A Place of Refuge
About the Course
In this immersive experience, we will delve into the guiding principles of craniosacral biodynamics. With presence, stillness and wholeness as primary orientations, we will explore inner practices such as embodied felt-sense, tonal match, full body breathing, resting in invisible midline, and residing in neutral. Following the insights of Dr. Sutherland and his successors, we will learn how to listen to primary respiration and the Breath of Life, sensing tides, fulcrums, stillpoints, subtle rhythms, states of consciousness, and more.
This course will invite you to develop and refine your essential skills for grounding and centering in yourself, creating and maintaining safety and trust with your partner, increasing potency in your touch and sensitivity in your awareness. With dynamic stillness as the guide, we cultivate our capacity to support the body’s innate wisdom of healing – in ourselves, in each other, and in the world.
Lightly guided somatic movement sessions will grace our mornings, connecting us deeper into the embodiment of our biosphere.
*This course offers a Certificate of Completion for 28 CEU’s through NCBTMB. It does not, however, certify you to become a craniosacral practitioner. Consider this a beautiful beginning, a jumpstart into a lifelong path of cultivation, embodied presence and resonant attunement.
“Koa!! Your course & Greece were life changing for me in the most beautiful ways.” — Steph
Our Flow
The first days will be dedicated to landing and grounding, to arriving in your body, in your heart, and in your intention. It will be a space to meet and greet the earth and waters and to build a safe container with each other for our deep dive.
We will have time to sit in circle, explore the surroundings, to slow down and to begin to open the deep well of our being.
On day three we will officially begin the craniosacral course curriculum. In this time we will fully dedicate ourselves to craniosacral biodynamics and how to awaken our awareness, sensitivity and touch. Lightly guided somatic movement meditations will fill our mornings.
Three-hour lunch breaks give us time to nourish, rest, swim, and explore the local town. Special events will include many dips in the sea and pilgrimages to the healing hot springs.
Our final full day will be in dedication to integrating and harvesting all the wisdom received, ritualizing our closure, and preparing ourselves for the journey home.
Our Schedule
Sunday
Arrival Day
2-3pm Retreat Center Check-in
7:30pm Opening Dinner
Monday
8-9am: Breakfast
9-10am: Movement Practice + Stillness Sit
10am-12pm: Opening Water
Ritual Land & Sea Explorations
7:30pm: Dinner
Tuesday - Friday
8-9am: Breakfast
9-10am: Movement Practice + Stillness Sit
10am-1pm: Craniosacral Biodynamics
1-4pm: Lunch & Free Time
4-7pm: Craniosacral Biodynamics
7:30pm: Dinner
Saturday
Integration Day
Land & Sea Explorations
Closing Circle & Dinner
Sunday
Final Breakfast & Farewells
“It truly was an embodiment opportunity of deep transformation and transmutation — and that's what I hoped for.” — Meeray
Set on the Greek Island of Lesvos in the Eastern Aegean, the retreat center is nestled in between hills of fig trees and ancient cypress, surrounded by abundant olive yards. In very close proximity to the town of Molyvos, and close to the sea, these lands have something mesmerizing and sacred about them.
Perhaps it is the old history of the devotion to the feminine, or maybe it is the vulcanic hot springs that emerge out of the sea in one of the closest beaches, or perhaps it is the proximity to Turkey and its profound traditions, that creates the uniqueness of this place.
Land, Sun & Sea
Retreat Center, Temple & Accommodations
The land that will be hosting us is owned by a family who moved here many years ago and decided to create a little sanctuary of three acres, where they could host retreats and create a place of serenity and intimacy.
Onsite is an octagonal spring-fed pool, a beautiful meditation temple, and many different accommodations ranging from single or double occupancy rooms to more spacious apartments.
The retreat center is approximately a fifteen minute walk to the sea.
Our meals are home-cooked and lovingly provided at our retreat center by our chef Tatjana. The food is incredibly nourishing with local ingredients.
Alternatively, the typical Greek village is a fifteen minute walk away, and offers a wide range of traditional food at a very accessible price, with the added perk of integrating yourself into the local culture.
Lastly, if you reserve an apartment, you will have your own kitchen for cooking from the local ingredients in town.
In the village, there are wonderful restaurants and local shops that sell delicious greek products from olives, to feta cheese, sheep’s yogurt, local organic honey, homemade bread, fresh fish, and more.
Food & Nourishment
The best way to reach Lesvos Island is a flight from Athens to Mytiline, the capital of Lesvos. Once arrived in Mytiline, a pre-arranged taxi will bring you north to the retreat center, which takes approximately one hour.
How to Get There
Inner Wellspring is…
…a creative cauldron for anyone looking to deepen their embodied observation in service to transformation, transmutation and liberation.
…a restoration and amplification of our inherent connection to the Breath of Life that informs all of nature and the Health that is never lost.
…an immersion within the well of your being and its watery landscape as well as an intimate experience with the medicine and wisdom of water itself.
…a time to grow in your skillsets and sensitivity, as well as an opportunity to receive and expand.
…a container to connect with ancient stories and lands that hold powerful healing traditions and that have maintained a deep connection to its own history, stories, songs and roots.
Prices include accommodation, course tuition, rituals, hot springs excursions, three home-cooked meals + snacks each day.
A non-refundable deposit of $500 reserves your space. After the deposit is secured, you may pay the remainder either Once in Full, or in Three Monthly Payments. Early Bird Rate available until June 21st, 2024.
Limited spaces are available.
Pricing
“I was super touched by and valued the teaching and how seamless the connection between Koa's and Emilia's practices flowed… this was really intuitive and prepared the soil for seeds to emerge as each session unfolded. It set the tone each day. I also valued the overall structure and how that held the container for deepening in a very gentle way.”
Included ~
Rituals & Ceremonies
Arrival & Grounding day
Integration & Departure day
Three delicious home-cooked meals a day
24-hour access to Spring-fed Pool and Temple
Access to the surrounding hot springs and the Aegean Sea
28 hours of the Breath of Life Course Craniosacral Biodynamics + 28 CEU Certification through NCBTMB
Not Included ~
Flight to Mytilene, Lesvos
Taxi to and from the Retreat Center
Add-on activities such as massage
“Inner Wellspring was a gorgeous, restful journey that went so deep and released profoundly in a titrated way.
The teachings were clear, very well considered and I loved the way Koa taught in a 'flow state', from presence and intuition, not from mind.
In previous courses, when there is an attempt to do too much, I have often gone into my head and this was so very different, it was like the teaching pace allowed us to remain embodied and present.
This was so skillful and appreciated.
I loved the chance to practice everything we were being taught.
To live it through and through.
So much so that by the last partner sessions, my body dipped into the deepest 'sleep' - more than sleep - parasympathetic in a new way - the most profound letting go and metabolising of inertia in system.
This was all because of the care and presence in the field and how much deep exhale was facilitated.
I can feel the reverberation of this echoing almost a week on and across time zones.
Wild animals are coming closer and staying still with me.
Everything feels different. In the best possible way.
It truly is an embodiment opportunity of deep transformation and transmutation - and that's what I hoped for.
I loved the sharing of stories and metaphor, teachings of the history of cranio, as well as the practical, hands on and technical aspects. Flowed seamlessly. From mystical to anatomical.
Opening and Closing ceremonies were just beautiful.
So much presence in the group held by humble leaders, coming deeply from the heart.
The temple space, the location, food and presence was profound.
So thoughtfully and carefully considered, also totally light and easeful.
Everything was imbued with the spirit of biodynamic craniosacral (sacred) so it felt like a true immersion.”
— M.S.
A Few Final Words…