Wellness and Healthcare

The Nancy M. and Douglas M. Yeager Family Foundation, in partnership with GilChrist Retreat Center and the Fetzer Institute, is pleased to offer ten self-guided, one-week residencies for preschool through fifth grade teachers from July 16-23. This will mark our 20^th summer!

You need a break
You are exhausted
You have no self-care routine
You long for a moment to yourself
You want to disconnect and recharge

This retreat is for anyone who feels the need to care for their energy and conserve it within all the demands of the day. It is for parents, leaders, educators, students, and caregivers – anyone who wants to discover new ways to maintain their peace and composure in our busy world.

We will learn tools to use life-long for conserving our energy in a trusting, respectful environment. No previous experience is necessary. Just come as you are.

This retreat is for any woman going through an important life transition, and wanting to consciously choose the next chapters of her life instead of letting life choose for her.

As women mature, we move into the phase of creativity and purpose... yet it can be hard navigating this transition when we have spent so many years giving to our families and/or careers, often being stuck in survival mode or even burnt out. How do we find our way back to ourselves? What is your calling for the next season of your life?

Underneath the routine of doing and expectation, a gracious joy for simply being awaits. Fall is a glorious time to slow down and revel in the beauty of being enough, and GilChrist echoes that sentiment back to you. Open landscapes, cozy cabins, and sounds of nature are a balm to busy-ness, affirming that you are enough -- just as you are. With this retreat, you are invited to reflect and relax into who we are as the hustle and bustle melts away.

This wintertime retreat, on the cusp of spring, will offer quiet and togetherness through yoga practices, hiking, a creative project, and community dinners. Reflection is encouraged in solitude, as well as with one another. Sometimes winter inspires one to seek refuge in solitude and quiet, which can be rejuvenating and other times togetherness is a balm for the cold. This retreat provides space for hibernating in togetherness. The intent is to create a warm atmosphere of choice between solitude or an activity together and reflect on the energies each experience inspires.

Join us at GilChrist for a two-day intensive women’s grief retreat where you will learn how to explore, express, and stay present with your grief in surprising, spiritual, and creative ways.

During this retreat, you and up to eleven other women will enjoy two days and two nights of learning more about the nature of grief while acquiring some practical tools that will help you work through difficult moments both in the present and in the future.

Question: When the world seems to be spinning out of control, where can we turn to recover calm, stability, and perspective?

Answer: The peace and quiet of springtime at GilChrist! The sacred grounds support this invitation to explore a ‘try softer’ attitude for centering and change. Trying softer self-care subtly opens energy channels allowing for reawakening and refreshing. Gentle yoga, tai chi, silent and guided meditation, breath work, readings and reflections from poets, sages, and mystics will be offered as pathways and pauses to the heart.

Note from the program sponsor: We are deeply saddened to share news of the passing of our founder and inspiration, Douglas M. Yeager, on December 24, 2022. While we continue to navigate the loss, we are committed to carrying on this work and building upon the legacy he initiated to honor the memory of his wife and our mother, friend, and grandmother.