Weekend Woman's Retreat

Please take a few minutes to watch this retreat video! The photos are from a fabulous fall woman's retreat in Skaneateles,NY. ENJOY the moments experienced by wise women caring for themselves! Song "Woman Am I" is by our beloved leader Helene VanManen. The women loved the power this song had for them.

This retreat was co-led by "The New York Retreat Coaches" Judith Geiger and Linda Potter!

Questions for Women On Retreating

Have you been on a retreat lately with women you don't know?

What does it feel like to get away from your life and be in a nurturing circle of women?


What holds you back from making the time and spending the money on a personal retreat?

-Coach Helene Van Manen

River Retreat with Helene Van Manen creates fun!

How fun to find places in rocks and crevices where
one can squeeze into and bask in being with other women on retreat! Pictured here are Retreat Coaches who joined me on the Lower Gunnison River in Colorado early August to learn hands on the fine art of leading outdoor adventures.

Helene Van Manen retreats at Arches National Park

I have come late spring to these ancient rocks to pause before my summer begins. I take time to listen to what the red landscapes have to tell me about Who I am and what my next steps are. I am many things to many people in my life and when I stop and listen to the land, I re-find that part of me that is constant, real and unshakable. I need unshakable qualities during these times in which I live.

- musings of a Retreat Coach
the journal of Helene Van Manen May 2, 2007
Arches National Park www.retreatcoaches.com

Robin Schepper's Birthday Party Retreat

I am a birthday baby. I like to celebrate my special day because I know how hard it was for my mom to bring me into this world. I have had dinner parties and dancing parties but this year I wanted to integrate my values with my actions. I love nature, I love women and I love going to my favorite place in DC - the Billy Goat Trail along the Potomac River. I lead retreats for my clients along this trail but I decided to become a client for myself. I invited eight of my girlfriends to join me. We climbed over rocks and up cliffs. I asked them what they would be in nature and I shared how I would be the water because it knows no obstacles. I played my favorite coaching game with them that i learned from Coach Helene: Who are you? Who are you not? Who do you think I am? Even though many of the women have known each other for years, just hearing their descriptions of each other brought tears to my eyes. It was the best birthday present I could have ever gotten. So now I know what I will be doing for my next birthday, even if my girlfriends are complaining about their sore legs. - Robin Schepper ~ Wayfinder Coaching and Retreats

robin@wayfinderinc.com
www.wayfinderinc.com

Helene Van Manen reminds us that often we need to retreat within ourselves

Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichens and seeds. I slept as never before, a stone on the riverbed, nothing between me and the white fire of the stars but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths among the branches of the perfect trees. All night I heard the small kingdoms breathing around me, the insects, and the birds who do their work in the darkness. All night I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling with a luminous doom. By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times Into something better.