Retreat IV (5-7 September 2025)
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During the final retreat of the Gifts from the Sentient Forest project, we held a series of skill-sharing sessions showcasing the considerable expertise and experience we were fortunate to have in our cohort.
Each presenter shared a skill, technique, insight, or story related to forest sentience. On Saturday morning, Francis guided the group through a forest sentience visualization, Annette introduced her podcast ‘Talking with Trees’, and Zoë spoke on cultivating multispecies awareness through macro encounters.
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On Saturday afternoon, Satu introduced the cohort to the Finno-Ugric tradition of doll-making, Mira shared her expertise on intuitive songwriting with forests, and Marjo led ritualistic play where the group created a Sacred Circle and gave offerings (words of gratitude, sounds and drawn symbols) to a tree.
On Sunday morning, Julija shared video insights and guidance in the forest and also showed the group a short video sketch whereas Mykyta discussed his work with refugees and newcomers in Finland, and Mara led an offering of group choreography for all of the cohort members who participated and all who made it possible for the project to continue. The gift took the form of a group choreography perform together outdoors.
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The final retreat offered the cohort an opportunity to discuss the following questions: What have you been working on? What are your creative goals? How has the GSF program impacted your thinking and practice? How might we continue to work together as a cohort? Where do we go from here?
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Special thanks to cohort members Annette Arlander, Zoë Koivu, Mykyta Peregrym, Julija PociÅ«tÄ—, and Mira Sunnari for contributing the following photos from Retreat IV:
