RETREATS | ellenlivingston

Living Heart Retreats

FLORIDA Retreats 2023

Our Florida Retreats are highly customized, and can be a private individual guided retreat or independent stay, or a small group retreat or stay with up to 4 people. Sometimes I will offer formal dates for a structured group retreat, yet many other months of the year are open for your creation. Reach out to me and let's co-create what you desire!

Covid notes: Our focus is on enhancing and maintaining robustly healthy natural immune systems, in ourselves and our clients. We have not taken any covid shots.

I have moved to SW Florida! And I am excited to announce all-NEW, all-inclusive, uniquely customized individual and small-group retreats offered right in our home to support you on your healing journey. My partner Todd and I have a beautiful and convenient location to share with you, on a peaceful acre near parks, town, bay, and gorgeous ocean beaches.

We have room for up to 4 guests at a time in two spacious guest rooms in

Living Heart Sanctuary, in our comfortable raw-vegan home.

All of my experiences and learnings through more than a decade of designing and offering raw vegan wellness retreats, in a variety of locations in North America and Costa Rica, has brought me to a very sweet spot in SW Florida and the unique retreat vision we present to you now.

The Concept

To provide an intimate and customized experience of rejuvenation, reconnection, education and whole-person healing.
To encourage and facilitate a slower pace and a deeper practice of physical and mental mindfulness and intention which can be sustainably applied in ‘real life.'
To offer daily hands-on training and practice of naturally healthful living principles, including low-fat (fruit-based) raw vegan diet, conscious and appropriate movement and rest, earth-connection, communion with nature, fresh air and sunshine.
To ignite a whole-person cleansing and detoxifying experience.
To invite deeper self-awareness, and to build trust in the inner voice and empowered, inspired self-guidance.
To foster rewarding, authentic and sustainable connection with nature, self and others in a supportive community setting.

The Container

Living Heart Sanctuary is a genuine, comfortable healing space on 1-acre of private well-treed land we call ‘Peace Forest,’ tucked into the heart of the ‘Olde Englewood Village’ in the small town of Englewood. We are located in SW Florida, on the Gulf Coast.

Todd and I open up Living Heart Sanctuary to you, offering two beautiful, spacious side-by-side double-occupancy guest rooms that share a deluxe guest-bathroom with tub/shower. As your hosts we inhabit the other side of the sanctuary; the open-style kitchen/great-room, an additional sunrise yoga/meditation room, and a screened porch (lanai) with hot tub become our common spaces, along with the acre of land with a happy combination of shady and sunny spaces.

Our community kitchen is equipped with the tools of a modern raw vegan lifestyle including Vitamixes, juicer, Excalibur dehydrator, veggie spiralizers and more.

In our peaceful yoga room are many useful healing tools and mindfully selected exercise and therapeutic wellness equipment.

During your stay, we invite you to relax and enjoy the sanctuary space which has been designed with your comfort and healing in mind. Additionally, we supply lightweight kayaks that can be wheeled to the bay for an easy paddle, and bicycles to help you get around town and the local parks.

The Community

Caring community is a big plus in Englewood, as well as right at the Living Heart Sanctuary. We are located in the ‘Englewood Arts District,’ a primarily residential district with a special designation to encourage a variety of community-oriented work-from-home endeavors.

Just behind us neighbors Bo and Dena are developing a 1-acre food forest and entrepreneurial space. Our own food forest is coming along too!

A short block away, ‘The Open Studio’ welcomes you. This is a unique and eclectic consortium of grass-roots business, community and residential spaces that include ‘The One Stop Co-op’ featuring local organic vegan food and crafts, ‘Lemon Bay Clay’ ceramics and glassworks artist studios, a park-like community garden space filled with fruit trees and including a large fire-pit and performance stage, and small residences.

Just a few blocks around the corner is our quaint main-street with shops, cafes, live music, weekly farmer’s market (October-May) and other lively events. Several wonderful parks are also within easy walking or bike-riding distance along the shores of beautiful Lemon Bay, and our gorgeous natural Gulf of Mexico beaches are 5 miles away on the Manasota Key. We provide bikes and kayaks for your local explorations.

There is plenty to enjoy within this easy 5-mile radius, and of course much more for any participant with a car and a spirit for wider adventures in the surrounding areas, though we will encourage you to keep your days simple and focused on your rest and healing!

The Collaboration

The true bedrock of our Living Heart Sanctuary Retreats is a highly customized and collaborative, intentional co-creation with each participant. We work with you before you arrive, to help you identify your real needs and form clear intentions around them for your retreat time. This will help determine the length as well as the primary focus of your stay. We check in with you throughout your retreat to help you receive, and give, the most during your time here. We co-create a supportive and empowering harmony between guided group activities, individual mentoring and support, and independent self-chosen activities within the retreat center and beyond in the wider community and area.

In other words - we provide the supportive container and the structural framework to assist you to maximize your personal benefits. Each participant has abundant freedom within that framework to organize their time and priorities in the ways that best support their own individual needs, desires and intentions.

A typical day might flow something like this:

9am Living Movement class
10am fruit buffet and share intentions for the day
11am – 3pm open time (food available for independent preparation)
3pm guided meditation/yoga/journaling/group coaching
5pm dinner prep/food demo followed by community meal
7-9pm sunset gazing on the bay, group social time, educational discussion or video, hot tub

As you can see, there are deliberate open windows of time, including early morning and a 4-hour stretch in the middle of each day to be designed by each participant (alone or with other participants) according to their needs and goals for their retreat. Guided group activities are offered yet optional. Private mentoring or body-work sessions, as well as other special offerings can be scheduled in these open blocks of time.

There are opportunities to attend occasional formally planned group retreat offerings, or to come at other flexible times on your own schedule and timetable, either for full retreat services, or as an independent nightly guest.

Yet another option, which we would like to highlight and encourage, is to recruit your own group of 3 - 4 people, decide the focus your group desires, and receive significant referral discounts!