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Photo: Stephen Martin MD
2025 Retreat Dates
2025 Retreat Dates
Friday, April 4th - Sunday, April 6th, 2025
Friday, April 4th - Sunday, April 6th, 2025
Friday, November 7 - Sunday, November 9, 2025
Friday, November 7 - Sunday, November 9, 2025
Plainfield, Massachusetts
An invitation from Ari Kriegsman, MD
An invitation from Ari Kriegsman, MD
March 2025
It’s been a dark couple of months. Thankfully in the natural world, the light is coming back.
The next Seasonal Sabbatical is coming up April 4-6th and we still have spots left.
To me these peer-led retreats for healthcare workers really are the antidote to the challenges of life in 2025.
Join us for:
A Quiet Pause
Time in Nature
Yoga
Breathwork
Amazing Meals in a Beautiful Space
Time alone/Time together
The first signs of spring in the Western Massachusetts Hills
I hope to see you soon,
Ari Kriegsman MD
************
Seasonal Sabbatical
Maybe one day the healthcare industry will realize the value of sabbaticals and figure out ways to make them happen. In the meantime...we have weekends🙂 !
This weekend "sabbatical" uses evidence based tools to help us slow down.
To notice the pauses.
And in those pauses, to remember who we are, and why we do the work that we do. It will leave us feeling like we have had a 2 week vacation, with freshness and space as we return back to our lives.
It will be fun, simple, surprising, and refreshing.
We have had 3 Seasonal Sabbaticals to date, and they honestly have felt like revelations.
Read on for more details and testimonials of healthcare workers who have attended our retreats.
Retreat activities
Retreat activities
Time in nature, breathwork, mindfulness and yoga are some of my favorite ways to heal and re-energize.
Yoga, mindfulness and time in nature are forms of self-care that you've likely heard of.
Breathwork may not be. But it's a fascinating modality and quite useful for quickly accessing different frames of mind.
The weekend will weave these evidence- based practices together with ample down time to leave your relaxed and refreshed.
To read some interesting articles on the rationale and evidence base for these modalities, check out these links here:
Nature
Nature
Yoga
Yoga
Breathwork
Breathwork
Study - Holotropic Breathwork Can Occasion Mystical Experiences in the Context of a Daylong Workshop
No experience necessary!
As a facilitation team we gear our sessions for complete beginners, while also offering content that will challenge the more experienced participants among us.
Photo: Ruby Kriegsman
Facilitators
Facilitators
I'm so excited to welcome two expert teachers to help me facilitate the retreat.
Harrison Blum
Harrison Blum
Harrison Blum, MDiv, M.Ed, helps others cultivate wonder, insight, and resilience through chaplaincy, mindfulness, and breathwork. He has published on topics including mindfulness with psychiatric inpatients, meditation access for low income people of color, and fusions of Buddhism with dance. Harrison has served as director of religious and spiritual life at Amherst College since 2018. Learn more about Harrison here.
Robin Shaw
Robin Shaw
Robin Shaw is a yoga teacher, life coach and bodyworker of over 25 years, sharing her passion and knowledge in settings ranging from one on one, to small groups to national as well as international retreats . Learn more about Robin here.
Ari Kriegsman
Ari Kriegsman
Ari Kriegsman MD FASAM is an Internist, Addiction Medicine Doctor, and Yoga Teacher.
The location
The location
Nine Mountain Retreats is a lovely, warm, and welcoming place, owned and run by close friends of mine. It feels in many ways like a second home to me.
It is slightly rustic in the sense that there are 3 shared bathrooms, and most of the rooms are shared accommodation.
Trust me that it is a special and comfortable place. There are 100 acres of hiking trails, and there are some gorgeous hikes nearby. It has a large hot tub (bring your bathing suit), lots of sweet reading nooks, and wonderful meals cooked by our host and good friend Robyn O'Brien. She's a master cook and very capable of addressing any dietary restrictions you may have.
Logistics
Logistics
The retreat will be limited to 12 participants. You can RSVP to me here: arikriegsman@gmail.com
Cost: $600-$1200.
It is a strong value of ours to keep this accessible to those who may be experiencing financial hardship.
We will continue to offer 2 BIPOC scholarships and 1 trainee scholarship that will be "pay what you can".
If the rates feel like a struggle, PLEASE reach out to me directly and we will see what we can do to accommodate.
For those who have more means, paying the higher end will help us remain sustainable while providing vital access to a more diverse group of people.
Please send payment by Paypal (arikriegsman@gmail.com) or Venmo (@Ari-Kriegsman) to reserve your spot.
Cancellations will be taken on a case by case basis- please reach out to Ari if something arises.
*There will be 2 additional pre/post pieces of the experience that our first participants found very useful:
1 Hour Pre-Retreat Zoom in the week prior to begin creating the container, setting intentions, and connecting with each other.
1 Hour Post-Retreat Zoom 2 weeks after to help integrate the experience
Testimonials
Testimonials
Photo: Ruby Kriegsman
"I left this retreat feeling more alive and inspired. I entered with an open mind and left with a heart full of gratitude, an energized body, and with big thoughts on how to connect deeper to my own purpose. The experiences I had and the connections I made (with others and within myself) reignited a lasting spark in me."
-Robert Roose, MD
President Mercy Medical Center
"One of the special elements of this retreat was the threads that connected us and the openness of everyone. For me, feeling safe and free from judgment or performance pressures allowed for a greater sense of liberation and vulnerability which could bring deeper realizations and maximal benefit. I have often engaged in practices and retreats solo, which are wonderful, but this felt special in striking the balance of being a group and personal experience, familiar yet uncomplicated by prior relationships. It was incredibly natural, and thus a true space to heal or open further."
-Physician
"Great experience in the mountains with healthy food, balanced downtime and plenty of activities to learn more about the benefits of meditation, movement and time in nature. I enjoyed yoga and breathing meditations that welcomed the beginner in me! This retreat provided a much needed mental and spiritual space to release my burn out and reconnect with my purpose as a wounded healer. Loved the experience and will do it again for sure!"
-Edna Rodriguez, PsyD
Director, Behavioral Health, Mercy Medical Center
"As healthcare providers, we listen to the terrible hardships of our patient's lives: homelessness, hunger, violence, abandonment. No matter how tough you think you are, those stories seep into your body and mind. This retreat allowed me to acknowledge the presence of that secondary trauma and mitigate it through movement, breathwork, and mindfulness. I left feeling spacious and less hardened. "
-Ruth A. Potee
Family Physician - Addiction Doc
"I did not know that I needed this. I am so grateful to have had this rare opportunity for reflection and meaningful connection to others in an incredibly safe and special space. The facilitators were amazing and thoughtful, helping to create a comfortable and warm environment in which we could be vulnerable. I came with no expectations and little experience in this type of retreat and left full of joy and perspective."
-Emily Tixier, MD
Clinical Fellow (PGY-4) in Addiction Medicine, MGH
"I was not sure what to expect when I signed up for the sabbatical but I knew I needed time to step away and do some deep work in myself, and just slow down and find my grounding. The experience exceeded my expectations and felt like a really special time for self-care, and a bonus of surprisingly beautiful connection to others. Ari and the facilitators did a wonderful job curating a really special weekend.
I could not recommend this more and hope to come back again."
- Physician
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