Mindfulness on Land and Water with Sea Kayaking 2-Day Retreat

Presented by: Dr. Brenda Butterfield, EdD, MSW, LMHC 

When: Friday, August 7th – Saturday, August 8th, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Pacific Time

Where: Live in person at the ONE Center (7400 Gallagher Cove Road NW, Olympia, WA 98502)

LODGING INFORMATION: We invite you to spend the night on either Thursday or Friday, or both.

• Camping for $40/night is available, as is the Sweet Sauna House for $90/night (the Sweet Sauna House sleeps two – would be great for two friends/colleagues to share!).

• $40 covers dinner and campfire w/smores on Friday night and breakfast on Saturday morning (Gluten-free, vegetarian, dairy-free provided).

• When you register, you can choose a lodging option or join us just for the day on Friday and Saturday.

• For any questions regarding lodging and/or food, please email the ONE Center at [email protected].

Continuing Education Credit Hours: 12 CEs | $398.00 for workshop alone; $478.00 for camping one night and meals; $518.00 for camping two nights and meals; $618.00 for overnight in the sweet sauna house for two nights and meals.

This retreat is for colleagues ready to experience new ways of learning and healing in the present moment by taking the practice of mindfulness into the forest and onto the water. You’re invited to ONE, a nature-based retreat center for health care professionals, on the beautiful South Salish Sea outside Olympia, WA. This unique professional development retreat is the confluence of mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and ecotherapy, offering an avenue to experience nature’s powerful healing. Day one of the retreat is about learning how chronic stress undermines health and well-being, often leading to mental health conditions like panic disorder, depression, and anxiety. You’ll learn how to identify “indicator lights” of chronic stress for yourself and clients and then experience simple, nature-based mindfulness practices designed to relax, center, and deeply ground oneself in the present moment through the portals of our senses. You’ll learn why and how to use these nature-based mindfulness interventions in your daily life and practice teaching them to clients as well.

Outside in nature, through discussion and shared resources, you’ll learn how stress plays a key role in illness and disease (physical and mental) and how to identify stress reactions in your body, mind, and soul. In the forest, gardens, and meadows at ONE, we’ll teach you simple, research-based ways to decrease symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety and prevent panic attacks.  You’ll learn how to pull the ripcord on your parasympathetic nervous system parachute, to bring yourself back to center whenever and wherever stress shows up. Participants will learn diaphragmatic breathing to calm the body and improve neurological processing. This facilitates emotional regulation, enhances immune function, and improves sleep quality. We’ll help you develop the language of mindfulness and ecotherapy and explore ways of integrating these practices into your work with clients. In the evening, we’ll share dinner and enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the land and water in the good company of colleagues – all to be topped off with an evening campfire and s’mores.

After a nourishing breakfast on Day Two of the retreat, we’ll head to beautiful Gallagher Cove for sea kayaking 101 skills training. Leaders will teach you mindful kayaking and invite you to practice non-striving on the water. “There is no place to go, and no place be. This is it, right here, right now.” Together, we’ll enjoy a slow, gentle paddle while “field testing” newfound stress-management skills. By paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, participants will learn how to navigate the stress of unpleasant emotions, body sensations, and distorted thinking by choosing new ways of being through the practice of mindfulness. You will be guided in the spirit of fun to cultivate mindfulness by noticing the awe and wonder of beauty in the surrounding nature and in the community of your colleagues. Ultimately, noticing the pleasant is a practice that serves us very well. Following lunch (bring your own), we’ll have time to process the lived experiences of mindfulness on water and explore ways to integrate and expand the practice of mindfulness and eco therapy into clinical work with clients. The day will end with a closing ceremony with tea made from gifts from the land at ONE.

Whether you’re new to mindfulness and eco therapy or have years of experience, you’re welcome at ONE. Whether you’re an avid paddler or have no experience but feel called from the South Salish Sea, come join us. Beautiful Gallagher Cove is a protected, shallow place to learn kayaking. We’ll provide thorough instruction focused on safety, along with all the equipment needed (sea kayak, personal flotation device, paddle). We invite you to camp on the land before and/or after the workshop to really drop in and enjoy mindfulness on land and water.

 Workshop Objectives:

In this workshop, you will

• Learn what mindfulness is and how to practice it for yourself so you can teach your clients.
• Understand the research-based benefits of integrating Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI) in clinical practice.
• Understand the research-based benefits of integrating nature therapy in clinical practice.
• Explore the language, concepts, and phenomena of mindfulness and nature therapy.
• Learn about the Autonomic Nervous System and the important functions of both the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic responses.
• Learn ways to experience and teach diaphragmatic breathing.
• Learn how to connect the dots between CBT thinking errors and the Autonomic Nervous System.
• Understand the mind/body relationship between chronic stress & mental health conditions, including stress/depression/anxiety/panic attacks
• Learn common symptoms of stress reactions (behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and physical)
• Learn simple nature-based mindfulness practices to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
• Learn emotional regulation skills.
• Learn ways to integrate mindfulness in nature into clinical practice.