Agenda
“Coming Home to Self: Following the Light Within”
Chimney Corners Resort Frankfort, Michigan
Thursday, October 2, 2025:
3:00 - 7:00 pm Check In/Settle In (Dinner on your own)
7:30 - 8:30 pm Welcome and Opening Session Tanis Allen, LMSW - The Lodge
“Being the ‘I’ in the Storm~Courage, Care and Compassion in this Turbulent Time”
In our opening circle, we will begin to turn inward and listen deeply to our parts within the supportive container of expansive Self-energy which we will build as a group. Given the current circumstances in our world, we are, at turns, holding both our own shocked, frustrated, grieving, outraged and despairing parts along with those of our clients and loved ones, in what can feel like a constantly triggering emotional storm. We will set our intentions together as we enter this time set apart from all this to tap into our collective wisdom and begin an exploration of the courage, care and compassion residing in every one of us and within the group.
As Dick so appropriately notes in “No Bad Parts,” when speaking of holding our center in trying times: “This is quite a challenge in some circumstances - when you face threatening people or events, for example. And yet, amid the terror or the rage, the Self in each of us is always there ~ the ‘I’ in the storm, the calm depth beneath the rolling waves. There is always Self.”
Friday, October 3, 2025:
8:00 ~ 9:00 am Morning Yoga in the Lodge
Beth Jerva, LMSW, PRYT, RYT
10:00 am ~ 1:00 pm Morning Session:
“Pathways to Parts: Exploring Massage Therapy, Puppetry and Grief Through IFS”
Mark Saltzman
This highly experiential session will explore how IFS can merge with massage therapy and puppetry to support grief. We’ll learn how bodywork can help our parts feel safe, how puppetry can both externalize and give voice to our parts, and, using both to explore unspoken loss, how IFS can foster compassionate integration.
This unique approach creates powerful healing by honoring the body’s wisdom and the need for creative expression, offering a multi-dimentional path through grief. Participants will learn the benefits of both somatic work and expressive therapies as they are coupled with IFS to support both themselves and their clients in their quest for internal alignment and embodied
1:00 pm Lunch in the Lodge
2:30 pm ~ 5:30 pm Afternoon Session:
“Pathways to Parts Exploring Massage Therapy, Puppetry and Grief Through IFS” (continued)
7 pm Dinner
8:30 pm Music and Stories Singer/Songwriter
Saturday, October 4, 2025:
8:00 am ~ 9:00 am Morning Yoga in The Lodge
Beth Jerva, LMSW, PRYT, RYT
10:00 am ~ 1:00 pm Morning Session:
“Music, Self and Spirit ~ Exploring
1:00 pm Lunch in the Lodge
2:30 pm ~ 5:30 pm Afternoon Session:
“Following the Light Within ~ The Spiritual Wisdom of IFS”
Tanis Allen, LMSW, ACSW
7:30 pm Dinner
Later Bonfire, Stargazing, Music and Stories
Sunday, May 18, 2025
10:00 am Music and Meditation
10:30 am ~ 12:30 pm Closing Session:
“Being Fully Present With Courage, Care and Compassion: Allowing Our Parts to Speak”
Tanis Allen, LMSW, CIFST
Our closing circle will offer a time to both acknowledge and invite parts that wish to speak about their experiences during the weekend to do so in an embodied and Self-led way. Through guided meditation, body-centered practices, parts sculpting and connection to the guidance of nature surrounding us, we will tap into the power of the group’s Self-energy such that a deeper integration of our experiences in retreat together emerges and insights gained will be highlighted.
Again, as Dick relates in his book “You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For,” incorporating a quote from the 19th century philosopher William James at the turn of the century: “you are drops of the same divine ocean or sparks of the same eternal flame, part and parcel of the wider Self.” This session will help us strengthen our skills for becoming more fully present to ourselves, our clients and those we care about as we “walk each other home” to that wise, spacious, compassionate and loving harbor within that we call Self.
12:30 pm Closing and Send-Off
Tanis Allen, LMSW, CIFST