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WILD INDIGO FOREST FARM • NOVEMBER 7, 2026
Before the season asks you to give, come receive.
You don't have to make the magic this time. You get to experience it.
THE RECEIVING
A Forest Retreat for the Ones Who Give So Much.
The magical Cat of Cat & Owl Alchemy joins us for the day, sharing an immersive sound bath with her violin and singing bowls alongside Elise Dixie Jane.
RETREAT AT A GLANCE
Your retreat ticket includes the full day, seasonal nourishment, bodywork, aura photography, Sylvotherapy, yoga, meditation, an immersive violin and singing bowl sound bath with Cat of Cat & Owl Alchemy, creative time, live painting by Abbi of Jubilee Farm Studio, an herbal tea blending bar, the Restore Room, and a Wild Indigo herbal care package.
THE HEART OF THE GATHERING
A Day Built Around Receiving
Some people reach the holidays carrying everyone. Others reach them wondering who will carry them.
The Receiving was created for both.
Maybe you are the person who cooks the meal, remembers the traditions, buys the gifts, checks on everyone, keeps the plans moving, notices who is uncomfortable, and makes the magic happen. By the time the holidays arrive, you are already tired.
Or maybe the season is hard for a different reason. You do not have a built-in person or circle waiting for you. There may be no long list of people to buy for, no full calendar of invitations, and no obvious table where you know you belong. The world can be very social and still feel profoundly lonely.
The Receiving is a full day in the forest where neither person has to perform a role. You do not have to host. You do not have to entertain. You do not have to prove you are okay. You do not have to create the experience for anyone else.
For one day, the care moves toward you.
Food you did not cook. Conversation you do not have to carry. Ritual you did not have to create. Space you did not have to manage. Rest you did not have to earn.
This Retreat Is For You If...
- You are usually the caretaker, organizer, host, helper, emotional anchor, or person who keeps everything moving.
- You are already bracing for the holiday season and want to enter it more grounded in yourself.
- The holidays can feel lonely, tender, complicated, or strangely empty for you.
- You are tired of relationships that sound warm but rarely become real plans.
- You want more depth than small talk, politeness, or “we should hang out sometime.”
- You want to meet people without networking, performing, or forcing vulnerability.
- You need a day where choosing quiet, rest, nature, bodywork, creativity, or connection are all equally valid.
- You want to remember your own rhythms before the season gets loud.
PLANS, NOT PROMISES
We Are Making Room for Reciprocity
There is a particular kind of loneliness that can happen when people say, “I miss you,” “I want to see you,” or “we should hang out,” but the plan never comes. Warm words matter. Follow-through matters too.
The Receiving is not about collecting more surface-level contacts. It is about creating the conditions for mutuality: being seen, listening well, making room for one another, and noticing who actually shows up.
We cannot promise that one retreat will create lifelong friendship. Depth cannot be manufactured. But we can make the day different from the kind of gathering where everyone arrives alone, stays mostly alone, and goes home with another list of people they will probably never speak to again.
Connection is not measured by intensity. It is measured by reciprocity, attention, and follow-through: make a plan, keep the plan, and tell the truth when you cannot.
How connection will be held
- Gentle pairs and trio prompts early in the day, so no one has to figure out how to break into a room by themselves.
- Shared-table conversation that can move from light to meaningful without demanding oversharing.
- A listening-without-fixing practice: one person speaks, one person listens, and no one has to rescue, advise, or solve.
- Collaborative and individual activities that let connection happen beside something, rather than under a spotlight.
- Permission to step away, be quiet, or opt out without explaining yourself.
- An optional closing moment for mutual contact exchange and, when it feels right, one actual next plan instead of another vague promise.
If You Are Coming Alone
Please do. You will not be expected to figure out belonging by yourself.
We are designing the arrival, opening circle, lunch, choice periods, and closing so there are natural, low-pressure ways to meet people. You can be deeply social, quietly present, or somewhere in between. There is no requirement to arrive with a friend, partner, or built-in person.
EIGHT WAYS OF RECEIVING
Let the Care Move Toward You
These eight invitations weave through the day. They are possibilities to choose from, never a checklist to complete. You do not have to give, perform, or participate in everything to belong.
1. Nourishment
Receive breakfast, a generous power-bowl lunch, an afternoon graze board, and seasonal drinks without planning, cooking, or hosting.
2. Bodywork & restorative touch
Receive one 25-minute, fully clothed bodywork session with Kimberly Krueger or Katie Brewer. Indoor sessions include Chakra Chromotherapy lights; all touch is consent-based.
3. An aura portrait
Receive an individual portrait with Elise Dixie Jane and Wild Indigo’s custom-built Aura Camera. Curiosity is welcome, belief is optional, and being photographed is always your choice.
4. Nature & the forest
Receive time among trees, wetlands, and pond water, with an optional guided Sylvotherapy forest-bathing workshop and closing tea ceremony, weather permitting.
5. Creativity & inspiration
Receive the pleasure of watching Abbi Kay Cord paint, making art at your own pace, or creating a blend at the herbal tea bar. You do not have to produce anything.
6. Rest & quiet
Receive unstructured breathing room, a lower-stimulation option, and time in the Restore Room. Step away, rest, or choose personal leisure whenever you need.
7. Movement, breath & sound
Receive accessible yoga, pranayama, guided meditation, and an immersive sound bath guided by Cat of Cat & Owl Alchemy with her violin and singing bowls, alongside Elise Dixie Jane. Join the closing circle around the bonfire with a s’mores bar, kirtan, and reflection as you feel called, weather permitting.
8. Connection & care
Receive a place in a smaller commUnity circle, listening without fixing, shared-table conversation, and a take-home Wild Indigo herbal care package. Quiet participation and choosing to pass are welcome.
WHAT YOU GET TO RECEIVE
You Do Not Have to Make the Magic This Time
You get to experience it.
CREATIVITY THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Live Painting with Abbi Kay
Abbi of Jubilee Farm Studio will be live painting throughout The Receiving. Pause, watch a painting unfold, and enjoy the creative process at your own pace.
A glimpse of Abbi’s live painting, murals, and studio work.
THE LAND AS CO-FACILITATOR
A Forest That Knows How to Receive
The forest is not a backdrop to this retreat. It is part of the experience. The forest knows how to receive: rain, light, fallen leaves, quiet, rest, and return. Nothing here is asked to stay in one season forever.
The heart of The Receiving will be held in Knob N' Wood, Wild Indigo's retreat center. Weather permitting, portions of the gathering will move outside beside Princess Leia's Pond. The optional guided Sylvotherapy forest-bathing workshop will travel deeper through the wider Wild Indigo forest.
November brings a different kind of forest: quieter, barer, more honest. The land is already practicing release. It does not ask the trees to keep producing. It does not ask the pond to be summer.
Knob N' Wood remains the retreat home base throughout the day. Pondside and forest experiences are weather permitting, with a cared-for indoor alternative inside the retreat center.
SEASONAL NOURISHMENT
Gastronomy Is Part of the Receiving
Food is one of the major ways The Receiving will feel different from a typical retreat. This is not functional retreat fare placed out simply to get everyone to the next workshop. At Wild Indigo, gastronomy is hospitality: seasonal ingredients, fermentation, color, texture, abundance, and a table worth lingering around.
You are coming here to receive, and that includes being fed generously.
A Spacious Day, Not a Packed Schedule
The schedule is designed with choice and breathing room. You are never required to do everything. The point is not to complete a retreat. The point is to notice what you need.
| TIME | EXPERIENCE | WHAT IT FEELS LIKE |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00–9:55 AM | Seasonal Nourishment • Breakfast & Arrival | Quiche & seasonal cold-pressed juice, herbal tea and water, gentle arrival, first bodywork appointments & aura portrait windows. |
| 10:00 AM | Opening Circle | Connection, gentle movement, nervous-system reset & reflection without forced vulnerability. |
| 11:30 AM | Transition | A little room to move toward lunch without rushing. |
| 12:00–1:30 PM | Build-Your-Own Power Bowl Lunch | An abundant seasonal spread. Bodywork resumes at 12:45 PM, with aura portraits woven around lunch. |
| 1:35–3:35 PM | Guided Sylvotherapy Forest-Bathing Workshop | Optional guided hike through the wider forest with sensory invitations, slow observation & closing tea ceremony. |
| 1:35–3:45 PM | Choice & Free Time | Swim weather permitting, make art, visit the herbal tea blending bar, enjoy the Restore Room, watch Abbi live painting, rest, wander, receive bodywork or step into your aura portrait window. |
| 3:45–4:00 PM | Croissants & Afternoon Graze Board | Croissants, dips, and fresh vegetables before yoga. |
| 4:00 PM | Yoga, Meditation & Sound Bath with Cat | Accessible yoga and breathwork, guided meditation, then an immersive sound bath with Cat of Cat & Owl Alchemy and Elise Dixie Jane. Cat will guide us with her violin and singing bowls. |
| 5:00–5:10 PM | Reset & Portrait Catch-Up | Bathroom / transition break & final aura portrait catch-up. |
| 5:10 PM onward | Closing Ceremony + Closing Circle | Weather permitting: closing circle around the bonfire with a s’mores bar, kirtan, reflection & integration. |
BELONGING & CARE
You Are Allowed to Choose
The Receiving is invitational, not demanding. No one has to earn belonging by being vulnerable, cheerful, spiritual, social, or willing to do every activity.
- Touch and bodywork are always consent-based; preferences and boundaries matter.
- You may opt out of any prompt, practice, share, touch, photo, or activity without explanation.
- Quiet participation is welcome.
- Dietary needs are collected before arrival so we can plan carefully and honestly.
- Aura portraits, general photography, videography, and contact sharing are consent-based.
- A quiet / lower-stimulation option is intentionally part of the day.
WHAT TO BRING
Other Than An Open Heart
- Yoga mat
- Water bottle
- Journal & writing materials
- Colored pencils, gel pens, markers, or other artsy-fartsy tools
- Optional bolsters or props
- A blanket
- Loose, comfortable clothing for bodywork
- Hiking boots
- Swimwear & towel, weather permitting
- An object for our commUnity altar
- Any instruments you wish to play and share during Kirtan
MEET YOUR GUIDES
The People Holding the Day
Elise Dixie Jane • Wild Indigo Forest Farm
Elise Dixie Jane is the creator and steward of Wild Indigo Forest Farm. A Clinical Herbalist, sustainable Earth artist, wildlife conservationist, garden designer and educator, bee-centric keeper, Sylvotherapy Guide, and Aura Photographer, she has spent 17 years as a small-business owner learning how to meet people where they are and create experiences where people feel deeply cared for.
Elise is a third-generation herbalist and second-generation Reiki Master, raised around chakra work, Traditional Chinese Medicine and a deep relationship with plant medicine.
Long before Wild Indigo had a name, Elise Dixie Jane found herself returning to wild places whenever life became too loud. The trees never asked her to hurry. Nature quietly reminded her that belonging is not something we earn, it is something we remember. The Receiving grows from that same remembering.
Megan Byler • Empowered with Megan
Megan Byler is a New Albany-area women’s empowerment and conscious-living coach behind Empowered with Megan. Her work centers on helping people reconnect with self-trust, move beyond limiting patterns, and say yes to lives that feel more aligned. Megan also leads accessible Hatha yoga and pranayama/breathwork experiences.
Kimberly Krueger, LMT • Wild Indigo Bodywork Studio
Kimberly Krueger, LMT, is the owner of Wild Indigo Bodywork Studio and has practiced Therapeutic Massage for 36 years. Her work centers on chronic pain, with a special focus on supporting people living with autoimmune challenges. Her offerings include Lymphatic Drainage, Reflexology, Reiki, sound therapy with crystal singing bowls, and Chakra Chromotherapy Lights.
Katie Brewer, MS, LMT • Ripple Health & Healing
Katie Brewer is the founder of Ripple Health & Healing in New Albany, where she offers Craniosacral Fascial Therapy and intuitive, therapeutic bodywork. With a background in exercise science and functional health, she takes a whole-person approach grounded in nervous-system support, fascia, curiosity, self-trust, and gentle hands-on work.
Abbi Kay Cord • Jubilee Farm Studio
Abbi studied Art Education at Indiana University and completed her student teaching in New Zealand. After graduation, she relocated to Asheville, North Carolina and immersed herself in its bustling art scene. She founded a local art business, taught painting classes and painted whimsical animal-themed art that captured the hearts of many. She eventually rooted back in Indiana with her family in 2019, where she and her husband, Elijah, built Jubilee Farm Studio.
Abbi's free spirit doesn't allow her to stay still for long, so she transitioned into a role as a traveling muralist, leaving her colorful mark on various locations along the East Coast, in St. John USVI, South Dakota, and in the Midwest. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Abbi is deeply committed to sustainability and animal welfare. When she's not on the road painting murals, she's home at Jubilee, taking care of her gardens and animals and teaching art classes.
For The Receiving, Abbi will be live painting throughout the day. You are welcome to pause, watch her process, and enjoy creativity unfolding around you.
Cat Moeller-Cunanan • Cat & Owl Alchemy
Catherine “Cat” Moeller-Cunanan is a musician, educator, sound practitioner, and founder of Cat & Owl Alchemy in New Albany, Indiana. A lifelong musician, she began playing guitar at the age of four under the guidance of her father before pursuing classical violin training. Throughout her career, she has performed in a wide range of musical settings, from symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles to electric violin and rock performances.
Cat earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Ball State University, along with two master’s degrees from Indiana University in Secondary Education and Educational Leadership. She also holds a Gifted and Talented certification from Western Kentucky University. After nearly 30 years as a public school orchestra director, she retired from education in 2025 to devote herself full-time to helping others through music and sound.
About a decade ago, Cat discovered the work of Tom Kenyon, whose integration of music, science, and healing inspired her to explore the therapeutic potential of sound. She earned professional sound-practitioner certification through the VSTA and later studied Vibroacoustic Therapy with Kate Kunkle of Costa Rica. To her knowledge, she is the only practitioner in Southern Indiana formally trained in this specialized modality.
Cat founded Cat & Owl Alchemy to create spaces where sound, intention, and commUnity come together to support relaxation, restoration, and personal well-being. She offers private sound and vibroacoustic sessions, commUnity sound baths, retreats, corporate wellness experiences, and educational programs. She currently facilitates monthly sound baths beneath the historic dome of the Parthenon in New Albany.
In addition to her healing work, Cat is expanding Cat & Owl Alchemy with the opening of Southern Indiana’s first plant-based apothecary refillery, providing environmentally conscious refill products that reduce single-use plastic while supporting healthier homes and a healthier planet.
For The Receiving, the magical Cat will be joining Elise Dixie Jane and our retreat circle for the day, guiding everyone through an immersive sound bath with her violin and singing bowls. Settle in, get comfortable, and let yourself receive.
WIDENING ACCESS
Our Scholarship Places Have Been Gifted
Both full scholarships for The Receiving on November 7 have now been awarded. Applications and nominations for this retreat are closed.
We are grateful to everyone who applied, nominated someone, or helped this invitation reach our commUnity. We look forward to welcoming our scholarship guests into the circle.
Access and belonging remain at the heart of Wild Indigo. If a scholarship would have made this day possible for you, please know that you are still part of this commUnity. Thank you for being here.
OPTIONAL FOREST CAMPING • NOVEMBER 6–8
Choose Your Receiving
Make the retreat a slower forest weekend. Each option below adds one retreat ticket and the selected camping stay directly to your cart.
Applicable tax is calculated at checkout.
HOW WE HOLD SPACE
The Agreements We Gather With
Before we sit together, we make a few simple promises to one another. The Receiving is a place to be present, not to perform.
We speak from the heart. Share from your own experience. There is no need to find perfect words or turn a tender moment into a lesson.
We listen fully. One voice at a time. We allow each person to finish without interruption or side conversations.
What is shared in circle stays in circle. Please do not repeat others’ stories or identifying details outside the group. We all agree to respect privacy, though no group can guarantee absolute confidentiality and safety concerns may require appropriate help.
We do not try to fix one another. Listen without unsolicited advice, judgment, interpretation, or comparison. Sometimes being heard is enough.
You always have the choice to pass. Speak, listen, sit in silence, step outside, or rest. You never have to share a personal story to belong.
Consent comes first. Ask before hugs, touch, partner activities, bodywork, adornments, photos, or videos. You can decline or change your mind at any point.
Everyone belongs as they are. Respect different identities, beliefs, experiences, emotions, and ways of participating. Leave assumptions and judgment outside the circle.
We make space for every voice. Be mindful of how much time you take, invite rather than pressure, and let quieter voices join on their own terms.
There is no right way to receive. Laughter, tears, silence, and stillness are all welcome. There is no expectation to feel or heal in a particular way.
We protect one another’s privacy. Do not record, photograph, tag, quote, or share someone else’s experience without their specific permission. Circle conversations are not content.
Care for yourself, one another, and the land. Honor your physical, emotional, and sensory needs. Take breaks, ask for accommodations, and treat the space with care.
Come as you are. Listening quietly is participation, too.
A FEW THINGS YOU MAY BE WONDERING
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to come with someone?
No. Coming alone is explicitly welcome. The day is structured so solo guests have gentle ways to meet others without being pushed into networking or forced sharing.
Do I need retreat experience or a spiritual background?
No. Curiosity is enough. You are not required to identify with any spiritual practice or belief to participate.
Do I have to participate in every activity?
No. Choice is part of the design. You may rest, step out, be quiet, or opt out of any activity, touch, prompt, or group share.
What if I do not want bodywork?
Bodywork is included and offered, never required. Touch is consent-based. You may decline or change your mind.
Where will bodywork take place?
The indoor studio at Knob N' Wood and Hummingbird Haven is the guaranteed bodywork setting. If November weather is comfortable, an optional outdoor studio beside Princess Leia’s Pond may also be available. Warmth, comfort, privacy, and consent come first.
What if the weather is bad?
The retreat itself is based in Knob N' Wood. Pondside experiences, the wider forest, and the bonfire closing are weather permitting. A cared-for indoor alternative will be available.
Will there be enough food, and are there vegan / gluten-free options?
Yes. Seasonal nourishment is a major part of The Receiving, and substantial vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free-friendly choices will be clearly identified.
Can dietary or accessibility needs be accommodated?
Please tell us what you need. Dietary, sensory, mobility, and accessibility needs will be collected before arrival so we can plan honestly and carefully. For strict observance, celiac disease, or severe/anaphylactic allergies, we will confirm sourcing, preparation, and cross-contact requirements in advance.
How does the aura portrait work, and do I have to be photographed?
One aura portrait with Elise Dixie Jane is included and captured with Wild Indigo's custom-built Aura Camera. Portraits are scheduled in short windows throughout the day. Aura photography, general photography, and videography are consent-based; you may decline. Read the story behind the Wild Indigo Aura Camera →
Is the retreat only for people who love the holidays?
Not at all. The Receiving is also for people who find the holidays lonely, complicated, grief-filled, overstimulating, or simply not very meaningful. You do not have to pretend the season is joyful to belong here.
BEFORE THE SEASON ASKS YOU TO GIVE
Come Receive.
You don't have to make the magic this time. You get to experience it.