Yoga And Wellness On The Ranch - A Lovely Time Had By All!

Yoga session at the end of the day with Patti Cocciolo of the Goodness blog

Wow! What a day we had on Sunday at the first ever Marin Agricultural Land Trust/Healing Farm joint retreat at Stemple Creek Ranch! I was so thrilled that the event sold out and we had forty people join us for a day of relaxing and learning about how our bodies connect to this incredible agricultural land.

Thank you to our participants for taking the time to spend a day at the ranch learning practical solutions for your every day health! Also to Loren and Lisa Pocia for hosting us on your gorgeous land. Overall, Loren's talk about the history of the ranch and carbon farming was a highlight for everyone. Thank you also to Stacy Lauer for the wonderful organic food, MALT for partnering with THF to put this incredible retreat on, Jennifer Cooper for your nutrition talk and movement class and Patti Cocciolo of The Goodness blog for ending our day with such a relaxing all-level yoga session and to our surprise guest, Jay Holecek  (dubbed "the chocolate cowboy") for our afternoon dark chocolate tasting.

I could go on and on in words, but since I'm also a photographer want to show you more in pictures:

Early morning at Stemple Creek

Check in and welcome.....

Loren teaching us about the soil

More with Loren....

Therapeutic movement with Jennifer Cooper....

Picnic on the hill!

After lunch loveliness....

Jennifer's nutrition talk....

During the afternoon break, therapeutic chef Jay Holcek dubbed "the chocolate cowboy" by me and my hubby joined us for a little dark chocolate tasting. Guests also enjoyed time to loll in the sunshine. I especially loved the ladies knitting and lying down on a hay bale while chatting. A perfect image from the day:

and to end the day, yoga in the barn (too warm on the deck!) with Patti Cocciolo...

October 25th Retreat Newsletter Announcement is Out Today!

I was excited to send out the latest THF newsletter officially announcing the partnership retreat between The Healing Farm | Retreats and Marin Agricultural Land Trust! You can click here to view the newsletter and if you're not on our mailing list, please subscribe here:

To learn more about this very special partnership retreat at Stemple Creek Ranch, please check out the retreat details page on The Healing Farm website.

The Healing Farm Retreats: Paleo Reset at Mayacamas Ranch, April 17-24, 2016

Mayacamas Ranch will be the gorgeous setting of the first large-scale retreat offered by The Healing Farm {Retreats}. I am more than thrilled that functional medicine practitioner Chris Kresser will be our keynote speaker and we will feature the first seven days of a paleo “reset” as featured in Chris’ New York Times best selling book: “The Paleo Cure”.

Nestled in the Mayacamas mountains just outside of Calistoga, Mayacamas Ranch will be the perfect setting for this affordable holistic wellness retreat. On the property our participants will enjoy organic and grass-fed meals and snacks, holistic health and nutrition lectures, an organic garden tour, cooking demonstrations, daily hikes and yoga, plenty of electronics-free relaxation and pool time and optional add-ons like a field trip to a local grass-fed cattle ranch, massage and acupuncture treatments.

Although I would hope that participants will want to immerse themselves in the calm and relaxation of our retreat and stay put most of the week, the area surrounding Mayacamas Ranch is world class Napa Valley! With the sweet town of St. Helena, warm spring pools and mud baths in nearby Calistogaand loads of additional options for hiking there will be plenty of extra curricular activities to explore.

A few shots from Mayacamas Ranch in the wintertime:

The Healing Farm Retreats Website Coming Soon

I’m so excited to finally be working on The Healing Farm’s official website! Stay tuned and in about a month I will officially start booking the first Healing Farm large-scale retreat featuring the holistic healing practices of functional medicine practitioner Chris Kresser, New York Times best selling author of “The Paleo Cure”.

The Healing Farm Stinson Beach Mini-Retreat a Success!

Excited to share some photos from The Healing Farm Stinson Beach mini-retreat! We had a gorgeous day and I’d say the highlight for me was doing yoga in the fresh ocean air and listening to the waves crash on the beach while in our final meditation as the sun set and the almost full moon rose. What a way to end the day!

Creating and holding this retreat and bringing together practitioners and attendees to learn simple yet effective holistic healing practices makes me long for the day when I can open my dream retreat center. One of tasteful, yet affordable style and holistic wellness practices reaching out to people of all income levels! One step at a time!

Sara starting the morning with a water view!

Cooking demo gone awry when the oven didn’t work! Roasting the chicken on the grill for the stock worked just fine!

Beautiful, gorgeous chock full of nutrients stock simmering on the cooktop! Stock recipe from the files of functional medicine practitioner, Chris Kresser

Everyone went home with a jar.

The borscht (made with the stock) ready to be blended (recipe also from the files of Chris Kresser).

Lunch was a gorgeous bowl of beet soup and a chicken salad. Both great options for cooking with the stock and leftover roasted chicken.

A participant soaking up her vitamin D (sunshine!)

Sara Rankin of Alma Acupuncture lecturing on acupuncture 101!

Participants discussing Sara’s lecture while waiting for their turn for acupuncture.

Sara brought tuning forks! Who knew vibration also gets the Qi moving!

Patti of The Goodness blog beginning our yoga session on the deck.

We were so fortunate to have such a gorgeous setting.

I was impressed Patti could balance on a floating dock! Not hard lying down, but for the rest of the time? Wow!

Patti displays her southern heritage.

and the moon rises over the Mt. Tam foothills to end our day.

Thank you to my participants for attending The Healing Farm Stinson Beach Mini-Retreat! Stay tuned for an announcement regarding the first large scale Healing Farm retreat and the introduction of my new website and brand!

Stinson Beach Mini-Retreat This Weekend!

So excited to head out to Stinson Beach today for The Healing Farm holistic mini-retreat happening tomorrow! This retreat will feature:

• Realistic and sustainable solutions to bring holistic healing into your everyday life
• Yoga session with Patti Cocciolo of “The Goodness” blog
• Cooking lesson (making stock!) and wellness lecture by Julie Mikos
• Acupuncture lecture by Sara Rankin of Alma Acupuncture
• Peaceful walk on the beach!

I had to keep the attendees limited since it’s a small location and one of my “test” runs, but will post photos of the retreat and start posting soon about the development of The Healing Farm brand and most importantly about the upcoming first in a series of larger retreats which will accommodate more attendees! Stay tuned!

Holistic Healing Mini Retreat, Stinson Beach - Take Two!

Early December is not a good time to hold a retreat! The Holidays are wonderful, but everyone has a million things to do, so please join me in our make-up retreat to kick-off the new year and your new path to health. Learn practical ways to improve your health in a beautiful and non-intimidating setting. Space is very limited for this intimate retreat so contact me at julie@thehealingfarm.org for more details and see the invitation below to get an overview of the day’s events.

The Healing Farm Concept

The Healing Farm – Retreats will be a series of tasteful and affordable holistic wellness retreats held at various retreat centers around the country. Eventually I aspire to open The Healing Farm as a permanent retreat center with possible franchise opportunities long-term. To gain recognition of The Healing Farm name, experience in the field and interest in my talents I will offer one-off retreats in existing retreat centers of varying affordability. Each retreat will have a goal of cultivating attainable and enduring simple solutions for our participant’s long-term health and wellness goals.

Follow along my blog and read about my first Healing Farm aspirations in the beginnings category. Let’s learn together holistic health practices that will help us heal in our everyday lives and keep track of the latest retreat offerings!

Sara of Alma Acupuncture and Patti of The Goodness blog

So excited to feature two lovely friends at my first ever in a series of The Healing Farm – Retreats! This will be a mini-retreat introducing my upcoming new brand launch of The Healing Farm. The Healing Farm – Retreats will be a series of tasteful and affordable holistic healing retreats bringing together educators and practitioners that will help plant the seeds to cultivate realistic and long-term holistic practices for your long-term health goals. Visit their websites for more information on these lovely practitioners and join me in experiencing their practices firsthand! See my invitation to this very special retreat.

“The Goodness” blog

A shot I took of Patti at the incredible Rancho La Puerta:

and Sara of Alma Acupuncture:

Announcing the First Healing Farm Retreat Featuring Talks and Application of Holistic Healing for Everyday Life!