Workshop Descriptions
All workshops are beginner friendly and require no prior experience.
Learning and experiencing new things is a key part of the Revival experience.
We do have a limited number of drums available for you to use during the drumming workshops.
To be assured of having something to play we recommend bringing your own drum if you have one.
Here are some of the experiences on tap for this year!
Jim Donovan Workshops
Alive in Rhythm
Alive in Rhythm: A beginner-friendly immersion into the joy of creating music together. Through playful drumming, improvisation, and creative exploration, you'll let go of perfectionism, awaken your creativity, and experience the freedom that comes from simply being in the rhythm.
Sound Empowerment
Sound Empowerment — Your body was designed to respond to sound. In this uplifting, beginner-friendly workshop, you'll explore simple vocal practices that help quiet the mind, relax the nervous system, and reconnect you with a deep sense of calm, energy, and well-being.
Social Drumming
Social Drumming Experience how simple rhythm can transform a group of strangers into a connected community. Through playful, interactive drumming experiences, you'll laugh, connect, and discover how quickly rhythm can help us feel relaxed, present, and at home with one another. No experience necessary.
Tibetan Sound Healing
Tibetan Sound Healing: Experience a deeply restorative sound meditation inspired by the ancient Tibetan Bön tradition. Through breath, vocal toning, and guided awareness practices, you'll gently release tension, quiet the mind, and reconnect with a lighter, more spacious way of being. No experience is necessary.
Jim Donovan M.Ed. is a professional musician, facilitator, Assistant Professor at Saint Francis University and TEDx speaker. His mission is to share the restorative power of music through education and performance.
Qi Gong
Qi Gong - Vitality Through Mindful Movement
A beginner-friendly introduction to Qi Gong.
Qi Gong stimulates and enhances the flow of life-force-energy throughout the body using gentle movements based in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
David Peters is a certified Usui/Holy Fire® III, & Holy Fire® III Karuna Reiki® Master-Teacher, and co-owner of Dynamic Flux Reiki. Over the past 25 years David has also taught Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Taekwondo, and is delighted to be helping people find greater health & healing through the art of Reiki and mindful movement.
David's approach is to provide the guidance, tools, and encouragement to empower others in discovering their own unique path to health and wellness, and to unlock their own natural healing abilities.
Sound Journey
Sound Journey with Gongs and Bells
A sound journey, also known as sound healing or sound bath, is a meditative experience where participants are immersed in therapeutic sounds to promote relaxation, healing, and self-discovery.
These journeys utilize various instruments like singing bowls, gongs, and chimes to create a resonant soundscape that can induce a state of deep relaxation and facilitate emotional and energetic shifts.
Participants are welcome to come as you are and to experience in any way you'd like.
PLEASE BRING a yoga mat, blanket, or cushion for your comfort during extended relaxation on the floor. Chairs are also available.
Michael Deaton is a drummer, gong player, music facilitator, and a Global Trainer for Arthur Hull and Village Music Circles. He has been teaching all ages, leading drum circles, and empowering humans through sound, art, and movement for over 20 years.
Expressive Arts/Painting-Drawing
Rooted (Art)
Expressive Arts with Meli Deaton Cook
Explore feeling connected and supported the way trees support each other through their root systems. Come play with art supplies and colors. There are no wrong marks! All materials provided.
Fire Horse Power (Art)
Expressive Arts with Meli Deaton Cook
In the Year of the Fire Horse step into and claim your power with art supplies and colors. There are no wrong marks! All materials provided.
“Meli” Melissa Deaton Cook, LPC, is an “explosion of color” and a licensed professional counselor specializing in trauma, nature, and expressive arts. She incorporates music, movement, and creativity in all aspects of her personal and professional life. Come play in the colors with her! There are no wrong marks!
Soul Mapping: Finding your flow through watercolor
We'll use watercolor and intentions to realign with the wisdom of the heart. We'll melt into a "flow state," allowing our inner landscape to unfold as we create with spirit. This creative self-care session begins with simple, grounding spiral art to anchor our intentions before we paint.
A guided somatic meditation eases our minds as we head into a flow state through expressive arts practices designed to help you realign, reflect, and release. This is a light, non-judgmental space to explore how you feel through color, with no art experience or pressure required.
All supplies are included, and you will leave with a piece that captures your unique process and inner clarity.
Sacred Breath and Brushstrokes: Where the canvas meets the soul within a sound journey
In this workshop, we will explore simple, accessible somatic breathing practices that calm the nervous system, open the heart, and welcome you into a beautiful flow state. As you experience the live vibration of the drums, bowls, and native flute, you will unlock a depth of feeling that allows emotional and physical energy to move, gently releasing anything you are ready to let go of.
Move beyond the pressure of a finished product and enjoy a guided somatic painting experience using acrylics on canvas to bring deep inner peace through color, sound, and intention.
No art experience is required—all supplies are included, and you will leave with a canvas that captures the creative moment of your unique journey.
Sandra Sabene
Draws from her personal journey and extensive experience as a facilitator and educator, empowering people to unlock their innate creativity for self-care, resiliency, and well-being.
She is the author of Creating with Spirit: Explore the Power in Creative Self-Care. As the founder of Creative Rhythms and the director of Liverpool Art Center, Sandra has spent over three decades fostering healing and connection through the arts.
Email: liverpoolartcenter@gmail.com
Phone: (315)234-9333
Sandra’s TEDx talk: “The art of letting go” https://youtu.be/GOdbUYslEks
Sandra’s book: https://healingarts.kartra.com/page/CreatingWithSpirit
Ecstatic / Somatic Movement Workshops
Embody Unity
A journey of somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, embodied affirmation, death and rebirth, celebration, and joy!
As always, there will be music, there will be movement, we will have fun, some of us may cry.
Dance, Dance, Evolution
A consent-based container to explore physical play, partnered & group movement, supportive touch, and connection with ourselves and one another.
Tricia Chirumbole is a dancer, facilitator, and explorer of life, who is passionate about creating opportunities for personal and collective growth through movement, dialogue, and group co-creation.
embodywithtrish.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciachirumbole
Freedom Yoga Dance
Movement for anybody with Erica Hillegas.
Creative Drumming & Movement
Mike Deaton & Stephanie Mason
Stephanie Mason is a powerhouse and a lifelong learner. A teacher by trade, she has a passion for and experience working with youth and adults in a variety of ways, including starting a high school Step team, teaching a Modern Dance course at Mary Baldwin University, leading weekly zumba classes, performing folk dances, and more.
Percussion Joy
Percussion Joy (Creative Music Making)
Like a drum circle, only different. We begin with hand percussion and small drums, playing with melody and harmony as we welcome all instruments, all notes, and all sounds. Expect surprises!
This is first of all a FUN and facilitated experience. The bonus is you will also learn musical games you can bring to your own groups, family events, and drum circles. Any personal instruments are welcome and no musical experience or special skills are needed. There are no wrong notes.
Michael Deaton is a drummer, gong player, music facilitator, and a Global Trainer for Arthur Hull and Village Music Circles. He has been teaching all ages, leading drum circles, and empowering humans through sound, art, and movement for over 20 years.
A limited number of private & group lessons are available for this instructor.
Community Drum Circles
Each night at the Renewal is a time to jam, dance and have a great time together. Join us for a rhythmic extravaganza built for everyone!
12 Step Recovery Meeting
Welcome to a recovery-related sharing space! This is not a traditional 12-step meeting, but an open circle for all to connect and find support. If you’re recovering, alternatively recovering, supporting a friend/family member, or just curious about recovery from addiction, you are welcome.
Dani Fiore (They/Them)
Welcome home, Revival Family! My name is Dani, and I’m so grateful to be part of this community that continues to shape my life far beyond the grounds where we gather. Drumming is the main avenue through which we found each other — surprise, surprise! I’ve been a musician from a young age, and today I perform locally and on tour, record, and teach.
In 2015, I began studying drum circle facilitation and sound therapy. From there, “Life in Rhythm” was born — a program and philosophy I use to help people discover their authenticity and find empowerment from within. I facilitate a transgender support group for the LGBT Center of Central PA. I also love hosting open mics, drum circles, and teaching relaxation techniques through rhythm and sound.
When the lights go down, I’m pursuing a degree in psychology — and when the sun is out, I’m spending as much time outdoors as possible. Thanks for taking the time to get to know me!
Yoga
Yoga for Everyone
Gentle yoga classes to help you to keep smiling.
Maureen has been practicing yoga since 1998 and teaching since 2003 (certified through Inner Wellness). She has a unique gift for adapting the practice of yoga to meet any practitioner where they are. With a knowledge of anatomy, key muscles are utilized to deepen the poses helping to create greater flexibility and strength both in the mind and body.
Maureen has been practicing yoga for well over a decade and teaching almost as long. She brings a strong practice of mindfulness into her classes to create a sense of purpose and compassion that are taught with kindness and humor.
Writing
Journal writing asks that we break free from the self-imposed approaches we take to the written word and create a more metaphysical experience of writing, one that allows us to be transformed as writers by everything from the simplest sensations of the process—the particular smell of a chosen notebook, the tentative sound of a pencil as it etches out our thoughts—to our most emotionally and intellectually complex reactions to creating and sharing our work. The workshop will focus primarily on these latter elements in order to facilitate an intimacy with ourselves and each other as journal writers. During the workshops, we will sample various approaches to the experience of journal writing, the inspirations and tools we can use from our daily lives, the forms we can employ, and finally, what we can do as performance with what we’ve created so that we can continue to feed the echo of ourselves that our writing creates.
Matthew Adams is a writing instructor living in Pittsburgh and has circled back, time and again, to journaling as the most satisfying and beneficial way to facilitate growth and understanding in writers. He has advanced degrees in education and fiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh and the Bennington Writing Seminars.
Group Singing
The Great Group Sing
Singing brings us together like nothing else. Bring whatever voice you have to this tender and transformative experience of release and joy. You may choose to sing, or just be sung to.
Hero’s Journey
Living Your Personal Myth—Embracing the Hero’s Journey in Everyday Life
Take the opportunity to live into an embodied journey experience of Separation - Initiation - Return. Feel your consciousness shift and expand as you open yourself to the unknown. Discover how an inner aliveness awaits you as we immerse ourselves in the journey process together.
Questing By Exploring 6 Essential Questions
Get an understanding of the basic process of “Questing” - creating a self-propelled journey - by exploring 6 Essential Questions that will take you beyond where you have been. We will explore these together in the workshop, and you will be able to practice them by engaging with others when you return home.
Michael Mervosh, M.Ed. is a licensed psychologist, facilitator and trainer who practices in the US and Europe. He’s the executive director of The Hero’s Journey Foundation and founder of PsychoEnergetics Training Program.
https://michaelmervosh.com/heros-journey-foundation/
Nature and Writing
Joy in the Wild: A Walk to the Beaver Pond with Journaling
Join us for a gentle nature walk to Beaver Pond, where we’ll slow down, tune our senses, and notice what the natural world has to teach us about joy. Using an easy mindfulness practice, we’ll look closely at the living world around us to find joy and experience its awe and wonder.
At the pond’s edge, through quiet observation and journaling, we’ll gather those moments into language. You’ll explore how you can find joy anytime and anywhere.
This workshop will give you space to integrate your Revival experience and carry its energy beyond the weekend. You’ll leave with a simple, repeatable practice you can use to reconnect with the natural world and invite more joy into everyday life.
No writing experience is needed. Bring your curiosity, a notebook, a pen or pencil, and a willingness to notice what delights you.
Location and Weather
• Please meet the group at the top of the hill, under the Dragon Run sign.
• Dress appropriately for the weather and bring something to sit on.
• If we experience significant rain, we’ll meet in the alternative location listed on the schedule.
Inciting Joy: Writing with Mary Oliver & Friends
Experience writing as a practice for inviting more joy into everyday life. In this workshop, we’ll read short works by Mary Oliver and other contemporary poets. Then, we’ll use reflection, journaling, and simple prompts to explore how joy can live inside ordinary moments.
No writing experience is needed. Come with a notebook, a pen, and a willingness to notice what lifts, surprises, or delights you. Participants in this workshop will receive a complimentary Inciting Joy Guidebook.
Together, we’ll explore how writing can become a pathway to joy and creative renewal. Leave with a repeatable practice and a deeper connection to joy and wonder.
Yes, AND...to Joy: An Improv Workshop
Joy is not about pretending life is easy. It’s about learning how to return to lightness, connection, and possibility, even when life feels difficult or uncertain.
In this playful workshop, we’ll use simple improv games to practice joy as a muscle. Together, we’ll explore how to let go of overthinking, say yes to the moment, and follow the joy. Through movement, laughter, and connection, you’ll practice staying open when life feels unscripted.
These are everyday tools you can carry home and use long after Revival ends.
No improv experience is necessary. You do not need to be funny or quick-witted. Just bring your willingness to participate and play.
Leave feeling lighter, more energized, and better equipped to cultivate joy and PFM in life after Revival.
BIO
Kimberly McElhatten helps authors edit, publish, and promote their books. She’s on the editing teams at Brevity and Fourth River and chairs the WCoNA Book of the Year. She’s an editorial consultant for Exploring Judaism and the lead content strategist at Great Things LLC.
Kimberly is a northern Appalachia poet and a past participant in the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project and the Fallingwater Residency in Nature and Place-Based Writing. Her work is published in South 85, Anti-Heroin Chic, Touchstone Literary Magazine, Unlost, Bridge Lit, and elsewhere.
Book a private coaching or editing session with Kimberly during The Great Rhythm Revival here. https://tidycal.com/openroads/private-retreat-session
Energy and Consciousness work
Grounding in the Everyday Sacred
We can move through our life feeling numbed out, overwhelmed, and in chronic reactive patterns. And yet, when we create space, shift our focus, and move into the everyday sacred . . . everything can change. We can access balance, joy, creativity, and connection. Get ready for a nourishing and grounded session rich with elegant self-care tools. Those who join us are welcome to bring mats, blankets, or towels to recline and rest upon the ground.
Building Energetic Vibrancy Through the Dantians (New for 2026)
The Dantians are centers of vitality, connection, and inspiration. We invite you to join us in celebration of this system while we engage in simple and nourishing practices. This session will deepen our energetic connection with our Self, with others, and inspire us all to embody our life fully as we co-create a beautiful and vibrant world. Please bring a notebook and something to write with to this session.
Saturday: Guided Meditation and Sound Immersion (New for 2026)
You are invited to receive, replenish, and recalibrate as we bring forward spoken word meditation and sound healing tools. This will be a soft space for healing, dreaming, visioning, and reconnection across a landscape of sound and sacred support. We highly recommend those who join us to bring mats, blankets, or towels so that you can recline and rest upon the ground.
Jennifer Archibald serves as Community Evolution Manager and Faculty Member for Prune Harris Ltd. She has a private practice based in Central PA, working with clients online and in-person. Jennifer is trained in enhanced energy perceptions, core shamanic practice, and is currently pursuing advanced shamanic training in the UK. She is an Eden Energy Medicine Certified Practitioner and has worked closely with Donna Eden and her methods since 2010. Jennifer started her journey with energy work by becoming a Reiki Master Teacher in 2005.
David Archibald’s background in consciousness work, Reiki, Tai Chi, land surveying, Quakerism, and percussion brings a grounded intensity to workshops he facilitates. He is a licensed Professional Land Surveyor and the owner of Earth Lines Consulting, LLC. He is a graduate of the Eden Energy Medicine Certification Program and is studying for his Practitioner Certification. David is currently pursuing advanced shamanic training in the UK with Prune Harris.
www.TheEnergyExperience.net
Star Gazing and Sunday Morning Birding
Under The Night Sky with Domenic Rocco
Gather under the full moon for a guided night sky experience filled with constellation stories, star lore, and quiet wonder. Using a sky pointer, binoculars, and telescopes when available, Domenic will help you explore the moonlit sky, learn about visible constellations, and experience the vastness and beauty above us. No astronomy experience needed—just bring your curiosity, a yoga mat or blanket, and a willingness to look up.
Sunday Morning Birding
Join us for a short, relatively flat morning walk beginning near the beach as we observe and identify the diverse bird life around us. This gentle outing is suitable for everyone. Bring binoculars if you have them; a limited number of extras will be available.
Domenic Rocco is a lifelong observer of all things skyborn, blending a math-based foundation in astronomy with a passion for making the cosmos feel tangible and accessible. He regularly leads Night Sky sessions and bird walks at Heron Wellness weekends, where he invites others to rediscover wonder through quiet observation and shared discovery.
