Compassion Cultivation Cycle™ Retreat
NEUROSCIENCE | ECOLOGY | YOGA
Three weekend retreats spaced throughout the year.
This unique evidence based model was crafted to help people sustainably build resilience & self-compassion while healing from anxiety, stress, and self-doubt.
2023 - 2024 RETREAT
Registration Closed
Tend To Your Heart So You Can Tend To Others
ECOLOGY
Learn the medicine of nature to release stress & anxiety
YOGA
Build lasting neuropathways of presence & peace
NEUROSCIENCE
Understand the science & application of compassion
*Includes 21 Continuing Education for LMHC, LICSW, MFT and/or A Compassionate Leadership Certificate upon completion
THE VENUE
Retreats are hosted In Winthrop, WA at the Head & Heart Retreat center, cradled in the North Cascade mountains. Learn from experience and leave with tools to apply in work, community, and family.
Three Retreats
One Strong Cohort
Sacred Change
Kind Words
“This training really solidifies the importance of an “embodied” or experiential practice of self compassion to deepen integration and promote healing. Ellen synthesizes the research and breaks down the most important concepts in an accessible and applicable way. This was a remarkable experience and I can’t recommend it highly enough! ”
— 2021 Retreat Participant
Commit three self-care weekends from your busy life.
You deserve this.
RETREAT DETAILS
Offering Neuroscience teachings and practices, Nature Immersion, Yoga practice, & Nourishing farm to table meals, this program experience deepens from one retreat to the next giving you a significant year of healing in just 3 weekends. You will cultivate a sustainable neurobiological shift towards compassion & healing anxiety, stress, and trauma.
Leave with a certificate in Compassionate Leadership, taking this beyond your personal life into family, community, and work settings.
Overview
WHAT
Three Compassion & Yoga retreats (fall, winter, spring) + Support self-designing a fourth solo retreat for summer
COST
$2200 total, $733/retreat, includes farm to table breakfast & lunch. Sliding scale options available, please contact.
WHERE
The beautiful light filled Head & Heart studio at 104 Riverside Avenue, Winthrop, WA
What to expect with each retreat
4 MINDFUL & COMPASSION BASED YOGA CLASSES
Friday 6:30-8:00 PM | Mindfulness & Restorative Yoga with Ellen Slater
Saturday 8-9:15 AM | Gentle Yoga with Autumn Baughn
Saturday 5-6:30 PM | Compassion Based Mindfulness with Ellen Slater
Sunday 8-9:15 AM | Gentle Yoga
2 INTERACTIVE EXPERIENTIAL WORKSHOPS
Saturday 10:00- 1:00 PM | Neuroscience & Compassion (description below)
Sunday 10:00-1:00 PM | Compassionate Willpower & Boundaries (description below)
CRYSTAL SINGING BOWLS
Sound healing will be woven into the yoga and workshops throughout the weekend. Sound has the power to calm the nervous system, release tension, and support relaxation. Our body consists of over 70% water, and sound travels through water 4 times faster than air. The sound moves through you; harmonizing body and mind and aiding in stress relief.
SMALL GROUP SIZE TO PROMOTE DEEP LEARNING
Attending multiple retreats with the same group will deepen the experience and form a container of safety. This program is built as one whole experience, with each weekend retreat building on the prior. Culminating in a self-designed retreat on your own. All attendees are required to sign up for whole program.
SUPPORT SELF-DESIGNING YOUR OWN PERSONAL COMPASSION BASED RETREAT
You will receive support to connect to heart and intuition in the service of self-designing a compassion based retreat for yourself. This will build self-compassion, skills of insight, and motivation to care for yourself beyond this program. If possible you will culminate in a summer solo retreat designed for you. Self-care is not a luxury. Rest is a Revolution.
ORGANIC FARM TO TABLE MEALS
Seasonal Farm to Table Breakfast & Lunch grown and prepared by our lovely friends at Hoodoo Blooms Farm.
FREE TIME FOR RESTING OR EXPLORING
During your free time enjoy the majestic valley, nature, and town of Winthrop. Just steps from our retreat center are two magnificent rivers merging, hiking trails, and glacier fed lakes. Recommendations and maps provided.
Trusting The Process
“This retreat is remarkable and transformative personally and professionally. Ellen truly is a gifted clinician and presenter. I thought “I knew what there was to know” about self-compassion before the retreat and I was surprised by how much new insight I obtained.”
— Participant, September 2021 Retreat
*CANCELLATION/REFUND POLICY: Cancellations up to 60 days prior to program start date receive a full refund. Cancellations up to 30 days prior to the start date, receive 50% back. Anything under 30 days prior to start date, there will be no refund.
Meet Your Hosts
Ellen Slater
CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER & MINDFULNESS TEACHER
Ellen Slater, LICSW, YT-200, is a compassionate expert with a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and a master's degree from the University of Chicago. Specializing in trauma, anxiety, and substance use, she combines yoga teaching and extensive training in neuroscience and compassion with many leaders in the field including Kristin Neff, Tara Brach, Bonnie Badenoch, Bessel van der Kolk, Eckhart Tolle. Ellen's mission is to spread evidence-based compassion practices through experiential learning and education.
Autumn Baughn, YT-500, Social Work Graduate Student
YOGA INSTRUCTOR
Autumn Baughn, YT-500 is a talented yoga instructor with a powerful heart and loving energy. Her class is a combination of gentle flow alongside supported poses that invite stillness and release. Autumn actively practices compassion in her day to day life and you can feel that in her loving presence. She believes yoga is for all bodies and all people, and radically accepts herself and those around her. You will leave her classes feeling nourished in mind, body, and soul.
Chloe Rossano, FTF (farm to fork)
CHEF EXTRAORDINAIRE
Chloe Rossano will be making you healthy, delicious farm to table meals. Your food will come from Hoodoo Blooms Farm, and the planting season has already begun! Farmers Kyle and Cailyn tend the food with so much heart and Chloe cooks it up! From her delicious homemade Cacao Honey to her warm broth from chickens raised on the farm, Chloe will help you experience a deep connection to your food and a renewed energy.
We Can’t Wait to Connect With You
“The yoga was amazing and content of the lectures and other experiential exercises were excellent. Very well organized and I appreciated the integration of so many different modalities. The whole thing was a lovely sensory experience.”
— 2021 Retreat Participant
Where to stay
Book early - this is a stunning destination and each season hotels fill up!
The Head & Heart studio is located in town, walkable to the above hotels and many more! Contact us if you have questions.
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Check out the mountain community hostel or lovely river motel
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Stay in one of the stunning Spring Creek Ranch Houses
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Listen to the river go by in these riverside cabins.
Workshop Descriptions
“The workshops really help challenge the idea that compassion is weak or letting ourselves or others off the hook. Loved concept of compassionate willpower and metaphors for defusion. This was an amazing respite and opportunity to grow as a human and as a clinician.”
— Participant September 2021
Compassion Based Mindfulness
SATURDAY | 5-6:30 PM
This class offers a deeper dive into the neurobiology of breathing and practice of mindfulness. There will be a combination of teaching & guided gentle practice, offering you tools to take home. Ellen brings a deep understanding of mindfulness influenced by her eastern travels to Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. She has also engaged in many silent retreats along with recently attending a retreat with Eckhart Tolle. You will learn about and practice strategies that calm the nervous system and activate compassion and acceptance. This class will leave you feeling calm and centered, along with tangible tools to continue this practice in your everyday life. Each retreat will build off one another, deepening your connection to self and the interconnection of all beings. Your intuition will grow along with your personal practice of breath work and compassion.
Neuroscience & Compassion Workshops
SATURDAY | 10:00 - 1:00 PM (30 minute break)
Ellen Slater has trained with compassion experts such as Kristin Neff, Tara Brach, and Chris Germer. She has also completed a year-long intensive with Interpersonal Neurobiology expert Dr. Bonnie Badenoch. With this expertise, she has designed workshops that build off one another throughout the year to offer understanding and transformation from the inside out. You will build a deep understanding of compassion, the barriers to self-compassion, and learn evidence based experiential practices to overcome those barriers.
During the first retreat we will discuss the neurobiology of self-compassion including mindfulness and acceptance, and strategies to access this despite cultural and evolutionary barriers. In the second retreat we will dive deeper into the biological and sociological influences that pose barriers to mindfulness, including the generational pass down of our competitive and comparing culture. During the third retreat you will discover and unravel your personal unique obstacles to compassion and shift habitual and conditioned neuropathways.
Every retreat will include insight oriented evidence based practices such as journaling, art, guided visualization, and other strategies to build self-awareness, healing, and change. Our workshops will culminate in an experience that will leave you connected to yourself, others, and your environment.
Research shows that self-compassion frees up energy you can direct towards living a vital life. It leads to healthy connection and is a significant motivator. Reconnect with your heart in these retreats and discover how to sustainably build self-love.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Integrate mind & body through the lens of Compassion
Overcome the barriers to Self-Compassion
A sustainable mindset shift towards more peace and connection
Compassionate Willpower & Boundaries
SUNDAY | 10:00 - 1:00 pm (30 minute break)
Ellen has extensive training in the field of trauma and addiction, including completion of a Fellowship with the Center of Excellence in Substance Abuse Education and Training with the Seattle, Veterans Administration. This expertise includes extensive training and understanding about motivation, fierce compassion, and what factors contribute to healthy choices. Over the year-long program you will learn how compassion and willpower are interconnected, resulting in healthy and life sustaining change.
During the first retreat we will discuss cultural and evolutionary influences on internal dialogue and build a healthy compassion based mindset that effectively fosters motivation. In the second retreat you will get in touch with your values, what you most deeply care about, and build intrinsic motivation, as opposed to externally driven shoulds. Engaging in the co-creation of your life between you and your ecosystem. The third retreat will deepen insight and connection to the areas of your life where boundaries may be most challenging, yet most needed. Addiction does not discriminate, whether someone struggles to balance relationships, people pleasing, coffee, work, substances or screens (to name a few). These workshops will transform your inner dialogue to promote balance and healthy living.
Compassion based willpower helps us move towards what we most care about.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Transform internal dialogue
Understand and embody compassion and it’s connection to motivation
Take away tangible tools to support values based living
What People Are Saying
“Ellen’s retreat was nourishing on many levels. The community nourished my heart, the teachings strengthened my practice, and the mindfulness filled my soul. Ellen truly intertwines her professional psychological expertise with grounding physical practices. The application is palpable and immediate with gentle guidance to integrate into future mindfulness practice and growth.”
— Anne, September 2022 Retreat
