Stories That Heal Us: Celebrating Ten Years of Healing through Story

When: September 21 at 9:00 AM- September 25, 2026 at 8 PM

*Overnight guests may arrive on Sept. 20 and depart on Sept. 26.

Where: The Gîte du Vent d'Autan in Aveyron, France

Cost: 800€ - includes workshop, overnight accommodations, and meals. A deposit of 400€ is required to hold your spot.

Reservations and questions: centre.vent.dautan@gmail.com or  +33 6 81 13 77 11

Join us for a five-day celebration of story, creativity, and healing, conducted in French, featuring Lewis Mehl-Madrona and Barbara Mainguy.

This retreat, conducted in a tranquil French setting surrounded by nature, fosters both introspection and playful engagement, guided by rituals, ceremony, and intuitive practices rooted in community-based healing. The event framework recognizes the interplay between mind, body, spirit, and social connection, and explores how storytelling can continually renew compassion, creativity, and well-being in participants’ lives.

The workshop draws on the leaders’ extensive backgrounds in psychotherapy, narrative medicine, and indigenous healing traditions, promising an integrative, experience-rich environment for everyone seeking renewal through story and community.

Each day will weave art, ceremony, and play into lived experience:

• Mask making: create new masks or revisit an old one as an entryway into the parts of self waiting to speak.

• Sacred fire and purification lodge : Honor the elements and renew the body’s and spirit’s balance through traditional ceremony.

• “Your Brain and Stories” game: playful exploration of how the stories we carry shape perception, emotion, and healing in our brains.

• Healing free-for-all: a spontaneous practice space for hands-on, intuitive, and creative healing exchanges.

• Sacred drama and guided imagery: Step into living storywork where myth, movement, and imagination become medicine.

• Storytelling circles: evenings of laughter, depth, and community: sharing the tales that continue to heal us all.

The program invites both returning participants and newcomers to deepen their connection to self and others. Anyone interested in stories and well being are welcome to attend.

To make a reservation or ask a question about this event, please email us HERE.

Don’t delay- only 20 spaces available. A waiting list will be established after the first 20 participants are confirmed.