Book now and get 10% off accommodation prices. Offer valid until Jun 1, 2025.
  • Private Cabin Oceanfront – CAD $4,355.00
  • Single w/ensuite Oceanfront – CAD $3,355.00
  • Single w/ensuite – CAD $3,155.00
  • Single w/shared bathroom – CAD $2,730.00
  • Couple w/ensuite Oceanfront – CAD $5,295.00
  • Couple w/ensuite – CAD $4,900.00
  • Couple w/shared bathroom – CAD $4,505.00
  • Twin w/ensuite oceanfront – CAD $2,650.00
  • Twin w/ensuite – CAD $2,450.00
  • Twin w/shared bathroom – CAD $2,250.00
  • Three-share w/shared bathroom – CAD $2,045.00
  • Women Dorm – CAD $1,800.00
  • Male Dorm – CAD $1,800.00
  • Mixed Dorm – CAD $1,800.00
  • Tent Site Single – CAD $1,775.00
  • Tent Site Couple – CAD $3,300.00
  • Commuter – CAD $1,600.00
  • All Packages Include CAD $1,475.00 Tuition and meals

Date & Time Details:
Program begins: August 31, 2025
Program ends: September 5, 2025
Click here to view a sample program schedule.

Location: Hollyhock Cortes Island

Address: Cortes Island, Strathcona, BC, Canada

Package Pricing: Click Register Now to view availability of accommodations and all-inclusive pricing. For more information on accommodation types, click here.

Scholarships : Hollyhock programs are enriched by welcoming a multitude of voices and experiences that reflect global plurality. The Hollyhock scholarship program is one of the key strategies we employ to expand program access to underrepresented and marginalized communities. Click here to learn more and apply.

Terms & Conditions: For information on cancellation policies, health and safety, and to read Hollyhock’s Community Policy on Respectful Conduct, click here.

Email us about program

Essential Somatics: Free Your Movement!

With Martha Peterson

August 31 - September 5, 2025

If you have “tried everything” to relieve your chronic muscle or joint pain for the long term and have only experienced short term relief (or none at all), then this 5-day immersion is for you. Come and learn how to restore freedom of movement, resolve chronic muscle tension, so you can live more fully.

Eliminating muscle pain, stiffness, and the feeling of ‘getting old” starts with the brain. Trauma, stress, and postural compensations and habits change the way the brain senses and moves us, and how we experience ourselves on a physical and emotional level. The good news is that you can change that.

An all too common myth is that limited movement, disability, and pain is the inevitable result of aging. In reality, it is the way in which we unconsciously adapt to the stresses of our lives – the accidents, injuries, surgeries, and emotional and psychological stresses – that determines whether we become “creaky and old” or maintain our physical freedom, self-awareness, and independence. The choice is yours. To learn to maintain freedom of movement requires a new perspective on movement, ourselves, our habits, the brain, and how it controls us from the inside out.

Join Martha Peterson, author of the book, Move Without Pain, in a course that will shift your perspective on your body, your movement, and your life. She will teach you gentle, yet profoundly effective Somatic Movements that will liberate you from movement restriction as you discover your own areas of tension and “stuckness” in your body.

In this highly experiential and interactive course you will learn:

  • The root cause of most chronic muscle tension and pain (and what to do about it)
  • Gentle Somatic Movements that will retrain movement and muscle function
  • How trauma, daily movement habits, and reflexive responses to stress disconnect us from our bodies and contribute to chronic pain
  • How low back pain, neck, shoulder, hip and joint pain, anxiety, headaches, and restricted movement can be reversed
  • How our thoughts, emotions, and physical stresses create either restriction and pain, or freedom and ease in the body
  • How to lengthen muscles and improve muscle function – without stretching
  • A basic routine of easy, safe, and profoundly effective Somatic Movements that, when practiced daily, restore muscle control, improve self-awareness, eliminate chronic muscle pain, and keep you moving freely in your chosen activity for the rest of your life.
  • How to integrate what you’ve learned in such a way as to take your learning into your life with fun integrative activities.

Testimonial

“Martha Peterson is a fantastic presenter. She is a master at using analogies and descriptive language, and breaks down concepts beautifully so they can be understood by all. She is REALLY dedicated to helping her students.” – S. Bewza

“Martha is very kind, attentive, wise, intuitive. It was a wonderful experience.” – past participant

Daily Schedule

A detailed schedule will be emailed to you about 30 days prior to your program. Click here to view a sample program schedule.

 

Presenter

Martha Peterson
Martha Peterson is a Certified Clinical Somatic Educator and leader in the field of Somatic Education. She is the author of the book Move Without Pain, and founder and CEO of Essential Somatics®. Martha heads a growing faculty of Clinical Somatic Educators who present Essential Somatics trainings, retreats, and seminars…
Learn more about Martha Peterson