Nordic Herbs and Movement in Shamanistic Path

SHAMANISM * DANCE AND MOVEMENT * PLANT SPIRIT GUIDES * HEALING NORDIC HERBS *
Guided by
Johanna Hurme and Helena Karhu


Welcome to join this shamanic nature retreat, where we connect healing herbs with dancing spirit. We observe the movement of herbs and plants and allow ourselves to move with them. The discoveries of our own qualities and potentials of our human anatomy links with the anatomy and energetic qualities of herbs.
This retreat calls to a journey towards healing herbs. Our focus will be in the synchronicities with shamanic working methods and dancing as we come intimate with our inner and outer nature. We will make potions out of the spring herbs found in our retreat location in the ancient shamanic lands of North Karelia, Finland. We discover which herbs and plants affect our inner worlds and dance movements this springtime. You don’t need any previous experience of herbalism, shamanism, or dancing, as this retreat is an opportunity for everyone to connect with their bodies and nature just the way you are, we are, everyone is.
We will feel into the sensuous aspects of the herbs by discovering how the tastes, scents, and colors affect and give birth to new movements. We will also learn the beautiful shamanic ways of connecting with herbs and the nature beings around them.
After each retreat day, we will make herbal foot baths, and allow our dancing feet to soak into bliss… We will together collect suitable herbs for the dancers, and find calm into our bodies, minds, and emotional beings.


Is the retreat suitable for me?
No special knowledge or experience is required for the retreat. The course is
alcohol-free.

Retreat guides:

Helena Karhu:
I am a local North-Karelian shamanic teacher, culture producer, and researcher. My ancestors are all from this region, and the first journey in my life was a pilgrimage around the sacred lake Pielinen as a 7 months old baby. Today, the soul task of my life is within Karhun Talo (House of Bear), which aims to help us to remember our deep connection with nature, as the source of awareness, wellbeing, and connectedness. I wish to understand, remember, and develop folk cultures and wisdom traditions together with all of you. I am a chairwoman of a local culture association called Pielisen Tietäjäkeskus ry., which aims to promote, strengthen, and live the ancestral wisdom traditions of North Karelia. I have about 15 years of experience of meditation and mindfulness practices, and I have guided meditation for groups for about 10 years. My fulltime spiritual journey started in November 2015, and started soon as an entrepreneur with my own company of magic, arts, and wellbeing.
I have vast international experience, as my international career took me to live over 13 years in Copenhagen, Denmark. My world journeys have taken her across the Northern and Arctic regions in quest for meaning of life. I have lived for short periods in Greenland and in Fairbanks, Alaska. Before this, I have lived also in Spain and Lithuania. My passion is to bring forth the light-increasing, co-operative, and empowering aspects of the ancestral practice, where everyone can rest as they are, yet have freedom to become who they are. As a retreat guide, my ambition is to be of inspiring and positive guidance, where simplicity and naturalness of life are the key focus.


Johanna Hurme:

At a young age, I was drowned in the world of dance through music, which took me on journeys from warehouses and clubs to another in the late 1990s. I started taking dance lessons as an adult, more than fifteen years ago. I fell in love with the social culture and community spirit behind the danceculture, as well as the self-expression that comes through the dance. Over the years, I became more interested in the rhythm of the drums and focused on house dance, Tanzanian traditional dance, Japanese Butoh dance and also Finnish Folkdance.

However, there was always restlessness and incomprehension about the feelings that came from moving and finding my own roots. I longed for a deeper understanding and knowledge of my attachment to dance. Through the studies of dance and movement therapy and dance pedagogy, I got to know authentic movement and many different methods that deepened the form of free expression while dancing and I returned to the world I had learned while dancing in warehouses. I developed the My Body in the Circle -concept as a final project in dance and movement therapy. Through my phytotherapy studies, I have combined different senses and an exploration of nature with the help of plants, along with dance and movement. Utilizing these methods and teachings, I aim to give people the skills to express and present their own movement language and to find their own connection with nature.


The Retreat Center:

The retreat takes place in a charming Villa Ora’s, a community-minded guest house by Koli National Park in North Karelia Finland. This is a beautiful old wooden building with high ceilings and mindful interior decorations. However, please notice that there is no running water indoor, so there are compost toilets in separate building and personal washing is only in sauna. The drinking water is the purest on earth, spring water- quality. You can read more here: https://www.villaoras.fi/en
How to get there?
You can take train or fly to Joensuu, Finland. The flight from Helsinki is about 50 min and the train is about 4,5 hrs.
Flights: www.finnair.com
Trains: www.vr.fi
We will help to coordinate the car transfers between Joensuu and the retreat house. The car transfer is about 45 min.

Accommodation with full-board:


We will have full-board including dinner from Thursday evening until lunch on Sunday. We have breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.



How to sign-up?

You can sign up for the retreat by sending e-mail to: info@karhuntalo.com

The retreat fee is 275 EUR per person including the retreat program and 24% ALV. In addition to this, the accommodation in shared rooms with full-board is 265 EUR / person.

The course fee does not include travel costs to the retreat center and back, nor travel insurance. All the participants are required to read and understand the terms of reservation and cancellation prior of registering: https://www.karhuntalo.com/booking-and-cancellation-conditions

What do you need with you?
With playful spirit and open mind you need basket, scissors and gloves for picking the herbs. Also warm clothes, raincoat and rubber boots might be nice if Finnish lords of the weather give us some rain. Nice comfortable clothes for movement is recommendable. You can also bring your own drawing tools if you want and a journal.


Preliminary program of the course:

Thursday
16.00 - 17.00 Arrival and accommodation of the participants
17.00 Start of the course (Helena / Johanna)
18.30 Dinner
19:30 Gentle evening movement and meditation
Herbal treatment and sauna

Friday
08:00 Breakfast
09:00 Morning Circle and Meditation (Helena / Johanna)
10.00 Movement/Dance with Herbs: Me In Nature = Nature In Me (Johanna)
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Break
16.00-17.30 Shamanic Medicine Walk with Plant Spirit Guide (Helena)
17:30 Dinner
18.30 Talking stick circle (Helena & Johanna)
Herbal treatment and sauna


Saturday
08:00 Breakfast
09:00 Journey to a shamanic nature power place (Helena) with dancing and movement (Johanna)
12.00 Lunch and break
16.00 Making Bracelets / Buckets / Floral head decorations (Johanna and Helena)
17:30 Dinner
18.30 - Dancing & herbal gift to the friend (Johanna)
Herbal treatment and Sauna

Sunday
08:00 Breakfast
09:00 Movement with Herbs, Closing the Cycle (Johanna)
12:00 Lunch
13:00 - 15:00 Garden Party with Dancing
15:00 – Departure home

Helena Karhu:
I am a local North-Karelian shamanic teacher, culture producer, and researcher. My ancestors are all from this region, and the first journey in my life was a pilgrimage around the sacred lake Pielinen as a 7 months old baby. Today, the soul task of my life is within Karhun Talo (House of Bear), which aims to help us to remember our deep connection with nature, as the source of awareness, wellbeing, and connectedness. I wish to understand, remember, and develop folk cultures and wisdom traditions together with all of you. I am a chairwoman of a local culture association called Pielisen Tietäjäkeskus ry., which aims to promote, strengthen, and live the ancestral wisdom traditions of North Karelia. I have about 15 years of experience of meditation and mindfulness practices, and I have guided meditation for groups for about 10 years. My fulltime spiritual journey started in November 2015, and started soon as an entrepreneur with my own company of magic, arts, and wellbeing.
I have vast international experience, as my international career took me to live over 13 years in Copenhagen, Denmark. My world journeys have taken her across the Northern and Arctic regions in quest for meaning of life. I have lived for short periods in Greenland and in Fairbanks, Alaska. Before this, I have lived also in Spain and Lithuania. My passion is to bring forth the light-increasing, co-operative, and empowering aspects of the ancestral practice, where everyone can rest as they are, yet have freedom to become who they are. As a retreat guide, my ambition is to be of inspiring and positive guidance, where simplicity and naturalness of life are the key focus.


Johanna Hurme:

At a young age, I was drowned in the world of dance through music, which took me on journeys from warehouses and clubs to another in the late 1990s. I started taking dance lessons as an adult, more than fifteen years ago. I fell in love with the social culture and community spirit behind the danceculture, as well as the self-expression that comes through the dance. Over the years, I became more interested in the rhythm of the drums and focused on house dance, Tanzanian traditional dance, Japanese Butoh dance and also Finnish Folkdance.

However, there was always restlessness and incomprehension about the feelings that came from moving and finding my own roots. I longed for a deeper understanding and knowledge of my attachment to dance. Through the studies of dance and movement therapy and dance pedagogy, I got to know authentic movement and many different methods that deepened the form of free expression while dancing and I returned to the world I had learned while dancing in warehouses. I developed the My Body in the Circle -concept as a final project in dance and movement therapy. Through my phytotherapy studies, I have combined different senses and an exploration of nature with the help of plants, along with dance and movement. Utilizing these methods and teachings, I aim to give people the skills to express and present their own movement language and to find their own connection with nature.

No special knowledge or experience is required for the retreat. The course is
alcohol-free. The course place requires normal mobility due to stairs and compost toilets outdoors.