hand in hand + heart to heart
we choose the path forward together
August 15-17, 2025
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Relationship is protective. Humans are fragile. Our ability to work together, through our capacity for collective story and our sense of belonging, brings us a sense of security. While humans are great at changing the world by turning our ideas into reality, we are often unsettled by the transformation processes. There are lots of changes happening in our world, building the skills for healthful adaption and collective care is our responsibility as future-tenders. Through our care for the present moment, we bring the healthful future into being.
COURAGE and Clarity
Seeing the world clearly, accepting the influence of the past and our accountablity for the future requires courage. Having courage inherently also means having fear. How we hold the fear, and the risk of being alive, bolsters our courage and joy. Wise souls know how to hold the pain and joy of the world together, you can move with both. This gathering is an opportuinty to practice sound-heartedness and the kind of courage that brims with joy even as it experiences heartache, not one without the other.
Immersive community practice and skill building
Have you ever noticed how people have an authentic desire for community but often struggle to engage in cooperative practices? We want a world where everyone gets the support they need, and, often resist accepting support ourselves. Some aspects of the world we want to live in actually make us really physically uncomfortable in the world that currently exists. And, we can practice. Immersive community practice supports us in developing an embodied understanding of interdependance that we can then use in our daily lives as we continue to build new systems. This is essential work if we genuinely want to develop new ways of being. Being a cooperative leader, an interdependant community member, and living a sustainable life require learning new skills and behaviors, but also learning practical and relevant application of these.
What you can expect:
nourishing homemade meals from local ingredients
community and skill building through integrative practice
concrete understanding of cooperative community care roles
quality materials provided for all projects
personalized take home planner for continued reference and development
Themes and Concepepts
click through for more informatio about each theme
Care
Love. These words, love and care, are ubiquitous with humanity and dismissed as unnecessary aspects of modern society. Because of this, there is a subtle miscommunication of the data we recieve from our social environments. Practices that foster sensory attention, articulation, and awareness and deepen our capacity for presence/connection to self and others allow us to be more receptive to care in every day settings.
Food
Nourishing our bodies, minds, and spirits in connection with the land and food systems is a foundational practice of The Nurtured Life. Our enviornment communicates with us through flavor and texture. Love and care is shared with us through the process of production and preparation. A community not only eats together, but is fed together. The simple luxury of truly wonderful food is a delight that is essential to the practice of interdepenance. All meals will be provided (a questionaire regarding allergies and dietary needs will be provided after registration)
“If we look at the make up of the word disaster, we see dis, which means seperation, and aster, which means star.
So disaster is seperation from the stars. Such a seperation is disaster indeed. ”
Sherene R. Cauley is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, social wellbeing educator, and the founder of The Nurtured Life. She provides wellness coaching services for clients across the world and hosts numerous programs on attuning to our inner and outer realities to build supportive, sustainable lifestyles. She has over 20 years of experience helping individuals and families find wellbeing according to their neuro- type and sensory sensitivities. As a multiply neurodivergent person herself, Sherene combines her knowledge in health coaching, peace studies, and wisdom traditions with her decades of experience as an educator to offer coaching that allows people to build a layered approach to adaptions so they can resiliently navigate barriers.
Sherene is a Doctoral student researching approaches to social transformation and a mother and step-mother of four children ages 29-12. She lives on the coast of Maine with her
husband and several of her children.
