Classes Session 2 • May 22-25, 2026
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Welcome to The Body Temple... where we bring together the raw materials of water, salt, clay, oil, and herbs to transmute them with our love, energy, time and hands... into actual physical care for one another. Foot soaks, salt scrubs, rubs, massages, masks, scalp and head stimulation, hair oiling, emotional sharing, touching and being touched. A space to gather, to give and receive, to regulate, to nourish and be nourished, to release, to reconnect with our skin, muscle, fascia... to bring ourselves into coherence and recognize that we are our own healers.
Tools, supplies, materials and support provided, but the healing is in our hands. This is a time and space where self-care and community-care co-create the movement of physical tension, emotional holding, and nourishes the tissues and supports health and wholeness. Let’s ignite our capacity to bring the healing home, find the empowerment we need to offer our bodies the gift of self-care in our daily lives in a new and committed way.
Sleep... the elusive need we all have. The mystery of why we sleep is not yet unraveled by science, and still, we all know in our bones how badly we need it. Maybe you sleep okay, maybe you’d like to sleep better? Maybe you’ve just never slept well at all. In this class we’ll talk ALL things sleep, from what the stats say, to specifics about how poor sleep or lack of sleep can affect our overall health; we’ll go in-depth about numerous ways that we can improve our sleep quality and duration with lifestyle adjustments as well as explore the meaningful and magical sides of sleep. We’ll look closely at herbal simples, formulas and protocols for sleep, with everyone coming away with some kind of new information, idea or plan for improving and aligning better with this powerful aid to overall vitality.
After getting out of your vehicles, come and enjoy the beautiful welcome from the amazing green beings who open their home to us. Learn a bit of their magical attributes which they so sweetly offer us. Ground yourself in the peace and beauty of Black Oak Ranch.
Come visit our plant elders and experience their habitat and companion choices. We will discuss their preferences and needs. We'll also discuss their many gifts, and how sometimes their habitat makes them not appropriate for medicine making.
Across cultures and throughout history, scent has been worn not for decoration alone, but for steadiness, clarity, protection, and emotional balance. This class introduces the concept of functional perfume: a non-ingestive, wearable aromatic practice rooted in traditional plant use and informed by modern understanding of the olfactory system.
Participants will explore how botanical perfumes differ from commercial fragrance while offering an expanded, wearable dimension of traditional aromatherapy. Rather than replacing aromatherapy, functional perfume builds upon it, bringing aromatic support into daily life through intentional wear. Emphasis is placed on relationship, lived experience, and practical application, offering an accessible way to engage with scent as an ongoing personal practice. Each participant will create a functional perfume designed for intentional daily wear, offering ongoing aromatic support that extends traditional aromatherapy into lived, wearable practice.
Plants, Many of the plants we encounter daily through food (fruits, herbs, and spices) also communicate through scent in ways that are often overlooked. This class explores the olfactory expression of familiar culinary plants, inviting participants to engage with these botanicals through aroma rather than taste, and to recognize scent as a distinct and meaningful sensory dimension.
Participants will examine how essential oils and extracts from well-known plants reveal different aspects of plant character, memory, and perception when approached through the sense of smell. Emphasis is placed on developing greater olfactory awareness and appreciation, offering tools for noticing and interpreting aromatic qualities that exist alongside everyday experiences of food. Each participant will create an aromatic spray, inspired by familiar culinary plants, designed to support continued exploration of scent as a distinct sensory way of engaging with plants beyond taste.
Join Copperwoman in singing songs that nourish feelings of closeness and unity, and assist in raising vibration, creating a fertile ground for prayer and healing. Bask in the Divine Silence that fills the space between songs.
Copperwoman "catches" songs that emerge out of the energy and common experiences of our growing beings. They inspire us with wisdom and insights and rise from a place of core connection. The songs are easy to learn and nurture our feelings of being earth family. “Open your heart, let your voice come through, just the way you do it, nothing to compare to.” Music IS the Medicine! A safe place to sing for anyone!
We will sing Sunday morning in the kitchen area. Let's fill the food with love and good vibrations and support the kitchen volunteers who just might join in.
Cronies
Do you have an advanced care directive that will guide loved ones and medical staff in knowing your desires should you not be able to speak for yourself? If not, this class will give you important information needed to make informed decisions about how you want to be treated at the end of life. We will show you tools that are available to make your wishes clear as well as giving thought to what you want to have happen after you die. We Crones will be there to offer support to enable you to create documents that reflect your desires, values and wishes. We will share with you the California Advanced Health Care directive and the Five Wishes forms as a template to create your personal document.
The traditional Death Café’s are held all over the world. They give participants an opportunity to come together in a safe circle of sisters to openly talk about death. This format increases awareness about death in order to help folks make the most of the life they have left.
The Symposium Death Café is not a class per-se, it is a conversation. We can ask questions, find answers, share stories, explore fears and celebrate knowledge with love!
Breaking It All Down, Building It All Up: Ayurvedic Wisdom For Optimal Digestion
In Ayurveda, the health and vitality of the digestive system is the single most important factor in determining long term health. The power or capacity of our digestion, (agni) determines our ability to break down and assimilate everything we take in: foods, thoughts, ideas, emotions, substances and experiences. The digestive system also helps regulate immune function, by sorting out pathogens and toxins (called ama) as well as promoting the growth of healthy gut flora and bacteria. While western nutrition focuses on the actual foods we take in, Ayurveda looks at everything we take into our bodies on the physical, spiritual, psychological and emotional level. Learn foods, herbs, spices and yoga practices that support digestion. Learn the optimal time of day, seasons, cycles and settings for strengthening the digestive system. Includes recipes, 24 hour clock chart and interactive materials.
Jewish rituals are some of the most ancient in the world. Yet very few people know about these folk healing systems and herbalism practiced by our ancestors for thousands of years. Learn about this ancient medicine, shedding light on practices that can still be practically used in modern times! Weaving both Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions, we'll uncover the influence of the diaspora on this folk herbalism. We'll begin with the concepts of herbal energetics and Jewish herbalism, sharing information on why this knowledge is more “lost”, and reviewing many herbs that have historically been used for healing and with spiritual significance.
While this class focuses on Jewish practices, it’s truly meant for all people to learn about - inclusive of all spiritual and religious belief systems!
Over 40% of the global population will experience gut health issues at some point during their lives. Let's use nature to heal that! This will be a beginner class that talks about the mind-gut connection and the gut as our “second brain”, providing powerful every-day tools that we can use. We'll blend herbalism with nutrition, somatic practices, atomic habits and growth mindset techniques. We'll learn how to identify patterns of illness around digestion, and all the organ systems that correlate to it. Then we'll dive into powerful herbs for IBS + IBD, and gut-restorative intuitive eating. Hands-on crafting: we'll get to craft our own gut-friendly tea blend to bring home!
Maria shares her knowledge and experience working with herbs, roots, and seeds sacred to the Indigenous cultures of Mesoamérica. Through ancient stories, cantos, laughter, y recetas, Maria explores the cultural and spiritual importance of cacao, maíz, tobacco, and copal for Indigenous peoples. Together, we will learn how these plant medicines are deeply woven into their histories, traditions, and daily lives. This platica invites us to reflect on how we can honor and keep these traditions alive by engaging with them ethically, with respect, deeper understanding, and reverence.
This platica is for those who feel called to reconnect with their ancestral roots and with the ancient spirits of the land they inhabit. Together we will create a safe and supportive space to deepen our connection with the womb: our own womb, the womb of our mother, the womb of our grandmother, and the generations before them — expanding outward until we connect with La Madre Tierra, the Mother of All.
By embracing our lineage — our stories, our power, and the strength carried by our ancestors — we open ourselves to the love, guidance, and wisdom they continue to offer us. Through this reconnection with our roots, we remember that their presence and support are always available to us.
Hormone fluctuations become a delicate balancing act throughout our lives, especially during the midlife years. Yet blood sugar balance is one of the most powerful and often overlooked foundations of hormone regulation. When glucose and insulin become unstable, ripple effects occur throughout the endocrine system. Women may experience fatigue, cravings, stubborn weight gain, disrupted sleep, mood swings, and increased metabolic risk.
In this class we will explore how blood sugar regulation shifts during midlife and how food, herbs, and daily rhythms can help restore metabolic balance. Drawing from both Ayurvedic wisdom and modern nutrition science, we will examine the role of digestive fire (Agni), insulin regulation, circadian rhythms, and nervous system balance. Participants will learn practical strategies for stabilizing blood sugar through food choices, meal timing, supportive herbs, and daily routines to support steady energy and hormonal resilience.
The transition from perimenopause into menopause is one of the most significant hormonal shifts in a woman’s life. During these years, fluctuating estrogen and gradually declining progesterone can influence mood, sleep, metabolism, cognition, and overall vitality. Yet many women enter this stage without fully understanding the changes taking place in their bodies. In this workshop we will explore the hormonal landscape of the perimenopause–menopause transition through both modern endocrinology and the Ayurvedic lens of doshic balance and digestive fire (Agni). Participants will learn how shifting hormones contribute to symptoms such as anxiety, sleep disruption, brain fog, irregular cycles, and weight changes. We will explore how nutrition, herbs, and daily rhythms can support hormonal resilience and help restore balance, offering practical tools to navigate this transition with greater stability and vitality.
Concerns about cognitive decline are growing as many of us witness memory loss and neurodegenerative disease in aging loved ones. The encouraging news is that many factors influencing brain health are connected to daily habits and can be supported through nutrition, herbs, and lifestyle practices.
In this class we will explore how food, herbs, and daily rhythms support cognitive health, mood stability, and memory as we age, while examining key root causes that contribute to neurodegeneration. Topics include metabolic health, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and nutrient status that influence brain resilience. Participants will learn how blood sugar balance, anti-inflammatory foods, and key nutrients support brain health. Traditional herbal allies will also be introduced for their long history of supporting mental clarity and neurological health, offering practical strategies for protecting cognitive vitality.
Within the powerful, nourishing container of our symposium, let's step into our deep dignity and fierce protectiveness together.
We will prepare with a sacred stone ritual, releasing what blocks our access to these innate qualities and reclaiming our self-worth. Then step-by-step we'll practice simple, effective skills to keep ourselves safe in potential assault situations. Our circle holds strong as we support each other in our beautiful, embodied boldness. In the Now we make these clear moves for ourselves, as well as for our ancestors, future generations and our Earth. We take this precious opportunity to honor our Lives. We are sacred blessings worth defending!
This class will go over the anatomy, function, energetics and wild happenings of the pelvic floor. We will navigate ways to identify and support the pelvic bowl in different stages of life.
Learn traditional dances from Ghana, West Africa
This beginner friendly class offers a gentle introduction to astrology through the lens of herbal practice. Together, we’ll explore how the language of the stars can help us better understand our bodies, tendencies, and patterns of imbalance. By looking at elements, planets, and the zodiacal body, we begin to see how our inner landscape reflects the rhythms of the natural world.
Rather than predicting outcomes, astrology becomes a tool for awareness, helping us recognize our unique constitution and work more intuitively with plant allies. This class invites curiosity, observation, and connection, offering a new way to listen to both the sky above and the body within.
In this playful and hands on class, we’ll explore the art of macramé through the simple, rhythmic practice of knotting. Together, we’ll create a pair of small, beautiful earrings while learning simple foundational knots that can open the door to further creative exploration. This space invites a slower pace, where repetition becomes grounding, and the act of weaving can feel like a quiet meditation. As threads come together, so does our attention, offering a moment to settle, create, and enjoy the process. No prior experience is needed. All materials will be provided, and we’ll leave with our own handmade earrings or bracelets or necklaces and the skills to continue our knotting journey.
Come join us for an evening under the late spring constellations. Guided by a green laser wand, we’ll learn to find our way around the night sky and the names of the stars and constellations, while hearing folklore from different times and cultures. We’ll meet the bright shining stars of the Twins, the Lion, Virgo, the Scorpion, and more… We will also be dosed with Essence Elixirs!
Join Nana Xochiketzalli in an Opening Ceremony on Friday at 2:00 p.m. at the center fire.
A traditional Mayan fire ceremony is run by initiated Aj'Qijab (time keepers/Spiritual Guides) and is an ofrenda/offering to the Gods/Deities. The Fire Ceremony gives life and energy to all those who take part, and we nourish our own lives by feeding Mother Earth.
Together we’ll light a fire made not from wood, but instead from candles, chocolates, flowers, tobacco, herbs, sugar, & cinnamon.
These offerings are a way of giving food and vital life force to Mother Earth. It acts as an exchange for all we take, and while we feed Mother Earth with this ofrenda, all participants also nourish themselves.
This quick ceremony will call in the ancestors, consecrate the space, and cleanse our hearts and souls as the Symposium begins.
Join Nana Xochiketzalli in a heart to heart on healing with Curanderismo. This 2 part class explores both K'iche Maya & Nahua Ancestral Medicine. La platica/the talk will open with an opening prayer, humo de copalli, and sound of the atecocolli. Part 1 is a platica/talk introducing Curanderismo and includes topics like La Curandera/x, Protocols, Ailments y los vientos/Ailments and the winds, the 20 doorways, and we close con preguntas /with questions. Part 2 begins with a Guided Journey to meet our plant guide. We will be assisted with the ancestral medicinas of the huehuetl, atecocolli, humo de copalli/copal smoke & agua florida/flower water. From there we will go over up to 10 different energetic plant properties used in Curandersimo and then finish off with self-administered barrida de yerbas /herbal sweeping.
It's highly recommended to attend part 1 if you wish to attend part 2.
Crones
Crones, come share lunch with other Wise Crones. We will discuss loving life after menopause, finding joy, appreciation, and health in our Crone years. We will also discuss our part in the Maiden’s Rites of Passage Ceremony and our own Crone’s Honoring Ritual.
This is time to reflect and share our experiences of Cronehood and our love for our Wise Crone ways and bodies. Past menopause and into memorypause, we will tell our stories. A time to make a ritual Crone Broom will follow.
Crones, come share another lunch with other Wise Crones. We will continue our plans for the Maiden’s Rites of Passage and our own Crone’s Honoring Ritual.
Join us for a quiet honoring of the loss of an unborn child through miscarriage or abortion.
Young Women ages 12-21
This class is an invitation to honor the full spectrum of who you are and who you are becoming through the creation of two sacred dolls of intention. The first represents the self you are becoming: your growth, your emerging strengths and power. You will give form to what is blooming inside you, what is calling to come forth into the light. The second doll embodies the shadow, the often hidden parts of yourself that ask to be witnessed, and held and acknowledged.
Through gentle prompts and the creative exploration of making these dolls out of natural found materials and needlefelted wool, this experience offers a space for integrating all of our essential parts into wholeness. This class is a space where you can be creative, honest and totally yourself.
By the end, you will have created two sacred self dolls which will help you gain a deeper understanding and celebration of all the essential parts that make you you.
We will learn from the wisdom of the natural world to help our growing and changing teen age. We will talk about routines and rituals for our days and our weeks to support our bodies, minds and skin. We will have materials for making our self-care routine and we will all make a personal ayurvedic body oil to take home.
Mass media and main stream culture often give the impression that women and girls can’t protect themselves. This is not true! It’s our basic nature to be able to do so and we can learn how to be the most effective. In this class we’ll learn basic principles and practices to keep ourselves safe in emergency situations. We’ll practice getting support if we’ve gone through a scary situation, so our challenges can be transformed into wisdom resources and community healing. Let’s prepare for what may come our way and grow our courage together!
Join us for a fun, hands-on Herbal Lip Balm Workshop where you’ll make your own all-natural lip balm using nourishing oils, local herbs, and beeswax. This cozy, creative class is perfect for beginners and anyone who loves DIY projects, self-care, or learning about plants. Mix, melt, customize, and decorate your own balm while hanging out, getting crafty, and exploring the basics of herbal skincare.
Welcome maidens, to the Circle of Women! Join us in celebrating the beauty and strength of this phase of your life, the time of your bloods. We will explore ideas and feelings, hear stories, make things to care for ourselves and prepare for the Maiden’s Rites of Passage Ceremony to be held Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. Any young woman who would like to go through the Maiden Ceremony must attend this class.
Mid Kids ages 7-11
In this fun playshop we will be getting to know each other through cooperative and theater games, and a symposium wide scavenger hunt. This class is designed to help the mid kids crew get to know each other and deepen friendships early in the symposium. Lets become a tribe of friends together. Please come whether this is your first symposium or you have been coming all your life. Be prepared to be silly, make new friends and learn more about the symposium land, yourself and each other.
Through story, games and observation, kids will explore the magical friendship between plants and their pollinator partners , bees, butterflies and more, who help flowers grow and gardens thrive. Then, we will create felted butterflies wands to carry the magic home.
Hey Midkids! Come join Diem Amore and her grandmother Copperwoman and create with various sizes, shapes and colors of beads. We will make a necklace, bracelet, barrette or whatever we dream up with the materials provided. There will be fishing line, magnetic clasps and crimps to finish off our creations.
This year you will learn how to finish off your creation with the crimps.
Midkids 6 years and under, please bring an adult!
Young Children
Early Morning Classes
Come start your day in prayerful connection with the sacred fire, the hearth of camp, the heart of your heart. Choose from different plants and resins to make a prayer for your life, for all of Life.
Let's come together in sacred circle for a group morning meditation. The morning is often considered a sacred time for quiet connection and renewal — a perfect time to find grounding and set intentions before the day unfolds. We will take time to focus on our breath, check in with our bodies, connect to the earth, and set personal intentions for the weekend. This gathering will include guided meditation instruction friendly to practitioners of all levels.
Zazen ("sitting meditation") is the foundational practice of zen, which includes the key elements of posture, breath, gaze, and mindfulness. This morning will entail a brief introduction to zen meditation practice, guided zazen instruction as followed by the Sōtō Zen lineage, and a silent group sit together.
"The point is to learn how to be yourself, how to be a person in the way that a stone is completely a stone." — Shunryu Suzuki, Sōtō Zen monk (1904-1971)
On our final day together, let's form a sacred meditation circle for integration and metta (loving-kindness) practice. Together, we will reflect on our experiences over the weekend, followed by metta practice in cultivating unconditional love and compassion towards oneself and others.
"If we do not know how to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves, we cannot take care of the people we love. Loving oneself is the foundation for loving another person.” — Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk (1926-2022)
We will begin by grounding and connecting with this land, our breath and body. Slowly moving into our bodies with care and ease. We will open and ground invoking earth energy with the focus of connecting with the energy of the land. We will end with connecting our voices.
We will begin by finding our breath and safely move in ways that invoke creativity, ease of movement and openness. Finding awareness and flow in our joints, sacral area including our hips and supporting ease of heart. The intention is to connect with the water element that moves within and around us, that connects and remembers. We will end with chanting.
We will begin by finding our breath and supporting our ability to discern and adapt. We will focus to sustain the ability to show up in all the inpermanice that life offers. Focusing on the areas of the belly, heart, throat, and ease the mind of our monkey mind thoughts. This class will have the intention of inspiring practitioners to keep their aim and live their soul's purpose. We will end this class with a chakra clearing meditation and chanting.
Intensives
- Community Care Circle - Ami Wruck
- Functional Perfume: Scent as Daily Practice - Carole Addison-Goyne
- Intensive: Lymphatic Breast Health ~ DeAnna Batdorff
- Sacred Metabolism: Balancing Blood Sugar & Hormones Through Food, Herbs & Rhythm - Mary Sheila Gonnella, BCHN