Cancelled: 4-H Mindfulness Retreat Summer 2023

REGISTER Through 4Honline by September 15th

Teens and adults, ages 13 and up, are invited to join us at SELT Burley Farms, in Epping to participate in the second annual 4-H Mindfulness Retreat! The theme of this year's retreat is identifying "What Grounds You?" by exploring a variety of creative outlets and infusing mindfulness-based techniques into them. Through this approach, our goal is to model the ease and accessibility of authentically incorporating these practices into our daily lives as well as introduce participants to new and engaging activities.

How can we bring presence into activities without judging ourselves and learn to identify the calm and centeredness they can provide? Bring a friend or family member along to explore this together with our skilled educators who will guide us through a variety of activities and mindfulness exercises! Examples of our offerings include artistic exploration using a variety of mediums such as watercolors, coloring, and crafting as well as yoga, nature-based mindfulness, meditation, writing and reflecting techniques. Checkout our session offerings (below) including workshops from licensed educators, yoga instructors, artists, and presenters from  Taking Root and Quiet Mind Wild Heart.

Retreat Schedule:

Participants Will Need to Bring the Following Items:

• Clothing comfortable for movement
• Shoes for walking mixed terrain (wooded trails)
• Extra water bottle (one will be provided)
• Yoga mat (Only if you have one, DO NOT purchase one. We will have extras on-site!)

**Light snacks and lunch will be provided and are included in your registration fee! Please indicate any dietary restrictions within your registration.

Cost: $40/per registrant    (financial aid available upon request)
The event is open to non-4-H youth members as well as their parents/caregivers. Anyone looking to participate in the retreat will have to register through 4-H Online and pay the registration fee. Space is limited to 40 participants! 

Accommodations: If you need an accommodation to participate in our programming, please contact Kristin Eberl at kristin.eberl@unh.edu or by phone at (603) 432-5260, prior to the event. Given ample time, we will make any reasonable effort to meet your needs, including language access services if requested, which will be provided free of charge.

Session Descriptions:

Mixed Media Collage with Eleanor Croteau-LaBranche, Artist and Art Instructor, Lincoln Street School, Exeter, NH. Learn to use a variety of art making materials to create a piece of collage artwork to take home. You will work with artist and teacher Eleanor Croteau-LaBranche during this guided art making experience and there is no previous artistic background needed. Eleanor Croteau-LaBranche is an artist who resides in Manchester, NH and teaches Visual Art in Exeter, NH. She uses collage and cut paper techniques in her artwork which are inspired by the earth-soul connection. You can view her work at www.labrancheart.com.

Caldecott Garden - Using Picture Books to Ground & Inspire Us with Emily Stern, Library Media Specialist, Lincoln Street School, Exeter, NH. The Caldecott Garden - Using Picture Books to Ground & Inspire Us is a workshop that will highlight Caldecott Award-Winning Picture Books that can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. Using these books as inspiration, we will be creating meditation stones to help remind us of the power of words and pictures.

Writing for Mindfulness with Katie Lianza, English Educator, and owner of Quiet Mind Wild Heart. Writing for Mindfulness will address how we can be present and grounded through writing. Focusing on observations through our five senses, we will take the time and space to combat our inner critic and appreciate the goodness inside.

Mindful Creations with Kendra Lewis, UNH Extension Health & Well-Being Professor and State Specialist. This session will be an opportunity for participants to spend some time in a creative space while practicing mindfulness skills. We will begin with a discussion how having time to be creative is associated to our health and wellness, and the relationship between mindfulness and creativity. We will then brainstorm ways to practice being mindful while being creative. Participants will then be able to have time to create in their own preferred method (e.g., painting, drawing, making cards, coloring). I will also lead a "guided" session for those who may not feel ready to be creative on their own. Near the end as we are wrapping up, we will come back together to discuss how the activity went.

Guided Mindfulness Nature Walk with Kaitlin Muller-Cusack, Educator, Registered Yoga Instructor, and owner of Taking Root Education. Will guide participants on nature walks to explore around the Browne Center's trails and be led through a mindfulness activity to engage your mind and body to build resilience in the areas of self-confidence, body awareness, self-regulation, self-control, regulate nervous system & reduce stress and anxiety, in and outside of the classroom.

Vinyasa Yoga with Michelle Silvia, Educator, Newmarket Jr./Sr. High School, Registered Yoga and Reiki Instructor. Michelle will lead participants through a Vinyasa flow with a focus on breath and movement connection. Practicing yoga is a form of meditation in motion with calming benefits to your internal landscape. She asks participants to come to their mat with an open mind, a kind heart, and no expectations.

Micro-Hiking with Kristin Eberl, UNH Extension Health & Well-Being Field Specialist. With this sort of hike, there are no mountains to summit or miles to log, but instead an invitation to engage your child-like wonder by focusing on the space right in front of you. That blade of grass that’s yellow, the quiet, but busy working-community of ants, or the moss carpeting that rock in your front lawn; there’s much to be discovered if only we give ourselves space to do so. In this session, Kristin will lead participants on a micor-hike using their senses as well as their sense of curiosity to explore the micro-world existing right beneath their feet.