Silent retreats provide mindfulness practitioners with the opportunity to step away from the busyness of daily life and into a deepening of mindful awareness. Retreats often provide time for structured meditation, movement practices, mindful eating, and guidance offered by experienced mindfulness teachers.
2023 Fall Retreat
Sacred Space: Refuge & Remembrance
A Nature-Immersive Mindfulness Retreat
October 21, 2023, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
@ Rising Ranch (Oskaloosa, Kansas)
Join us for a transformative one-day mindfulness retreat designed to guide participants on a journey of personal renewal and self-discovery. Nestled amidst the serene beauty of the land at Rising Ranch, this retreat offers a tranquil refuge where you can escape the chaos of daily life to reconnect with the natural world and yourself.
Guided by the qualities of open-heartedness and compassion, the day will be facilitated by a team of experienced mindfulness professionals and healers who are committed to creating a safe and supportive environment while fostering a sense of shared community.
Throughout the day, you’ll be offered gentle mindfulness practices, including guided meditation, mindful movement exercises, sensory explorations, and a healing sound bath— all in a natural setting. The practices we’ll explore are carefully designed to cultivate a mind-body-heart connection while allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the richness of the present moment.
In addition to mindfulness practices, talks will be offered to provide opportunities for silent reflection and a deepened knowing of self. The sacred space of community and the natural surroundings will serve as loving support for your inner exploration throughout the day.
As the day comes to a close, you’ll be invited to participate in a closing ceremony in which participants will be guided through the communal creation of a Circle of Remembrance mandala generated from natural objects.
Whether you are relatively new to mindfulness or an experienced practitioner, this one-day retreat offers a space for you to deepen your practice, nurture your well-being, and reestablish your sense of belonging in the world.
Come join us and embark on a transformative journey toward greater self-awareness, embodiment, compassion, and collective freedom.
The Retreat Facilitators
Tiffane Friesen
Tiffane (she/they) is an established social practice artist and community spiritual care provider in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Social Work from the University of Missouri Kansas City. Her practice model, Circles of Remembrance, uses creative and contemplative processes to remind us who we are beyond the illusion of division. It is through the act of remembering that we begin to heal ourselves and our communities. Tiffane’s work is guided by both postcolonial Eastern and Indigenous spiritual knowledge and a multi-theoretical framework. Circles of Remembrance are trauma-responsive, liberation-centered, and can be adapted and implemented across socio-economic, religious, and cultural divides. When we connect to ourselves, each other, and the world around us, we create a mandala of change.
Cheryl Herzog-Arneill
Cheryl is a Licensed Social Worker, trauma therapist, and certified mindfulness teacher. Cheryl recently completed the 3-year training in Somatic Experiencing®, a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stressors, and she has 25+ years of practice in meditation and mindfulness. Cheryl is a skilled practitioner in holding space for her clients; she provides warmth, curiosity, and compassion for all that arises in the context of healing. She believes in supporting people in navigating toward resilience and joy. Her mission is to help heal the earth by helping people heal their bodies, hearts, and minds.
Cheryl currently lives in Lawrence, KS, with her husband, teen daughter, poodle-mix fur baby, and several backyard chickens, who make everyone smile.
Lisa Pinsker
Lisa, MA, and Mindfulness Health Educator, trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for stress, pain, and illness, under the direction of Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. in the early 2000s as part of a master’s program in Integrative Health Education.
Moving back to KC in 2006, after 25 years away, Lisa served as Director of Integrative Medicine for St. Luke’s Health System. When budget cuts ended the department, Lisa continued to teach a variety of clinically-based mindfulness programs through St. Luke’s, Sastun Center for Integrative Health Care, and the University of Missouri. Now semi-retired her interests continue to be mindfulness-based, centered around conscious awareness, aging, illness, death, and dying.
Holly Taylor
Holly is a multi-faceted artist who shines the light of hope through her artistic & healing endeavors. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Conservatory of Music. As a certified sound healer/music therapist, creative writer, workshop facilitator, and performer, Holly supports states of vitality for all ages through her work in the creative arts, spirituality, and the ever-expanding field of wellness. With years of professional experience as a Board Certified Music Therapist in schools, rehabilitation facilities, hospitals/behavioral health centers, and private homes, Holly has dedicated her work to the wonders of the inspired journey. She is the Music Director at Unity of Lawrence, and loves performing throughout the community in her groups, Folk in the Flow and StarSister Revival. For more information, please visit Holly’s website.
Amy Zoe Schonhoff
Amy (she/her), is the founder of Mindfulness in the Heartland, a certified teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction through the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, and a certified practitioner of Advanced Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness.
Amy’s mindfulness practice spans over thirty years of personal exploration. Based on her own journey, she has found the practices and principles of mindfulness to be the most instructive and transformative approach to embracing this experience of “being human.” As a result, she is particularly inspired to teach the skills of mindfulness to individuals and communities actively working to integrate and heal from personal and intergenerational trauma.
About the Venue
Located in Oskaloosa, Kansas, an hour from the Kansas City metro and twenty minutes north of Lawrence, Kansas, Rising Ranch is a refuge, love-nest, and creative space for education innovator, Katie Boody Adorno and artist, Jay Norton. Situated on 25 acres of beautifully maintained farmland, Rising Ranch provides scenic spaces and meandering paths ideal for reflection and contemplative practices.
Registration Fee: Suggested $90 | Supporter $135 | Reduced $45 *
Register by Friday, October 13th.
* To keep our registration fees as affordable as possible while still acknowledging our administrative efforts and costs, we use a sliding scale for many of our classes and workshops. Want to learn more? Check out a description of our pricing structures HERE.