RETREATS, INTENSIVES & WILDERNESS TRIPS
Whole Life Expression offers retreats, intensives, and wilderness trips to assist individuals on their spiritual journey to wholeness.
Mandala as Contemplative Practice
This intensive occurs quarterly over the course of a year. Based on teachings from The Four-Fold Way by Angeles Arrien, this workshop engages participants in intermodal expressive arts process to explore how the four archetypes manifest in their lives across the seasons. The year-long intensive culminates into the creation of a mandala that captures participants’ spiritual journey throughout the year.
“…virtually all shamanic traditions draw on the power of four archetypes in order to live in harmony and balance with our environment and with our own inner nature: the Warrior, the Healer, the Visionary, and the Teacher. Because each archetype draws on the deepest mythic roots of humanity, we too can tap into their wisdom. When we learn to live these archetypes within ourselves, we will begin to heal ourselves and our fragmented world.”
-Angeles Arrien
Pilgrimage of the Heart
Pilgrimage of the Heart is a retreat that focuses on what it means to engage in whole-hearted living through giving and receiving love. According to Christine Valters Paintner, “a pilgrimage is an intentional journey into this experience of unknowing and discomfort for the sake of stripping away preconceived expectations.” In Pilgrimage of the Heart Retreat, we will step into the unknowing and discomfort of loving others who arrive on our spiritual journey, and discover the joy of surrendering to any expectations that we place on those we love.
“Wholeheartedness is a precious gift, but no one can actually give it to you. You have to find the path that has heart and then walk it impeccably…since you are wholeheartedly committed to the warrior’s journey, it pricks you, it pokes you. It’s like someone laughing in your ear, challenging you to figure out what to do when you don’t know what to do. It humbles you. It opens your heart.”
- Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape