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 – 5:30 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!). Cedar House is available for $65/night.

• $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 ournewexperiences@gmail.com.

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. $503.00 for 1 night in Cedar House and meals; $568 for 2 nights in Cedar House and meals.

This continuing education workshop 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 come 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 as an avenue to experience nature’s powerful healing.

Through discussion and shared resources, you’ll learn how stress plays a key role in illness and disease, often leading to mental health conditions like panic disorder, depression, and anxiety, along with many other chronic physical illnesses. 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 in your practice of teaching them to clients as well.

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 skills, enhances immune system functioning, and improves sleep quality.

After exploring the concept and practice of mindfulness and learning simple stress reduction practices, 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 to be. This is it, right here, right now.” Together, we’ll enjoy a slow, gentle paddle while “field testing” newfound stress-management skills.  After kayaking, we’ll explore ways to integrate and expand ecotherapy interventions into clinical work with clients. 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, we’ll experience the Japanese-inspired practice of shinrin yoku, also referred to as forest bathing. This evidence-based practice is gaining momentum worldwide, supported by research to reduce chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and improve cardiovascular and immune system functioning, too. Through simple sensory invitations to experience the present moment, we’ll experience the awe and wonder of beauty in the forest and gardens at ONE.

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.

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 as well as 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.

Continuing Education 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.