UPDATE: Relaxation, Rejuvenation, and Reflection

An update from Marketing Intern Nicole Stumpf about the McKnight Retreat at Tofte Lake Center (read about the retreat in this previous blog):

We are enjoying our time together on the beautiful Tofte Lake, and the weather has been beautiful.

Aside from active involvement in creative sessions, we have left plenty of time to be in nature, play, find quiet moments, and to renew. In planning this retreat, we created open conditions so that something may arise or transpire in the dancers and choreographers that neither the fellows nor we could have planned. Here at Tofte Lake Center, there is no cell phone reception, forcing separation from devices and complete presence. With no cell phones in hand, great group discussions result. Discussion has bounced from serious dialogue about dance making and topics around mastery to playful stories and laughter, all while dangling our feet in the purifying waters of Northern Minnesota.

Following dinner on the evening of the fellows’ arrival at Tofte Lake, we each wrote intentions for this retreat. Neuroscientists have studied intentions and their effect on the brain and have shown that there is a physical effect. With that in mind, we brought our intentions, written on flying wish papers, to the dock. Here we lit them on fire and released them while watching them dissipate into the sky above us. Last night, following a cookout and s’mores, we drew numbers and selected wrapped toys and trinkets that we would live with for the next day. This afternoon, we will gather to talk about whatever may come up when living with these items. This morning, we all rolled out of bed with coffee in hand to join a local yoga instructor in the screened studio. Riding breath to the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind made my intention of breathing easy that much easier. What better place to do tree pose but amongst the trees?