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  • About
    • About
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    • What is Philosophical Counseling?
    • What to Expect in a Workshop
    • Rogue Philosophers Video Chats
  • Counseling
    • Philosophical Counseling with Monica
    • Counseling for Academics
    • Counseling for Gymnasts
    • Rates & Policies
  • Workshops
    • Workshops
    • Upcoming Workshops >
      • The Search for Meaning
      • Ethics & Sports
    • Past Workshops >
      • Crash Course in Ethics
      • Anger and Forgiveness
      • Nonviolent Communication
      • How to Live Philosophically
      • Buddhism
      • Buddhism in Action
      • Taoism
      • Existentialism
      • Feminism & Freedom
      • History of Sexuality
      • Ethics and Nature
      • Alienation
      • Alienation 2
      • William James: Meaning, Faith & Science
      • Philosophy of Dialogue
      • Roots of Democracy
      • Ethics of Authenticity
      • Color Conscious
  • Retreats
    • Retreats
    • Past Retreats >
      • Spring Retreats
      • Day Retreat
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Engaging Nature:
An Alternative Spring Break Retreat
for Lewis & Clark Students

Join fellow Lewis & Clark students for a three-night, Thoreau-inspired retreat to renew the spirit and consider how to live an engaged life with nature.

Where: 
TreeSong Nature Awareness and Retreat Center, a lovely, rustic cabin in a lush forested setting along the Washougal River, WA. This is the ideal place to reconnect with nature. (TreeSong is about a one hour drive from Portland, OR.)

When:
March 26-29, 2018


About Your Retreat Leader:
Monica Vilhauer, Ph.D. has been a college philosophy professor for over a decade. Her specialties are in ethics and the philosophy of communication. She is eager to expand the discipline of philosophy beyond the classroom and revive the ancient tradition of philosophy as a way of life. 

Retreat Description:
Inspired by Thoreau’s famous experiment to go to the woods to live deliberately, to live simply, and to consult nature to learn what the essence of life really is, this retreat challenges us to pare down, slow down, quiet down, unplug, and begin to look and listen to our natural environment.

We will work with Thoreau to distinguish between luxury and necessity, as well as distraction and meaning. We will think critically about popular meanings of success, and we will think creatively about how we might forge new bonds with the natural world.
  • What might it be like to reduce one’s possessions down to what one really needs?
  • What might it be like to put down the phone and laptop, and to be present with one’s own thoughts, one’s sensory experience of the external world, and other human beings?
  • How might one’s relationship with others, with nature, and with oneself change when one has a chance to live in the present?
  • What might it be like to begin to notice, and perhaps even harmonize with nature’s rhythms?
  • Which parts of our experiment might we want to incorporate back into our regular lives, and how might we do that?

Our retreat will include short readings and interactive discussions on the way Western philosophy has conceived of the relationship between the human being and nature, as well as short readings from contemporary environmental ethicists and, of course, Thoreau. We will spend plenty of time in nature -- hiking, watching, and pondering -- and we will reserve special time for silent meditation, journal writing, drawing, and campfires. 

Cost:
$300
  • Includes lodging, food, philosophy program, transportation to and from TreeSong Retreat Center, and to and from trail-heads
  • This reduced rate is made possible, first and foremost, by the generous support of the Lewis & Clark Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.  Thanks also to TreeSong Nature Awareness and Retreat Center and Curious Soul Philosophy for discounts to support this student program

Registration Deadline:
  • Registration and payment deadline: February 24, 2018. 
  • As space is limited, please apply early to have the best chance of reserving a spot for yourself.

If you are a Lewis & Clark student ready to apply for this March 2018 spring break retreat, fill out the application form below.  After reviewing your application, Monica Vilhauer will email you a registration form to fill out, and a link to pay through PayPal. 

Picture
“I went to the woods because I wished to live
deliberately, to front only the essential facts of
life, and see if I could not learn what it had to
teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived.”
(Henry David Thoreau, Walden)
Picture
This retreat will be of special interest to:
  • Individuals who want to experiment with unplugging, and with solutions to the high-stress, on call 24/7 lifestyle.
  • Individuals interested in holistic health
  • Individuals interested in simplifying life
  • Environmentalists or ecologists
  • Nature writers
  • Philosophers interested in the practical side of philosophy
Picture
Lewis & Clark Group, 2016

Philosophical Counseling with Monica Vilhauer in the news:

Article about philosophical counseling in Oprah Magazine
Oprah Magazine
Article about philosophical counseling in VICE
VICE

What Our Clients Are Saying
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"Monica meets you on every level: She’ll readily engage with any abstract ideas you have about the world or the self, and analyze those ideas with you, but she also has a way of making you feel that she viscerally understands the difficulty of the situations you’re describing. When I talk to her, I have the feeling that I’m talking to someone who is very present, who is on my side, and who has also fought to be able to live her own life on her terms."
"Conversations with Monica feel non-hierarchical. She is working through the questions with you, not diagnosing you or analyzing you."
"I get the sense that philosophical counseling for Monica is an extension of who she is. These difficult topics are a part of her own life, and she is comfortable talking about what is uncomfortable."

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