Embodied Wisdom Institute LLC

At Drift Spa, you can float in their pool while sound fills the room.

Five floors above the noise of Penn Square, Drift calls itself Lancaster's first farm to spa, led by owner Stacey Steffes with more than twenty years in this work.

Organic facial rituals. Oils blended for the person on the table. One signature scent carried gently through the whole visit, so the hour holds together like a single held breath.

Philadelphia Magazine gave them a Best of Philly and admitted, right there in print, that driving eighty miles for a spa sounds a little unreasonable. Then spent the rest of the piece explaining why it isn't.

The accolade is lovely. It isn't the reason we chose them.

We chose them because they treat rest as real work. The team at Drift Spa knows that slowing down is a skill, and that our bodies deserve tending. We love them for that.

Drift shared with us gifts for the discovery bags and an item for the raffle.

Thank you, Drift Spa, for what you tucked into every discovery bag, and for the raffle item. People will leave our retreat fuller than they came, and you helped make that come true.

Harvesting Stillness & Vitality
October 29 to 31 · The Welcoming Place, Akron

Registration closes October 1 · Link in bio

There’s something really special about gathering in a small group and simply being together.

We had our monthly Qigong + Sound class, and we’re feeling so grateful for the lovely, dedicated participants who joined us. Each person brought such presence and openness to the practice, becoming fully immersed in the experience.

Jason guided the Qigong practice through gentle movement, breath, and mindful awareness, while I accompanied the practice with the sounds of gongs, crystal and metal bowls, chimes, and other instruments.

The movement, breath, and sound came together beautifully, creating space to slow down, listen inward, and be present.

Our movement classes are limited to four participants, creating an intimate experience where we can connect, practice, and share the evening together.

We love these gatherings and the connection that happens when we make space to practice alongside one another.

Several of our collaborators in this circle are within twenty minutes of us. Essence is in Utah.

We said yes anyway, and here is why.

Michael DeLeeuw was a financial advisor who spent his life on airplanes. Flying to Dallas one week, he was seated beside someone he simply could not breathe around. On the flight home, it happened again. He came back and went looking for something that would help, and found nothing waiting for him but a strip meant for snoring.

So he kept looking. At a manufacturing convention, he found a silicone that holds essential oils and releases them slowly. He built Essence in 2018 with his wife Tami and her brother Judah. Made in the USA. Reusable thirty times over.

Nurses found it first. Then everyone who spends their days somewhere that has impactful smells.

Breath is the shortest road home to your own body. We will return to that for three days, and then everyone drives home to a life that did not pause while they were gone.

Something you can carry into that life outlives the retreat itself. That felt worth a shipping label.

Essence sent something for every discovery bag.

Thank you, Essence, for filling every discovery bag from two thousand miles away. Everyone who comes will carry a little of your work home in their pocket.

Harvesting Stillness & Vitality
October 29 to 31 · The Welcoming Place, Akron

Registration closes October 1

Register here:
www.embodiedwisdominstitute.com/harvesting-retreat

Harvesting Stillness & Vitality is getting closer, and we couldn't be more excited!

Join us October 29–31 for three autumn days and two nights at The Welcoming Place in Akron, PA, created for rest, connection, and a slower rhythm.

Throughout your stay, you'll have opportunities to experience sound meditations, Qigong, gentle yoga, herbalism, mindful walking, seasonal reflection, nourishing vegetarian meals, and unstructured time to simply rest or explore the grounds.

Choose the space that feels right for you with a shared twin room or private room. Your lodging, meals, and all retreat programming are included.

If you've been curious, we'd love to invite you to explore the retreat details and see if this weekend feels like a good fit.

Learn more:
https://www.embodiedwisdominstitute.com/harvesting-retreat

Sometimes a mother goes looking for something, cannot find it anywhere, and builds it herself.

Cynthia May's daughter was living with Lyme disease. Searching for gentler ways to ease the symptoms, she found infrared and light therapy, and then discovered there was almost nowhere in the country to receive it.

So in 2020, she opened a room. Warm, quiet, private. A place where you could close a door and let your body do what it already knows how to do.
That room became many rooms. One of them is a short drive from here.

We said yes to beem Lancaster because heat and light do slow work on a body that has been bracing for months. It softens what has been held. It asks nothing of you while it happens.

That is the same work we do in the practice room. It simply arrives through a different door.

Forty minutes in the warm dark is a real practice.

Beem Light Sauna Lancaster shared a fantastic raffle item for the retreat, and every person who registers is entered.

Thank you Melissa and beem for the raffle item, and for building a room where people are allowed to do nothing. Someone is going home from this retreat with a room already waiting.

Harvesting Stillness & Vitality
October 29 to 31 · The Welcoming Place, Akron
Registration closes October 1

Register here:
www.embodiedwisdominstitute.com/harvesting-retreat

Some businesses begin with a plan. This one began with soap.

Heather and Nathan Kreider started making soap to take the edge off long days, then kept making it, and made far more than two people could ever use. That is usually how it goes. You tend to something small because it steadies you, and one day you look up and it has become the work.

Their work eventually grew into Hempfield Botanicals, named for the corner of this county where h**p grew in the fields until the last crop came off in 1958.

They bought their first h**p from Kentucky. And they said out loud, to anyone listening, that they hoped to be buying it from Pennsylvania within five years.

They are.

We keep returning to that. A quiet intention, said plainly, then tended season after season until it came true. That is the same patience this retreat is built on.

Hempfield gifted an amazing item (We can't share more to keep it a surprise.) to our raffle, and every person who registers is entered.

Thank you, Hempfield Botanicals, for the wonderful raffle item, and for the years of tending that made it possible. Someone's Friday is going to get a little brighter.

Harvesting Stillness & Vitality
October 29 to 31 · The Welcoming Place, Akron

Registration closes October 1 · Link in bio

Tonight’s virtual meet & greet was a lovely chance to connect and share more about Harvesting Stillness & Vitality.

A special thank you to our awesome retreat assistant, Mary Margaret, who joined us tonight. We’re so grateful she’s part of our retreat team.

We’re looking forward to October and all that awaits.

Before you decide whether Harvesting Stillness & Vitality feels like the right retreat for you, come meet us.

This Sunday, August 23 at 6pm, we’re hosting a relaxed virtual meet & greet for anyone who’s curious about our fall retreat at The Welcoming Place in Akron, PA.

It’s free, online, and about an hour.

You’ll have a chance to meet us, Vanessa and Jason, hear more about what the three days will actually look and feel like, and ask the questions that might be sitting somewhere in the back of your mind.

Things like:
• What are the rooms and accommodations like?
• What does sharing a room actually look like?
• Will there be space to step away and have some time to yourself?
• What does a typical day at the retreat feel like?
• And what happens if you love the idea of morning Qigong, but when 8:30am rolls around, your body would really prefer another hour of sleep? 🧡

There’s no need to have decided whether you’re coming to the retreat. You’re welcome to simply join us, get a sense of who we are, and see what feels right for you.

Already registered? We’d love to have you there, too. It will be a sweet opportunity to connect before we gather in October.

No sales pitch. No pressure. Just a conversation, some questions and answers, and a chance to meet the people behind the retreat.

• Sunday, August 23 · 6:00pm
• Online · Free · About an hour

Register here:
https://ewilancaster.as.me/schedule/6adc30c2/?appointmentTypeIds[]=97052288