How to meet your needs for Shelter, Water, Fire and Food

Whether you want to survive a crisis situation or thrive in economically challenging times, knowing how to meet our own basic needs makes us more fully human. In this retreat weekend you will learn to be more aware of your environment and how you can provide shelter, water, fire and food in the wilderness or on the fringes of civilization. The world around you will never look the same.

Friday after dinner we will seek to understand how to use fire to our advantage. Around the fire we will open our minds to see everyday objects from new perspectives and discuss the possibilities of what we can learn together over the weekend.

Saturday morning we will take some lessons from the animals to increase our awareness of every situation and we will learn an ancient tradition of connecting more deeply with the land around us.

Saturday afternoon we’ll enter the mind-space of a survival situation and together figure out what our next steps are. We’ll learn some key basic skills that could save your life.

Sunday morning we’ll learn how increasing our awareness and focusing our minds can make us lost-proof, and then we’ll close with how to take our new skills and experiences back to our everyday lives.

This weekend will cover the first three steps of survival situations (shelter, water and fire) and will touch on the last step: food. Sunday afternoon and evening as most people are heading out we can have more casual conversations about food sources such as trapping, wild edibles, gleaning, etc.

Never fear the woods again.

Suggested donation, sliding scale: $10 – $50

Come join Fox and friends for a transformative healing retreat! Explore living medicines through our connections with the plants and with each other. Vibrant, hands-on activities will provide useful knowledge and guide spiritual and interpersonal exploration. This year, Fox will be joined by Luke Learningdeer, Sarahanne Amason, and other gifted instructors dedicated to their medicine paths. Look forward to plant walks, heart-healing ceremony, medicine making, healing by touch, fantastic meals, morning cultivation, loving interactions, and lots of plant medicine (both physical and spiritual).

Price is $115 with a $25 dollar deposit. Please visit this website to make payment pleas go here

A spirited weekend of self expression and energy work

Friday January 27th

Check in, get schedule, brief guests on the workshop Dinner Evening Crystal bowl mediation

Saturday January 28th

Breakfast Yoga class taught by Juillette 9:30-10:45 free time Hula hoop class before lunch taught by Terra (possibly) Lunch Ring bell, meet at the Co-lab AFTERNOON ART SESSION (1 to 4ish) Meet in co-lab and begin with Light yoga stretch 20 minutes Self massage techniques by Denise (short) Guided meditation by VeroniKa to open creative channels ART IN FOREST 1-4pm guided by VeroniKa to then help create art in nature. a couple hours in suggest a yoga class outside for a refresher of energy Dinner Light Graffiti taught by Veronika in the new dome.

Sunday January 29th

Breakfast Yoga 9:30-10:45 a.m. Free time Crystal bowl meditation before lunch (possibly) Lunch Afternoon Massage taught by Denise (1 to 4ish) Light yoga stretches 20 min taught by Juillette (breath awareness) Self/body awareness by Denise Partner Massage Techniques (Names in hat for random partnering up) Dinner Reiki share Schedule is subject to change

We are currently planning new events to take place at the Hostel over the coming weeks. Details of these will be published very soon.

The Hostel will be holding a weekend long workshop/retreat focusing on some wilderness survival concepts. Our presenters, Colbert Sturgeon and Heather Burrill will be here to share their knowledge and experience.

Colbert left the financial planning industry to learn survival and simple living skills. After taking numerous courses from many famous schools, he built a one-room cabin in the woods from which practice he had learned. He has been learning and teaching survival and simple living skills for more than 20 years and is a well-known instructor at many earthskills events across North America. His unique teaching style makes it a pleasure to learn and remember.

Heather has spent the last decade teaching earthskills and pioneer living skills to people of all ages at camps and programs in Canada and the USA. She specializes in the use of natural materials for traditional crafts such as clothing and containers as well as local wild foods and medicines.

The fun will begin on Friday evening after dinner, we will do a short discussion with introductions and explanations of why we are here and what to expect. At this point we can get as little or as much involved as we want discovering some of the concepts introducing people to survival skills.

Saturday we will start after breakfast around 10am focusing on Navigation and Landscape Awareness Skills – lost-proofing. Then in the evening we will participate in a fire making demonstration. Heather says, “we have so much to teach about fire it could be a weekend in itself.”

Sunday we can take our time in the morning after what is sure to be a fantastic Saturday night. Then we can gather and with the intention to finish in the mid-afternoon cover improvised shelter building. If there is any extra time we will try to fit in some instruction on useful knots to know.

This will be our first weekend long workshop/retreat of the year and should prove to be exciting and educational. If you are interesed please call ASAP to make a reservation as spots will fill quickly. The cost for attending will be $100 and will include two nights stay at the Hostel, dinner each night and all material and instruction fees.

December sweat lodge has been moved to Sunday December 11th. instead of December 10th.

Jeremy Arndt, an independent multi-instrumentalist musician will be performing at The Hostel on the Halo drum in an after dinner concert on December 4th. More information about Jeremy here

The Hostel in the Forest is hosting a yoga retreat / Land Trust fundraiser on the weekend of November 18th – 20th 2011. Guest should plan to arrive on Friday evening and enjoy a delicious vegetarian meal prepared by our talented Hostel chefs. The cost for the 2 nights with dinners and brunch each day, and includes all yoga classes each day, will be $150 per person. We have a limit on the size on the event so please sign up early…

Todd Delaune is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance and has been teaching for over 5 years. He received his 200 hour yoga teacher certification from Peachtree Yoga Center in Atlanta, GA in 2003 and his 500 hour certification also from Peachtree Yoga in 2008. More information here.

We are currently planning new events to take place at the Hostel over the coming weeks. Details of these will be published very soon.

The Hostel will be holding a 2nd annual Aum Tala Yoga fundraiser w/ Ian Boccio and Karen Dorfman Once again, Karen and Ian have planned a transformational weekend of yoga, chanting and live music for you this fall! We will walk the labyrinth by candlelight, meditate to the sounds of the forest, chant by the bonfire and practice yoga in the glass house. This weekend is appropriate for yoga practitioners of all levels. The cost for all classes, brunch and dinner, as well as accommodations for Friday and Saturday night is $175. For more information on the instructor and to register, please visit Karen’s site

May the Forest Be With You

The Hostel Staff

September 1 – Sept 15th – Raised Bed Construction: In order to prepare our garden to receive her fall plantings, we’re spending the next few weeks rebuilding all of the raised beds in our vegetable garden. Guests are invited to lend a hand and learn about the advantages, construction, and installation of raised beds.

We are currently planning new events to take place at the Hostel over the coming weeks. Details of these will be published very soon.

Saturday August 27th: – Cob Oven Demonstration/ Pizza Extravaganza

Saturday August 27th: – Homemade Earrings w/ Aleisha

Sunday August 28th: – Figure Drawing w/ Katy

Tuesday August 30th: – Natural Building w/ Freddy:

September 1 – Sept 15th – Raised Bed Construction: In order to prepare our garden to receive her fall plantings, we’re spending the next few weeks rebuilding all of the raised beds in our vegetable garden. Guests are invited to lend a hand and learn about the advantages, construction, and installation of raised beds.

We will be holding a fundraiser to contribute to the Hostel’s Land Trust, so come play in the forest with Lila Donnolo, AcroYoga instructor!  AcroYoga is a blend of partner yoga, partner balancing, and Thai massage.  You don’t have to be terrifically bendy, a massage expert, or a Dutch acrobat!  AcroYoga is a community practice, in which we learn to fly and empower others to do the same.  Participants will enjoy three lovingly-prepared, allergen-friendly meals per day, vinyasa sessions, AcroYoga instruction, and creativity-igniting exercises.  Lila is a certified AcroYoga instructor, holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in Drama, and traverses the universe teaching and giving Thai bodywork.  The cost for the weekend, including lodging, three meals per day, instruction, and good juju, is: $200.  As this is a fundraiser fork the Hostel, please make your reservation by contacting Lila at divineplayyoga ‘at’ gmail.com by Sunday, August 28th. To learn more about AcroYoga, check this out.

Join us in the forest for an uplifting weekend focused on nurturing our children’s creativity while teaching them everything from language arts, ecology, environmental studies and mathematics at the Hostel’s Children’s Retreat. Qadija Tatim-Aamir, an environmental artist and educator with an immense range of teaching experience, will be leading the retreat. She is a Master Naturalist certified in Early Childhood Education, as well as the lead teacher for the Museum of Arts and Sciences and the Nature Director for Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia. She is a bold woman passionate about shattering education walls, and we couldn’t be more excited about her joining us. Class offerings include mandala making, spirit sticks, communicating with nature, and natural sculpture, a screening of “Rivers and Tides”, as well as a discussion on the the education of natural children. Accommodations will still be $25 per night for adults, but the cost for all classes, accommodations Friday and Saturday night, and lunch for the little ones will be $60 per child 7-14, and $30 for children 6 and under.