Fall Retreat Instructors

Erin Pfahler is a teacher and a graduate student in the creative writing program at Ohio University. As a lover of movement, this has naturally seeped into her work as a writer forging her interest in writing (from) the body.  Yoga is the primary movement practice she engages with in regular personal practice and shared classes that she offers in several settings in Athens, Ohio. Her official training ranges from the initial Vinyasa Yoga training she attended in 2015, to Mind Body Solutions Adaptive Yoga Training, Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Training and Accessible Yoga Training along with additional workshops in the practices of Body-mind Centering, Authentic Movement and various dance modalities. She is a mover and artist creating interdisciplinary works of nonfiction writing, dance, film and collage surrounding the themes of connection, relationship and the body.  www.erinpfahler.com 

Sam Emerson Bodary is the main songwriter of Hello Emerson — an indie-folk band out of Columbus, Ohio. Their songs have been featured in Rolling Stone Germany, The Washington Post, and in Maggie Smith’s NYT bestseller, You Could Make This Place Beautiful. With comparisons to The Mountain Goats, Andrew Bird, Bright Eyes, and Sufjan Stevens – their debut record was heralded as “the sublime intersection of the best American indie-folk bands.” Stateside, their sophomore record was recognized by Columbus Alive as the best local release of 2020.

He writes songs to ease loneliness in himself, his community, and people he may never meet. He is a former middle school teacher and works in youth programming at his local library.

www.helloemerson.com

Award-winning singer-songwriter Megan Bee writes with an unquenchable wanderlust and a raw love for the land. Her lyrics are woven with imagery and metaphor from the natural world.  She loves connecting people to their environment and nurturing their own expression through creative writing.  She has over 15 years’ experience teaching environmental education, songwriting workshops, library programs, school residencies, and various summer camps.  She has released five albums of original music and toured coast to coast.

www.meganbeemusic.com  

Wendy McVicker has been writing all her life.  She was appointed poet laureate of Athens, Ohio in 2020.  She has worked for years as an Ohio Arts Council teaching artist, infiltrating schools, libraries, arts centers, and senior centers.  Her children dubbed her “warrior poet,” for her dual passions of poetry and karate. Her poems have appeared numerous journals in print and online, including Still: the Journal, Pudding Magazine, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, and Sheila-Na-Gig; and in anthologies, including A Ritual to Read Together: Poems in Conversation with William Stafford; Women Speak; and most recently The Boom Project: Voices of a Generation. and in three chapbooks: the dancer’s notes (Finishing Line, 2015), Sliced Dark, a collaboration with artist John McVicker (2018), and Zero, a Door (The Orchard Street Press, 2021). Her favorite publication may have been on an Athens Public Transit bus, seeing her poem “In Summer” roll around town in a gigantic and colorful font!

Molly Jo Stanley (they/she/we) is deeply enchanted by our miraculous existence. For over half of their lifetime, they have been immersed in the studies of regenerative stewardship practices - exploring how becoming more attuned to the world, communities, and bodies we inhabit can enrich our lives in limitless ways.  In decades of wandering, they have collected their share of diplomas, certificates and degrees in Natural and Historical Interpretation, Yoga teacher training, Permaculture Design, Herbalism, Wilderness guiding, and a Masters of Education in Mindfulness and Sustainability.  They’ve explored a gamut of livelihoods - learning, living, and teaching in a myriad of biomes as a wilderness trip leader, herbalist and yoga practitioner, farmer, sustainability director, traveling musician, ecstatic dance organizer, and environmental advocate.  Ultimately, their work is rooted in stories – in listening to and sharing them. It is through the stories we learn, believe, and tell that we shape our world. Jo grows increasingly curious as to how we can shift our narrative from that of separation to one of connection and belonging. In rekindling inseverable connections to ourselves, each other, and all beings, Jo seeks a path toward an equitable, resilient, and vibrant future.

https://adventuresinnourishment.wordpress.com

Lawrence R Greene is the founder of Ugata: drum and dance. It was started as a way to connect Southern Ohio with Pan African culture. Ugata is the study of a set of rhythms from the African diaspora.  Lawrence provides programs, classes and performances mostly in southern Ohio and West Virginia. He was a co-founder of Rising Appalachian Warriors, youth education camp. He was also lead naturalist at Highlands Nature Sanctuary and The Wilds. https://www.facebook.com/ugatas