Art Medicine and ZB Medicine: A Perfect Match!

Hello and Happy Spring from Eden

Announcing 2024 Portal Painting Art Medicine Retreats

I’m delighted to share with you my experience at our recent and magical Portal Painting Art Medicine Retreat here at Eden, as well as our upcoming retreats, classes, and events.

First, Eden is the name of the property we steward here in southern Vermont.  The Abenaki people call this area N’dakinna, The Land of the Dawn. The Abenaki have inhabited and been in conscious relationship with this place for many, many generations.  I give thanks to all who have loved and listened to this land. Our respect and attention awaken a vital and reciprocal relationship among all beings who make home here, forage, flower and grow, nest and mate, walk and rest here.  I am forever fulfilled and so grateful to walk within this beauty and learn from all the wisdom.                                        

And so, it comes as no surprise what a rich field was created with the synergy of Eden and our first Portal Painting Art Medicine Retreat with Dr. Katey Hauser.  We spent the weekend connecting to ourselves and each other, sharing our intentions, releasing what no longer serves, and creating inspired art that arose from our bodies and spirits without too much input from the mind and ego.  I, for one, could never have imagined the painting that emerged from my process.

I am not a painter, and whenever I have attempted to paint, I usually feel at a loss (a flower? A landscape?) and give up because I’m not inspired.  Dr. Katey’s guided meditations led us down a wooded path and to a stream where we could be supported and inspired by a guide/helper on the other side.  The amazing thing for me was that, at Eden, there actually is such a path through the woods to a stream you can cross.  I was called to walk through this meditation in this physical dimension during a break in my painting process and had a mystical experience at the stream where I received the vibration of the Queen of the Forest in my heart.  Here is what came through the portal painting influenced by this experience:

 Portal Painting combines meditation, introspection, communion with each other and the natural world with just enough structure and instruction in a ceremonial process that allows each layer of our painting to be a fulcrum for the subconscious to express itself.  As a novice, it was liberating, fun, peaceful, engaging, joyful, and transformative! Our experienced painters were challenged and equally delighted to release their ingrained patterns of expression and allow something unique and surprising to move through them. 

Details:

Portal Painting Art Medicine Retreat for practitioners of Zero Balancing: June 28-30, 2024

Adding another joyful level of magical synergy to our Portal Painting, Dr. Katey and I are thrilled to offer a retreat specifically for ZBers. We believe each layer of painting will be a fulcrum for your ZBs, your practice, your spirit to transform!

Please join us June 28-30, 2024 (2 pm Friday afternoon to 2 pm Sunday)

We will move through the portals we paint toward empowerment, expansion, discovery, ease, and delight in our ZB work.  Your intention guides the process, and we will use ZB to ground, amplify, and integrate our experiences.  The retreat will include the facilitated painting process and all supplies.  There will be at least 2 ZB session swaps as well as shorter integrating table work, a community dinner, time to explore the beauty, wisdom, and support of each other and the field of Eden.

The retreat fee is $350 and includes all supplies and Friday night dinner.  Limited lodging is available at Eden for $75/night per person. Otherwise, there are lots of inns and short-term rentals in town.  Commuters welcome, too.  Eden is in the town of Wilmington in southern VT, 3 hours from Burington VT, 2.5 hours from Boston, 3.5 from NYC.  Class is limited to 8 participants, so register early for this one!

Not a ZB Practitioner? Or maybe you are but this date is better for you. Portal Painting Art Medicine Retreat for Everyone: August 9-11, 2024. Click the link below to register.

For more info on the portal painting process or to register contact Katey at drkatey@sbcglobal.net or Michele at bones@sover.net 802-258-0459