Get out of your head and into the world around you in this 3½-day nourishing retreat with Jeaux Bartlett and Jeffree Morel at the Wordcrafters studio and local nature sites
What if your best writing isn’t in your head—but waiting in your body, your breath, and the trees around you?
This world is fast and noisy. Even when you want to write, it can be hard to find space to slow down, breathe, and listen to what’s inside you. Even when you manage to carve out the time to write, you might sit there feeling self-conscious, stuck, or your inner critic just won’t quit.
This retreat is a gentle invitation to step away from the noise and into nature—to come home to your body, your breath, and your creative voice.
Over the course of three and a half spacious days, you’ll have space to write freely, move gently, and rest deeply. You’ll spend time in community and time outdoors, soaking up the beauty and rhythm of the natural world. You’ll learn simple tools to ground yourself when your mind gets noisy—and ways to let your writing flow from a quieter, wiser place within.
You don’t have to be an experienced writer. You just have to be curious, open-hearted, and willing to explore.
🪶 This is for you if …
- You’ve been feeling disconnected from your creativity—or from yourself—and want to find your way back
- You long to write but often get stuck, distracted, or tangled in self-doubt
- You keep thinking, I should be writing … but you just can’t seem to start
- You feel most alive in nature—or you want to feel more connected to it
- You’re tired of pushing and striving, and you’re ready to try a gentler, more embodied approach to writing
- You’re curious about pairing writing with things like mindful movement, meditation, or nature connection
- You want a safe, supportive space to write and share with others who get it
Whether you’re craving fresh inspiration, feeling creatively blocked, or simply longing for a chance to breathe and be with your words again, this retreat offers the perfect mix of reflection, movement, and meaningful creative exploration.
🌲 What you’ll experience
Over 3½ nourishing days, you’ll explore how to:
- Tune in to your body’s wisdom and let it guide your writing
- Use meditation, gentle movement, and nature walks to get out of your head
- Write through fear, perfectionism, and “I don’t know what to say”
- Discover how paying attention to your surroundings can inspire your inner landscape
- Share your writing in a supportive group that celebrates your voice
We’ll write together at the Wordcrafters studio and out in local natural areas like McKenzie River Trust lands and Wellsprings Friends School. There’ll be time for solitude and community, writing and resting, stretching your body, and your imagination.
You’ll leave with:
- A bunch of new writing (poems, scenes, sensory explorations, and more)
- Simple tools to keep the writing flowing after the retreat
- Practices for grounding, noticing, and listening to your inner voice
- Confidence and calm to meet your creative self with kindness
Your retreat schedule
Wednesday, June 18 | 4:30–7:30 pm
Opening circle, intention setting, gentle freewriting + group dinner (optional but delightful)
Thursday, June 19 | 10 am–4 pm
Led by Jeffree Morel, you’ll start your morning in the studio with grounding movement, breathwork, and freewriting to release the noise and reconnect with your inner voice. You’ll explore how nature can spark creativity and how writing can help you process fear, perfectionism, or self-doubt.
In the afternoon, you’ll head outside to write surrounded by sky, trees, and whatever inspiration the natural world offers. We’ll give you writing prompts to use to start something fresh, or keep going on a work in progress.
Friday, June 20 | 10 am–4 pm
Led by Jeaux Bartlett, you’ll start the morning turning your attention to sensory detail—writing what you see, hear, feel, and sense in your body and surroundings.
In the afternoon, you’ll return to a different nature spot for more quiet writing time, as well as gentle revision (if you feel ready for it).
Saturday, June 21 | 10 am–4 pm
In the morning, you’ll share in small groups, reflect on what’s taken root in your writing, and begin polishing pieces from the week.
The afternoon wraps up with whole group sharing, gentle feedback, and a little celebration of what you’ve created and discovered.
You’ll have an hour lunch break each day. Feel free to bring food or visit a nearby café. The studio will stay open if you want to write, rest, or just soak in the quiet. Snacks, tea and coffee, and chocolate provided while we’re in the studio.
What to bring: Curiosity. An open heart. A notebook or device you love to write with. Weather-appropriate clothes and shoes for gentle walking outdoors.
🌼 Your Guides
Jeaux Bartlett (they/them) is a genre-bending writer, teacher, and intuitive who’s been guiding folks through the wilds of creative expression for more than two decades. They write cross-genre work exploring nature, healing, and the body, and believe in the power of story to transform and connect.
Jeffree Morel (he/him) is a poet, performer, and meditation teacher who blends somatic movement, mindfulness, and imagination to help people access their creative spark. He’s known for his gentle presence, deep listening, and the playful way he helps people move past their blocks.
Wednesday to Saturday, June 18-21, 2025
Wednesday, June 18 | 4:30–7:30 pm
Thursday, June 19 | 10 am–4 pm
Friday, June 20 | 10 am–4 pm
Saturday, June 21 | 10 am–4 pm
In-person at the Wordcrafters studi0 + local outdoor sites in Eugene/Springfield
436 Charnelton St. Ste 100
Eugene, OR 97401
Carpooling to nature sites will be available. Nature sites will be drive-up, no hiking required.
Cost
Access: $329 – if you have limited access to funds
Sustainer: $439 – the actual cost of this program
Patron: $549 – if you have more access to wealth/resources and can support others who need to pay less
Choose the ticket price that best reflects your financial capacity. We trust you to discern your financial situation and your level of need or ability to give to others with less access to wealth.
Learn more about our Pay From Your Heart Pricing.
We want everyone to have access to our writing programs. If you need additional support, please complete our scholarship request form.
Wordcrafters members save 10% on this and other events and classes.
Click here to learn about becoming a Wordcrafter.
Ready to write stories readers can’t put down?
HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS
Masks are optional. Please stay home if you’re unwell with any upper respiratory illness.
Your fearless instructors
Jeaux Bartlett (they/them or xe/xem) is a writer and teacher living in Eugene, Oregon. Jeaux has published several books and online courses focused on personal growth, and their work has appeared in the Register Guard, Lane Monthly, Rochester insider, and Nature’s Wisdom, among other publications.
Jeaux is a certified Grief Recovery Method specialist, a National Spiritualist Teacher, and a Reiki Master Teacher. Jeaux enjoys writing about overcoming loss and adversity, and learning to trust yourself again.
Jeaux is currently working on Unintentional Community, their third autofiction novel. They’re a genre-bending writer whose work explores nature, healing, and the body, and they believe, deeply, in the power of story to transform and connect.
When they are not writing, Jeaux enjoys playing with natural dyes, knitting, and building a writing camp in the woods.
Jeffree Morel (he/him) is an author and educator specializing in speculative fiction, personal essays, and poetry blending the mystical and ecological. He also hosts immersive educational workshops on ethical wildcrafting, yoga, and meditation under the banner of Foraging for More.
Born and raised in southern California, he grew up absorbing stories through books, movies, and television, while dreaming up characters and ideas to tell his own. After studying screenwriting at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts, he relocated to the Pacific Northwest, launching his career as a freelance writer, completing his first novel, and discovering his love of mushroom hunting in the evergreen forests.
As a writer, Jeffree loves injecting humor where it probably shouldn’t be and playing in many sandboxes at once, leap-frogging between poetry, fiction, essays, and screenplays with little warning to anyone, least of all himself. His work frequently blends genres like literary fiction, speculative fiction, and dark sci-fi, but generally contains common threads of like spirituality, psychedelics, and humanity’s relationship with the rest of the natural world.
He’s published a poetry chapbook Ego Killers and his short stories and poems have been featured in Tethered by Letters, F(r)iction, Works Progress, Weber: The Contemporary West, Rabble Review, and the South Seattle Emerald. He regularly posts creative nonfiction essays on Medium.com, as well as poetry and updates on his Substack ForagingForMore.
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