolutely nothing transpires on this premises – inside or out – without this guy’s clear-cut permission.

Suffice to say, that he is a large fellow who runs like the wind. Before things got going, Brianna got in her Bobcat and took it up to 40 mph to take the dog out for his morning run and tire him out – hopefully. I think he slept for a maximum of 3 or 4 minutes after the run.

Yep, that’s him again…

Intros in the Great Room

To get the day going, we circled up in the Great Room where Gwen facilitated the intros, and Holly (New Moon Bodywork & Botanicals) and I gave our little introductions. And then Brianna (host) and Gwen (7L Framework) spoke about their backgrounds. Then the real magic happened…the participants introduced themselves.

I can hardly ever recall being in a room where folks offered such moving, intimate, and genuinely stirring portrayals of who they were and what was going on in their lives. It went way, way beyond the time we had allotted for it, but it was so worth it and set the tone for the day.

This is the only photo that was taken during the intros, and as you can see the dog felt that he should be right in the middle of it all. He sat in this position for at least 20 minutes – holding her hand the entire time.

Morning Meditation (Satyam)

The meditation was done in the Great Room and had a few basic aspects: (a) acknowledging our inner world, (b) breathing patterns, (c) visualization, (d) mantra & affirmation, (e) and singing bowls. And that session concluded with a story.

Life on Your Terms – The 7L Framework – Part 1 (Gwen)

Gwen introduced and conducted a highly engaging and participatory session of Living Life on Your Terms and her 7L Framework. The first L is listening, which fundamentally entails listening to one’s internal voice, or inner compass as Gwen calls it. Everyone had their own way of describing and naming that inner voice. As an extremely personable clinical psychologist, Gwen is highly skilled in facilitating these sessions that cover many facets of one’s approach to living. The session was made all the more meaningful by the eager and motivated participation by all attendees – and the back patio was the ideal spot for it.

Lunch and Midday Break

We had a catered lunch where everyone ordered their choice of meals ahead of time. The caterer – Real Food Studio – did a fantastic job with the food, as she provided not just the lunchtime fare, but various healthy snacks that folks had upon arrival and throughout the day as needed.

While I did not get photos of any of the lunches, these below Power Bliss Balls were an attendee favorite during the arrival coffee / tea time. The caterer also had some great homemade granola bars.

As mentioned above, Brianna made everyone feel right at home – her house was your house. So folks were free to get up anytime to refill their beverage, have some fruit, and yes, grab another Power Ball.

Aromatherapy (Holly)

After lunch, Holly introduced us all to the world of essential oils and aromatherapy. She did an excellent job of condensing a large amount of material into a concentrated period, without overwhelming anyone, and giving ample scope to sample and smell numerous oils. She discussed how they were used, and what effect they had. She also tied it in to her strong background in herbal medicine and massage therapy.

Life on Your Terms – The 7L Framework – Part 2 (Gwen)

The afternoon session of Gwen’s presentation enabled us to explore and reflect on more of the L’s like: love, layers, leap, and land. There was journaling, introspection, and scope for sharing. Here is Gwen leading the group through one segment.

Yoga (Satyam)

We then went into a yoga session in the shaded part of the grounds. The early talking during our warm-ups focused on the vastness of the field of yoga and how the physical aspect is but one smaller segment. The practice itself was on the moderately gentle side, and included plenty of standing postures and balance poses (this was a good group on balance). We closed out the practice with a restorative pose using a block – and concluded the session with a short meditation and story.

Aromatherapy Practicum (Holly)

In this final segment of the retreat, everyone got scope to create their own essential oil to take home, by combining three (or more) of their favorite scents.

Wrap-up, Evals, & Departures

We closed out our formal sessions somewhere around 5:15p or 5:30p. And Brianna let everyone know that they were welcome to stay for as long as they liked. Really, the occasion had the feel of a family reunion, and I know everyone greatly enjoyed the opportunity to spend the day on this wonderful, private estate. Brianna had told us earlier that one of the chief reasons that she chose to buy this place 4 years ago was her vision to hold retreats like the one we had today, which – as I understand – was the pioneering event of this nature. All in all, a truly wonderful gathering, and I look forward to the next one!!

Participant Testimonials

It was lovely. Great location, excellent resource persons, nice food. Thank you.

Don’t know what other retreats would be good. 7L Framework is really good.

This was wonderful. I love the structure of the day and the program. The content was enriching in every way. I can’t think of anything I would change. Thank you.

I like doing it on Friday. I would like a future retreat focused on one topic.

I loved everything about this! I’m ready for another one. 🙂

All of the activities today held value for me. I think the 7L could be a retreat in itself!

Could be 2 days!

A weekend retreat would be awesome because we were flexible and did not adhere to ‘hard stops’ (refreshing), we could extend into another day. We could hone in more on our gifts / passions in a future focused single topic retreat. This was a very relaxing, comfortable environment in which to share.

Retreat: Re-Center & Re-Discover