Our fortification programs, including Sacred Dance, Yoga, The Well, and Wilderness Vigils, strengthen us so that we can be of clearer service to our world that needs inspired and capable adults. These practices are available to adults who seek fortification and are ready to do their own inner work so that they can lead the cultural regeneration needed at this time.
Adult Fortification Programs
Everything can begin with you. You are the foundation of any change that will happen in your society.
~Thich Nhat Hanh
Creating a culture that protects, fosters, and shares vitality begins with ourselves. As adults, we must embody in ourselves what we hope for in the world.
Sacred Dance
At Springhouse, dance holds us together as a community in ways that words simply cannot. We dance to strengthen our bonds, to celebrate, and to summon the vitality, courage, and joy it takes to serve a world in need. We invite anyone who wants to reclaim their relationship with their bodies, and foster vitality within themselves in the safety of community, to join us. This practice is led by Sarah Merfeld and Sarah Piper Pollock, who have been apprenticing in this practice with Dr. Jenny Finn for five years and have facilitated Sacred Dance for teens and adults for several years.
NO dance experience is required and all abilities are welcome.
Sacred Dance Series (in-person)
Martha Graham, the late choreographer, writes “movement never lies.” The Sacred Dance series are community dance sessions held at the Springhouse campus where we explore the vulnerability and power of relationship to ourselves and each other through movement. The series are held seasonally (Fall and Winter/Spring).
Sacred Dance Retreats (in-person)
Through movement, dialogue, ritual, and creative expression, we explore various aspects of our lives over the course of 3 days. Sacred Dance retreats are rich and dynamic opportunities to learn and grow within yourself and a beloved community. Retreats offer a deeper dive than individual dance sessions and often include other soul-centered practices like ritual, writing, creative expression, and more.
Yoga Through the Lens of the Sutras: The Yamas and Niyamas
The practice and study of Yoga is one of the “thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground,” as Rumi says. This series, led by Springhouse staff member and certified yoga instructor, H (they/them), will explore this doorway to the body, the self, and the sacred through the lens of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the first two of the eight limbs Patanjali articulates. Each of these six classes will include pranayama, meditation, asana, self-study, and group explorations. Since they are currently immersed in a three-year masters program in Yoga Studies, H will bring a perspective to the practice that is informed by Yoga’s rich and complex history and an appreciation and growing knowledge of Indian culture.
Facilitator Bio: H Leopold (they/them) is a registered yoga teacher with hundreds of hours of teaching experience, which ranges from teen-only offerings and queer yoga, to mini yoga retreats, gentle practices with seniors, and all-levels flow. They are passionate about creating safe, welcoming, and intimate spaces where all can experience healing.
The Well
Know More of Yourself in Community
The Well is for adults interested in an extended community container for building the courage and skills needed to embody our human wholeness. In this program, we identify and cultivate our innate resources and examine what gets in the way. The Well offers an exploration of the Self as a unique expression of the universal patterns of nature. Within each person there are great strengths, untapped potentials, and mysterious depths that we might not even know exist until we discover how to access them, cultivate their powers, and eventually integrate them into our lives.
Wilderness Vigils
In this fortification course, we invite the simple yet profound practice of being with the Earth, without distraction, sunup to sundown, four times throughout the year. When we sit with ourselves and the rhythms of the Earth, we encounter parts of ourselves that typically go unnoticed. We also put ourselves in the way of receiving the subtle, or not so subtle, teachings of the Earth.
We will meet once in the beginning of the series to orient to this practice and to one another. Then, we will gather once per season to spend a full day on a beautiful 100-acre property in Floyd County, Virginia. At the end of the day, we will sit together to share insights and reflections that emerged from our solo time.
This practice will be led by Dr. Jenny Finn and Sarah Merfeld, both of whom have humbly engaged in this practice for years and have each participated in a multi-day Vision Quest experience.
