A JOURNEY OF SELF-EXPRESSION
NURTURE YOUR SOUL AND EXPRESS YOUR TRUTH
Join us for a weekend to reignite your creative spark and express
yourself freely through your body, voice, hands and heart.
This incredible, transformative experience will engage
your mind, body and soul.
Learn new, creative ways of self- care and healing to restore
your energy, heal from burnout and recharge your spirit.
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Our Philosophy
By engaging in new experiences, we can help the brain recalibrate itself
and its responses to stress, burnout, tension and trauma.
At our Creative Wellness Retreats we use a multi-sensory based approach to healing
that interrupts destructive thought patterns and negative belief systems,
allowing access to deep emotional and physiological responses.
We believe that a healing process involving the arts, engages the brain more playfully and profoundly because stress and trauma impact our entire sensory system.
By engaging multiple senses in a healing process, profound changes can occur.
Working collaboratively, we are passionate about guiding you
to re-write, re-paint, re-sing or re-dance your story,
into something new and authentically you.
Art Making
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Engage your whole body in a sensory art making session. Release blocked energy while finding inspiration from music and a sound bath.
We will create simple and fun art to express emotions without engaging any inner judgement. Art making is experiential and
no artistic skills are needed.
MUSIC MAKING
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Be guided on a contemplative path using journaling,
Wu Wei Way Meditation and aural prompts to envelop your spirit and open your heart.
Be encouraged to express and release emotions
and push through creative blockages. Ultimately,
allowing a space to create a collaborative musical
piece expressed from your heart and soul.
No musical ability is required - just the willingness to explore emotions, share connections, and heal creatively.
SOUND HEALING
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Immersive yourself in a rich, sonic
experience as you deeply relax.
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Cari brings in a diverse range of ancient and modern instruments beginning with metal and crystal singing bowls, tuning forks and chimes and gradually builds to more intense and immersive vibrations with gongs, shamanic drums and rattles.
This progression helps you relax and enter into a deep meditative state. Each instrument vibrates at a different frequency, reaching energy centers along and around the body, encouraging you to relax, let go of stress, and be open to healing.
MEDITATION​
During our retreat L will guide you to explore the release of trauma by using music to stimulate the Vagus nerve, guiding you through with perfect tones to gently
open the pathways of releasing stored
stress in the body.
L is a dedicated meditation teacher and believes in not only knowing the various meditation traditions, but also understanding the neurobiology behind the different types.
SHAMANIC CEREMONY
Experience ancient spiritual practices that have been performed around the world for centuries. Connect with nature and share the wisdom of our ancestors.
Chant, sing and dance at a fire ceremony,
have your energy cleared with an herbal smudging, open your heart during a cacao ceremony or release what no longer serves you with a despacho ceremony.
Cari will create sacred space and invite you to join one or more shamanic practices
during our weekend together.
Your Retreat Hosts
Cari Skier
Cari is the founder of Art For The Soul Studio. She is a therapeutic arts specialist, certified sound healer and shamanic practitioner. Known for her unique and soulful creative gatherings, Cari cultivates a deeply restorative and empowering space.
By integrating her love of art making with the healing sounds of high vibrational instruments and ancient ancestral ceremonies, she believes you can recapture lost, innate creative abilities and foster profound self-healing. With sound, art and ceremony as the catalysts,
Cari engages her audiences in practices that calm the nervous system and guide the release of deeply rooted negative beliefs through self-expression and exploration. Her passion is helping people find a path to healing their soul and finding joyful living.
Your Retreat Hosts
L LeDonne
L is a musician, therapeutic music facilitator, certified mindfulness facilitator and Barre instructor.
L has been a musician since a young age and at 15 received early admission to Berkley College of Music. By 19, she was signed with CBS Records, giving her the opportunity to work with famous artists such as Prince and Carlos Santana.
L combines her passion and knowledge of music and song writing with her deep longing of creating good physical and mental health. She has been firmly rooted on her own healing path and in 2022 completed a year long intensive at the Copper Beech Institute, to become a certified Mindfulness facilitator. A life coping skill to help herself and others stay grounded, positive, and live with purpose.
L is dedicated to sharing the importance of all of these different processes and has dedicated her life to continually increasing her knowledge, so she is able to offer what has worked for her to others.
She uses her talents to collaborate musically with those who are struggling with chronic stress, emotional issues or have experienced deep trauma. Together, taking chances, L helps them find a sense of safety, empowerment and peace by teaching them to express themselves through music.
Sample Schedule
Friday:
2pm Check in and free time to roam the property, spa, Moka Cafe
5pm Yoga class by the Himalalyan Institute-optional
6pm Dinner
7:30 Welcome session
8:00 Crystal singing bowl sound bath
Saturday:
7am Yoga class by the Himalalyan Institute-optional
8:00am Breakfast
9:30 Art making session
12:30pm Lunch
2-5pm Collaborative music making/song writing
5pm Mindful hike
6-7pm Dinner
8pm Ceremony, drumming and movement
Sunday:
7am Yoga class by the Himalalyan Institute-optional
8:00am Breakfast
9:30 Music Session, Closing ceremony
12pm-Check out of rooms
(Guests are welcome to remain for lunch, hang out on campus or go to the spa)
12:30pm Lunch
*May be subject to change
The Retreat Center
The Himalayan Institute
Yoga & Meditation Retreat Center
Honesdale, Pennsylvania
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Nestled in the rolling hills of the Poconos, the Himalayan Institute’s picturesque 400-acre campus offers breathtaking views, scenic trails,
and peaceful spaces for reflection and contemplation.
For more than fifty years, the Himalayan Institute’s Retreat Center has been a gathering place for people seeking inspiration and aspiring to restore inner balance. As an Event Host and home to a vibrant community of yogis, it’s a place for seekers wishing to study the ancient tradition of yoga and to deepen the connection between themselves and the world around them. Here, you can enjoy our peaceful campus, taking time out from habitual distractions and the bustle of everyday life.
Prices & Accommodations
Prices include retreat sessions, meals and accommodations, per person
Private Standard Room
A Private Standard Room with two twin beds and a sink. The bathroom is conveniently located nearby in the hallway and shared among guests.
$689 Per person/single occupancy
$559 Per person/double occupancy
Deluxe Standard
The room features a private bathroom and your choice of two twin beds, one full bed, or one queen-sized bed.
$759 Per person/single occupancy
$589 Per person/double occupancy
Guest House
A chalet-style accommodation with 2 bedrooms. A full-size bed on the first floor, a pullout couch in the living room, and a loft with a queen sized bed on the 2nd floor.
Private bath and small kitchenette with a refrigerator
$699 Per person/double occupancy
$609 Per person/triple occupancy
$569 Per person/quad occupancy
Cancellation Policy
• 60+ days before retreat start date-100% deposit refund
• 45-59 days before retreat start date-50% deposit refund
• 0-44 days before retreat start date-0% deposit refund
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Remaining Balance
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Remaining balance is due 90 days before the retreat start date.
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Additional Terms
The remaining balance is due 7 days after booking your spot in the retreat to ensure room reservation.
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Please note that deluxe rooms with private bathrooms get booked very quickly, so don't delay!
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