EASE to Spring: Women's Retreat for Cancer Survivors

Most of us live braced mentally, emotionally, and physically against constant signals of stress in our day-to-day lives. It is essential to periodically retreat from the rigors of daily life to allow ourselves to rest, reset, and learn new skills that will support resilience and create a more peaceful, healthy, and joyful life. Neuroscience research suggests that feeling happy and joyful will create and strengthen neural pathways that support a positive outlook on life.

This three-day retreat at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort empowers women who have received a cancer diagnosis to embrace survivorship as a life practice by teaching practical skills for cultivating joy, health, and whole-person wellness in day-to-day life. Through journaling, creative expression, gentle movement, and educational talks, EASE Cancer Foundation’s faculty will guide each participant in creating their own personalized, sustainable wellness plan.

Please join us!

Workshop Highlights

Mindful Journaling

Journaling mindfully has proven physical and mental health benefits, which include stress reduction, improved immune function, sharpens memory, boosts mood, and strengthens emotional functioning. The practice of mindful journaling can also help with the management of personal adversity and change. Research shows the expressive writing promotes self-confidence and allows for access to full brain power.

Anti-inflammatory: Eat to Thrive

"Anti-inflammation" focus on food as medicine, intentional mindset for optimal nutrition, and the importance of a healthy gut-brain axis.

Nourishment Pearls

Take a deeper nutritional dive into healthy fats, plant centric protein, and calcium.

Optimize Sleep to Maximize Health

Sleep improves mood, physical functioning, regulates hormones, and reduces disease risk. Learn strategies for mastering a good night’s sleep.

Cognitive Reframing & Motivational Techniques

Learn how to identify and change underlying automatic negative thought patterns that influence emotions and behavior, while strengthening personal motivation with attainable goal setting.

Adaptive Pilates

Pilates is a body conditioning exercise that helps to build flexibility, strength, endurance, and coordination in the legs, abdominals, arms, and back.

Therapeutic & Restorative Yoga

Therapeutic yoga utilizes yoga postures and practice to treat health conditions, where restorative yoga enables deep relaxation. Benefits to both may include alleviating pain and tension, stress and anxiety, and improving overall wellbeing. Mats, bolsters, blocks, and yoga straps will be provided to support our practice together.

Shake Your Soul®

Shake Your Soul® is a movement practice that relaxes and regulates your nervous system, energizes your body, and awakens your soul through a fun, fluid dance repertoire set to world music.

A Walk Outdoors

The month of May in the Icicle Canyon is the essence of Spring! With cool night and warm afternoons, a short visit outside will immediately feel restorative. We will take an easy walk through the forest walkways and paths to see what we might find along the way.

A Shared Outdoor Experience

Spending time together outside on the beautiful grounds of the Sleeping Lady Resort provides opportunity for us to create meaningful connections.

Collage & Creative Expressions

Art therapy is a creative process that draws on self-expression. This creative workshop will offer attendees time to design and create a collage of their life changes, expectations, and inspirations that best describes their survivorship journey.

Creating a Personal Wellness Plan

This session provides an intentional, summarizing checklist plan, individualized by each participant, to prioritize the key skills and concepts learned during the workshop, to immediately integrate into everyday life for optimal wellness.

Movement in Reflection: Mind and Body Connections

“We see in order to move and move in order to see.” In this closing circle, we’ll reflect on our shared experiences and how to implement movement in our lives both metaphorically and physically.

Community Fire Ceremony

This symbolic event supports release and healing and allows us to take a pause. It’s an invitation to step out of the chaos and busy-ness of our daily lives and commune deeply with ourselves and all our relations.

Registration

Registration includes dinner on Friday and Saturday, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, and all supplies. If you have a journal you wish to use, bring it. If not, journals will be provided. Space is limited to 20 participants. Lodging is not included.

Scholarships Available!

The Connie Bailes Scholarship Program is available to help support cancer survivors who would like to attend EASE Cancer Foundation events or programs but have limited resources. To apply, visit our scholarship page, select the form for the EASE to Spring Women's Retreat, and tell us a bit about why you’d like to participate in the event or program you’re applying for.

Lodging

Call Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort at (509) 548-6344 and mention that you are with the EASE Cancer Foundation to receive special lodging rates. You are not required to stay at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort to attend the retreat.

Alcove Room

$220 per night + tax

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resorts' s most sought-after overnight accommodation is the 260 square-foot standard Alcove room. It features a queen size hand-hewn log bed and a twin size bed tucked into a window alcove with down comforters and luxurious linens, a well-lit workstation, luxurious robes, a refrigerator, Dancing Goats Coffee (formerly Batdorf & Bronson) sachets and premium teas. Additional amenities include eco-friendly bath products, a hairdryer, a heated towel rack and plenty of outlets and USB ports.

Double Alcove Room

$230 per night + tax

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort's 260 square-foot deluxe Double Alcove room merges the natural beauty of the outdoors with contemporary styling. It features a queen size hand-hewn log bed and two twin size beds tucked into window alcoves with down comforters and luxurious linens, a well-lit workstation, luxurious robes, a refrigerator, Dancing Goats Coffee (formerly Batdorf & Bronson) sachets and premium teas. Additional amenities include eco-friendly bath products, a hairdryer, a heated towel rack and plenty of outlets and USB ports.

Faculty

Jenn Crawford-LeRoy, CYT, CAWC

Jenn has been teaching yoga since 2000 to multiple populations. Well-trained in multiple therapeutic yoga lineages, traditions, and developments, Jenn is also an Ayurvedic Wellness Coach and brings a breadth of yoga therapeutic principles to her students. She invites joy, curiosity, strength and learning to every session.

Amanda Esmond, PT, DPT, OCS

Amanda is Lead Physical Therapist at Confluence Health. She is certified in Orthopedics from the American Physical Therapy Association and is a yoga and Pilates instructor. She has special interests in sports rehabilitation, orthopedics, orthotic therapy, and manual therapy. Amanda enjoys working with special populations.

Teri Hugo Hirss, M.Ed.

Teri is a registered movement therapist and educator. She is a life coach and stress management consultant. She leads retreats internationally, as well as, from her home base in the green Mountains of Vermont. Teri has spent the last 30 years empowering women to live their lives fully and joyfully.

Katie Kemble, DNP, ARNP, FNP-C, AOCNP, FAANP

Dr. Kemble is an oncology nurse practitioner at Confluence Health and Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Washington. She conducts and facilitates translational research and has spent 30 years creating innovative programs supporting cancer survivors and the communities in which they live.

Jill LaRue, FNP

Jill is a retired Family Nurse Practitioner of 30 years. She practiced in Cashmere for Confluence Health, and retired in May 2015. She believes that healthy lifestyles are crucial to our sense of wellbeing. A lifelong learner in the outdoor environment, she loves spending time outside, whether it be biking, hiking, Nordic skiing, gardening, or walking the dog.

Jayne Van Brunt, BSN

Jayne is an artisan, oncology nurse, and healthcare coach. Leaning on her 35+ years experience in nursing, she began to advocate for change. She is the author of The Nightingale Gene, a book written to address burnout in nurses and caregivers. Her coaching programs encourage women to find balance in their lives through storytelling, art, and cooking.

Chandra Villano, ND

Dr. Villano is a Naturopathic doctor specializing in mindful living, whole foods, and environmental and personal detox. She has a passion for neuroscience, epigenetics, and the endocannabinoid system, with a background in exercise physiology in cardiopulmonary rehab. She is a co-founder of EASE Cancer Foundation and is on the Board of Directors of Wellness Place.