Tending The Mother Wound
A Contemplative Day Walk & Optional Solo Fast
May 23, 2026
9am – 5pm
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
$150 – $275 sliding scale
Non-refundable deposit $50.00
(Scholarships available – please ask)
Reet Rannik Carías
“How else can one claim one’s maternal heritage but by being blood and bone, dirt and stone?”
― Donna Goddard
Our mothers brought us into the world—and for many of us, our relationship with “mother” is layered, complex, and unfinished. The mother wound can hold grief, longing, anger, tenderness, confusion, and love all at once. This contemplative day walk offers space to gently tend that wound while being held by the wider embrace of Mother Earth.
Held on the weekend before Mother’s Day, this program invites participants to slow down and listen inwardly. Rather than forcing reconciliation or gratitude, we make space first for truth:
What grief still needs to be felt?
What was missing, ruptured, or never named?
How can we be authentic—without self-abandonment—in our relationship to mother?
For some, healing may move toward gratitude or compassion. For others, the medicine may come through connection with the land, through cultivating an internal mother—a nurturing, protective, attuned presence capable of caring for the inner child. Inspired by Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families and Gestalt parts work, this day supports the reclamation of inner authority and self-mothering as a path toward wholeness.
The day unfolds in a rhythm of circle, contemplative walking, and intentional solo time on the land, supporting both emotional processing and integration. We will begin by co-creating a simple altar as a grounding practice, inviting reflection on our relationships with our mother, inner mother, and Earth mother. Guided prompts and solo time will support participants in meeting what remains unresolved—allowing grief, tenderness, or clarity to arise at their own pace.
Participants will be invited (but never required) into a solo fast during their time alone on the land. This fast is symbolic rather than prescriptive, offered as a way to listen more deeply to the body and psyche. Alternatives and modifications will be named, honoring personal needs, health considerations, and nervous system capacity.
We will close the day in story council, with witnessing and mirroring from the guide team to support meaning-making, integration, and the incorporation of insight into daily life.
This offering honors that our mothers, too, are children of nature, shaped by their own wounds, limitations, emotional inheritance, and lineages. As we tend the mother wound, we do not rush healing. We allow what is true to be held, trusting that from honest grief, new forms of nourishment and care may emerge.
We acknowledge that the land upon which we offer this program is the unceded ancestral homeland of the Mishewal-Wappo people, who have continuously lived there for thousands of years. Their endurance and wisdom inspire us to continue our efforts to create an inclusive, life-sustaining society that is in balance with Mother Earth.
Contact Info
For more information, contact Reet (pronounced “Rhett) at: reetrannik@gmail.com