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Greetings!
We are going into the annual retreat in just a few days and I'm very excited! As the guide, I receive so much from this sweet time in natural areas diving deep into inner and outer landscapes with the retreatants. I hope you'll consider joining us for the next retreat. Or, you can schedule a one-on-one, personalized retreat any time during the year by simply reaching out to me.
I want to remind you that our monthly Compassionate Spiritual Ecology Gatherings now have a new start time. We convene on Zoom at 8:00 AM Pacific (every first Monday of the month). See you there in a few days...
Join us this month for:
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May 2nd (Sat.) BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network) Spring Bazaar 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM Pacific Please stop by BARN and visit my table at the Spring Bazaar tomorrow. I have new work for sale!
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May 4th (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (register to get access) 8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific (Note the new start time!)
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Words Exhibit Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network ...The Words exhibit is on display at BARN through mid-July 2026.
May you experience the tender beauty of this Earth.
Blessings,
Jennifer Wilhoit
Founder, TEALarbor stories
Important Dates
Learn more about all of these here.
Registration for most paid events closes one week prior to start date.
TEALarbor stories' new Spiritual Ecology Training is available with rolling admissions and one-on-one mentorship. Join us now!
Words Exhibit at Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network ...The Words exhibit is a collaboration between the Writer's Studio and the Print and Book Arts Studio. Please see the visual arts piece I created in response to another author's piece of writing. Exhibit on display at BARN through mid-July 2026.
May 2nd (Sat.) BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network) Spring Bazaar
10:00 AM – 3:00 PM Pacific
Please stop by BARN and visit my table at the Spring Bazaar. I will have NEW art cards for sale; these designs come from this year's 50-Day Project during which I crafted one hundred small fabric/paper/thread pieces based on a meditation prior to making each one. I will also have my books and landscape paper collage cards available for sale.
May 4th (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (register to get access) 8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific / 10:00 - 11:30 AM Central
Hosted by Jennifer Wilhoit (TEALarbor stories Spiritual Ecology Training Founder/Mentor) and Brooke Gilley (Naturalist, Spiritual Ecology Training Graduate, Forest Bathing Guide)
Come gather with us for ninety nourishing minutes every first Monday of the month for an exploration of Compassionate Spiritual Ecology. Together we will engage the many ways of embodying Spiritual Ecology values, practices, and rituals to enhance our everyday connections with the sacred in the Earthy wild within and outside of us. Please bring a journal, pens, and a sacred-to-you item to each gathering.
May 6th - May 20th Spiritual Ecology Retreats (Specific dates per your schedule) $300. per person per day. Bainbridge Island, WA
Schedule a personalized retreat for yourself or your small group. Choose from one-day, two-day, or five-day timeframes. Scheduling is on a first-come, first-served basis within the May 6th-20th, 2026 window of time. Deepen relations with our more-than-human Earth neighbors, nurture a greater sense of wellbeing and wholeness, nourish yourself through creative and nature-based activities. Give yourself the gift of time on verdant Bainbridge Island exploring forests, conservation areas, saltwater beaches and flowing into greater ease and clarity about your next steps on life’s journey. This retreat is especially for anyone navigating life change, embarking on a significant project (or at a stuck point along the way), or who simply desires a nourishing retreat space. We will use the values, principles, and practices of Compassionate Spiritual Ecology as the foundation for our time together. Price includes guided activities and individual (project) support. Accommodations and meals not included. Registration is closed.
Jun. 1st (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (register to get access)
8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific / 10:00 - 11:30 AM Central Hosted by Jennifer Wilhoit (TEALarbor stories Spiritual Ecology Training Founder/Mentor) and Brooke Gilley (Naturalist, Spiritual Ecology Training Graduate, Forest Bathing Guide)
Come gather with us for ninety nourishing minutes every first Monday of the month for an exploration of Compassionate Spiritual Ecology. Together we will engage the many ways of embodying Spiritual Ecology values, practices, and rituals to enhance our everyday connections with the sacred in the Earthy wild within and outside of us. Please bring a journal, pens, and a sacred-to-you item to each gathering.
Jun. 8th (Mon.) Web of Life Event Understanding Our Place in the Web of Life: Nourishing Hope Among Us St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Bainbridge Island Free Hosted by the Bainbridge Island North Kitsap Interfaith Climate Circle
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM Pacific
Together, we'll explore our niche in the web of life and restoring our climate-challenged world. We are interconnected organic beings, yet we often forget to cultivate a sustainable way of living in balance with the web of life. Join us for the conversation.
Jul. 6th (Mon.) Compassionate Spiritual Ecology: A Virtual Gathering via Zoom Free (register to get access)
8:00 – 9:30 AM Pacific / 10:00 - 11:30 AM Central Hosted by Jennifer Wilhoit (TEALarbor stories Spiritual Ecology Training Founder/Mentor) and Brooke Gilley (Naturalist, Spiritual Ecology Training Graduate, Forest Bathing Guide)
Come gather with us for ninety nourishing minutes every first Monday of the month for an exploration of Compassionate Spiritual Ecology. Together we will engage the many ways of embodying Spiritual Ecology values, practices, and rituals to enhance our everyday connections with the sacred in the Earthy wild within and outside of us. Please bring a journal, pens, and a sacred-to-you item to each gathering.
News
Read more about all of these here (or click the teal fonts below).
Our Apr. 25th Wild Church service at Suquamish United Church of Christ was a beautiful experience. We had a full circle of participants from ages six to seventy-plus. This was our second time offering this nonsectarian opportunity to have quiet time on the landscape while being held in a sacred grove of red cedars, share about that experience, engage in readings or poetry, as well as thank the land and more-than-humans at the end of our time together.
The Words exhibit artists' reception at Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network on April 23rd was delightful! This reception was for the artists and writers in the Words exhibit - a collaboration between the Writer's Studio and the Print and Book Arts Studio. I had a friend from long ago surprise me with her attendance in support of my work, as well as an interfaith friend who stopped by to hear a full description of and view my handmade artist's book with a collage and asemic writing. Please go visit the visual arts piece I created in response to another author's piece of writing; the exhibit will be on display at BARN through mid-July 2026.
Our April Compassionate Spiritual Ecology Virtual Gathering was rich and connective, as always. We explored how to receive from and offer to More-Than-Humans using our intuition, sense of awe, abidance, and more; direct outdoor engagement, sketching, journaling, meditation, and discussion were some of the ways we journeyed together. Please join us next month; register for free here.
On Feb. 7th, a member of Suquamish United Church of Christ and I offered our very first Wild Church. Though we're in a normal seasonal cycle of heavy rainpour, we had a great turnout! We sat and roamed beneath huge old Redcedars on the church property, finding the sacred in the more-than-human world and within ourselves. I very much look forward to our next one on April 25th.
The evening of Feb. 6th our Interfaith Climate Circle offered another Web of Life event entitled Reverence for Air. Through prayer, meditation, ritual, a short video, song and chant, personal story and poetry, climate research, and discussion, we explored how crucial AIR is - as well as the threats to and remedies for its health - in restoring our climate-challenged world.
On Feb. 4th we convened Harvesting the Natural Beauty of Interfaith Engagement via Zoom to celebrate (and in collaboration with) World Interfaith Harmony Week – A United Nations Official Observance. A small group of us gathered to explore the rich terrain of interfaith unity and collaboration through guided creative and nature-based practices consistent with each person's own spiritual or faith path. This was not a sectarian offering; it was intended to support people of all faiths (or none) in finding and deepening their relationships with others through peaceable, interdisciplinary practices that they created consistent with their specific beliefs. Our time together included poetry, silence, deep sharing, time outdoors, creative expression, prayers for the needy world, gratitude statements, and a discussion about the many ways we can engage with the interfaith movement and be of service to others.
After a holiday break, we resumed our Compassionate Spiritual Ecology Gathering via Zoom on Feb. 2nd. Our conversation focused on communication with More-Than-Humans and how we express our love to our nonhuman kin. We enjoyed hearing each other's stories after spending time out on the land in our respective locales (Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Midwest).
The Spiritual Ecology Training has rolling admissions and one-on-one mentorship. You can enroll anytime. Join us now!
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TEALarbor stories' newsletters offer inspiration, encouragement, beauty; inform about the connection between story, the natural world, and all things writerly; and promote professional writing, guiding, and peacemaking services.
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