Now more than ever, there is a need for healthy living and a call to commitment to incorporating self-care and wellness into our daily lives. “Healthy Living for All” is a lifestyle program dedicated to inspiration, self-care, nourishment and nutrition, and enjoying the world and wisdom. Each piece offered here is meant to support you, and become your Tools for the Journey.
RESTORATION AND SELF-CARE
DAILY DOSE OF WELL-BEING
Check here for a variety of healthy living ideas that will restore the mind, body and spirit. We’ll add a few more tools for your journey as we explore wellness routines from green juice to hydrotherapy.
NOURISHMENT AND NUTRITION
WEEKLY RECIPES FROM THE GARDEN TO YOUR TABLE
Savor the flavor of wellness with food for thought. Join Harmony Hill Chef, Jessie Gregor for hearty farm-to-table recipes that soothe the soul, please the palate, and fortify the body. Every week, we’ll share a nourishing and nutritious meal or highlight a featured food.
Glass Noodle Salad with Grilled Kimchi Marinated Shrimp
IN THE GARDEN
JOIN LOIS OBERG FOR A PEEK AT WHAT IS GROWING ON THE HILL
“Life already has so many boundaries and pressures, why add more to the garden?” Felder Rushing
I have been known to say a very similar quote standing in the various gardens I’ve been entrusted with. I’ve also been known to struggle with practicing this sentiment. A pandemic that forced the canceling of volunteer days and other weekly help, has forced me to deal with garden anxiety in a way I never would have expected. “Anthropomorphism is unavoidable I am finding in writing about gardening: weeds don’t just grow, they grow with intent, they grow aggressively. Well, they do, as any gardener knows. They sneak in and swarm up when your back is turned.” Penelope Lively, Life in a Garden
More than the distress over a never-ending to-do list comes gratitude. Gratitude for the many people who help me tend these gardens in the normal, non-pandemic world. One to two days a week, I have a crew of inmates from Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women who assist me, doing anything from weeding to placing irrigation. One Saturday a month, Denise and I welcome a crew of volunteers, consisting of locals, past cancer retreat attendees, and other friends collected along the way. Sometimes individuals of the group renting Harmony Hill’s facility get the gardening itch and find time during their packed schedules to pull a few weeds. As I’ve been working on this quiet campus for the last 2 months, I’ve had visions of these helpers. They are the soul of my work here and I deeply miss them.
What I am most grateful for, is that we were quarantined with a house full of young adults and yes, I enlisted their help. Over the past weeks, they have helped me build bean teepees from found branches in the woods and cucumber trellis out of a discarded wooden fence. Our great staff has come to weed or mow the lawns.
With my co-workers back on campus, the quiet has been replaced with a flurry of activity. Things are getting done, including garden work. The magic of Harmony Hill continues.
WORDS OF WISDOM – THOUGHTS FROM GRETCHEN
Greetings dear friends and colleagues. Thinking of you in this very challenging time of Covid-19—hoping you are staying safe and well. All of Harmony Hill’s programs are now virtual and we are offering “staycations” –stay tuned for more info. Also soon we’ll have healthy living for all gourmet meals-to-go available. I am spending more time gardening for my stress management and re-reading some of my most inspiring books: Dawna Markova is one of my favorite authors as she was one of the creators of the best-selling Random Acts of Kindness series, Dawna is the author of many other inspirational books, including: I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion and Reconcilable Differences: Connecting In a Disconnected World. We have used reflections from “I Will Not Die An Unlived Life” many times in our Cancer Retreat Program. She has many uplifting messages. Here’s a short one by Dawna: “Once you begin to acknowledge random acts of kindness—both the ones you have received and the ones you have given—you can no longer believe what you do does not matter.”
Blessings to each of you.–Gretchen
INSPIRATION
We’ll provide you with weekly inspirational poems and reflective readings.
THOUGHT LEADER SPEAKER SERIES
Join us for interactive webinars, and retreats with Thought Leaders from around the country. These featured speaker events are rare opportunities to learn from some of the best minds shaping our views and vision for the times we live in and the lives we lead.
VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS
ON-LINE CLASSES – CONTINUITY SERIES
These offerings are designed as a cohesive series with extended participation by all registrants over several weeks. Please only register if you are able to participate in each session of the series. The schedule will be weekly, with each session falling on the same day of the week and time.
Virtual Drop-in Movement Classes
These classes are offered through an online platform called Punchpass. This lets you show up for movement classes as you would at a local studio, just online! Pick a day, style, and time that works for you. Classes are $12 for single drop-in, or $100 for a pass of 10 classes.
ON-SITE WELLNESS RETREATS
These are in-person retreat opportunities here at Harmony Hill. Each offering is unique and features Harmony Hill Aligned Partners and Faculty.