Sunday, June 21, 2026 (10am-2pm)

Maria Pinto is an author, naturalist, and mycophile living outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She writes fiction and nonfiction, and this autumn published her book ‘Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival.’ Maria leads regular mushroom forays at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum.

For Looking Closely Maria will lead us through the Blue Hills in our discovery of the the ways mushrooms and other fungi both protect themselves and engage with other root systems carpeting the woodland floor. Along the path she will have scouted in advance, we will awaken our senses to the sights, sounds, smells and felt experience of the woodland through a variety of mindfulness practices. The exact location of our walk will not be decided until Maria scouts the area but it will be within the Blue Hills. This is not a mushroom forage but rather a foray into the intricate world of the woodland's undergrowth. With each step there will be an opportunity for awe & wonderment.

Saturday, June 27, 2026 (10am-2pm)

For Open, Listen, Attune, musician, YingJun Wei, playing  cello and a range of ancestral musical instruments, will facilitate our attunement to both our inner rhythms and the rhythms of the life of the natural world around us. Her approach is that of her mentor, ReneJenkins and is summarized as”

“Everything is sound and vibration. Our hearts beat and pulse in cyclic rhythm …Even the larger components of our world have a rhythm. If you have ever seen time lapse photography of the rain forest from space you would see the constant ebb and flow of weather systems pulsing like a great heartbeat pumping blood throughout the earth. And what is pulse or frequency but vibration. We are living, pulsating bodies of energy merging with numerous frequencies and fields of energy. And we flow through and around each other in harmony and dissonance, and are simultaneously, intimately connected to the Universe, the macro vibrational frequency.”

YingJun’s music will be interspersed with mindfulness practices. These practices will include sitting, resting on the ground, standing and walking.

Our location is Hale, Inc (formerly called Hale Reservation) in Westwood, MA. We have sole access to both an open- air pavilion and a cabinwith a large porch perched on a hill overlooking a small kettle pond. If the weather is inclement we, and the instruments, will have protection from the elements yet remain in tune with them. From this pastoral site trails lead into deep woods. Be prepared to be transported to a state of peace and serenity while simultaneously energized.

*YingJun Wei trained as a classical cello soloist with some of the world’s leading cellists at the prestigious Purcell School and the Royal Academy of Music in England and performed at premier venues internationally for many years. She has devoted the last fifteen years as a music educator, guiding young musicians in connecting deeply to music as a lifelong relationship. Over the last several years she has studied intensely with Sound Healing teacher Rene Jenkins—himself a senior student of master Sound Healer Tito La Rosa.

Saturday, August 1,2026 (10-2pm)

What if instead of going to see art, we became it and our human nature once again aligned with nature itself?

“In virtually all indigenous cultures art is regarded not as objects in isolation, but as instruments for ritual - used to align, balance and relate the mundane with the mystical - the known with the unknown, and the “us” with the “other” in order to bring about meaning, order and harmony to all. “ Daniel Callahan

In this retreat, Revelations: Our Inner Landscapes, multi-media artist, Daniel Callahan, will lead participants in the painterly technique of MassQing- a ritual painting of the face used to reveal rather than conceal one’s inner essence. In using the face as a canvas, MassQing is a ritual that requires all participants (artist, subject and viewer) to engage each other face to face; transforming people into art and art into people.Our setting will be the Massachusetts Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, MA. We will meet on the property at an open-air pavilion which will be our base for the day. Through a variety of nature-based mindfulness practices we will explore the property (meadows, forests, wetlands), opening our senses to the wonder of the nature around us, allowing us then to awaken to our own unique natures. Culling both the known and unknown. We will then create our own symbolic designs using our faces as canvases to create and become our own MassQs. Be prepared to feel joy and connection with one another and with nature.!Daniel will provide all materials but please wear clothing that is both appropriate for the weather and that you don’t mind getting paint upon. There is a bathroom nearby to wash your face and hands prior to MAssQing as well as after.Daniel often photographs MassQing events and you will have the opportunity to sign a waiver to be included in his portfolio of MassQs.

*Daniel Callahan is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and designer. Merging a legion of disciplines including painting, digital photography, film, music, writing and performance, Daniel works to craft immersive experiences incorporating story, ritual, and the human form to explore aspects of resilience and mysticism.Best known for his painterly technique of MassQing - a ritual painting of the face used to reveal rather than conceal one’s inner essence - Daniel and his work have been featured at the Museum of Fine Arts, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Queens Museum, as well as in publications such as Believer Magazine, The Bay State Banner, and Words Beats & Life: The Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture..