with Court Vox (Somatic Sex Educator)

Erotic Bodywork • Breathwork • Movement • Power Dynamics Exploration • Group Erotic Practice

4 days / 3 nights

For GBTQ men ready to reclaim pleasure and authentic connection in Mendocino's coastal redwood sanctuary.

with David Elliott (Renowned Healer & Author)

Energy Healing Techniques • Guided Meditation • Breathwork Certification • Professional Facilitation

9 days / 8 nights

For aspiring and experienced healers ready for lasting growth and breathwork certification in the redwood forest.

with Rachel Wilkins (E-RYT 500, YACEP)

Intuitive Flow Yoga • Ecstatic Dance • Group Reiki • Fire Ritual • Ancestral Ceremony • Shadow Work

4 days / 3 nights

For anyone ready to embrace the season of shedding, reclaim forgotten wisdom, and re-awaken in Mendocino's coastal redwoods.

with Jeff Sun and Andrew Blotky

Group Coaching • 1:1 Coaching • Yoga • Meditation • Somatic Practices • Inner Reflection Work

4 days | 3 nights

For queer men in midlife ready to reclaim clarity, connection, and intentional living in Mendocino's coastal redwood sanctuary.

with Kirin Power and Magalí Clazon

Yoga • Dance • Somatic Healing • Earth-Based Ritual

5 days / 4 nights

For women-identifying humans ready to deepen devotion and expand authentic expression in sacred community north of San Francisco.

with Court Vox (Somatic Sex Educator)

Erotic Bodywork • Breathwork • Movement • Power Dynamics Exploration • Group Erotic Practice

4 days / 3 nights

For GBTQ men ready to reclaim pleasure and authentic connection in Mendocino's coastal redwood sanctuary.

with David Elliott (Renowned Healer & Author)

Energy Healing Techniques • Guided Meditation • Breathwork Certification • Professional Facilitation

9 days / 8 nights

For aspiring and experienced healers ready for lasting growth and breathwork certification in the redwood forest.

Teaching yoga is a calling that asks everything of you—your energy, attention, creativity, and authentic presence. But who fills your well when you're constantly pouring from it? Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) at Spirit Camp in Mendocino County, Northern California, offers yoga teachers five nights to return to student role, to deepen personal practice that teaching draws from, and to earn Yoga Alliance continuing education credits (CEUs) in the process. This professional development intensive qualifies for Yoga Alliance CEU certification (provided upon request at completion), making it valuable for both RYT-200 and RYT-500 teachers maintaining their credentials while actually addressing the deeper need for renewal, inspiration, and reconnection to why you started teaching in the first place. Led by Mary, who directed comprehensive Teacher Training at Yoga Mendocino for a decade (2000-2010) and continues contributing to recognized programs internationally, this retreat offers the rare combination of rigorous personal practice (long asana sessions combining active and restorative work, breathwork, meditation, morning silence) and professional insights that emerge from studying with an educator who literally trained hundreds of teachers. This yoga and mindfulness retreat welcomes experienced practitioners and teachers ready for advanced exploration, comfortable with intensive practice and self-reflection, and seeking the kind of renewal that prevents burnout while reigniting teaching passion. Explore the full calendar at Spirit Camp Retreats.

with David Elliott (Renowned Healer & Author)

Energy Healing Techniques • Guided Meditation • Breathwork Certification • Professional Facilitation

9 days / 8 nights

For aspiring and experienced healers ready for lasting growth and breathwork certification in the redwood forest.

How often do you experience yoga and meditation as separate practices—physical class in one time slot, sitting practice in another, never quite connecting the two? Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) at Spirit Camp in Mendocino County, Northern California, offers experienced practitioners something increasingly rare: genuine integration where movement becomes meditation, where mindfulness infuses physical practice, and where the false boundary between body and mind dissolves through sustained exploration. This transformative retreat doesn't compartmentalize asana and sitting practice but rather weaves conscious awareness through every dimension—from vigorous yoga sessions where you observe how mental patterns affect physical capacity, to formal meditation periods that deepen body awareness, to morning silence that allows mindfulness to permeate meals and forest walks, to optional evening offerings that connect practice to poetry, imagery, and eco-inquiry. Over five nights among ancient Redwoods that themselves model the integration you're seeking (reaching skyward while rooting deeply, engaging constant activity within apparent stillness), you'll discover what becomes possible when mindful movement and seated meditation support rather than compete with each other. This yoga and mindfulness retreat welcomes practitioners ready for depth work rather than surface-level exercise, people comfortable with extended silence and self-reflection, and anyone seeking the kind of body-mind unity that traditional practices actually aimed toward. Explore the full calendar of contemplative offerings at Spirit Camp Retreats.

There's something about summer that calls us toward expansion, connection, and celebration—and for more than two decades, experienced yoga practitioners have answered that call by gathering with Mary Paffard in the Redwood forests of Mendocino County for her most beloved annual offering. Taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) at Spirit Camp in Northern California, this summer retreat continues a cherished tradition that Mary herself describes as her favorite of her three yearly in-person retreats. The timing isn't coincidental: early July captures summer's peak energy—long daylight hours extending practice possibilities, warm temperatures inviting outdoor sessions and evening fire circles under twilight skies, the gardens in full bloom with hummingbirds and butterflies, and Mendocino's perfect coastal climate offering comfortable conditions for vigorous practice without the inland heat that often characterizes California summer. Over five nights among ancient Redwoods, you'll experience comprehensive yoga and mindfulness programming including long active and restorative asana sessions, breathwork, meditation, optional mandala workshops and evening discussions, plus morning silence until lunch that allows deep integration. This yoga and mindfulness retreat welcomes both longtime participants who return year after year (creating remarkable sangha continuity) and newcomers ready to join this dedicated community. Explore the full calendar of seasonal offerings at Spirit Camp Retreats.

Your breath is the bridge between body and mind, voluntary and involuntary function, conscious awareness and unconscious patterns—yet how often do you actually pay attention to it? Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) at Spirit Camp in Mendocino County, Northern California, offers experienced practitioners five nights to explore breathwork as profound transformative practice. This integrative retreat weaves pranayama (the yogic science of breath control) throughout every dimension of the experience—preparing your body through long active and restorative asana sessions, deepening your capacity for stillness through meditation, and working directly with traditional breathing practices that access states usually beyond conscious control. Among ancient Redwoods generating exceptional oxygen levels and pristine air quality, you'll discover how conscious breathing regulates nervous system function, shifts brain states, unlocks stored emotions, and literally connects your personal respiration to the forest's photosynthetic exchange. This yoga and mindfulness retreat isn't for beginners but rather practitioners ready for sustained breathwork exploration, comfortable with the intensity that can arise when you work directly with life force energy, and seeking the integration of movement, stillness, and breath that creates genuine transformation. Explore the full calendar of breathwork and conscious breathing experiences at Spirit Camp Retreats.

In a culture that glorifies constant productivity and treats rest as weakness, restorative yoga offers radical medicine—the recognition that deep healing requires surrender, not effort, and that nervous system restoration is as essential as cardiovascular fitness. Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) at Spirit Camp in Mendocino County, Northern California, masterfully balances both dimensions of practice. This transformative retreat includes long active asana sessions that challenge and invigorate your system alongside restorative yoga practices where you remain in fully supported poses for extended periods, allowing profound nervous system reset and tissue release. Over five nights among ancient Redwoods, experienced practitioners discover what becomes possible when you honor the full spectrum from dynamic effort to supported stillness, from sympathetic activation to parasympathetic rest, from doing to being. The retreat also integrates breathwork, meditation, optional mandala workshops, and morning silence until lunch—creating comprehensive conditions for the kind of deep integration that only emerges when you give yourself sustained time to both challenge and restore. Whether you're recovering from burnout, seeking balance in your practice, or simply recognizing that transformation requires both stimulation and rest, this yoga and mindfulness retreat delivers medicine for our overstimulated times. Explore the full calendar of healing experiences at Spirit Camp Retreats.

When was the last time you experienced genuine silence—not just absence of noise, but the presence of deep listening, spaciousness, and the subtle inner voice that emerges only when external chatter subsides? Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) at Spirit Camp in Mendocino County, Northern California, offers experienced practitioners a rare opportunity to explore silence as transformative practice. This contemplative retreat structures mornings until lunch in noble silence—creating a container where awareness can settle, continuity deepens, and you discover what emerges when you're not constantly narrating experience through words. This isn't five days of total silence (conversation is welcomed during communal meals and optional evening gatherings), but rather strategic use of silence to support the intensive yoga, breathwork, and meditation practices that form the retreat's core. Over five nights surrounded by ancient Redwoods whose own quiet presence models patient stillness, you'll work with long asana sessions combining active and restorative elements, all infused with poetry, imagery, and eco-inquiry that Mary's teaching brings. If you're an experienced practitioner comfortable with extended silence and ready to discover the clarity, creativity, and deep rest that contemplative practice offers, this retreat delivers medicine for our overstimulated, perpetually chattering times. Explore more retreats with silence and contemplative offerings at Spirit Camp Retreats.

True wellness isn't achieved through quick fixes or isolated interventions—it emerges when we give ourselves sustained time and supportive conditions to restore balance across all dimensions of our being. Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) at Spirit Camp in Mendocino County, Northern California, offers exactly this kind of comprehensive holistic wellness experience. Over five transformative nights in the ancient Redwood forest, this wellness retreat integrates multiple healing modalities—long yoga sessions combining active and restorative practices, daily breathwork that regulates nervous system function, meditation periods that quiet mental chatter, morning silence that allows deep rest, nourishing plant-based meals that support physical vitality, optional mandala workshops for creative expression, and the immeasurable healing that happens simply by spending days among towering trees breathing clean coastal air. This isn't a spa vacation with superficial pampering, but genuine restoration work guided by a teacher with four decades of experience helping people reclaim their health and wellness. Whether you're recovering from burnout, seeking to deepen your self-care practices, or simply recognizing that you deserve five days of being held by community and forest while tending to your whole self, this retreat delivers medicine for body, mind, spirit, and heart. Explore the full calendar of healing experiences at Spirit Camp Retreats.

Can your yoga practice become an act of environmental love? At Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) in Mendocino County's coastal Redwood forest, the answer is a resounding yes. This five-night eco-oriented yoga retreat at Spirit Camp explores how deepening your relationship with your own body and breath naturally expands into deeper connection with the living earth. This transformative retreat isn't just located in nature—it actively weaves environmental consciousness into every dimension of the experience, from yoga sessions infused with eco-inquiry to plant-based meals sourced from local organic farms, from morning silence that attunes you to bird calls and rustling leaves to evening fire circles where participants share insights about their place within larger ecological systems. Led by Buddhist Eco-Chaplain Mary Paffard, who lives on an off-grid collective farm and brings four decades of teaching wisdom, this sustainable yoga retreat invites experienced practitioners to explore how contemplative practice and earth-based spirituality support both personal transformation and our collective awakening to environmental responsibility. Discover more eco-conscious experiences throughout the year at the Spirit Camp retreats calendar.

What does it mean to truly inhabit your body—not as a vehicle you control, but as the very ground of your lived experience? This question sits at the heart of Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026, a five-night embodiment retreat unfolding July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday) in the ancient redwood forest of Mendocino County, Northern California. At this transformative retreat, experienced practitioners gather at Spirit Camp to explore somatic yoga practices that bridge the perceived gap between mind and body, weaving active and restorative asana with breathwork, meditation, poetry, and eco-inquiry. This isn't about achieving perfect poses or following rigid sequences—it's about awakening to the intelligence that lives in your tissues, bones, and breath, allowing the Redwood forest's quiet presence to teach you about rootedness, interconnection, and what it means to be fully here. If you've been practicing yoga for some time and feel ready to explore the deeper dimensions of embodied awareness, Mary's approach—infused with her Buddhist Eco-Chaplain wisdom and decades of teaching experience—offers a rare invitation to come home to yourself. Discover more opportunities for somatic healing and body-centered spiritual exploration at the Spirit Camp retreats calendar.

Imagine waking to the soft whisper of redwood branches overhead, the scent of forest dampness mingling with morning fog, and the gentle call to silent meditation before breakfast. This is what awaits you at Mary Paffard's Summer Retreat 2026—a five-night immersion into yoga and mindfulness practices held in the heart of Mendocino County's ancient redwood sanctuary. Taking place July 2-7, 2026 (Thursday through Monday), this transformative retreat continues a beloved 20-year tradition of summer celebrations where experienced practitioners gather under towering trees to deepen their practice, explore eco-inquiry, and rest in the embrace of nature. Whether you're seeking to refine your asana technique, cultivate mindfulness meditation skills, or simply reconnect with a welcoming sangha of like-minded yogis, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to step away from everyday demands and into a space where contemplative practice and Redwood energy converge. Explore the full calendar of Spirit Camp retreats to discover other transformative experiences throughout the year.

When did you last pause long enough to truly reflect on who you're becoming? Not the hurried self-assessment squeezed between meetings, not the anxious 3am rumination that spirals without resolution, but genuine self-reflection—curious, compassionate inquiry into who you are now, what you truly want, whether your life aligns with your values. Modern life keeps us constantly moving, doing, achieving, responding. Yet without regular reflection, we risk living on autopilot—making decisions based on outdated patterns rather than current truth, saying yes to commitments we've outgrown, pursuing goals that no longer resonate, becoming strangers to ourselves.

In chemistry, a catalyst is a substance that enables or accelerates a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process. Catalysts are essential—they make possible reactions that would otherwise take prohibitively long or might never happen at all. They provide the activation energy needed to overcome barriers, create the conditions for transformation, and accelerate changes that are inherent but dormant. The Catalyst Retreat offers the same function for personal transformation: it creates the optimal conditions, provides the activation energy, and accelerates changes you've been contemplating but couldn't quite initiate on your own.