"Reclaim Your Life" women's retreat 2022

Meet your event host! Jami is the facilitator of our "Introduction to Journaling," "Writing with Intent" and "Fostering Secure Relationships" workshops.

Jami began writing as a therapeutic process. This led to her creating a personal blog and her storytelling blog quickly followed. She is now an award-winning author, with multiple published articles in national peer-reviewed nursing journals.    

Jami has been a Registered Nurse since 2004. She founded Lighthouse Home Health Care of Cape Cod, Inc. in 2012 and currently works as a Medical Nurse Case Manager at Cape Cod Hospital's Infectious Disease and Clinical Services. She is a Certified Namah Shivaya Meditation instructor, a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach and Certified Reiki Practitioner. Jami is also a Coach Mentor for the International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching. She lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with her two children.

Meet the facilitator of our workshop, "Releasing Unresolved Emotions," Erica Sonnabend, MPA!

Erica is the owner and founder of Sonnabend Grief Support, LLC from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. As a Grief Recovery Specialist, certified by the Grief Recovery Institute, Erica helps others to connect to their unresolved grief and the unexpressed emotions surrounding deep personal loss. Through individual support or group sessions utilizing the Grief Recovery Method, Erica creates a safe and compassionate environment for emotional discovery and healing from loss to occur. 

Through her grief support practice, Erica utilizes her years of training as a Grief Coach (Institute for Life Coach Training) and her Meditation Instructor certification (Namah Shivaya International School of Yoga & Meditation) to partner with those seeking to rebuild their lives, bring awareness to their needs and discover possibilities for their future. 

In the community, Erica shares her personal grief journey while offering grief education and useful tools to those experiencing emotional pain and impactful life changes. Erica participates in talks, retreats and grief workshops to help others complete their relationships to the pain they carry and reconnect to their lives. The sweet memory of her son, Elijah Stephen, is with her in all she does.

Meet the facilitator of our workshop, "Soul Writing," Shawna Rae!

A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill's School of Journalism, Shawna held a 20+ year career as an editor and writer for companies such as Harcourt Publishing. 

Shawna is a long-time student in "A Course in Miracles" and is also an intuitive counselor. She used Soul Writing (also referred to as "Inspired Writing") to overcome an addiction to alcohol and has been sharing this gift with others ever since. 

 Shawna explains Soul Writing as this:  "Learn how to tap into your inner voice, the one that makes writing effortless and inspired. Each of us has a deep source of wisdom within us, called The Higher Self, or Christ-Consciousness, or Buddha-Nature or simply Spirit. Through meditation and prompts, you will enter into a sacred space, where your call to the divine is always answered."

Meet the facilitator of our yoga/meditation workshop "Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Self-Inquiry," Tina Gurupashna Vaughn!

 Tina is loved throughout the yoga and meditation community for her warm-hearted and genuine leadership that has changed lives. Tina is an accomplished yoga and meditation teacher with an impressive 10-year career that includes studio management, teacher trainings and advanced workshops in addition to her ongoing Gentle Yoga and Meditation classes.

 Beyond her local influence, Tina is a faculty member of the Namah Shivaya International School of Yoga and Meditation. Tina offers Meditation Teacher Training and her kirtan group, Namah Shivaya Kirtan (call and response chanting) is dedicated to bringing kirtan to the local community. 

Having been born and raised in India, she has a powerful connection with the yogic lifestyle, allowing her to skillfully bring that practice to others. 

Meet the facilitator of our crystal bowl meditation, Kathleen Warren!

A Registered Nurse, Kathleen lives on Cape Cod with her husband, and has been bringing the magic of the crystal bowls to her fans for years. Kathleen's authentic connection to the Earth, Spirit and every person she meets is evident from the moment you meet her...her peace is infectious!  

Kathleen's thoughts on crystal bowl meditation: "Sound therapy is ancient. We are awakening to ancient knowledge and crystal bowls is part of the awakening. The sounds help re-tune you from the stressful lives we live to the perfect light being we all are. As your body hears its sound, it automatically resets itself to a place of calm and wellness."

Meet our Friday speaker, Jeni Wheeler!

Jeni is the co-founder and Director of Operations of the Family Table Collaborative. Jeni has more than 20 years of experience as a successful entrepreneur and currently serves as Founder and Chief Culinary Artist of Jeni’s Joy, a boutique prepared foods, private chef, and catering company. 

She specializes as an agent of creation/change, in operational set-up and oversight, growth strategy, policy creation, and adoption of best practices. She has a passion for nutritious and delicious food and loves teaching through her online cooking show Fun with Food, in conjunction with the Cape Cod Culinary Incubator. She also serves as Vice-Chair of Leadership Cape Cod and is a 2019 graduate of their Community Leadership Institute program.

 Jeni obtained her MBA from Babson University in ‘05, with a focus on Social Entrepreneurship. A longtime resident of the North Shore, Jeni made her way to Cape Cod after suffering significant injuries in an accident and requiring rehabilitation at Spaulding. She has developed a true love for Cape Cod and the Islands and is committed to fighting to end hunger and shift the focus to nutritional security.

Meet our Saturday speaker, Tamora Israel!  

 Tamora is a Long Island, NY native and proud wash-ashore. She has been a Cape Cod resident for 15 years currently residing in Dennis Port. She is a poet, writer, performer, podcaster, public speaker, and graphic designer.  

  Tamora has showcased her performance style poetry at several open Mic nights, on and off Cape, and has hosted and facilitated several events. In September 2019, She wrote and filmed a TEDx talk on "Consent and Boundaries in a Post ‘Me Too’ Era." She performed her poetry in the “Oversoul Theater Collectives” and “The Soul Session; A funky musical comedy by The Groovalottos.” 

  Tamora is a Cape Cod Community College Theater program alumni and a proud participant in the college’s "Be Powerful" campaign. She hosts and co-hosts three podcasts: “The Uncorked Poetry Podcast”, the morning show podcast, “Coffee with T's” (with Emily Entwisle), and “Craf-T Podcast” with Emily Entwisle and Jamieson Horton.