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Our teachers are curated for their quality, depth, integrity and alignment with our educational purpose. Since 1982, a distinguished faculty of authors, educators, activists, artists, performers, and practitioners have shared their work at our Cortes Island campus and in Vancouver.

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Check back often, we are adding new programs everyday. Over 100 programs are to come in 2020!

Resident Service Program

Package Dates
Cortes Island
Support our Cortes campus and get an intimate behind- the-scenes Hollyhock experience with our month-long residential program.

Metta Vipassana: Awareness as a Path to Liberation

With Michele McDonald and Steven Smith

April 22 - May 6, 2020
Cortes Island
Experience seven days practicing Metta and Vipassana meditation, followed by seven days of cultivating mindfulness. Develop compassionate awareness and a more loving heart with a unique integration of mindful movement.

Wim Hof Method, Breathwork & Your True Nature

With Cian Dalton

May 6 - 10, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Optimize your health with oxygen and cold exposure, reducing inflammation and strengthening your immune system. Learn practical tools to overcome stress, and develop a deeper connection to yourself and nature.

What Ails Thee? Myth, Fairy Tales & The Post-Heroic Journey

With Sharon Blackie, PhD

May 6 - 10, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
From finding treasures to defeating our enemies, the guiding mythology of the West is intensely individualistic and goal-oriented. What might a post-heroic mythology look like instead? Explore rich folkloric stories that remind us of all the secrets for a deeply meaningful and sustainable life.

Watercolour as a Path to Awareness

With David McEown

May 6 - 10, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Explore watercolour’s magical, flowing, spontaneity and learn essential techniques, as you paint directly from nature. Enhance your perception and connection to the earth with this travel-friendly medium. All levels welcome. David McEown has been using watercolour paint to explore earthʼs disappearing wilderness areas for 25+ years.

Mother, Daughter & the Divine

With Patricia and Maeve Höglund

May 10 - 15, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Uncover the mystical magic that can arise in the bond of the mother-daughter relationship. Whether your connection needs healing, depending, or celebrating, we will journey through rediscovering the divine feminine that is yearning to be unearthed and brought to the forefront of everyday life.

In Relation: Dancing as a Living System

With Laura June Albert and Loretta Laurin

May 10 - 15, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Experience your body as a living system in relation to nature and our wider social-political landscape. Explore embodiment practices, dance technique, and movement research to expand your range and capacity for interconnection. Elements include western contemporary dance, solo and contact improvisation, anatomy, and nature immersion.

The Way of the Guide: Forest Therapy

With Amos Clifford and Christy Thomson

May 15 - 20, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Way of the Guide explores a process of working in partnership with the more-than-human world to discover and nurture the unique seeds of medicine carried by each person. Supporting the growth of these seeds calls forth a constellation of gifts that is the person’s way of embodying power and beauty.

Leading through the Body: Dancing Into Wholeness

With Bettina Rothe

May 15 - 20, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Lead your life with conscious embodiment. Become more resilient, present, and confident through body-based leadership principles, 5Rhythms® movement, and Japanese wooden sword practices.

Heart of the Condor: Andean Wisdom Teachings

With Jhaimy Alvarez Acosta

May 20 - 24, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Ground yourself in the wisdom teachings of the Andes while discovering the keys to harmonizing the three bodies of the serpent (mind), puma (body), and condor (soul). Connect to your heart, Mother Earth, and the Cosmos with the support of traditional Andean Indigenous knowledge, passed down through generations since time immemorial.

Harmonizing Yin & Yang: Foundations, Form & Function

With Paul Bromley

May 24 - 29, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
The Chinese Internal Arts of Tai Chi and Qi Gong regulate the constantly transforming balance between Yin and Yang in the body, mind, and spirit. Through solo and partner practice, we deepen our awareness of these polarities and utilize them to increase harmony with ourselves, others, and nature.

Mindful Self-Compassion

With Megan Prager and Martin Thomson-Jones, PhD

May 24 - 29, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Cultivate the skill of self-compassion in this empirically supported training program. Self-compassion is strongly associated with greater emotional well-being, less anxiety and depression, maintenance of healthy habits, and satisfying relationships.

Sea Kayaking Adventures Aboard Misty Isles

With Jonas Fineman and Kai Harvey

May 29 - June 3, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Learn to kayak on the pristine and protected waters around Cortes Island, from the comfort of the 43 foot Schooner, Misty Isles. Certified local guides share their knowledge and passion for the coast. All levels of experience welcome. Limited to 12 participants. Jonas Fineman is the seasoned sea captain and owner of Misty Isles. Kai Harvey is a wilderness guide and owner of Cortes Kayaks. They will also be offering this program on Sept 11-16. mistyislesadventures.com

Core Matter: Yamuna® Body Rolling & Pilates Essentials

With Namchi Bazar, BFA

May 29 - June 3, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Mar 31, 2020.
Activate a sense of centered well-being with simple routines easily practiced at home. Learn exercises that gently massage and adjust the whole body - inviting strength, release, and rejuvenation. Let go of unproductive movement patterns and heal injury. Namchi Bazar developed her unique somatic approach with 25+ years as a professional dancer, Pilates Instructor, Yamuna® Body Rolling Practitioner and mother of three.

Luminous Threshold: The Art of the Personal Altar

With Lisa Gibbons

June 7 - 11, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
What do you find sacred and how do you express it? Create a personal altar and learn techniques such as creating antiqued surfaces, acrylic painting, collage, assemblage, and using beeswax and gold leaf. Deepen your experience with meditation, journalling, and guided nature inquiry. Art materials provided.

Beekeeping & Hive Health

With Steve Sheppard, PhD

June 7 - 12, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Honey bees and humans have interacted for thousands of years. Use your senses fully to engage in a process that strives to build a mutually beneficial relationship with them. Awareness of the complexity of this highly social organism is key to appreciating the art of mindful beekeeping. All experience levels welcome.

Fostering Resilience for Health Professionals

With Mark Lau, PhD and Andrea Grabovac, MD

June 7 - 12, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Revitalize, restore, and build resilience during this Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) meditation retreat for physicians, health professionals, and their partners. This retreat includes teacher-guided mindfulness practice and discussion, with a focus on meditation technique. Drs. Lau and Grabovac, MBCT mentors with the UCSD Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute, also offer a 5-day MBCT Professional Training at Hollyhock, Sep 25-30.

Going Under the Words: Creating Fiction & Memoir

With Shaena Lambert

June 12 - 17, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off room and meals! Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Creating fiction and memoir is part craft, part mystery. Discover ways to shuck the skin of your words, to find the beating heart. Connect with your voice, and wind drama and action into your writing’s DNA. Experience the creative thrill of going deeper.

Summer Solstice: Yoga, Ritual, Meditation

With Mara Branscombe

June 17 - 21, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Summer solstice honours the earth’s most dynamic time of expansion, growth, and abundance. Join the celebration with the art of breath, the healing of yoga, mindful meditation, and shamanic practices. Luminously integrate heart, body, and mind.

Tools for Awesome Living

With Maritza Schafer

June 21 - 25, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Transform the physical, mental, emotional, sexual, and spiritual aspects of yourself and your life using joy, courage, action, truth, and faith as your guiding principles. Learn and immediately apply effective tools for awesome living. Embrace practices that have the biggest impact on your overall well-being.

Write From Power: Accessing Your Stories

With Janelle Hanchett

June 29 - July 3, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Feeling blocked or bored by your writing? Or wanting to get back into writing after a long hiatus? Discuss how to write in spite of fear, doubt, and the ever-looming sense of not being a “real” writer. Learn to tell the difference between useless and valuable feedback and how to justify writing as a priority even if you don’t “make money” at it.

Cancer-Informed Yoga Therapy

With Anne Pitman

June 29 - July 3, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Cancer changes us. Join with community in reflection and recovery and as we explore breath, embodied movement, storytelling, and stepping into this "more time". Offer generous listening to the lingering shock of diagnosis, and the anxiety and fear of recurrence. Find agency, authenticity, and a trued path to walk in your post-cancer days, informed by body, breath and soul.

Tantra for Couples: Cultivating Sacred Intimacy

With Devi Ward Erikson and Chris Erickson, PhD

June 29 - July 3, 2020
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Tantra is an ancient spiritual science designed to activate, heal, and enrich every area of life. Learn practical and effective Tantric methods to cultivate a deeply sacred, utterly joyful, and profoundly pleasurable intimate connection - in and out of the bedroom.

Discover Cortes: Nature Adventures

With Bill Ophoff

July 3 - 8, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
With birds and wildflowers at their vibrant peak, explore Cortes Island’s magnificent rainforest and teeming waters. Learn about the stars, the sea stars, and everything in between on this adventure of inspiring hikes, kayaking, beach walks, and a sailing excursion to Mitlenatch Island – the “Galapagos” of the Georgia Strait. Limit of 12 participants.

The Future of Children: Transforming the Educational Paradigm

With Phillip Moore, Gabriela Masala and Solomon Masala

July 8 - 12, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Experience a new educational paradigm and activate the wisdom of the inner child. Connect with self, community, and nature through awakening to love-based ways of exploring, learning, and teaching. Expand awareness through imagination, songs, stories, and meditation. Ages 14+

Eat Real to Heal: Boost Immunity & Reverse Chronic Disease

With Nicolette Richer

July 8 - 12, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Eat Real to Heal is a new way of eating and living based on a 100-year-old metabolic nutritional therapy. Rebuild your metabolism, kick-start your immune system, regenerate your tissues, and heal your body from the inside out.

Drawing Towards the Earth: Making Journals for Life

With S. Portico Bowman

July 12 - 16, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Learn how to draw with graphite, charcoal, red ocher, and other earth elements. Drawing from the life and works of Paulus Berensohn (1933-2017), you’ll also create a coptic stitch Arcadia Playshop journal and a bookmark in the Bargello tapestry technique. Berensohn’s healing arcadia frames the path to ecological recovery on a global scale.

Aung Medical Qi Gong

With Dr. Steven K.H. Aung, CM, MD, OMD, PhD

July 16 - 19, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Realign vital energies with this ancient Chinese wellness practice of breath work, concentration, and movement. Learn hands-on how to intuit, assess, harmonize, and heal vital Qi for yourself and loved ones.

The Mystery of the Soul

With Margie Gillis and Thomas Atum O'Kane, PhD

July 19 - 24, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
The mystery of the soul can be embraced, experienced, danced, and explored, but never exhausted or diminished. Reclaim and celebrate the mystery of your soul with dance and spiritual teachings.

Healing Family & Ancestors: Ritual and Resonant Family Constellations

With Jill Purce

July 24 - 29, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Transform inherited patterns into magical blessings. Jill’s unique ceremonial, shamanic healing rites, using chant and family constellations, restore coherence within family fields in oracular ways, unavailable in normal therapy. Excluded relations are reintegrated as powerful allies. Relatives do not need to be living. Individuals and families welcome.

Time of Transition

With Thomas Atum O'Kane, PhD

July 24 - 29, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Life changes are times of passion and opportunity. Working with teachings from Jungian psychology and various spiritual traditions, detach and break free from old roles and expectations. Ritual, reflection, and wisdom guide your journey and passage toward your new sense of self. Thomas Atum O’Kane, PhD, holds a doctorate degree in transpersonal psychology and is a former senior teacher in the Sufi Order International. atumokane.com

Dancing from the Inside Out

With Margie Gillis

July 24 - 29, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Move into your body’s experiential wisdom to reveal the soul in motion. Listen to your body’s inner impulses, conversations, and emotions to deepen your well-being along with your artistic and creative expression. An exceptional opportunity. All levels welcome. -- Margie Gillis is an internationally acclaimed dancer/choreographer, performing for 40+ years, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Song of the Drum, Dance of Life

With Gordy Ryan and Zoë Ryan

July 24 - 29, 2020
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Bumbamba! Join us in a celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the music and dance of the Olatunji Drums of Passion at Hollyhock. Activate the fire in your hands, the beat in your feet, and the song in your heart on a soulful journey to the well of inspiration in our reunion at the Olatunji Hall.

Science & Spiritual Practices

With Rupert Sheldrake, Merlin Sheldrake and Cosmo Sheldrake

July 29 - August 2, 2020
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Science sheds new light on many spiritual practices, including rituals, pilgrimage, meditation, chanting, and rites of passage. Explore spiritual traditions and reconnect with the natural world through singing, listening, looking, telling stories, thinking, and having fun.

Fearless Abstract Painting

With Samantha daSilva

August 7 - 12, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
The process of creating evolves into ideas. Ditch the fear and approach your next blank canvas with excitement and creative energy! Using rollers, tables, acrylics, canvas manipulation, plaster, sand, and wood shavings, create ethereal textured abstracts and become the fearless artist of your dreams! No previous experience necessary.

Spoken Song: Discover Your Musical Mind

With Chloë Goodchild and Rebecca Nash

August 7 - 12, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Discover the art of spoken and sung voice as creative metaphors for everyday life. Experience the richness of your own authentic vocal expression; inspired by improvisation, world music, classical, jazz, folk, ecstatic poetry, devotional chant, breathwork, and a shared love of silence. For amateurs and professionals alike.

Falling Awake: The Ecology of Wonder

With David Abram

August 7 - 12, 2020
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Awaken your animal intelligence, shake your senses free from outmoded concepts, and invigorate your felt experience. Through elemental encounters with the land, creaturely shapeshifting, and heartfelt conversation, open a new relationship between your body and the breathing earth.

Improv Your Life – For Life

With Joshua Townshend-Zellner

August 17 - 22, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Through harnessing the power of the creative process and deepening our commitment to “sound and movement,” we access new worlds. Work with unique theatrical techniques, writing, breathing exercises, and more, in order to allow your true self to emerge with fuller expression.

Writing as a Spiritual Practice: The Healing Power of Telling Your Story

With Mark Matousek

August 22 - 27, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Memoir is a path of self-knowledge. Learn to tell the whole truth and your essential stories will emerge, bringing insight and transpersonal wisdom. Writing exercises and group dialogue guide you toward creative discovery, increased mindfulness, and better composition. Everyone welcome.

Forest to Sea: Earth Based Medicine

With Yarrow Willard

September 1 - 6, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Awaken your inner herbalist and deepen your connection to the healing power of nature. Learn to create lasting health practices, make herbal medicines, and sharpen your senses as you build relationships with the plants, mushrooms, and seaweeds of the West Coast.

Vibrant Pastel Landscapes

With David Shkolny

September 6 - 11, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Create vibrant landscapes in soft pastel, a versatile and expressive medium. Using photo references as well as plein air outings, experience the unique opportunities that pastel provides. No prior experience necessary, suitable for all skill levels. A supply list will be provided.

Flying SOULO: Your Story on Stage

With Tracey Erin Smith

September 6 - 11, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Transform your life’s stories into a Solo Theatre Show or Keynote. Through improvisation, writing exercises, and one-on-one coaching, uncover the stories that need to be told and reveal your truth in a powerful and entertaining show. Culminates in a short performance of the work created in class.

Move Without Pain: Essential Somatics (Sept 6)

With Martha Peterson

September 6 - 11, 2020
Cortes Island
This program is also offered on Sept 11-16, click here.
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Learn to use your brain to reverse the physical effects of stress, restore brain to muscle connection, and defy creaky old age. Create a routine of easy, safe, and essential Somatic Movements to eliminate chronic pain and keep you moving fluidly and effortlessly throughout your life.

Writing the Other

With Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford

September 11 - 16, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Writers know it’s important to include characters from different identities in their work. Many are afraid to create characters whose identity differs from their own and worry about getting it offensively wrong. But representation is too important to ignore. Learn how to do it well

Move Without Pain: Essential Somatics (Sept 11)

With Martha Peterson

September 11 - 16, 2020
Cortes Island
This program is also offered on Sept 6-11, click here.
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Learn to use your brain to reverse the physical effects of stress, restore brain to muscle connection, and defy creaky old age. Create a routine of easy, safe, and essential Somatic Movements to eliminate chronic pain and keep you moving fluidly and effortlessly throughout your life.

Earth Wisdom, Horse Wisdom: A Nature Retreat with Horses

With Oriane Lee Johnston and Kera Willis

September 11 - 14, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Journey into the heart of the world with horses as our guides. Practice breath and body meditation, hands-on touch, joyful play with the herd, and a journey ride on horseback. Limited to 12 participants.

Beyond Interfaith: From Spiritual Misfits to Interconnected Communities

With Shahar Rabi, PhD

September 20 - 25, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Learn the tools and skills needed to establish trauma-informed methods of developing long-lasting and sustainable spiritual communities. Engage in meaningful dialogue about the future intersection of faith, psychology, and science. Bring home essential practices for today's diverse and complex world, and embody the heart of your contemplative life.

Peace, Poetry & Prayer

With Farah Nazarali

September 20 - 25, 2020
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Peace is at the core of our being. Peace visionaries know that bringing peace into the world involves courage, collective action, and renewal of the spirit. This program combines peace, poetry, yogic practices, and universal prayers and rituals to dedicate ourselves to inner harmony, family reconciliation, reverence for the Earth, and peace in our world.

Mindfulness Meditation

With Robert Beatty

September 25 - 30, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jan 31, 2020.
Wake up from the trance of everyday life. You are not your moods, anxiety, compulsions, past wounds, or addictions. Awaken to the freedom, love, compassion, and joy that is your natural state. This program is held in silence (except sessions) — common areas on campus are shared spaces.

Whole Human Health: Functional Medicine 2.0

With Dr. Lawrence Cheng and Dr. Devon Christie

September 30 - October 5, 2020
Cortes Island
Book now and get 15% off listed prices. Offer valid until Jul 31, 2020.
Embody your well-being potential! Create your own personalized optimal wellness plan for lasting health and happiness informed by a synthesis of integrative and functional medicine, mind-body medicine, and leading-edge neurobiology. For anyone seeking an empowered approach to their own personal health.

Wild Mushrooms & the Mycology of Consciousness

With Paul Stamets, D.Sc (Hon.)

October 5 - 9, 2020
Cortes Island
Save the world, one mushroom at a time. Fungi offer powerful, practical solutions to enhance both human and ecosystem health. Roam the wilds of Cortes Island and learn mushroom identification, easy-to-grow cultivation methods, as well as various culinary and medicinal applications. -- Paul Stamets, D.Sc., is a renowned, award-winning mycologist. The Star Trek Discovery series recently named a character - Astromycologist Starfleet Lt. Commander Stamets - in his honour.

Wild Mushrooms & the Mycology of Consciousness

With Paul Stamets, D.Sc (Hon.)

October 14 - 18, 2020
Cortes Island
Save the world, one mushroom at a time. Fungi offer powerful, practical solutions to enhance both human and ecosystem health. Roam the wilds of Cortes Island and learn mushroom identification, easy-to-grow cultivation methods, as well as various culinary and medicinal applications. -- Paul Stamets, D.Sc., is a renowned, award-winning mycologist. The Star Trek Discovery series named a character - Astromycologist Starfleet Lt. Commander Stamets - in his honour.