​WHY THIS RETREAT?

The Kavanna of this retreat is to prepare ourselves for the New Year.

* Deep inner reflection

* Feel the joy in being ALIVE

* "Channel the River"guided immersive tchuva work

* Practical Elul Chassidus

* Connect and open our hearts in supportive sister circle

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Our focus will be on slowing down and becoming calm, optimistic and present, learning skills of self-compassion, positive affirmations and other helpful techniques to guide us in strengthening our bitachon.  This is the foundation of letting go of the past and feeling safe to open to the unknown and new, and tap into our desires to magnetize our best new year.

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SCHEDULE

 

Wednesday

Arrive as early as you can in the morning to settle in

Workshops:

* Channel the River I with Aviva Spiegel (individual and small group coaching: How to use the river's ebb and flow to connect with our own flow and resistance. see description below) 

* Free time to play, share, socialize, relax, explore

* Private time for introspection, guided journaling for Elul, and writing positive affirmations which we will share creatively in circle (bring a journal and pen)

* Dinner and Divrei Torah about Elul (everyone has an opportunity to share something. prepare ;)

* Night time singing and sharing, hanging out with good music and friends

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Thursday:

* Rise and Shine Morning Meditation/prayer 

* Movement and Yoga- release control and find your Divine inner power

* Channel the River II with Aviva Spiegel

* Free time to play, share, socialize, relax, explore

* Lunch and sharing Elul Learning and Insights about the Shofar

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CHANNEL THE RIVER

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For over ten years, I’ve been developing and refining a unique way of exploring the Jordan River—using the River itself as our teacher, playground, and guide.

In previous years, the Jubilee took place along sections of the Jordan with shallow rapids, winding rivulets, rocks, and low-hanging branches. These wild and playful waterways lent themselves beautifully to what I affectionately call River Spelunking, or Channeling the River as an Extreme Sport!

The last 2 years we camped on the Yardenit which offers a different kind of river experience: gentler, deeper, more meditative. Letting go, softening, and surrendering to a flow we cannot control is its own kind of extreme sport—an inner one.

Wherever we ultimately camp, I’ll guide you through a series of embodied exercises and river explorations that I’ve formulated and adapted multiple times over the past decade, leading dozens of groups in learning to relate to, navigate, and play with the River.

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We'll be:  floating • swimming against the current • surrendering to the current (even when it's rocky) • underwater exploring • lazy-river rafting • rock resting • shoreline reflexology • hanging-from-a-branch stretching •  doing partner work • challenging ourselves and much more

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The River is a natural jungle gym—a place to explore our physical abilities and limitations, notice where we resist, discover how we cope with challenge, and practice the profound art of relaxing into a flow we do not control.

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In Jewish thought, Binah is likened to a river—the expansive movement that takes the spark of Chochmah and develops it, allowing it to flow into deeper and broader understanding. And that is what we are practicing in the River: learning to sense, enter, and move with a flow that is greater than our own—to discern when to exert ourselves, when to soften, when to hold on, and when to let go. The River becomes a living teacher of how to move with Divine flow.

(And what better river to explore this with than the HOLY Jordan?!!!)

This is embodied teshuvah—not just thinking about, but literally DOING it.

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BRING GOGGLES AND WATER SHOES!

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