EASE to Spring 2026: Women's Retreat for Cancer Survivors

Step away from daily stress and reconnect with yourself. This three-day retreat at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort offers women who have received a cancer diagnosis a supportive space to rest, reset, and learn practical tools for living with greater health and resilience.

Through journaling, creative expression, gentle movement, and inspiring talks, participants will explore approachable, science supported practices that nurture wellness and promote peace and joy. Our faculty will guide participants in developing a personalized, sustainable plan to support their health and well being in everyday life.

Join us to cultivate joy, connection, and renewed strength.

Please join us!

Finding Our Way: Creating our Best Life. This weekend, we will use a multifaceted approach to building a life that works for us. Facilitated by trained professionals in oncology support and mind-body wellness, the retreat blends evidence-based skills with compassionate conversation. Participants will gain practical strategies for coping with uncertainty, building resilience, restoring health, and reconnecting with meaning and joy.

Finding the Good. No one would choose this journey. Yet sometimes hardship brings unexpected clarity. Can you find small silver linings — people who rose to the occasion, strengths you didn’t know you had, moments that matter more now? What have you come to appreciate most — big things or small?

A Walk Outdoors. May in the Icicle Canyon is the essence of Spring! With cool night and warm afternoons, a short visit outside will immediately feel restorative. We will take an easy walk through the forest walkways and paths to see what we might find along the way.

Optimize Sleep to Maximize Health. Sleep supports mood, physical health, and reduces disease risk. This session offers practical strategies to improve sleep quality and build sustainable nighttime habits.

Rooted, Rising, & Resilient: Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, and significant stress. We'll explore tools for building the ability to "bounce back" which can involve profound personal growth.

Shake Your Soul®. This movement practice relaxes your nervous system, energizes your body, and awakens your soul through a powerful fun movement experience for everybody set to world music.

Humor Is Good Medicine. Sometimes laughter finds its way into even the hardest seasons. Reflect on a moment of humor or lightness during your journey — what happened, who was involved, and what it meant to you. If humor doesn’t resonate, you’re welcome to share a moment of appreciation or unexpected joy instead.

Nourish to Flourish: learn targeted nutritional strategies to support blood sugar, energy, mood, hormonal changes, digestion, muscle/strength, and anti-inflammation.

Shake Your Soul with Reflection. In this session, we will build on our fun movement practice by tuning into our body’s wisdom. Increased body awareness is associated with better stress reduction capacity, nervous system regulation, and improved regulation of mood and anxiety, which can lead to decreased symptoms such as chronic pain, tension, and fatigue.

Wearable Art…create your story. Create a simple, FUN, meaningful earth stone bracelet for yourself in the company of others

A Shared Outdoor Experience. Spending time together outside on the beautiful grounds of the Sleeping Lady Resort provides opportunity for us to create meaningful connections.

Rewriting the Inner Dialogue. Cancer can change how we think and respond to everyday experiences. In this interactive session, you’ll develop and practice strategies to strengthen emotional resilience.

Creating a Personal Wellness Plan provides an intentional, summarizing checklist plan, individualized by each participant, to prioritize the key skills and concepts learned during the workshop, to immediately integrate into everyday life for optimal wellness.

Body Image & Intimacy. Changes in body image and intimacy are common and often long-lasting. This session explores physical changes such as pain, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, and shifts in self-esteem — along with practical approaches to managing these symptoms.

Restorative Qigong Practice. Qigong offers a calming way to rebuild energy, ease stress, and support whole-person healing. Suitable for all levels, this gentle session promotes strength, balance, and emotional well-being.

Fire Ceremony. Ritual has been used throughout human history to create safe and sacred space for healing in community. In this powerful ceremony, we will release what no longer serves us, and create space for new and more enlivening ways of being.

8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:30 Welcome and Introductions - EASE Cancer Foundation Faculty

9:30 Finding Our Way: Creating our Best Life - Teri Hugo Hirss M.Ed.

10:00 Break

10:15 Finding the Good - Alison Osius

11:15 A Walk Outdoors - Jill LaRue, FNP

12:15 Community Lunch

1:15 Optimize Sleep to Maximize Health - Katie Kemble, DNP

2:15 Break

2:30 Rooted, Rising, & Resilient - Chandra Villano, ND

3:30 Shake Your Soul® - Teri Hugo Hirss M.Ed.

6:00 Community Dinner

8:00 Community Breakfast

8:30 Announcements - EASE Cancer Foundation Faculty

Check-in - Teri Hugo-Hirss, M.Ed

9:00 Humor is Good Medicine - Alison Osius, MA

10:00 Break

10:15 Nourish to Flourish - Chandra Villano, ND

11:15 Wearable Art…create your story - Amanda Ward, Jill LaRue, FNP

12:15 Community Lunch

1:15 A Shared Outdoor Experience - Jill LaRue, FNP

2:15 Rewriting the Inner Dialogue - Katie Kemble, DNP

3:15 Break

3:30 Shake Your Soul® - Reflection in Motion - Teri Hugo-Hirss, M.Ed, Julia Burnham

6:00 Dinner Kingfisher

7:00 Wearable Art (finish up, enjoy tea & treats, or simply relax) - Amanda Ward, Jill LaRue, FNP.

8:00 Community Breakfast

8:30 Body Image and Intimacy - Maggie Ellins, DNP

9:30 Restorative Qigong Practice - Amanda Ward

10:30 Break

11:00 Creating a Personal Wellness Plan - Chandra Villano, ND

11:30 Fire Ceremony - Teri Hugo Hirss M.Ed, Julia Burnham

1:00 Adjournment

Registration includes breakfast each day, lunch and dinner Friday and Saturday, and all supplies. If you have a journal you wish to use, bring it. If not, journals will be provided. Space is limited to 20 participants. Lodging is not included.

The Connie Bailes Scholarship Program is available to help support cancer survivors who would like to attend EASE Cancer Foundation events or programs but have limited resources. To apply, visit our scholarship page.

Call Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort at (509) 548-6344 and mention that you are with the EASE Cancer Foundation to receive special lodging rates. You are not required to stay at Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort to attend the retreat.

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resorts' s most sought-after overnight accommodation is the 260 square-foot standard Alcove room. It features a queen size hand-hewn log bed and a twin size bed tucked into a window alcove with down comforters and luxurious linens, a well-lit workstation, luxurious robes, a refrigerator, Dancing Goats Coffee (formerly Batdorf & Bronson) sachets and premium teas. Additional amenities include eco-friendly bath products, a hairdryer, a heated towel rack and plenty of outlets and USB ports.

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort's 260 square-foot deluxe Double Alcove room merges the natural beauty of the outdoors with contemporary styling. It features a queen size hand-hewn log bed and two twin size beds tucked into window alcoves with down comforters and luxurious linens, a well-lit workstation, luxurious robes, a refrigerator, Dancing Goats Coffee (formerly Batdorf & Bronson) sachets and premium teas. Additional amenities include eco-friendly bath products, a hairdryer, a heated towel rack and plenty of outlets and USB ports.

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort's 270 square-foot deluxe Family room features a queen size bed as well as a hand-hewn log bunk bed with down comforters and luxurious linens, a well-lit workstation, luxurious robes, a refrigerator, Nespresso coffee and premium teas. Additional amenities include eco-friendly bath products, a hairdryer, a heated towel rack and plenty of outlets and USB ports. Cabins by design do not have televisions.

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort's Loft room feels like you are sleeping in a tree house with a full size log bed upstairs. This 325-square foot premier room features a queen size and twin size log bed downstairs as well - all with down comforters and luxurious linens. Enjoy a well-lit workstation, luxurious robes, a refrigerator, Nespresso coffee and premium teas. Additional amenities include eco-friendly bath products, a hairdryer, a heated towel rack and plenty of outlets and USB ports. Cabins by design do not have televisions.

Julia Burnham. Julia is pursuing a master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling at University of Vermont, and works at Catamount Counseling Clinic as a Counselor in Training. With interests in Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Somatic Experiencing, she brings a warm, trauma-informed approach, and a strong commitment to relational and emotional healing. .

Maggie Ellings, DNP, ARNP, FNP-BC, AOCNP. Dr. Ellings is an oncology nurse practitioner, Assistant Teaching Professor at the UW. She runs the cancer survivorship program at Confluence Health. Her doctoral research focused on sexual health and intimacy discussions for those with cancer. 

Teri Hugo Hirss, M.Ed. Teri is a registered movement therapist and educator. She is a life coach and stress management consultant. She leads retreats internationally, as well as, from her home base in the green Mountains of Vermont. Teri has spent the last 30 years empowering women to live their lives FULLY and JOYFULLY. 

Katie Kemble, DNP, ARNP, FNP-C, AOCNP, FAANP.  Dr. Kemble is an oncology nurse practitioner at Confluence Health, Associate Teaching Professor at the UW, and Oncology Community Co-Chair for the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Katie’s interests include developing community-based programs for cancer survivors.

Jill LaRue, FNP.  Jill is a retired Family Nurse Practitioner of 30 years, practiced in Cashmere for Confluence Health, and retired in May 2015. She believes that healthy lifestyles are crucial to our sense of wellbeing. A lifelong learner in the outdoor environment, she loves spending time outside, whether it be biking, hiking, Nordic skiing, gardening, or walking the dog. 

Alison Osius, MA. Alison is an author, writer and columnist who has published in over 60 newspapers, magazines and websites, and has been a staff editor at Climbing, Rock and Ice, and Outside magazines. She received a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and has taught writing classes at Colorado Mountain College. 

Chandra Villano, ND. Dr. Villano is a Naturopathic doctor with over 30 years in healthcare, including exercise physiology in cardiopulmonary rehab. She specializes in mindful living, food as medicine, and environmental/personal detox. She has a passion for neuroscience, epigenetics, and indigenous plant medicine. She is on the Board of Directors of Wellness Place.

Amanda Ward. Cancer warrior - Amanda has diverse, international experience across both career and personal interests. A life-long creative, she taught adult classes in specialized crafts for a number of years. A long-term interest in eastern philosophies and martial arts led her to incorporate the beneficial practices of Tai Chi and Qigong into her post-treatment recovery.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher EASE Cancer Foundation