FOUNDATIONS
Are you age 19-30ish and looking to build community?
At Foundations you’ll get to learn useful life skills and envision a path for yourself that aligns with your values. Our experienced facilitators guide you through interactive and creative workshops designed to support you in building a life for yourself that works because it’s based on who you are.
Set in the beautiful Berkshires at Rowe Camp, our Winter and Summer retreats offer space to explore topics such as Financial Literacy, Relationships for Today, Non-violent Communication & more. Past retreats have also included yoga, group hikes, bonfires and dance parties that create a fun and entertaining environment to meet new people and foster friendships and community.
Growth, Celebration, Play
Growth: At Foundations we believe that everyone is in process. Being in process means having an open mind and a growth mindset when it comes to change and transitions. The people who attend Foundations want to be their best selves and recognize that this is lifelong journey. Growth is a core tenant of our philosophy because we believe the world would be better off if people were more curious, patient and willing to change their minds. We want to challenge our participants through thought provoking workshops and discussions led by experienced presenters and facilitators.
Celebration: At Foundations we create spaces to celebrate being alive. Many people in their 20s and 30s lack meaningful ritual and ceremony in their lives. We celebrate life in community so that we can witness others and witness ourself through change. Each retreat weekend develops its own unique character and culture and we also anchor our programing with Chapel, an evening introspective experience, as well as other community opening and closing rituals. Celebration is also about play and fun so we always have a dance party on our final night and other traditions that participants look forward to when they return.
Play: At Foundations we strive to create an experience that is markedly different from the “normal” world. Upon reaching adulthood, many people are asked to shed their playfulness and childlike sense of wonder. We encourage fun and playfulness as a way to connect with others and parts of ourself that are often difficult to reach. There is always time for late night hangs, nude saunas and workshops such as clowning and improv.
We believe that programming (planned and unplanned) must uphold our three main tenants. We also must balance the three as leaning too heavily one way or another could cause too much time out of one’s comfort zone. We want participants to leave the experience feeling like their brain has been challenged (Growth), that they have been witnessed and experienced ritual (Celebration) and that they have had a lot of fun (you guessed it, Play!).
Workshops
Workshops change from program to program, past workshops include…..
Camp Life
Camp life is centered around fun and empowerment! Campers have a voice in how they want to spend their day – whether it be diving deep into the hard topics of their lives or crafting in the art studio, playing a game of ultimate frisbee or a low key game of Magic the Gathering. Our camps are structured so that as campers get older they have more and more freedom to shape their camp experience. We like to say that we make camp WITH the campers not FOR the campers!
The FUNdamentals of AcroYoga
AcroYoga is a fun and challenging practice – it combines the mindfulness and breathing of yoga with the playfulness of acrobatics. There are three important roles – spotter, flyer, and base – and in this class you'll learn them all with a special focus on safety for everyone. This class is open to all, no experience necessary. Get excited to laugh, learn some skills, and use muscles you didn't know you had all in one.
Workshop: Conflict Engagement
Do you often find yourself stuck in the middle between friends, family, or colleagues, who can’t get along? Are you ever nervous about a difficult conversation you know you have to have? Do you wish you could draw from a wealth of tools to help you navigate these emotionally charged situations better?
Experience a transformation in how you see conflict in your own life and the world around you. Through theory and guided practice, you will gain the skills to become more comfortable and confident in the midst of seemingly intractable conflict. You will explore your own habits, gain tools to resolve and negotiate disputes, and learn a framework to work in any conflict situation as a lay-person or a professional. You may laugh, cry, and surprise yourself as you learn life-changing skills and strategies in a fun, supportive environment.
Healing Pleasure Wounds with Yarrow
Designed for the beginner in plant magic, Healing Pleasure Wounds is an invitation to explore our roadblocks to experiencing pleasure with the support of plant-spirit medicine. With the help of beloved plant ally Achillea Millefolium, we will make space for wounds of unworthiness, scarcity, or powerlessness in determining our pleasure; welcome support for sacred boundary tending; and explore how an animisitc, enchanted relationship with the natural world can open gateways for pleasure healing and liberation.
Financial Psychology
Does talking about money feel like opening a can of worms? Is it the easiest thing in the world? In this workshop we will discuss some basic financial psychology and how to conceptualize financial goals. By the end of the workshop you will have a better understanding of your own relationship to money and how to use your strengths to follow through with financial goals.
Connecting to Self through the Body and Relationships: Embodied Awareness Practices
In this two part workshop, Michelle will guide participants through extended practices to increase self connection, self-awareness and offer tools to take home to stay connected to yourself. The first part of the workshop will involve open time for writing, followed by a guided Awareness Through Movement ® Feldenkrais lesson. No experience necessary. The lesson will offer you the opportunity to slow down, feel yourself, notice your habits and you may feel a shift in whole being. The second part of the workshop will introduce participants to Circling practice. We will practice communicating what is happening in the present moment in a social context, attending to the connection with others and honoring our own individual processes. Again, no experience is necessary to join in these practices.
Camp Life
Camp life is centered around fun and empowerment! Campers have a voice in how they want to spend their day – whether it be diving deep into the hard topics of their lives or crafting in the art studio, playing a game of ultimate frisbee or a low key game of Magic the Gathering. Our camps are structured so that as campers get older they have more and more freedom to shape their camp experience. We like to say that we make camp WITH the campers not FOR the campers!
Values Alignment & Learning in Public
2020 tested, inspired, and changed many of our values systems. What are those values? How do they show up in a concrete way? We tend to throw lofty, shiny words around to signal our values—but what do they mean? How do they show up (or not) in our everyday lives? Every interaction we have has the potential for impact—whether helpful or harmful. In other words, nothing is neutral. Our values show up in everything we do. If we’re not intentional, our values may be missing from our behavior. What’s more, someone else’s values—values that we’re not aligned with—may show up. Do your private and public conversations match? We’ll explore:
-WHAT ARE YOUR VALUES? We’ll define and refine your values.
-WHERE DO YOUR VALUES SHOW UP? We’ll explore where and how these values show up in all aspects of your lives—from walking down the street to how you shop to who you hire and what investments you make. What’s an example of when you made a decision rooted in values?
-WHERE ARE YOUR VALUES MISSING? Where in your life are your values missing from your activities? Why? In what ways? What’s an example of when you made a decision and it wasn’t rooted in values? How did that feel?
-HOW CAN YOU COME INTO ALIGNMENT? We’ll come up with an action plan to bring your activities in line with your values.
Free Your Voice
When was the last time you growled. Yes, GROWLED deep from your belly. When was the last time you let yourself moan, sing, pour sound into your life? Today? Yesterday? 6 months? 10 years ago? Never?! Do you know that when we shut our voices down, that energy gets trapped inside our bodies? Maybe you do know. But I’ve forgotten. A million times. So I’m telling you now. Telling myself. That your voice, is POWERFUL. It can transmute, transform, and translate the aliveness of your being straight into reality. Your voice is an instrument for wildness. For awakening. For change. And yet so many of us lay silent. Our voices buried beneath a pile of shoulds and only ifs. I say f*ck it. I will sing. I will yell. I will pour my voice out into the world because we need it. Join me as we explore the power of sound and song. We will be tapping into our voices as instruments of healing and transmitters of the divine. We will get into our bodies, explore emotions, welcome play and laughter, jump and sing and dance. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stuck in your head or just need some good fun join us! Our voices are so needed right now. Your voice is needed.
Ethical Non-Monogamy
I know what you’re thinking, is it really possible to ethically engage in romantic and/or sexual connections with more than one person? Many believe it is. At its core non-monogamy is an invitation to define for ourselves the ways we want to love and be loved. In this workshop we will touch on topics such as; core values, unpacking jealousy, navigating triggers, sex positivity and heart opening. Whether you are non-monogamous, or are just learning about it, this workshop is for you. The deepest intention is to become more skillful at creating fulfilling and nourishing relationships, whatever structure we choose!
Self Offense: The Best Defense Is a Good Offense!
Design your Personal Protection Practice to keep you safe & sound in any situation. From the mundane to the sinister, in 3 hours you will gain the tools to come to your own rescue. Find out how to heighten your spatial and situational awareness, harness your natural protective instincts, create and recognize strong boundaries, discover your own personal protection superpower, and unleash your inner badass.
Writing as Ritual: Cultivating Creativity in Chaotic Times
How can we learn to trust our intuition as artists? How do we build a relationship with our creative practice as if it were a beloved (if wildly eccentric) friend? In the first part of this workshop, we will write through various “portals” (as an alternative to prompts) that will help you drop in your sensory and embodied self and unearth new stories. In the second part, we will discuss daily practices to integrate and sustain a creative practice, antidotes to challenges that may come up around creativity, and why art is a critical ally of activism. No previous writing or artistic experience is necessary.
