Activities and Classes

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Good Morning Meditation Hike

A gentle morning hike intended to celebrate sun and earth while quietly greeting the day. (All levels)

Leaders: Tiffany Knight & Holly Riker

Greeting the Day: Sun Salutation & Centering

A series of poses done in succession to warm up the body in preparation for the day. (All levels)

Instructors: Kerri Severson-Stover

2 Hour Mountain Bike Ride

Explore the beauty of alpine trails around Terry Peak winding through a mixed pine forest along rocky hillsides. (Moderate)

Leader: Lisa Gustin

Vinyasa Flow Yoga

Move with your breath, connect your body and your internal landscape to the greater rhythm of the Universe. We will move though poses both with classical structure and internal creativity. Learn to let go and free your body, move with music, hear poetry, root your soul and let your heart smile in this healing yoga class. All levels welcome, experience recommended.

Instructor: Lisa Marie Hughes

Visual Davina

Explore the prayer practice of “holy seeing or divine looking.” This ancient monastic practice challenges you to look at an image as an act of contemplation, and through meditation, seek a personal experience or an encounter with the word of God.

Instructor: Fr. Mark McCormick

Master Your Menu

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be a chore if you can afford a personal chef. If you can’t, this class will offer some pantry stocking tips, meal planning strategies and give you some tools to use in your very own kitchen to create colorful, delicious and fresh meals in minutes.

Instructor: Holly Riker

Free Your Practice with Music

Explore your practice and find freedom through music. Using postures as a vocabulary, Lisa Marie will guide you in a yoga practice combining sequences with musical phrases. You’ll learn to listen to music in a deeper manner, changing postures with changing music. Then, it’s freestyle. You will participate in a true artistic collaboration between body movement and music by improvising already learned asana and vinyasa and your own special creations. (No Experience necessary)

Instructors: Jake Fleming & Lisa Marie Hughes

Healthy Isn’t Hard: Cooking Made Easy

Moving towards a plant-based diet has numerous health benefits, such as lowering your risk for cancer and heart disease, and improving the overall well-being of the digestive system. During this cooking class, we will learn easy and fun ways to incorporate the color and flavor of the vegetable world into our everyday diet. We will prepare and sample several vegetarian recipes with the goal of creating a new mind set about “what's for dinner”. Class space is limited.

Instructor: Tiffany Knight

Pilates

Innovative system of mind-body exercise that strengthens the core, pelvic and shoulder girdle while offering an all around stretch. Performed on a mat, it incorporates deep concentration, relaxation, and no impact to the joints. (No experience necessary)

Instructor: Jill Bunkowske

Writing to Relieve Stress

In today’s go-go-go society it’s often difficult to give ourselves permission to acknowledge our own feelings because we are so busy trying to accommodate and relieve everyone else’s stress by multi-tasking, scheduling, and crisis managing. Explore some easy writing techniques that will allow you to pinpoint some of your stress triggers and give you insight into how to face the day with a stronger sense of self.

Instructor: Holly Riker

2 Hour Hike the Hill

Let Donna guide you to the top of the mountain. This vigorous hike will allow you to experience one of the Black Hills’ most famous alpine slope from a truly unique perspective. Breathe the crisp fresh air, listen for the call of the wild, and be prepared for a stunning view from the summit.

Leader: Donna Savage

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy

Arising out of the Kripalu Institute over 20 years ago, Phoenix Rising is a therapeutic approach with a body-mind focus, allowing a deeper connection to our emotions through the yoga postures, inviting us to embrace a profound presence of unconditional loving kindness. Language is used to cue the postures to allow students to find their own formation of each pose through their individual experience. While guiding students through the physical experience of yoga, Phoenix Rising also invites an open-ended inner experience, supporting each student to discover life-enhancing awareness that has the potential for conscious everyday application and subsequent life change. (All levels). Individual Phoenix Rising and Body Talk sessions are available. Please call for more information.

Instructor: Melanie Lien Palm

Artistic Meditation & Expression

Begin with a simple exercise to center your heart and mind. You will then reflect your inner thoughts and emotions with simple brush strokes and color on a clean canvas. Next we will create a final symbolic figure adding personal thoughts and words to complete your final picture. No prior art training or art experience is required. All materials will be provided.

Instructor: Susan Turnbull

Understanding Acupuncture

Originating in China over 5,000 years ago, acupuncture is one of the oldest and most successful forms of health care. Learn some of the latest research, what acupuncture can treat and what treatments consist of. There will also be a demonstration following the presentation and private sessions offered during the retreat at a discounted rate.

Instructor: Chris Ormseth

Musical Prayer Meditation

This class will start with simple Sanskrit mantras and quickly move into creating your own personal mantra. The goal is to practice vibration (energy) and intent through vocalization while gaining and understanding of how ideas, prayers and emotions are transformed into music. No musical experience is required – if you can talk, you can participate!

Instructor: Jake Fleming

Hip Hop

Enjoy a fun and energizing Hip Hop class to fun upbeat music with easy to follow steps. You will break a sweat moving and groving while unleashing your dance moves and conditioning your heart at the same time. No dance experience wanted and be ready to let loose.

Instructor: Melanie Cruse

Mysore Yoga

In a Mysore yoga class you get the honor of being the teacher of your own practice. Find bliss in this self lead class by moving in and out of postures at your own pace and ability. An instructor will be present giving adjustments as needed to help you deepen your practice. We will send you a diagram of the vinyasa we want you to practice in this session and we encourage you to study at home before the retreat. Find beauty in the collective breath of this class.

Instructor: Mary Hensley

Massage Basics: Tips of the Trade

The power of touch is a gift that we all should be able to give. Take time to learn some of the most basic techniques of massage. We will learn how to rub out sore legs, shoulders, backs and necks. Trading with a friend you can practice these new techniques. Take this opportunity to sit back, relax and rub tension away.

Instructor: Tiffany Knight

Healing Teas

Every cup of tea you drink is a basic healing experience. In this class we will sample different types of tea, learn what ailments they help with and how to mix and match them for the optimum healing experience. Infuse your life with the healing wisdom of tea.

Instructor: Tiffany Knight

Wild Women’s Wine Wisdom

Sip, swirl and savor a variety of red and white wines while learning a bit of history about the women winemakers featured. Suggestions for making simple choices about the sort of food to pair with the wine and other helpful tips will be a perfect prelude to dinner.

Instructors: Kathy Smith & Denise Thompson

Star Gazers Night Hike

Beginning at sunset, hike to the summit and celebrate the night sky. Astronomy instructor John Knight will reveal a universe of twinkling stars for you to experience up close with the help of his high powered telescope. A unique “after hours” experience that promises to be worth the climb.

Instructor: John Knight

Anusara™ Inspired Yoga

This class features a heart-oriented theme with a meaningful connection to the spiritual purposes of the asana practice. We will center on cultivating a virtue, a quality of mind or heart, which is a microcosmic reflection of our Divine nature, giving direction for the attitudinal energy that infuses every action and breath in the poses. An elegant, concise set of alignment principles called the “Universal Principles of Alignment ™” is applied to each asana in the Anusara Yoga method.

Instructors: Doc Savage

Seasonal Cleansing for Your Body

There are many different ways to cleanse. In this class we will review several forms of cleansing and which ones are appropriate for each season. Learn the many health beneifts of cleansing and find the cleanse that works best for you.

Instructor: Tiffany Knight

Taoist & Chi Gong Yoga

Experience a double dose of relaxation, this class will begin with Taoist Yoga, a very gentle and soft practice focusing on body awareness breathing meditation. Next you will move into Chi Gong, a standing breath practice designed to reintegrate the body and mind, increasing enemy, opening acupuncture meridians and softening tendons.

Instructor: Joel Bilstein

Trail Run

Strenuous run on some of the Northern Hill’s best trails with spectacular views and terrain meant to challenge the outdoor enthusiast. Lead by former Primal Quest adventurer, Lisa will encourage you to reach deep and stretch body and mind.

Leader: Lisa Gustin

Creative Dance

Come play and experience the freedom and joy of dancing 'like nobody's watching!' Many forms of expression are at our fingertips and we'll take ourselves lightly into an adventure of discovering what moves us! Various props will help us reconnect with the joyful curiosity we had naturally as children. Come nourish yourself. (All are welcome)

Leader: Melanie Lien Palm

iRest® Yoga Nidra

Integrate yourself and restore your true nature through this refreshing practice. Experience the recognition of an intrinsic sense of peace during all circumstances and the release of negative body sensations, emotions, and stress that give rise to self-destructive patterns. Physical comfort enhances the practice. Bring, blanket, pillow, eye pillow, sleeping pad and bolster if you have them. (All levels)

Instructor: Donna Savage

Yin Yoga

Move deeper into your asana practice with longer holds and skilled adjustments from a yoga practitioner. The calming moon practice of yin restores and activates energy channels, and allows the yogi to work toward building connective tissues and increasing joint mobility. (All levels).

Instructor: Melody Trimmer

Unplug: Journaling Walk in the Woods

Enjoy the crisp fresh air of the Northern Black Hills with a relaxing hike perfect for exploring and experiencing nature at it's best. Take a few minutes to unplug and take note of your surroundings – what do you hear, see, smell and most importantly feel. (Moderate)

Leader: Holly Riker