Nobody will be turned away for a lack of funds. Please reach out to Davinica at davinica@kaneel.me with a cost that feels accessible to you, even if that answer is $0!
This one-day retreat combines mindfulness meditation and generative writing, using water as our central theme and inspiration. We'll explore how water exists both within us—in our blood, tears, and cells—and in our surroundings. Through guided meditation and writing practices, we'll investigate water as both a tangible element and a rich metaphor, examining its qualities of adaptability, force, impermanence, and cleansing. The ocean setting will offer the ideal backdrop as we deepen our awareness of how our bodies are always in flow with our environment.
Meditation grounds us in what is -- teaching us to observe without judgment -- while creative writing inspires us to imagine what could be, conjuring new possibilities into being. During our time together, we will draw from sense-based, embodied meditation practices as the doorway into generating stories. We will write into memories, study craft examples, and translate the language of water onto the page. Come ready to engage your senses, deepen into presence, and discover how the twin practices of meditation and writing can nourish you long after our day by the sea concludes.
No meditation or writing experience is necessary, if you’re curious about exploring either of these practices we would love to have you!
IMPORTANT EVENT INFORMATION
This event will be held rain or shine. If the event needs to be canceled due to dangerous weather or temperature, you will be informed the day before the event.
Light snacks will be provided, but please bring your own picnic lunch.
Please bring your own writing materials (notebook, pen, etc.)
ACCESSIBILITY NOTE
If you have specific questions about accessibility, please reach out to Davinica at davinica@kaneel.me.
Cost: Nobody will be turned away for a lack of funds. Please reach out to Davinica at davinica@kaneel.me to figure out a cost that feels accessible to you.
Parking: There are multiple paved parking lots in Fort Williams Park. It’s recommended that you park in the second one as you come into the park. There is a parking fee. If the fee would make this event prohibitive to you, please email Davinica at davinica@kaneel.me.
Location: This event is NOT wheelchair accessible. We will spend most of our time in a grassy area. There is a short gravel pathway leading there from the parking lots. The walk has a gradual incline from the lower parking lot.
If it rains, we will be moving to the gazebo in the park. To get to the gazebo from the grassy area, it’s a short .3-mile walk on a paved walkway. There are 9 steps leading up to the gazebo with railings. The gazebo has picnic tables and space on the floor to sit.
Activity: We will be sitting for most of the duration of the retreat (though if you need to get up and move you are more than welcome). This class is taught orally. If you need visual materials, please let us know by July 1, 2025, by emailing Davinica at davinica@kaneel.me.
Restrooms: There are portable toilets available in the park.
Meet your teachers
Cassiah Sahl
Cassiah Sahl (she/her) is a mindfulness meditation practitioner and a blossoming teacher who is passionate about community awakening and healing, especially through connection with nature. She is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher through Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s 2-year training program. She leads regular mindfulness offerings in Old Orchard Beach.
Arya Samuelson
Arya Samuelson is a writer, editor, educator, and somatic practitioner-in-training in Western Massachusetts. In everything she does, Arya is passionate about helping people transform the stories of their bodies into art in the spirit of both individual healing and collective liberation. Arya is the winner of New Ohio Review’s Nonfiction Prize, Lascaux Review’s Nonfiction Prize, and CutBank’s Montana Prize in Nonfiction awarded by Cheryl Strayed. Recently, her essay “I Am No Beekeeper” was selected as Notable in Best American Essays 2024. Other essays and stories have been published in Fourth Genre, Bellevue Literary Review, and Columbia Journal. As an educator, Arya has taught with a wide variety of organizational and academic settings, including Middlebury College, Pioneer Valley Writers Workshop, and the 92nd Street Y. She is currently writing a memoir. Read more at aryasamuelson.com