Wilderness Trip Guides

Women's Spirituality Project (WSP)

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Wilderness Trip Guides

We want you to meet the guides who would like you to join them in the "wilderness."

GUIDES

Karen Bota is an avid writer and free lance journalist. She has used writing as a part of her spiritual practice all of her life. She remembers identifying writing as a life passion as early as 1st grade. She enjoys helping others find great wisdom - mining the wilderness of their heart and soul through writing and creative pracitices. Karen is inspired by nature and all of creation and strives, daily to live fully into her life's purpose. She is currently part of a two person staff at the Leaven Center in Ionia, Michigan.

Pauline Feltner is a writer, painter, contemplative and deeply spiritual woman. She comes to this workshop not as the expert, but as a companion willing to share her love of writing, and her personal experiences with others. Pauline lives in Detroit and is a professed "city girl" who appreciates times away in the wilderness. She uses writing as one of her primary modes of expression - including for personal reflection and expression. She recently self published a book of poems entitled "Celebrating 70".

Miranda Spates is a lover of the outdoors. She has camped, backpacked, and hiked throughout her life. Miranda has infectious enthusiasm for the wilderness and for helping women to remember how strong they are. She also brings great energy to helping women to remember their connection with the earth and their Creator. Miranda brings many skills to the Wilderness Trips, including incredible flexibility, playfulness, amazing outdoor skills and great joy! She looks forward to meeting new women, and to helping them have a sense of awe and wonder as they explore the wildernesses of the earth and in their heart and soul.

Peggy Duffy has been teaching yoga and prenatal yoga for over 6 years. In addition to teaching locally (Livonia) she has hosted several yoga retreats around Michigan. Peggy has studied yoga all over the world and is always eager to learn new techniques to share with her students. With a playful sense of humor and a nurturing presence she encourages each person to bring their truth to the surface and to stretch themselves to new heights. Peggy has a wonderful combination of "old wisdom" and childlike innocence that makes her a delight to be with.

Betsy Perry came to a yoga practice in her early 50's when the aches and pains from running had caught up with her. As a nurse, she knew her lifestyle was no longer healthy for her joints. She began studying in Ann Arbor with several wonderful Iyengar certified teachers, one of whom led Betsy to the two reasons yoga has become a way of life for her: 1) yoga is a spiritual practice through the physical body; and 2) someday a yoga practice of your own will "just break out"-and it did! Betsy will bring nearly 10 years of practice to guide us in finding a balance and joy that yoga brings to the everyday experience of our physical bodies.

Debbie Wollard is her most centered in the wilderness. She has traveled with women's groups for more than 10 years and has felt drawn to leading women into the "wilderness" for the past 6. Debbie brings her love of nature, her confidence in the presence of the Spirit and her desire to remind women of their connections, with her each time she leads a Wilderness Trip. The desire to go into the woods, water, fields, and sand dunes with women, to play, to worship, to rest, to be still is a gift that Debbie feels undeniably called to offer. Re-rembering our connections to all of Creation and to the Creator is the sacred work of the women who come along and Debbie feels like it is, in part, her place to create and hold safe sacred space for that re-remembering to occur.

Special Thanks to Elizabeth Morris Downie for her support of this website.

A gracious contribution of $15 per month helps us keep you informed through the web.

For more information contact Debbie @ dmwollard63@comcast.net