Welcome to the Healing Hands Group Retreat!

Reawaken a sense of peace and wholeness

I hope you will experience the warmth, healing and hope that I felt when creating the Healing Hands Project. I am so grateful to learn from these healers and to explore their wisdom by creating these materials.

About the Retreat

This retreat is a multi-media journey that encourages you to see healing as an art form and to explore ways to become the artist of your own life.

I offer it as a supportive space to contemplate how to nurture inner resilience and calm.

Overview

Morning: Your group retreat begins with a simple opening ritual to mark the day as special and intentional. Next, you’ll ask participants to introduce themselves and take a few minutes to reflect on what drew them to the retreat or where they would like more inspiration or healing.

Next, you’ll introduce and screen the Healing Hands film, first asking everyone to take a moment to consider what “becoming the artist of your own life” means to them. After the film, you’ll ask participants to journal capturing their immediate impressions of the film. Then you will ask them to respond to 2-3 journal prompts that will be discussed later as a group.

Lunch or Snack: Following a nourishing meal or snack, you’ll give everyone time to relax and contemplate maybe by sitting outside or meditating to the sound healer’s music.

Afternoon: You’ll screen Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor before facilitating a group discussion on your selected journal prompts. Then, to refresh body and mind, participants can engage in some gentle movement or energy work, such as a walk, yoga or Qi Gong. Next, participants will create a meaningful keepsake necklace incorporating their personal intentions into handmade paper beads. This creative practice is a tangible way to engage with their individual wishes for restoration and healing..

As the retreat continues, participants will center and calm guided by the film meditation A Walk in the Woods. Finally, you’ll end the retreat with a closing reflection and ritual. This marks the transition from the retreat back to daily life, helping participants carry forward the sense of peace and awareness they’ve found.

Contents of the Retreat Kit

  • Healing Hands Film

  • Retreat Agenda

  • A Walk in the Woods film meditation.This link will remain available to participants after the retreat to return to whenever they need to center and calm.

  • Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor Many people asked for content from the healers that didn’t make the final cut of the film. Here is more wisdom!

  • Healing Hands Jewelry instructions and links to an easy interactive project to craft a beautiful necklace/bracelet/hanging charm that incorporates your intentions for healing

  • Journal Prompts based on the healer’s observations and wisdom.

  • Soothing Sound Loop of the Sound Healer’s music featured in the film to create a space for contemplation and reflection.

  • Set-up suggestions for the retreat space

  • Suggestions for Engaging Group Discussions

Retreat Agenda- 5 hours and 45 minutes

Please feel free to use the films and activities in a way that best suits the needs and interests of your group. You also may wish to build in extra time for additional activities. Please read “Setting up the Retreat Space” and “Suggestions for Engaged Discussions” before you begin.

10:00-10:40 Opening

After taking a few deep embodied breaths together to center, you may wish to open and close the retreat with a short ritual. It can be as simple as reading a poem, singing a song or chanting a phrase. You may also wish to light a candle or include some movement.

A ritual practice is a gentle way to mark the retreat space as sacred and to create a tone for all that follows. It recognizes the beauty and uniqueness of this particular gathering on this particular day. You may also wish to thank all the people who have come together to share their energy, thoughts and time.

Even if the participants know each other well, it is important to check-in with everyone at the beginning of the retreat. Each participant can say their name and perhaps answer a short question. Some options are:

  1. What drew you to this retreat?

  2. Is there an area of life where you would like more energy, inspiration or healing?

  3. What is a simple pleasure that always brings you joy? (from the journal prompts)

10:45-11:30 Watch Healing Hands Film

You can introduce the film with a short explanation of why you wanted to share it. A central theme of the retreat is that each of us is the artist of our own life. Providing that framework might help the participants orient themselves to the theme of the film and retreat.

11:35- 12:00 Journaling

For the first few minutes, ask everyone to journal their immediate impressions of the film. Often those first, intuitive responses are very powerful. Giving participants some time to free associate any thoughts or insights is important before you present the journal prompts.

Pass out the journal prompts/discussion questions handout. There are too many questions on the list to cover all of them in the group discussion later in the day, so let the participants know the 2 or 3 questions that you plan to discuss. This helps them gather their thoughts before they are asked to share ideas. They may also wish to respond to other questions on the list that they find meaningful in their journal if they have extra time.

12:00- 1:00 Meal/Snack and Contemplative Time

A meal or snack break is usually needed at this point in the retreat. Also, a retreat should feel relaxed and expansive, so extra time for contemplation is valuable. If an outdoor space is available, just sitting outside can be restorative. Participants may also wish to spend some time meditating in a separate space with the sound healer’s music playing quietly in the background. This free contemplative time is a way for everyone to tailor the retreat to their moods and needs.

1:00- 1:10 Screen Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor

Take a few minutes to watch a few scenes that didn’t make it into the film. You may wish to ask for observations or incorporate reactions to the short film in the following group discussion.

1:15-1:45 Group Discussion

Using the Suggestions for Engaged Discussions pdf as a guide, ask the participants to share their thoughts and ideas. You can ask the questions that you posed earlier as journal prompts. If the discussion branches off into an area that is not covered on the list, that’s great! It is an organic process and the group’s energy has a creative life of its own.

1:50- 2:30 Nature Walk, Movement or Energy Work

After the intensity of a group discussion, it is refreshing and invigorating to move your body. A walk in nature is ideal. Numerous studies have confirmed the restorative power of nature. A group walk to a public park or even some time doing yoga or engaging in energy work (Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Reiki, Healing Touch) in a backyard can feel healing. If the weather is not appropriate for an outdoor excursion, some energy work or gentle movement inside would be good at this point in the retreat. You may wish to play the sound healer’s music quietly in the background.

2:35- 3:00 Creative Craft

Making a personal and meaningful reminder of the retreat experience can be rewarding and fun. Participants can make the necklace/bracelet/hanging charm in the Healing Hands Jewelry Kit or another craft project of your choice.

Assembly of the jewelry kits is quick and fairly easy. The most meaningful part of this craft project is the creation of paper beads.

In the Healing Hands film, the massage therapist, Katrina, wrote an intention that was hidden and sealed into the hollow clay hand sculpture. Similarly, each paper bead will contain a secret prayer or wish. Paper beads are easy to make following this step- by-step guide.

The paper beads are strung onto the necklace along with the glass beads and the hand-crafted charm provided in the kit. I worked with a local, independent jewelry maker to assemble the kit. She crafts each charm by hand.

Other craft options could include providing bulk herbs so participants can make personal tea blends or providing essential oils to craft unique fragrances or mix scented bath salts. And of course, you can combine these ideas and do more than one project. Be creative and have fun!

If participants finish the project early, they can spend time journaling, sitting outside, meditating or just relaxing.

3:05- 3:20 A Walk in the Woods Film Meditation

This is a creative visualization exercise that was filmed in the same woods, fields, streams and ponds as the Healing Hands film. A link to this meditation is on the journal/discussion questions pdf handout, and will remain available to participants after the retreat to return to whenever they feel the need to center. It can be especially helpful when someone is anxious or distracted and it is difficult to engage in traditional meditation techniques.

3:25- 3:45 Closing Discussion and Ritual

It is important to come together at the close of the retreat. You can ask a short question like “What do you want to bring forward or focus on as you move out into the world?” Or you can just have an open-ended check-in.

A closing ritual mirrors the opening ritual and ceremonially ends the retreat time. This may include a reading, song, chant or even meditative silence. Expressing gratitude at having this time together and joining hands in the closing ceremony can be a powerful way to amplify the energy and silently share support.

Setting up the Retreat Space

If there is ample room, you may wish to designate areas for specific activities. For example, you may want to meditate to the sound healer's music in an area designated for contemplation. And you may want to assemble all the craft materials beforehand in a “creative zone”, so that you can move easily to that activity without breaking the flow of the retreat.

However, all the retreat activities can be easily accommodated within a limited space. It is important that the space be relatively free from distractions and that it feels welcoming.

Bringing an element of nature into the retreat space can be refreshing and inspiring. During the winter, a flourishing houseplant can provide a reminder of our connection to nature. And during the warmer months, you might display a bouquet of seasonal flowers.

A tea/beverage station can feel welcoming. The Retreat Agenda has a 5 minute break between each activity so that participants can refill their drinks, jot down ideas, chat with friends etc. If your retreat will span a meal, you can either prepare/purchase the food beforehand, have a potluck or incorporate meal prep as an activity within the retreat.

When showing the film, you will need a good internet connection. I recommend that you view the film on the largest screen available. The larger the screen, the more enveloping and cinematic the experience. And, it is always advisable to test your equipment with a practice screening before the retreat.