Social Venture Institute – Virtual 2025
With Hollyhock Leadership Institute and Vanessa Richards
February 6 - 7, 2025
Online
SVI Virtual 2025 will provide you with a forum to share your real time struggles, to problem solve and innovate in this new normal, and create community in a brave and carefully curated space. We will gather for ourselves, for our businesses, and for each other.
Together: A Gathering for Facilitators (Vancouver)
With Khari Wendell McClelland, SFU Continuing Studies and Hollyhock Leadership Institute
March 3 - 5, 2025
Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue
Skillful facilitation has the capacity to transform spaces and communities. There's a special kind of power that is felt when people come together in circle, to speak truth, and to practice better ways of being in dialogue. Building on the success of its inaugural offering, Hollyhock Leadership Institute, in partnership…
Social Venture Institute – Sea to Sky 2025
With Hollyhock Leadership Institute
April 30 - May 2, 2025
Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler, BC
SVI: Sea to Sky is an immersive gathering of visionary leaders and social entrepreneurs, dedicated to business as a force for positive social change. Each attendee brings a commitment of social change to their enterprise, whether a for-profit business or a non-profit organization. For almost 30 years, SVI at Hollyhock,…
Partnering with Compassionate Spirits: An Introduction to Your Medicine Council
With Julie Kramer
May 3 - 7, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 1, 2025.
For millennia, people worldwide have used singing, dancing, drumming, whistling and rattling to generate natural trance states in order to journey into the invisible realms and form alliances with benevolent helping spirits. Whether we’re aware of them or not, we all have compassionate helping spirits who are devoted to our…
Watercolour and the Art of Seeing
With David McEown
May 7 - 11, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 5, 2025.
Explore watercolour’s magical flowing spontaneity and essential techniques as you paint directly from nature. Enhance your perception, way of “seeing”, and connectedness to the earth with this travel-friendly medium. Enjoy a dynamic watercolour demonstration; exploring paint as a form of meditation and play. Uncover the secret hydrodynamics of watercolour paint…
Collective Reset: A Leadership Retreat
With Janet Moore and Adrian Sinclair
May 7 - 11, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 5, 2025.
Join a group of leaders in social, political, environmental, and educational impact organizations for a 5-day retreat. We are co-imagining what it means to collectively reset our nervous systems and meet others building businesses and fostering movements in the systems-change sector. The purpose is simple: engaging fully with our own personal/embodied…
Helping the Helpers: Social Justice, Restoration and Hope for Those Who Give
With Sarah Delroy and Zahura Ahmed
May 7 - 11, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 5, 2025.
Restoration for those who generously give: Rejuvenate the mind, body and spirit through somatic exercises and nature connection practices. As generous souls, we often carry the weight of the world’s suffering, grappling with how to engage in the right ways without becoming overwhelmed. The desire to make a difference can…
From Age-ing to Sage-ing®: Deepening the Sage Within
With Annie Klein
May 11 - 15, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 9, 2025.
A great gift of our older years is the potential for deepening wisdom and expanding possibilities. As more and more of us are living longer, we want these extra years to be vibrant, inspiring and fulfilling. This program will help you discover what gives your life meaning as you age.…
A Financial Therapy Retreat with Bari Tessler and Danielle Cohen
With Bari Tessler and Danielle Cohen
May 16 - 21, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 14, 2025.
Money is far more than numbers in accounts or symbols of status—it's one of our most intimate daily companions. For some of us, it's a constant whisper in our minds; for others, it lingers in the background until suddenly demanding our attention. It's there as we pause before initiating a…
Write from Your Heart
With Susan Musgrave
May 16 - 21, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 14, 2025.
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional” - attributed to the Dalai Lama. It is hard work, when we are grieving, not to suffer; suffering — personal and universal — has become a condition of how we live. Writing, especially poetry, fiction, journaling and memoir, has always been a place where…
Sketch by Sketch: connecting with the world through drawing
With Emma FitzGerald
May 16 - 21, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 14, 2025.
Learn to sketch without fear of making mistakes! Join celebrated author/illustrator, Emma FitzGerald as she leads participants through a series of exercises that build confidence and improves observation skills, while allowing for the happy accidents that make a drawing that speaks from the heart. Using pen and watercolour paint, and…
Peace in Action: Transform Overwhelm into Focus, Clarity, and High Performance
With Amrita Ahuja
May 21 - 25, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 19, 2025.
Do you need to get a lot done but don’t want all the stress? Read on. We have a problem - our hustle-and-grind culture pushes professionals with demanding schedules and goals to get things done but leaves them feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and burnt out. Groundwork shows you another way. In…
Climate Readers’ Retreat with Guest Author John Vaillant
With John Vaillant, Zoe Grams and Ian Gill
May 21 - 25, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 19, 2025.
Our world needs scalable, systemic change, and now. But most of us don’t have the time and space in our daily lives to deeply reflect on what our contribution to solving the climate crisis might be. The Climate Readers’ Retreat is an opportunity for people with a passion for climate…
The Heart of Communicating
With Farah Nazarali
May 21 - 25, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 19, 2025.
The Heart of Communicating masterfully weaves together neuroscience, polyvagal theory, conflict resolution, nonviolent communication, somatic practices and Eastern wisdom. This is an innovative, experiential and holistic course in a new way of communicating and relating using somatic intelligence as the foundation for how we engage and interact with others. Explore…
Finding Clarity & Joy in Times of Change: A Life Balance Retreat
With Celeste Young
May 25 - 28, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 23, 2025.
How well we navigate changes and transitions has a direct impact on the degree of well-being, meaning, and satisfaction we experience in our daily lives. If you’re considering a big change, find yourself in the midst of one now, or are still feeling the effects of past changes, this unique…
Writing The Great Turning: Climate Writing
With Jess Serrante and Zoe Young
May 25 - 30, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 23, 2025.
Discover your path to climate action with creative writing and deep emotional learning. The climate crisis affects all of us, but showing up to this fight will mean healing ourselves as much as it means healing the planet. Creative writing is a powerful tool for looking our grief in the…
Resonance: A Deep Listening, Somatic Retreat
With Charlie Gates and Kiko Pace
May 30 - June 4, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 28, 2025.
Join Charlie and Kiko for an offering of Deep Listening and feeling as we gather in the belly of Spring on Cortes Island. From sound baths, reflective journaling, meditative movement practices, and Somatic Dreaming® - we venture to explore and expand our relationship to ways of listening, receiving, and generating…
Deepening Tranquility and Insight: A Silent Meditation Retreat
With Celeste Young
May 30 - June 4, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 28, 2025.
During this silent meditation retreat, we will focus on practices that calm the mind and awaken the heart to support the deepening of insight and inner freedom. “One can’t gain profound insight without profound calm.” -Ayya Khema A silent meditation retreat offers us the unique conditions to allow the mind…
Skymind: Sacred Land, Sacred View
With Lopöns Pieter Oosthuizen and Charlotte Rotterdam
May 30 - June 4, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Feb 28, 2025.
"Anyone who is interested in learning how to practice open awareness has come to the right place." -Skymind Participant Immerse yourself in the profound nature of mind teachings of Buddhism, with transformational practices inspired by the great 11th century Tibetan yogini Machig Labdrön. Relaxing your body onto the earth, gazing…
Activate: Digital Leadership 2025
With Hollyhock Leadership Institute and Khari Wendell McClelland
June 4 - 8, 2025
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off campus rates! Offer valid until Feb 28, 2025.
Join the sharpest digital minds from political and advocacy campaigns, creative agencies, and progressive causes, for four days of hard-skills training in digital tactics and leadership. Gain clarity on how to intelligently activate your organization from the inside, and crack the code to engaging your target audience to win campaigns,…
Love Actually: Learning to Balance Power and Love
With Deepa Narayan, Eric Mulholland and Peggy Taylor
June 8 - 12, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 9, 2025.
Hollyhock’s core purpose, since its origin, has been inner transformation for outer change in community with others. A place for body, mind and spirit renewal. This workshop draws from mystics, philosophers, neuroscience, psychology and community arts practices to explore the ideas of power and love as the foundational drives of…
Dance of Connection
With Bettina Rothe
June 8 - 13, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 9, 2025.
Come home to yourself, find connection and nourishment in community, and with the land. Together we take refuge in our primary language "rhythm", and find belonging in the dance. Expand your repertoire of how you can connect with others on the dance floor and in life. Release old patterns of…
Places, Sounds, Portals, Worlds: A Soundscape Ecology Immersion
With Rebecca Bruton and Edzi’u
June 8 - 13, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 9, 2025.
Open new portals to creativity and collaboration amidst the planetary spheres of sound, music, and landscape. In this interdisciplinary eco-arts residency, participants will be introduced to conceptual ideas about collaborating ethically with landscapes and soundscapes, and learn a variety of approaches for generating sound, music, text, and performance compositions with/in…
Qi Medicine: A Silent Qigong and Tea Ceremony Retreat
With Stephanie Nosco and Catherine (Cat) Reynolds
June 13 - 18, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 14, 2025.
Experience the medicine of qigong, tea, and nature on this transformative inner journey back to yourself. Join Qigong teacher, author, and psychotherapist Stephanie Nosco, alongside tea ceremonialist Catherine Reynolds, for this special silent retreat that will explore the art of Qigong and the mindful practice of tea ceremony. We will…
Mindful Self-Compassion
With Megan Prager and Martin Thomson-Jones, PhD
June 13 - 18, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 14, 2025.
Application is required before registering. You may apply here. This 5-day residential program is an intensive form of the internationally recognized, eight-session Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) training developed by Christopher Germer and Kristin Neff. It is open to laypeople and professionals alike. Participants will learn to: understand the science of self-compassion,…
Coastal Foraging Adventure
With Robin Kort
June 18 - 22, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 19, 2025.
Forage for wild food and cook with professional forager, cookbook author and sommelier Chef Robin Kort of Swallow Tail Culinary Adventures. Connect to the food of the coastal ecosystem on Cortes Island from forest to sea. Foraging at the sea tunes your senses to the ebb and flow of the…
Unwind: Yamuna Body Rolling & Essential Somatics
With Namchi Bazar
June 18 - 22, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 19, 2025.
Release pain and restrictions for a total body awakening and rejuvenation. Explore two complementary modalities to support your journey of self-discovery and self-healing. Let go of unproductive holding patterns as you develop effective body-wellness routines that are easy to incorporate into your home practice. Focus on foundational movements that help…
Contemplative Mind, Spontaneous Brush: Ink, Colour and Japanese Washi Papers
With Heather Midori Yamada
June 22 - 27, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 23, 2025.
Relax body, breath and mind with short guided meditations and simple perceptual exercises. Follow brushwork demonstrations using Japanese sumi ink and watercolour on various Japanese washi papers (provided). Inspired by the natural beauty of Cortes Island, we will explore mixed media approaches of layering, tearing and collaging. Deep intuitive and…
Raise Your Vibe With Reiki: Levels 1 & 2
With Fleur Choy
June 22 - 27, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 23, 2025.
Awaken your healing powers and expose your light to the world. If you have felt sensitive your entire life and feel ready to fully embrace your gifts, or if you are already a healing practitioner and are seeking to diversify and establish yourself as a multidimensional healer, this training is…
Wild Soma Being and Becoming: Embodied Practices for Collective Thriving
With Andrea Nann, Julia Aplin, Roula Said and Shannon Litzenberger
June 22 - 27, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 23, 2025.
In this time of intersecting social, political, and planetary crises, how do we embrace and honour all that is arising in us as bodies? What if we listen closely to what we feel in our hearts, what we know in our bones? Can we resonate care and connection across our…
Shakti is Nature: How to Listen for the Divine Mother
With Raja Choudhury
June 27 - July 2, 2025
Hollyhock Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Mar 28, 2025.
One of the key teachings of Sri Vidya Tantra or Shaktism is that the Divine Mother, in whose womb we exist and who acts through us, speaks to us all the time, whispering in our ears through plants, animals, the water, the air and through all the people we meet. It…
2025 Canadian Psychedelic Summit
With Hollyhock Leadership Institute and Kim Haxton
August 13 - 17, 2025
Cortes Island
Book now and get 10% off campus rates! Offer valid until Feb 28, 2025.
Register for the 2025 Canadian Psychedelic Summit! What to Expect Led by facilitator and ceremonial practitioner Kim Haxton, our time together will center the embodied knowledge of Indigenous peoples, creating space for ceremony, storytelling, and connection with ourselves, one another, and the natural world. With these foundations in place, we…
Social Venture Institute 2025 – Hollyhock
With Hollyhock Leadership Institute and Vanessa Richards
September 17 - 21, 2025
Cortes Island
Save the date for Social Venture Institute 2025 happening September 17 to 21 at the Hollyhock Campus on Cortes Island! SVI is an immersive gathering of visionary leaders and social entrepreneurs, dedicated to business as a force for positive social change. Each attendee brings a commitment of social change to…