The Olive Grove Retreat
May 5-12-19
Your Olive Grove on the Island of Lesvos
“It’s like being in a fable you can feel with your whole body . . .” —Mollie Coles Tonn, Oct/25 Participant
EARLY BIRD PRICE, SCROLL DOWN: available until February 28, 2026. Two scholarships of $500 CAN each are available; please inquire.
Join me (and the Muses) in the Olive Grove.
People seek the experience of retreat for different reasons. Are you any or all of the following:
in need of creative rejuvenation
wishing to develop a new relationship to time
in love with trees (or looking to kindle a romance with your own olive tree)
worn out / digitally / overwhelmed
fearful or feeling disconnected from your self, your creative life, nature
longing to rest AND play
ready to make an investment in your health at every level—physical, spiritual, creative, psychological
searching for an experience of authenticity, ease and sweetness
dreaming of a trip to Greece, but ready to bypass the tourist part and connect instead to the ancient olive-tree Mediterrenean culture you read about in Greek myths as a child.
Congratulations!
Somehow you found me, & our olive grove on the island of Lesvos.
For the past thirty+ years in my life, this has been THE place. For joy, peace, foxes playing at midnight. Music, laughter, a font of inspiration and beauty for my writing practice. This grove, and this small vilage, are the most authentic, true places I know. In the midst of ALL THE THINGS, the Olive Grove calmly responds, Yes, and life is right here, still. Beautiful. Lie down on the earth; she’s got your back.
I invite you to join me and my Greek neighbours and friends (who are my partners in this work). Come to create and expand time. Get as creative and disciplined as you want. Or relax and play as much as you want (sometimes, here, these are the same states.) Greece has been famous for magical flow states for several thousand years. Come and experience it yourself.
Let the tree roots beneath you connect you, literally, to a history and a community of illumination, peace, and power: the Olive Grove. You will learn and play, talk and listen in the Grove and in your sea-side sanctuary.
This rare place—and the olive tree herself—has inspired millenia of humans: painters, writers, philosophers and scientists from antiquity all the way through time . . . to you and me. To us, together. If you’ve ever cooked with olive oil, you are already part of the olive grove tradition. You just don’t know it yet.
Together we’ll invite the energy and power of the grove and the Greek land-sea-and skyscapes to help us . . . do whatever we need to do. Rejuvenate. Play. Learn through creative practices and the land herself. This Greek island have been formative and transformative for so many ‘modern’ people, including me.
Many people believe this power is connected to the volcanic nature of the soil, and the history of the island’s formation—there are several volcanoes on Lesvos—and the island still sees seismic activity and has many hot springs.
Wherever the creative energy comes from, on Lesvos it is palpably REAL. And this tradition goes back thousands of years.
The great lyric poet Sappho was born in Eresos seven centuries before Christ—not far from where we will meet in the Grove. She describes the beauty of Eresos in her poetry. We visit her local statue as we have our morning coffee in the square. Aristotle himself visited and loved Eresos, and many of his most important scientific discoveries (he basically invented ‘biology’) took place not far from here, on the gulf of Kalloni. Theophrastus, philosopher, botanist, and one of the most famous nature writers of all time, was also born in Eresos. The local grade school is named after him.
Imagine connecting to this kind of energy with a guide and lots of support — you will have you own olive tree and be eating oil from the grove every day to help you.
That is what we will be doing for this week—and for two whole weeks if possible— among olive trees that are in full spring flower . . . Let your creativity be part of the harvest this year!
You’ll be accompanied by a few like-minded humans . . . and these thirty beautiful trees near the village of Eresos on the Aegean Sea. You’ll stay in a lovely small hotel right on the water in Skala Eresos.
I’ve designed The Olive Grove Retreat to nurture the creative brain-body-spirit—the whole being—in the midst of a place, under trees, with trees (and grasses and birds and . . .) that also nurture us by their very presence. And our local chef Yeremiah’s sumptuous cooking also really helps. All the olive we eat is from the trees around us.
Whatever our creative goals and longings are during these days, surrounded by the growing trees. You will also open up to an experience of transformative connection—to self and other, to the earth, to mythic power.
Each of our days will begin with a walk into the grove, to your own chosen tree. Each participant has a table, a chair, and a place to lie down under their own tree.
When you walk up into the grove, where will you be?
Which olive tree is yours? You will know.
What might this invitation hold and unfold for you? Come and join me on the island of Lesvos to find out.
Group is limited to eight participants. We have four spots left.
What to Expect
Pleasure, fun, incredible inner and outer discoveries, creative time and instruction, mythic and practical inspiration.
Your Own Olive Tree for the duration of the Retreat—your own spot in the Grove to write, draw, talk, sing, meditate, play and dream.
Learning about the olive tree, this particular grove, and the small-holding olive grove culture of Lesvos (and most of Greece).
Holistic practices, Brain-Body-Spirit: In daily master-classes, enter extraordinary inner spaces under the olive trees.
With expertise, empathy and humour, I teach nature mindfulness inside and out, which includes learning about the trees; trance & self-hypnosis; Observed and Experiential Integration, a unique form of somatic and nervous system healing that lets you work directly with your brain. We also consciously welcome and explore gentle and mindful movement and play every day. Each day includes illuminating embodied learning about how our brains are expanded, enriched and healed through nature and beauty.
Within the group, receive coaching/direct instruction on embracing your resources more fully and working courageously with impediments—what our holistic practices above teach you to do.
Peace and Dream-Time beneath the timeless olive branches, by the sea, on the country tracks, in the hammocks.
Nourishing Cuisine: Savor gourmet meals crafted by Yeremiah, a young chef trained in Berlin—and down the road on the farm where he grew up. He’ll be using organic, locally-sourced ingredients inspired by the Mediterranean diet.
Cultural Enrichment: Participate in short trips in the countryside near Eresos.
Creative Rituals: In community, experience ancient creative healing rituals using the olive grove as our sacred site.
A day-long trip to Sigri, the Petrified “Forest” and the Panayeia Cave Church
The Olive Grove Retreat Includes
A profoundly unique experience of the Greek island of Lesvos: land, sea and body-based, olive grove-inspired. (Lots of olive oil to eat, too—cultivated by us from the very Grove you’ll be playing in . . .) Learning and seminars take place daily from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm (This includes our communal lunch hour).
Transfers to and from Mytilene airport (the Odysseus Elytis Airport). Eresos is 1.5 hours away from the airport. We’ll pick you up and deliver you back when you leave.
Logistical support with your travel questions and plans.
Necessary, itinerary-related transportation by car or van to various places around Eresos, including Skala Eresos (the lower village by the sea) as well as the upper village, the Olive Grove, the ‘far’ end of the beach, and our day trip to Sigri and nearby sites.
At the beginning of the Retreat, guests are welcome to a complimentary dinner in the Grove or in Skala, excluding orders of alcohol or high-cost fish. At the end of the retreat, you also receive a complimentary farewell dinner. A generous farm-to-table lunch (with local cheeses and homemade dips) will be catered and served daily in the Olive Grove. Clean-up duties after lunch will be shared by host and volunteer participants.
Aside from the welcome and farewell dinner and our extraordinary lunches, meal costs are participants’ responsibility. Breakfast is available at the hotel, payable at the end of your stay.
The hotel breakfast is lovely, but not obligatory. It’s also flexible; you can order once or twice, as well, rather than daily. Each room has a fridge and a kettle; you may buy breakfast items for your daily consumption from the nearby (wonderful) bakery and grocery stores, or go out for breakfast at a variety of restaurants and cafes in Skala. Because the retreat is in October, some Skala restaurants may be closed for the season, but we’ll direct you to the best still-open tavernas and cafes.
For Two Week participants, three simple lunches in the Grove are provided, as well as a closing dinner (excluding orders of alcohol or high-cost fish).
NOTE: Your air-travel costs internationally and nationally, as well as your travel and health insurance are NOT covered by the amounts below. All participants must have health insurance for this trip.
Two Week Retreat Experience
The longer retreat time of Week #2 provides a less structured, more integrated learning experience after the first week, offered at a significantly lower cost. This is to let
We have a one-on-one meeting (one hour) so you can ask specific questions about process, experiences, and working courageously with impediments (something we do every day with our mind-body-brain practices.)
Three simple, non-catered Olive Grove lunches are provided. A delicious closing dinner is also provided.
Two of the visits to the grove are structured, with a deeper dive into two practices as requested by participants. One other visit to the grove is optional and ‘free’ (9:30 to 2:00 pm) for writing and/or spiritual practice. This extra time is an integration week, in which participants are encouraged to set a particular goals for themselves. I and a helper will be on site the entire time. We will also pick you up for time in the Grove and drop you back at your hotel for all six days at the regular times. You are free to bring a picnic lunch along on these free days. Afternoon time is dedicated to writing / editing / swimming / walking / musing.
Early Bird Price is available until February 28, 2025
$5500 CAN ($4060 US) Single Seaview Room
Minus $200 CAN/week for Landview rooms. ($5300 Landview Room)
Regular Price, until April 20, 2026
$6200 CAN ($4600 US)
For the second integration week, add $2200 CAN
Early Bird total: $7700 CAN ($5700 US)
After Feb. 28, 2026: $8400 CAN ($6200 US)
Love From Our Retreat Participants:
Testimonials
“Kaz introduced us to the most extraordinary place, practices, and practical magic in the family grove on Lesvos. I went to both of the retreats in 2025, one for creative rejuvenation (I needed it!) and one for writers. Kaz and Rob’s Olive Grove is one of the most beautiful, safe and unique places I’ve ever been in my life. My healing and my writing practice both accelerated . . . Thank you!
Doley Henderson 
In May, I went to Lesvos in Greece to be with Karen Connelly at The Olive Grove Retreat. I felt invited to unwind, let go and rest into the land, the Olive Grove and to swim in the Aegean Sea. I arrived from Vancouver Island after a major change in my life. In the fall, I’d lost my husband to cancer after five months of illness. Our beloved dog died a month later.
On the island, there were six of us participants. We were/are all in major transitions or turning points in our lives. Too, we were also from vastly different backgrounds. Yet the environment, the daily plan to gather under Thalia, the mother olive tree, worked its magic, bringing us all together. Each day, Karen led us in gentle, deceptively simple exercises in self hypnosis and eye-to-brain self-connection work. These practices regulated and calmed me. They are part of the gift I brought back with me from Greece. Each one of us was invited to choose our own tree for the duration of the retreat, complete with a small table and chair, a mat for the ground, and for some, a hammock!
Every day we ate a sumptuous lunch in the Olive Grove prepared with local food, much of it grown on the land around us, and artfully prepared for us by Yeremiah, a wonderful chef and neighbour, or by Rob, Karen’s retreat and life partner.
Every one of ‘our trees’ has a view of rolling hills, fields, the sea below. One day, some of us walked up from the village of Skala Eresos to the Olive Grove, a slow incline on a country road past gardens, crops, animals and neighbours working in their yards . . .
Karen is an excellent guide to the Grove, to Lesvos, to its history and people, and equally seems at home in Greek myths (which often came into our time together**) She is at home with metaphor, to working with what interferes with our creative expression in the moment. I count my time on retreat with Karen as a pivotal part of my healing and creative journey.
Somae Osler
