Medicine Walk
Medicine Walk
There is something in us that knows how to listen when we are alone in nature. The natural world invites us to slow down, to turn inward, to open to synchronicity, and to find connection, support and inspiration from the reflections that are all around us.
Held with intention in ceremonial space, this Medicine Walk day is an opportunity to lean into that knowledge, supported by a small group and the wisdom of the land.
The Medicine Walk is a day of wandering on the land, feet roaming the earth, open sky above, held by the breathing, animate world around you. You will be invited to identify a personal question or intention to explore for yourself on the land.
As you move over the land and allow yourself to be moved, you may find yourself in the presence of your own wonder, grief, joy, or longing. You may encounter something — a sound, a creature, a gnarled root, a quality of light — that resonates deeply and mirrors a deeper knowing. You are invited to follow what draws you. Follow what captures your attention, stirs something unnamed, or perhaps even disturbs you a little.
We begin and end together — in council and ritual. When we return, we gather to share our stories, allowing the experience to settle more fully into your body and bones.
Come ready to be surprised by what finds you.
“When you start to walk on the way, the way appears” - Rumi
Offering Details
Dates: Sunday, May 31st, from 10 - 4 pm MST
Location: Private land near Ward, CO (details shared upon registration)
To register: Enroll Here
Cost: $125 (sliding scale available) Contact us for sliding scale at anne-marie@somaticnaturetherapy.com.
About Your Facilitators
Anne-Marie Chmielewski is a nature-based chaplain and Somatic Nature Therapy Institute Clinical Pastoral Education intern. Her work is rooted in embodied presence, deep listening, and a love for the sacred cycles of land and season. As a nature-based chaplain, her role is to support you in exploring questions of meaning, purpose, identity, values, and belonging—especially as they arise through your relationship with the natural world. Anne-Marie offers a grounded, compassionate, and nonjudgmental space where you can reflect on your spiritual and existential journey, including your connection to land, place, ancestors, seasons, and the more-than-human world. Read more.
Austin Balfany believes healing unfolds through connection—to self, to community, to lineage, and to the living world that holds us. His work is rooted in the understanding that the body carries its own wisdom, that emotion is a form of intelligence, and that healing happens as we tend the places where connection and disconnection live within us.
Austin integrates somatic awareness, mindfulness, wilderness therapy, experiential and parts-based approaches, and brings a trauma-informed, LGBTQ+ affirming lens to his work. Drawing on years of guiding youth and families in wilderness settings, Austin is passionate about weaving queer resilience, rites of passage, and embodied connection into therapeutic spaces. He believes choice is an act of empowerment—and that joy is a brilliant, radical force. Read more.