RISING IN HARMONY
Postponed
Sacred Cacao Ceremony ~ Sound Bath ~ Cold-Water Dipping Talk ~Psychic Readings ~ Creative Inspiration ~ Ceremonial Fire
* Sacred Practices for the Soul
* Deep Healing & Renewal
* Community & Connection
Your Healers for this experience:
Leslie Fraser Breneman
Leslie Fraser Breneman is an intuitive, expert-level Myofascial Release Therapist trained by John F. Barnes, the Master and Founder of Myofascial Release™.
Leslie is the current steward of Rivermede, has respected the land and the home by reviving the gardens that existed centuries ago, and has renovated many areas of the home and barns – while honoring the abundant and rich history that exudes from every corner.
Leslie started her odyssey hosting retreats in 2024, when she hosted Molly McMillan's "Power Retrieval Retreats" at Rivermede Retreat and instantly saw the benefits of bringing community together for healing in an intimate and safe setting. In 2025, she began to assemble healers from her growing network for day-long retreats and creating retreats quickly became a passion. She looks forward to cultivating more retreats for 2025, after seeing and hearing the deep benefits that participants experienced.
Leslie looks forward both to hosting this deeply healing and inspiring event, as well as leading you into your healing journey with a Sound Bath.
Ellen Adams
Ellen Adams is a Certified Ceremonial Cacao Practitioner, Retreat Facilitator, Licensed Professional Counselor and Reclaiming Tradition Priestess. Ellen offers guided journeys in a retreat setting, working exclusively with Keith’s Cacao through her company, River Oaks Cacao. The psychoactive qualities of cacao enhance our ability to connect to our heart space to get clarity on answers we may be seeking. Keith’s Cacao is a high spirit cacao, grown and tended sustainably, ethically and lovingly near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. During this shamanic ceremony, together we drink a delicious cup of cacao, then experience a guided meditation and journey with music. This combination is grounded yet expansive, heart-opening mix, opening doors to dimensions of intuitive knowing, and a sense of release and peace.
To these journeys, Ellen brings her many years of experience as a psychotherapist, as well as her devotion to her spiritual path that focuses on earth-based spirituality, social justice, and personal growth. Some of Ellen’s passions include connection to her cold-water dipping community, abundant time in nature, cultivation of “quiet mind” time, and seeking joy, laughter! & delight!
instagram at @ cacao journeys
540/671-3187
Christina DeSoto — Psychic Medium & Healer
For many years seekers have been gently drawn to my practice. It is a sacred honor to sit with each soul who crosses my path and to hold space for healing, guidance, and remembrance. I am a natural-born psychic medium, grateful for the gifts I was given and humbled to share them in service to others.
In 1996 I founded Visita Soul Healing Sanctuary, a compassionate container for transformation. I offer psychic mediumship, tarot, past-life regression, shamanic and archangel healing, energy work, pet psychic services, therapeutic bodywork, and spiritual business advising supporting adults, children, and beloved animals.
From a very young age, I felt the presence of higher guidance shaping my life. My mission is to bring comfort, clarity, and a new way of seeing one that opens the heart, fosters deeper understanding, and invites harmony into everyday life. With love and reverence, I guide others back to their truth and help them remember the radiant soul they are.
“Illuminating souls, one heart at a time.”
Amy Hopkins, RN, BSN, LMT, E-RYT
Amy Hopkins has dedicated her entire career to supporting women’s health.
Over the last 28 years, Amy has worked as a Women’s Health Nurse, Licensed Massage Therapist, Yoga Teacher, Business Owner, Community Leader, Mental Health Advocate and Professional Speaker.
In 2021, Amy founded Saltwater Mountain Co. with the tagline, “Dip Down to Rise Up” - a powerful and timely cold-water dipping movement that serves as the basis for The Saltwater Mountain Woman Retreats.
With a special love for and understanding of the science and magic of cold-water dipping, Amy is a true leader and passionate teacher of this practice for self-care, deep presence, breath awareness, nervous system insight, reinvention of self, embodying the feminine and embracing inevitable change.
In 2024, Amy returned to her nursing roots and became Clinical Nursing Director of Women’s Mental Health and creator of The W.A.V.E. Program at R.I.S.E. Integrated Mental Health in York, Maine, where she continues to work with her underlying philosophy of empowering women, supporting mental health and building community.
Amy's specialty in all her work is creating safe spaces where women feel welcome, seen, heard and empowered.
Cold-Water Dipping: Introspections on the Science and Magic.
Amy Hopkins will creatively deliver a group experience focusing on education and connection around the importance of cold-water therapy and community - why they exist and how they can help us thrive. Although we won’t be dipping, you will have an experience and leave equipped with the mindset (and the schedule!) to begin this practice in your own time, in your own way.
John Breneman
A writer since birth, John Breneman loves using words to create stories, pictures, movies, laughter, tears, reflections and connections.
John is a journalist, humorist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter and strong editor whose work has helped shape the work of countless newspaper colleagues.
He is the author of the dark humor/suspense novel “A Man of Remarkable Restraint.” His short film “Bicycle Time Traveler” appeared at the 2024 New Hampshire Film Festival.
Creative Inspiration — Writer, coach, editor John Breneman offers a pep talk for your Inner Creator; and shares a morning meditative, creative exercise that offers a pathway to enhanced clarity and creativity.
We will close our day with a ceremonial fire, releasing what no longer serves, and inviting in that which we wish to manifest.
27 SEPTEMBER 2025, 11 AM - 5 PM
RIVERMEDE RETREAT
230 Southside Road, York
Cost Per Person $222.
Call Leslie for additional info: 207-994-9050