Program Overview & Site Location
Practice and connect in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains at River Ridge Ranch. This ranch is amidst the Tule River and a vital ecosystem of a 722 acre nature preserve of oak woodlands. Rochelle Calvert will lead nature-centered mindfulness practices alongside Gary, the Site Owner and a Wildlife Biologist, who will lead a guided walk.
Practitioners from any and all backgrounds are welcome. Complete mindfulness instructions will be given, appropriate for your level. This offering is intended to be enjoyable, not rigorous. Participants must be able to sit and walk outdoors. Upon registering, Off-Grid Retreats will email you a recommended packing list.
Check in is on Saturday, May 3rd at 10:00 pm PST at River Ridge Ranch in Springville, CA. Please pack your own bag lunch and prepare to relax, participate in guided nature meditations, experience reflective journaling and more. Beverages will be provided by RRR.
This offering is particularly unique because you are able to determine how much time you’d like to spend onsite at RRR through their HipCamp! For instance, stay the night on Saturday after the daylong and/or come camp a day or two early. Also, RRR is attempting to secure a local musician to perform (for free) onsite at 7pm on Mary 3rd!
The Participant’s Experience
Guided nature meditations and other nature-based practices
Sitting, walking, and playtime in a wild setting with miles of hiking trails
Land orientation talk and walk led by Ranch Owner and Wildlife Biologist Gary
Some use of silence - We will weave periods of silence during strategic times, to allow you to go deeper within.
Time to relax / reflect and unplug from cell service and wifi
Ability to camp overnight
Cost & Policies
We’re asking for a $30 fee to cover the site costs. But we also offer a scholarship option if you are unable to pay this amount.
Rochelle and Off-Grid Retreats are offering their teachings and services under a donation model so there will be an opportunity to donate towards each of them at the end of the daylong.
To learn about our Cancellation and COVID policies, please click the button below.
Participant Testimonials from the September 2023 Healing with Nature MULTI-DAY Retreat
Off-Grid Retreats truly blows my mind. What an INCREDIBLE mission and vision to be bringing to the world. During the Healing with Nature Retreat I attended not a single participant wanted for anything - every detail we could dream of had already been considered, taken care of, and wrapped up with a pretty little bow. Without Off-Grid retreats, 11 humans would not have had the chance to experience the life-changing teachings of Rochelle Calvert or experience the incredible wisdom of the River Ridge Ranch. Serving as the kind bridge between nature and human connection, I would attend any event or retreat that contains the Off-Grid Retreats stamp on it.
This retreat was awesome (i.e., causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence and admiration) :D
I found the practice of pendulation, especially when practiced in the natural setting, to be the most transformative for me. It gave me hope that I can change my relationship to the inner barriers and patterns within me.
I enjoyed so many things about the retreat. One aspect that was wonderful were the nightly campfire gatherings and hearing from retreat participants after being in silence all day. The silence was very important and it was great to connect with others over a fire in the evenings.
By the time I left the retreat, I could feel my relationship with myself and the natural world shifting. I felt intense moments of clarity as we explored the link between mindfulness, somatic healing, and the natural world. Before the retreat these concepts felt inaccessible to me - I understood each of the words practically and I practiced each one individually to some degree - but by the time I left I *felt* the meaning of each one in my bones. I hope to return to this retreat every year to remind myself of what is important in life. If you feel caught in the chaos of anxiety, stress, and confusion, this is absolutely the retreat for you. From beginning to end, the Healing with Nature retreat was a life-shifting experience.
I have a strong desire to connect with nature in a way that manifests inner healing and mind body connection, especially in regards to healing the trauma my body has gone through in relation to having an autoimmune disease and being on immunosuppresants for more than 10 years.
Dr. Rochelle Calvert - Mindfulness Teacher
Rochelle Calvert, PhD, CMT, SEP, licensed clinical psychologist, certified mindfulness teacher, somatic experiencing practitioner has a devoted love to share the power and healing potential of mindfulness, somatic awareness and nature. She has studied and taught mindfulness for the past 20 years and knows personally the transformational potential. To share the love of these healing practices she has published a book Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma.
Dr. Calvert leads courses and retreats in mindfulness, somatic experiencing and Awake in the Wild, nature-based mindfulness. She also facilitates professional trainings in mindfulness for clinicians. She is the director of the Ecotherapy Program at SouthWestern College and New Earth Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a certified mindfulness teacher with the Mindfulness Teaching Institute, the International Mindfulness Teachers Association and Awake In The Wild organization.
Rochelle is the founder and clinical director of New Mindful Life, which offers mindfulness, nature-based, and somatic experiencing therapies. She teaches individual meditations with nature that assist in healing from trauma. She supports her clients and takes them into nature with the aid of Bertha Grace, a Sprinter van that serves as a mobile therapy office.
Rochelle now lives in Taos, New Mexico and has a private practice in both Taos New Mexico and San Diego, California. She enjoys spending her free time in nature, hiking, practicing yoga, exploring Indigenous heritage, and resting with trees. She practices mindfulness-based meditation rooted in the Buddhist Theravada Tradition and practices meditation outside in nature daily.