Forest of Reclamation

Journeying Towards Body Trust®

The forest is wild, with diversity and possibility

It calls you into your senses, your sensuality, your wildness

To deep rooted, inter-webs of connection

To responsibility and care for your being

To inhabit yourself and your aliveness

We journey together into the depths

Sometimes on our own, sometimes together

Discovering our inner knowing and our power

Learning to be rooted and relational.

Details

Why did we create this space?

Most of us live more from our minds than our bodies. So much so, that we might feel out of touch with our bodies, seeing them as an inconvenience or a problem, or simply forgotten. Our bodies might become a project to fix, to change, to control, in the hope that this will be a big answer to our life’s challenges. Our relationship with food, movement, and rest are all impacted as a result, as is our relationship with other bodies, how we see them, who we pay attention to and what we assume about them.

The Forest of Reclamation is for those who long to relate differently with their bodies; who want to explore the alternative to the dominant paradigms of weight-loss, diet culture, body normativity, and perfectionism. This is a brave space to look at how we landed here, in our current relationship with our bodies, and starting to see more clearly how the culture and systems have played a part in that and continue to. This is a space to explore in the wilderness of our bodies, to start feeling and sensing in our bodies again, to learn to listen and to trust the messages and knowing that lives in our bodies.

We do this so that we can live from within, from what we want, what we enjoy, what we feel, rather than living from the outside, for the gaze and expectations and ideas of others. We do this so that we inhabit ourselves fully and feel alive, discovering a way of living that feels good and sustainable.

What can you expect here?

We intend to offer various types of journeys over time, including short and long form workshops, book journeys, and retreats. You can expect the group size of such offerings to be small to allow for immersion and connection.

In book journeys, we read the same book at a designated pace (for example, one chapter per week), and meet weekly online for a facilitated exploration of how the book is moving us and what is showing up for us in our lives.

This space is anchored in the approach of Body Trust®, created by dietitian Dana Sturtevant and therapist Hilary Kinavey, founders of the Center for Body Trust. It invites you to learn from a rich lineage of academics, physicians, therapists and other health practitioners, to inquire into your own lived experiences and listen to those of others, to discover your unique way of inhabiting your body, and to embody this path imperfectly.

How can you join?