Working with materials raised, grown, and harvested from the beautiful land here in Swannanoa, this sampler course introduces students to a variety of fiber arts skills and materials. Projects may include a felted bag or plant hanger made from wool raised at the farm, coiled baskets created with pine needles and other locally gathered materials such as daylily leaves or kudzu, and a set of hand-dyed napkins using natural dyes grown in our dye garden. Together, we will learn where these materials come from, how to process them by hand, and how to transform them into beautiful, functional objects. Along the way, we will explore the histories of these practices while engaging in contemporary making.

In this weeklong course you will learn the basics of yoga and how to move with integrity and confidence in the body you live in- because your body is a yoga body! All bodies are yoga bodies because yoga is and has always been meant for everyone. All practitioners, regardless of weight, age, or physical limitations have exactly what they need to take this course because a true and transformative yoga practice is about more than the body. We will experience the basics of practice through movement, breath and meditation and most importantly, how to fit the practice to the bodies we live in. Building strength, flexibility, mobility, balance and health is not the goal ~ those are simply consequences of realizing that the body is simply the path to the soul, the depths of our own hearts. The true goal of practice is to become more deeply and wholly yourself ~ building wisdom, dissolving stress, connecting to community ~ this is how we create the more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible.

Calling all ye star-gazers, power-wielders, tower builders, dig-deepers, loyal companions, and lovers of good tilled earth. Inspired by contemplative spiritual practice across a broad spectrum of mystical traditions, this course supports a personal inquiry into how the archetypes and dramas alive in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth play out across our own interior landscapes. Students can expect to employ a wide-range of tools from the thinking, feeling, and doing Contemplative’s toolbox, including close-reading, meditating, writing, discourse, visual art practice, meditation, and integration. The process is developed to inform and sharpen our own discernment as we learn to carry out the tasks appointed to us in our lifetimes. Curiosity and courage are required as well as familiar with Tolkien’s book, The Lord of the Rings, whether that means you’ve been picking it up every September since high school or you binge listen to it for the first time the month before class commences.

This week-long mindfulness photography course invites participants to slow down and connect with the present moment while exploring the art of seeing.

This immersive course will take participants into the forests and fields of WWC to gather the wild ingredients that have flavored Appalachian kitchens for generations. You’ll learn to identify, harvest, and prepare a wide range of seasonal plants—greens, herbs, shoots, and blossoms—then return to the kitchen to transform them into deeply flavorful dishes.