When movement became a challenge

In my late thirties, pain in my knees and feet became so severe that I lost the ability to walk normally. I was raising two young children, running a dance company, directing performance groups, and teaching dance from a stool with a microphone. The stress and physical challenges were overwhelming.

I signed up for a workshop with Lynn, visiting from New York at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary. Her exploration of movement patterns introduced me to a name I had never heard before: Touch for Health. Then she shared words that stopped me: “I have the gifts of my injuries.”

How could the pain that had taken so much from me be a gift? Yet Lynn’s perspective opened a new possibility. Perhaps I could learn to understand my body differently instead of seeing only what I could no longer do.

Finding Touch for Health

This was before Google. It took nearly a year of searching to find a teacher. I first discovered training in Malibu, California, but I lived in Alberta. Eventually I found Greg Webb in Calgary, where I could attend classes and receive private sessions. As I explored Touch for Health® Levels 1–4, I began rebuilding my relationship with movement and discovering how actively I could participate in my own well-being.

When I thought my family might move, I decided to pursue instructor training while it was available. But I was terrified. I doubted that I knew enough or deserved to be there. So I called Lynn in New York, reminded her of her Calgary workshop, and told her about my fears.

Her reply was simple: “Dear, everything you need to know is already inside you.”

Those words gave me the confidence to attend eight intensive days of Touch for Health® instructor training. That experience transformed my understanding of possibility, intention, and the body’s capacity for change. I have never looked back.

A shared passion for movement at every age

I am delighted to see Lynn continuing to teach and share her work at 83, including movement opportunities for older adults through dance. My own path now includes seated and standing Tai Chi, where we explore balance, coordination, flexibility, confidence, and the joy of moving well. Different movement languages can share the same belief: our age or challenges need not define our possibilities.

Three years of Movement and Music

Over the past three years, I have created Movement and Music programs that bring together my lifelong passion for dance, music, and the arts through the power and artistry of Tai Chi movements. Each exploration invites participants to discover new relationships between movement, intention, rhythm, breath, and personal awareness.

Touch for Health® knowledge and techniques remain at the core of these movement explorations. The framework that Lynn helped me discover continues to guide how I invite people to observe their own movement, notice change, and explore possibilities without being limited by a single prescribed outcome.

These programs, including recordings and resources for exploring at your own pace, can be found in the Greenwell Center shop. They are a celebration of everything I love about dance, music, Tai Chi, and BioEnergetic Wellness.

From one dance workshop to a university program

Perhaps the most extraordinary ripple effect is the new BioEnergetic Wellness program being developed at Akamai University International, within the College of Integrative Health. As Department Chair of BioEnergetic Wellness, I am helping shape an educational pathway that recognizes whole-person development, movement literacy, reflective learning, and the potential within each student.

I can trace the courage to take on this new challenge back to Lynn’s encouragement. Her belief that the knowledge and potential we need can be discovered within ourselves gave me confidence first to become a Touch for Health® instructor, and now to help create opportunities for a new generation of learners and facilitators.

Congratulations, Lynn Simonson, on your 2026 Dance Teacher Award! Thank you for showing me the gifts within my injuries and helping me trust the possibilities within myself. Your influence continues to move through every class, program, and educational vision I create.

Read Lynn’s Dance Teacher award profile and explore the Movement and Music offerings in our shop.

The post The Gifts of Our Injuries: Celebrating Lynn Simonson and a Lifetime of Movement first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

That question has stayed with me since reconnecting with dancer, artist, and Dance Alchemist Kristen Mangione. Kristen joined me on the Be Well podcast two years ago, and our newest conversation began because of something quite different: the Artist’s Letters she has been sharing through her newsletter and blog.

These letters do not simply tell readers what Kristen has been doing. They invite us into what she is discovering while she is creating. One reflection in particular stopped me: “What if the future we’re building is also building us?”

When We Meet Our Own Work Again

Kristen had returned to The Dancer’s Path, a course she created six years earlier. Listening again to recordings she had made at that time, she discovered something unexpected. She was not simply hearing a younger version of herself. The work seemed able to speak to who she is now.

How often do we return to something from our past only to evaluate it? We look for what we would change, what we know now, or what we might have done better. But what happens if we return with a different intention?

Instead of asking, Was this good enough?, we might ask: What can I notice now that I could not notice then?

Perspective changes with experience. Awareness changes with perspective. Something familiar can therefore become new without the original thing changing at all. We have changed, and the relationship has changed with us.

Messages Across Time

Our lives are full of messages we may not recognize as messages when we first encounter them. A photograph. A journal entry. A movement we once loved. A painting. A course we created. A conversation we remember differently years later. A piece of music that suddenly reaches us in a way it never did before.

The experience does not have to be mystical to be profound. We are simply bringing today’s awareness into relationship with something created or experienced at another point in time.

And sometimes that creates an entirely new conversation.

When Time Becomes Less Important

Another of Kristen’s reflections explored what happens when time seems to disappear. She described experiences with movement, bodywork, music, nature, and meaningful conversation where the clock becomes almost irrelevant.

I love this idea because we so often talk about needing more time. What if some of what we are seeking is not more time, but a different relationship with it?

There are moments when we stop measuring and simply become part of the experience. We are no longer anticipating what comes next or organizing ourselves around what needs to be accomplished. Our attention has somewhere to land.

Movement can do this. Art can do this. Nature can do this. Tea can do this. Deep conversation can do this. Sometimes simply becoming curious enough to notice can do this.

Awareness Creates Possibility

This is where Kristen’s creative reflections feel beautifully parallel to BioEnergetic Wellness. In BioEnergetic Wellness, awareness is not merely gathering information about what is wrong. It can help us recognize how we are organizing ourselves in this moment and what possibilities may be available next.

We do not need to erase the past for the future to be different. We can recognize what has been, notice what is present now, and become curious about what we are organizing toward.

That changes the question from What happened to me? to include another possibility: What is available to me now?

Creating Rather Than Simply Remembering

Perhaps this is why Kristen’s Artist’s Letters feel so refreshing. They are not simply reminders of what she has done. They are part of what she is creating now. She shares a discovery and leaves enough room for someone else to have a discovery of their own.

That is a very different kind of communication.

Instead of delivering an answer, we can open a conversation. Instead of telling someone what an experience should mean, we can offer a doorway into awareness. Instead of using our past only as history, we can allow it to participate in what we are becoming.

A GenerosiTEA Pause

For our podcast conversation, I chose GenerosiTEA with the intention: “Open your heart to hope and optimism, for your resilience and pure generosity inspires others.”

Currant and apple became wonderful companions for the conversation. Currant invites us to notice the richness that can be held within something small — an idea, a memory, a movement, or a creative impulse that continues to develop meaning over time. Apple offers the image of nourishment and possibility, with seeds for what comes next held quietly within what is already here.

Perhaps generosity can also mean allowing ourselves to create without demanding that we already know where the creation will lead.

What Message Is Waiting for You?

Take a moment and think about something you created or experienced years ago.

It might be a photograph tucked away in a drawer, words in an old notebook, a piece of music, a movement you have not practiced for years, a painting, an idea you never developed, or something you once created with great care.

Return to it without trying to decide whether it was successful.

Instead, become curious.

What do you notice now?

What can you understand now that you could not understand then?

What possibility does it open?

And perhaps most importantly:

What if the future you are building is already building you?

If these ideas about time, space, movement, and the future spark your curiosity, I invite you to explore them with us through our special Tai Chi Skill Building series. This is much more than learning Tai Chi movements; we are using movement, music, art, awareness, and creative exploration to discover how the way we organize ourselves today can influence the possibilities we recognize for tomorrow. What happens when we move differently through space, experience time differently, or revisit a future we previously imagined for ourselves? Can movement help us notice a possibility we had not yet considered? We still have nine special classes ahead, and when you join, you will also receive the recordings and incredible supplemental material from our first three explorations, so you can begin at the beginning and experience the discoveries in your own time. Whether you already have a future you are working toward, are reconsidering one you previously identified, or are simply curious about what might emerge next, this series offers a place to move, notice, create, and explore what your future may already be inviting you to become.

The post Messages Across Time and Space: What Is Your Past Self Inviting You to Notice? first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

When people first hear about the Artfilled Wellness Retreat, they often ask a practical question.

“What are we doing each day?”

It’s a natural question.

But perhaps the more important question is:

“Why is each day designed the way it is?”

The answer is simple.

Every experience has been intentionally chosen.

Nothing is random.

Nothing is included simply because it is enjoyable.

Every activity contributes to a living model of whole-person wellbeing.

Rather than offering a collection of wellness activities, the Artfilled Wellness Retreat invites participants into what we now call the Artfilled Wellness Model—an integrative approach where movement, music, nature, art, storytelling, reflection, photography, sound, tea, and community work together to create conditions where wellbeing can naturally emerge.

Beginning Each Day with Intention

Every day begins long before movement.

It begins with purpose.

Through the BioEnergetic Wellness Formula, participants are invited to identify an intention for their day. Not a problem to solve, but a possibility to grow toward.

Goal.

Intention.

Awareness.

Activation.

Community.

Intuition.

These six principles quietly organize everything that follows.

Rather than chasing wellness, participants begin practicing it.

A Cup of Tea Becomes the First Creative Experience

Tea is often thought of as hospitality.

For us, it is much more.

Each carefully selected blend introduces the spiritual essence of the herbs and an affirmation that gently frames the day’s exploration.

The tea becomes a pause.

A ritual.

A reminder that healing begins with the smallest acts of presence.

Every sip becomes an invitation to embody the qualities we hope to cultivate throughout the day.

Nature Becomes Our First Teacher

Before movement begins, we reconnect with the natural world.

Through Tanya Levy’s remarkable photography, participants are invited to notice relationships rather than simply observe scenery.

A pathway.

A bird.

A wave.

A heart-shaped stone.

A shaft of light through the trees.

Nature reminds us that we already belong.

Rather than escaping into nature, we remember that we are part of it.

Music Creates an Envelope of Care

Before our bodies begin moving, our nervous systems begin listening.

Participants discover why particular musical notes, keys, and frequencies have been chosen.

Our musicians don’t simply perform.

They participate.

Their music becomes part of a shared conversation that unfolds throughout the session.

The room slowly becomes an envelope of care, where sound, silence, and intention prepare everyone for the experience ahead.

Movement Becomes a Daily Practice for Living

Movement is never about perfect technique.

It is about relationship.

Participants explore Tai Chi, embodied movement, and BioEnergetic Wellness practices that can be carried into everyday life.

The goal isn’t to master choreography.

The goal is to develop lifelong skills for self-care, resilience, balance, and vitality.

Together We Care

Perhaps the most transformative part of the retreat isn’t found in any single activity.

It is found in the community itself.

Each participant arrives carrying their own story.

Their own hopes.

Their own challenges.

Within the group, those experiences are witnessed rather than judged.

Shared rather than hidden.

Supported rather than carried alone.

Something remarkable begins to happen.

The group itself becomes part of the healing process.

As one person discovers insight, everyone learns.

As one person finds courage, others feel permission.

As one person moves through challenge, the entire community becomes stronger.

Together, we care.

Art Captures What Words Cannot

While participants move, reflect, and connect, intuitive artist Marian Egan paints.

Her paintings are not illustrations prepared in advance.

They emerge in response to everything unfolding throughout the day—the conversations, the music, the movement, the emotional atmosphere, and the shared energy of the group.

Each completed painting becomes a visual expression of the collective experience.

Accompanied by its unique frequency number, it offers participants an enduring reminder of the day’s discoveries long after they return home.

Eight Days That Become One Experience

Although each day has its own focus, the retreat is not eight separate workshops.

It is one unfolding journey.

Like chapters in a meaningful story, each experience prepares participants for the next.

Awareness deepens.

Relationships strengthen.

Confidence grows.

Creativity expands.

By the final day, participants often discover that they are not simply leaving with memories.

They are leaving with practices, relationships, perspectives, and daily rituals that continue supporting their wellbeing long after the retreat has ended.

This Is What We Mean by Artfilled Wellness

Artfilled Wellness is more than an event.

It is more than a retreat.

It is a way of living.

It is an invitation to experience how movement, music, nature, creativity, reflection, and community can work together—not as separate activities, but as a living ecology that supports human flourishing.

Over eight remarkable days on the beautiful landscapes of Cape Breton Island, you won’t simply attend workshops.

You will live the Artfilled Wellness Model.

And perhaps, along the way, discover a new relationship with yourself.

Closing Invitation

If you’ve been searching for more than another wellness retreat—if you’re longing for an experience that nourishes your body, inspires your creativity, reconnects you with nature, and reminds you that healing is something we cultivate together—we invite you to join us.

Come to Cape Breton Island.

Bring your curiosity.

Bring your story.

Leave with new practices, meaningful friendships, and a deeper understanding of what it means to flourish.

Artfilled Wellness is not simply something you attend.

It is something you live.

If you are unable to attend the full 8 days, we do have a full day rate so you can become a part of our ecosystem for as long as you can stay. The price is $125 plus tax per day. Please send a message to set up your schedule: info@greenwellcenter.com.

For those registered for the full 8 days, Marian Egan is offering a special rate on her card deck for the event. “FREE TO BE ME” will inspire you to begin your daily self-care routine with a card and reflection. Please don’t wait, there are only 12 decks available at the special retreat price. Register for the Artfilled Wellness Retreat today!

The picture below is from our Symphony of Radiance program, which you can still purchase in the shop. What are you waiting for? We have so many ways to create connections and support for wellbeing. Join us!

The post More Than a Retreat: Living the Artfilled Wellness Model first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.