Spring Daywander
Toro Canyon Park - Santa Barbara, CA
A day long outdoor retreat to deeply be with the Earth & and the wisdom of life
March 30, 2025 (10:00 am - 4:30 pm)
Our inner lives are asking for our care and attention and in turn will offer us more ease and greater clarity.
This is a simple retreat and a sacred ceremony. This is a space of slowing down, deep listening, stillness, and being present to attune to the earth and yourself. It is an opportunity to commune with the wisdom of the land and receive what your heart longs for (knowingly or not). It is place of reclaiming our inherent connection and belonging to ourselves and our earth home.
We offer this circle of community storytelling and council in a container of beauty and solitude for those who are seeking the ground of renewal in this time. Spring marks the end of winter and the middle point between winter and summer solstice. The paradox that is spring is the dance of life springing from death.
In this season of spring, on the heels of devastating loss to wildfires in Southern California, and the political maelstrom that threatens to overwhelm and paralyze us, the muddy ground beneath our feet and the sound of birdsong bring us home to our bodies. Courageous stories and cleansing tears will remember us in the ways of being human.
Our time together will incorporate deep time on the land, ceremony, and offer embodied and curious exploration. There will be space for solitude as well as opportunities to tap into our collective wisdom. The foothills of Toro Canyon offer a deep reset for the nervous system with an abundance of trees, plants, and other beings to get to know.
Your guides, Irene and Lisa, are experienced co-guides and facilitators of sacred circle and council practices. We offer this ceremony in thanks to the land, to the creator, and to the soul calling that we each follow in our own way.
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• Opportunities for deep connection to self, community, & the natural world
• Guided ceremony
• Sacred land to explore and wander
• Hot tea & snacks
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• Bring your own lunch, water bottle, & hot drink container.
*** A detailed list of what to bring will be provided closer to the retreat.
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Address:
576 Toro Canyon Park,
Santa Barbara, CA 93108**We will gather in a private picnic area.
- No experience necessary; just an open heart & willingness to connect.
- All are welcome.
- Offered rain or shine.
“ …Call upon the help of those who love you. These helpers take many forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor…”
— Joy Harjo
Meet Your Guides:
Lisa Maurel (she/they) is a human guide for folks as they encounter the wisdom of the land. In the traditions of Depth Psychology, the School of Lost Borders, Council and dreaming work, Lisa devotes her life to these practices in service to others on the path, and to the wonder that is the animate everything. Lisa comes to guiding practice as an experienced mental health professional, queer human, and elder. In the care of deep teachers, human, and more than human, they are being re-membered in the healing power of nature, and the potency of storytelling and deep listening. With deep respect for the land and for the mystery, Lisa is weaving these threads into new, old forms with curiosity and deep respect for the ancestors who have led the way. Lisa is dedicated to unlearning the illusions that drive our dominant culture. Lisa is especially passionate about holding containers with and for queer and marginalized peoples, having been called by them in dreams.
Irene Elle Bailey (she/her) is a designer and facilitator of nature connection and mindfulness offerings that support the remembering that we are intimately and inseparably connected to all life. As a creator of spaces for cultivating trust, courage, intuition, and wisdom, Irene has supported hundreds on their path to living a more connected, authentic, and joyful life. Over the past 20 years, she has worked with numerous environmental and sustainability education programs. Irene shares retreats, workshops, forest bathing walks, and mentorship, all held in deep relationship with the natural world. Irene holds an MS in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University and is a certified Forest Therapy Guide with the Association for Nature and Forest Therapy. She has trained with the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies as a Buddhist Eco-Chaplain and continues to train in ceremony and rites of passage work with the School of Lost Borders.
We believe in the need for restorative time (amidst the incomprehensible suffering of our world, racial injustice, climate crisis) to show up with strength and stability for individual and collective well being.