Wellspring Retreat
A Women’s Retreat in Northern MN
September 7 – 10, 2023
Private, lakeside cabins near Lake Itasca State Park, MN
$650 – $850, depending on lodging choice
Drink at the wellspring. Become the wellspring.
Enough running on empty, never filling the cup.
Indulge in serene surroundings. Commune with spring-fed waters.
Nurture your own sexual waters: life-giving creative currents.
Invoke the overflow: fill with beauty, sweetness, pleasure, and joy.
The Highlights
Lakeside forest communal accommodations
All home cooked meals included
Daily wood-fired sauna sessions
Spring-fed lake dips
Kundalini practice for cleansing + brightening
Tantric sexuality practice for nourishment + renewal
Ritual to invoke the sacred fire within
Intimate gathering for like-hearted women
Pray + Play
Taoist Tantric Arts
Daily, guided Taoist Tantric Arts practices for being the wellspring. Nourish and balance the deep sexual waters, restoring vitality and peace. Invoke and stoke the sexual fires to ignite creativity and pleasure. Practices include movement, meditation, sounding, breath, pleasure practices, and more.
Practices include sexual energy cultivation, breast massage, womb healing, yoni breathing, qi gong, and much more. Nudity is not required.
Sacred Ritual
Ritual moves us beyond the conscious mind and into mythic, mystic realm. Supported by the elements (especially water and earth), we’ll co-create potent rituals together.
Rituals of release, grief, cleansing.
Rituals of longing, desire, and surrender to the great wild mystery.
Rituals to align with the magic of the season, the elements, and your own inner worlds.
Rituals invoking pleasure, joy, and bliss.
These rituals invoke the natural magic of the world. Weaving play and prayer, we make love with the universe and co-create wild beauty.
Kundalini Yoga + Meditation
Experience powerful kundalini practices each morning. Weave cosmic and sexual kundalini through the chakras. Align with the elements. Nurture the womb and heart. Accessible and simple movement, visualization, and breathe awaken natural states of pleasure, beauty, joy, and wild.
Sound healing will weave through summer camp to support full nervous system integration of the rituals and practices.
Sacred Sharing Circles
We co-create a sweet, safe space wherein we pray and play together. In sacred space, we see the divine reflected back to us in the form of another.
Through powerful but simple sharing circles and rituals, we awaken to the intricate magic that weaves the universe.
You’re invited to sharing circles (to the level of your comfort and desire). This is a space to be witnessed and loved in your fullness. To commune with other wombs/hearts on a similar journey. To be woven into authentic belonging.
Accommodations & Amenities
The Land
We’ll be graciously hosted in two private cabins of a dear friend. Two cozy cabins are perched on the edge of a spring-fed lake near Itasca, Minnesota (10 miles from the headwaters of the Mississippi). Hiking trails are a short drive away (including the North Country Trail).
This is Ojibwe land, resting upon the White Earth Reservation. We give thanks and bow in reverence to all the original keepers of this land.
Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ
Cabins
The main sleeping cabin includes 7 comfortable beds, a kitchen, and two full bathrooms. All the humble, cozy comforts of a Northwoods cabin are provided: water, warmth, electricity, bedding.
A separate cabin provides our gathering space with large windows overlooking the woods and lake. This is where we’ll share meals and practices. There is a second full bathroom in the gathering cabin for communal use.
Camping Option
Camping is an option throughout the property, in lightly wooded areas.
You are responsible for bringing and setting up your own tent and bedding. This option provides extra privacy and communion with the earth.
Campers will have 24/7 access to the kitchen, full bathroom, and all other amenities. There are only four camping spots available.
Sauna, etc
There is a wood-fired sauna on the property. We’ll be indulging in daily sauna sessions, with lake dips to cool off and cleanse in-between rounds.
This private, lakeside retreat is a humble, beautiful, intimate gathering space. It is ideal for deep communion with land, water, self, and each other.
Silent mornings (pre-breakfast hours) will be observed to take in the stillness and beauty.
Schedule
Schedule subject to change to allow for the weaving of the mystery.
Thursday
4pm Arrival + settling in/exploring
6pm Dinner
7pm Welcome circle
Friday
8:30am Morning practice
9:30am Breakfast
11am Morning session
1pm Lunch
2:30 Short afternoon practice
Free time: practices, sauna, excursions, rest, etc
6pm Dinner
7pm Evening session/sauna
Saturday
8:30am Morning practice
9:30am Breakfast
11am Morning session
1pm Lunch
2:30 Short afternoon practice
Free time: practices, sauna, excursions, rest, etc
6pm Dinner
7pm Evening session/sauna
Sunday
8am Light breakfast
9am Closing circle + ritual
11am Brunch + departure
What’s Included
- Three nights accommodations. See lodging choices below.
- All meals: Freshly prepared and healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most dietary restrictions can be accommodated.
- Daily morning kundalini: Begin your day by clearing your energy field, lightening up with a potent yet gentle movement + breathwork practice.
- Daily deep dives: Ritual and practices to align with the wellspring.
- Daily evening session and/or sauna: Wind down and integrate the magic of the day with grounding, nurturing practices like qi gong or sound healing. Sauna sessions daily.
- Full access to the land: Play and pray alongside the lake.
- Kayak + paddleboard access: Experience recommended. No instruction given.
NOT INCLUDED:
- Transportation to and from retreat location.
- Camping supplies (tent, pad, sleeping bag, etc)
The Wellspring
Our cozy retreat space is nestled on the edge of a spring-fed lake, 10 miles from the headwaters of the Mississippi River. This is lake country, brimming with nourishing, watery, feminine yin magic.
The moon will be in watery Cancer for nearly our entire time together. We’ll be cultivating cozy, sweet, safe, nourishing space to heal and release old wounds and stories. We’ll also be channeling this watery bliss into reclaimation of feminine pleasure: watery, oceanic, fill to the brim kind of orgasmic energy that permeates all.
With the sun in earthy Virgo, we’ll be aligning with the magic of the earth goddess: fertile, abundant, witchy, and sensual. The cosmos will be ripe for deep-level healing, ancestral re-patterning, and alignment with feminine magic.
The Wellspring is a space to fill your deep wells of pleasure, joy, magic, and sweetness.
Registration Options
Payment Plans Available.
Private bedroom
- Private bedroom, queen bed
- Linens, blankets, pillows provided
- Shared bathroom
Twin bed in shared room
- Private twin bed in a shared room
- Linens, blankets, pillows provided
- Shared bathroom
Camping
- BYO camping gear (tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, pillow, etc)
- Shared bathroom
FAQ
What is the cancellation policy?
A 50% deposit is required to reserve your spot. Full payment is due by August 1. Partial refunds will be given before August 7. No refunds given after August 7 unless we are able to fill your spot.
Emergency exceptions will be considered on a case by case basis.
If the event is cancelled by Nicole, full refunds will be given.
Will there be nudity and sexuality practices?
All practices and activites are always optional. Nicole approaches sexuality from a trauma-conscious lens. You will be consistently encouraged to participate at your comfort level. Many modifications will be given.
We will not be doing full self pleasuring or yoni egg practices, but we will do breast massage, yoni breathing, and other similar exercises. These can all be done fully clothed, or nude, whichever your preference.
Warm weather permitting, there will likely be nudity. You are absolutely not required to be naked! And we welcome you if you are 🙂
What will I need to bring?
A detailed packing list will be given upon registration, as our time draws closer. Basics are:
- warm and cool clothing
- swimsuit and towel
- altar items
- body-friendly oil
- camping supplies if camping
Where is the cabin and how do I get there?
The retreat location is a private cabin on a lake near Lake Itasca State Park. It’s about a 4 hour drive northwest from Minneapolis/St Paul. If you’re coming from far away, it’s recommended to fly into MSP airport and rent a car. Exact location and driving directions given upon registration.