Retreats

Sing | Nourish | Uplift | Connect

Women's Summer Singing Retreat With Sisters in Harmony

4th Annual Sisters in Harmony Summer Retreat + Live Song Leader Training

SAVE the DATES:

June 26 – 29, + June 29 – July 1st, 2025

Registration opens in February 2025

A women’s singing retreat at the stunning Green Mountain Retreat Center in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Please join us for a nourishing weekend of singing in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Song leaders will be announced in January 2024.
Immerse yourself in sacred sisterhood, song, qi gong, meditation, ritual, hiking trails, and a swimming pool. We’ll be singing together in one big group the entire weekend! Fill your cup with songs that open your heart and uplift your spirit!

Food – Organic, locally sourced, gluten-free meals.

Lodging – Dorm rooms and cottages.

Private beds in shared rooms and cottages are available. Limited single rooms are also available. All accommodations include shared bathrooms.

No camping in tents, RVs, or vans are allowed on site.

Directions to the retreat center will be emailed to registrants a week prior to the event.

We will create a private Facebook page for registered participants only to arrange ride shares and to connect and make roommate choices prior to the retreat.

It’s easy to take shuttles and Ubers from the airport.

Add-On LIVE SONG LEADER TRAINING ~ Sunday June 30th – Tuesday July 2nd

This year I am excited to announce that I am adding two additional days at the end of the retreat for those that wish to join my Live Song Leader Training.

Gain the tools you need to lead your community in heart-opening songs
Pracitce leading songs with your sisters in harmony
Fill your pockets with songs that inspire, uplift and connect us deeply to the human experience

Our 2024 Facilitators:

(Our 2025 Facilitators will be announced in January 2025)

Alexandra “ahlay” Blakely

AHLAY is an Ashkenazi, Scandinavian singer-songwriter, grief tender, community organizer, and ceramicist walking the path of ancestral healing and the reclaiming of lost cultural memories. Her community singing album, Spells from the Unknown encapsulates songs for the community to transform, ask questions, and seek to lead lives that might make us ancestors worth honoring. Her upcoming 2024 community singing album,WAILS: Songs for Grief was recorded in July 2023 with a choir of 200 voices. The album is completely dedicated to grief, inspired by the Whales and Frances Weller’s “the five gates of grief.”

Amanda West

Amanda is an award-winning singer, songwriter, song-circle leader, music teacher and mother. She is co-founder of Womb Song, U.S., an organization that supports women into motherhood through music. She understands music to be a part of our human birthright, playing an essential role in our experience of being alive, and has found her life-path and greatest joy through sharing music with others.

Becky Reardon

Becky Reardon’s voice is familiar to the millions of people who heard her sing on the Charlie Brown TV specials (Charles Schultz called her his favorite singer!). She performed in folk venues in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years before moving to New Mexico and making the shift to writing, performing, and teaching her own compositions. Now her songs and rounds are widely sung by community choruses, song circles, university choirs, and people out for a walk in the beautiful world. Becky is currently writing a musical about a women’s singing circle.

Debbie Nargi-Brown

For over 3 decades, Debbie Nargi-Brown has been leading dancing and singing in Santa Cruz and beyond; teaching African-inspired dance classes, leading Community Sings as well as facilitating retreats and workshops. She writes songs for the heart, for healing, for transformation, for love, for grief and all those things that connects us as human beings. Bringing people together in dance and song is one of her greatest sources of joy!

Heather Houston

Born with a voice full of heart and soul, Central Coast Californian Heather Houston is passionate about uplifting spirits, freeing voices, and building strong, loving communities through the power of singing. Heather is a community choir directing virtuoso and vocal coach extraordinaire with over 20-years experience writing and producing music, leading song circles, and offering life transforming events at venues like Esalen and 1440 Multiversity. In these trying times, Heather continues to spread her magic through her multiple online offerings: The Art of Mindful Singing, Singing as Sanctuary, S.H.E. Sings, Sisters in Harmony Song and Chant Leader Training, and her Sisters in Harmony Global drop-in series with guest artists and song leaders. You can find her music on all of the streaming platforms.

Kaitie Ty Warren

Kaitie Ty Warren (she/they) is a Bay Area-based songleader, teacher, writer and performer. Passionate about creating collective experiences through music, she teaches by call and response, and emphasizes playfulness as a form of resistance. In 2015 she founded Living Room Choir, which survived the move to Zoom through the pandemic and recently re-opened as Living Room Choir ANEW, co-led by Sara Stutz. Kaitie is a member of the Ubuntu Choirs Network, which believes it’s everybody’s birthright to sing. KaitieTyWarren.com; TheLivingRoomChoir.com

Melanie DeMore

Singer-songwriter Melanie DeMore has a remarkable voice, weaving the fibers of African American folk music with soulful ballads, spirituals, and her own original music. DeMore beautifully brings her audience together through her music and commentary. She has toured extensively, singing at festivals, universities, coffee houses, and concert halls. Her recordings, “Share My Song” and “Come Follow Me,” are both heartfelt collections of her music.

Beth Freewoman (Chi Gong)

(she/her/hers) is the owner of The Open Hearth–Tools for Self-Healing
(www.IAmTheOpenHearth.com). With her passion for holistic health and her confidence in the
body’s self-healing capacity, she shares the practice of Qigong with enthusiasm and the intention
to empower. Not only is she certified as a Holden Qi Gong teacher, (by Lee Holden), she is an
advanced student of Dr. Joe Dispenza, integrating the healing power of meditation and coherence
into her own health and well-being practices. She currently lives in Santa Cruz, CA.Lyndsey Scott

What to Bring:

Covid Rapid Result Test to take upon arrival (maybe – we shall see where things are at in 2024)
Ear plugs (If you’re a sensitive sleeper)
Snacks (Especially for Sunday. We need to be off campus by noon, so no lunch will be provided that day)
Water bottle
Travel mug
Flashlight / headlamp
Comfortable layers of clothing that you can move and breathe in
Good walking shoes
Hiking shoes if you’d like to hike on the property
Shower / pool shoes
Bathing suit
Towel for pool (shower towels are provided)
Sun glasses
Sun hat
Warm hat
Sunscreen
Toiletries
Journal
An item for our collective altar — something that you want to charge up with the powerful energy of our time together and take home with you as a reminder.

Testimonials

“Heather Houston is the Voice Whisperer. Yes, Heather’s teaching/coaching brings out our best voice and creates an arena where we can have fun singing. Heather invites you to discover your voice, how to nurture the parts of your body that create your unique sound, and learn ways to access your breath to allow your beautiful voice to flow. As my voice gets exercised and stronger, and feelings are awakened and honored, I’ve learned that singing can be healing, nurturing, and therapeutic. In these unprecedented, uncertain times, singing has been a way to come together as a community, as well as heal myself and the world.”

– Vicki Wynne, Santa Cruz, CA

“Heather’s song leader training changed my life! I was searching for a substantial way to help others through music and to make a living at it. Heather helped me to get my own women’s circle going through fantastic repertoire, leadership tips and techniques, mentorship, and business coaching. My first intro night had 32 women. My first circle had 18 registrants!”

– Zoey Wren, Nelson, BC

“I must say, I have been taking private singing lessons for several weeks and I have gotten TONS more out of a single lesson in this Art of Mindful Singing course than I have through all my weeks of private lessons! I would sincerely love to just continue learning with you online however that may be possible!”

– Anonymous

“I feel very blessed to have participated in the Art of Mindful Singing Online Class. I learned many tips, songs and postural techniques that taught me to embody singing and will serve me throughout the rest of my singing life. I practice many of her techniques every day. My soul was nourished and I left feeling so open and giving of exactly that energy into the world. I love singing, and now never worry that I am good enough, because I sing from the inside out. Thank you from my deepest being.

– Jackie, Madison, WI

“I was a part of Heather’s online Spring Session of The Art of Mindful Singing. It happened to coincide with the time of shelter in place orders for Covid-19. Heather’s guidance in singing became my place of self care and grounding during a transitional time of great unknowns. I felt refreshed and protected by her calm, encouraging presence. The songs themselves became a meaningful shelter during the week when fear or stress would arise. I always felt that singing could be both a spiritual and deep somatic healing practice and longed for a teacher to guide me into the art with this as a focus. Heather’s approach supports this in spades. I’m so grateful.”

– Kathleen Cook

“I love Heather and the delightful, positive, encouraging manner in which she teaches. I love her voice and the light in her eyes. I loved the songs she taught from all over the world – uplifting songs, songs of welcome, spiritual songs. And she never put anyone on the spot.”

– Jayla, Santa Cruz, CA

“I love how Heather encourages women to sing and share their light. I love how excited she gets when we sing. There is such an appreciation and love that her energy surrounds us with, and it helps everyone feel safe.”

– Adora, Santa Cruz, CA

“I needed a versatile vocalist to headline my children’s music album. Heather exceeded my expectations in every way, sounding absolutely incredible on tracks ranging from Country Western, Calypso, Celtic, and Rock. Not only did she manage the entire project, bringing together a fantastic recording and studio crew, she even contributed her own original song to the mix.”

– Drew Freeman, Santa Cruz

“I started taking voice lessons with Heather because I thought it was time to get over my fears. With Heather’s instruction, I have already far exceeded my own expectations. I am finally experiencing the joy of singing! That’s me who you see driving around town singing – with a smile on my face, and in my heart!”

– Ted, Santa Cruz, CA

“I would like to tell you how much I enjoy your “Dis Moi” vocal music. Now I will tell you. Hold on -here it comes! “I REALLY LOVE IT!” THANK YOU SOOO VERY VERY MUCH! Your voices are so ethereal, other worldly and out right divine!”

– Ingela Sakkestad

“It’s been great to have such a safe and fun place to start to learn about how to hear my voice and mingle it with others. Heather is a total inspiration of how beautiful and full of emotional voice can sound and I am further drawn toward that journey. Thank you!”