EmbodyFest 

Nervous System Downshift • Embodiment • Community • Play

~Thai Massage~Meditation~
Somatic Arts~Contact Improv ~Sound Baths~
~Partner Yoga~Qi Gong 
~Nature Therapy~Spalife~
~Ecstatic Dance~
Musical Revelry featuring:

Holy River 

October 1–4, 2026
White Lotus Eco Spa Retreat • Stanardsville, Virginia

4 Days • 3 Nights • 6 Nourishing Meals 

To preserve the warmth, safety, and intimacy of the experience, 

attendance is intentionally capped at just 

50 participants.

Quiet hours begin at 11:00 PM.

EmbodyFest

What happens when we slow down the breath, lay our heads on mother natures chest, and melt into the present moment, again and again, together?

Welcome to EmbodyFest, a somatic software upgrade for our  human operating system and an invitation to come back to our senses through embodiment practices and community cohesion. Together we will  spend a weekend making an offering of presence at the temple of the body, to the gods and goddesses of self-care. This is your permission slip to slow down and make space for authentic relating to self and other, to be held in presence, in community, in reverence, and at ease. 

While a few surfers of the corporeal coil are responsible for plucking this pleasant idea, EmbodyFest has taken on a life of its own, trading in the currency of presence and embracing a non-doing nature that is paradoxically creative.  At the moment it is morphing into a field of resonance that may even include you! 🧬🙏😘

Nestled in the Shires of Virginia's Blue Ridge foothills, you’ll be enchanted by a healing oasis where your nervous system can safely relax. Through nourishing movement, therapeutic touch, nature, authentic connection, rhythmic entrainment, play, music, and rest, you'll find permission to do a little less... and feel a lot more.

Somewhere between a retreat and a festival, this intimate "restival" is a campout for your inner child and essential R&R for your outer adult.

Slowing Down…

Over four days and three nights at White Lotus Eco Spa Retreat, we'll slow down together and rediscover what it feels like to truly inhabit the body—individually and collectively.

This is not a performance-oriented festival.

It is an intentional, nourishing, human-scale gathering designed to support:

• Nervous system regulation
• Grounded presence
• Consent-based touch
• Authentic connection
• Embodied movement
• Rest, play, and community
• Nature connection
• Deep listening and spaciousness

Leave Your Watch at Home…

Dilating time with presence, EmbodyFest is designed to be deeply restorative, relational, playful, and accessible. Expect a blend of structured offerings and generous spaciousness, with a no-hurry, one-activity-at-a-time rhythm: movement classes, Thai massage, meditation, fascial maneuvers, ecstatic dance and contact improv, fireside connection, spa-like offerings, nature immersion, and organic opportunities for genuine human connection.

Offerings Include

• Thai Massage & Art of Touch
• Meditation & Sound Baths
• Ecstatic Dance & Contact Improv
• Partner Yoga
• Qigong & Continuum
• Somatic Workshops & Discussions
• Sauna, Hot Tub, Fires, River Trips & Nature Immersion
• Musical Performance by HOLY RIVER
• Stillness, Laughter, Rest & Community

Your Home for the Weekend

White Lotus Eco Spa Retreat is a peaceful 25-acre sanctuary tucked into Virginia's Blue Ridge foothills near Shenandoah National Park. Between sessions, wander forest trails, soak in the hot tub, unwind in the sauna, gather 'round the fire, cool off in the river, or simply find a quiet place to read, journal, or do absolutely nothing.

Choose from a variety of accommodations—including private suites, shared cottages, cozy cabins, camping, and unique spaces like the Hobbit House and Treehouse—to find the stay that best fits your style and budget.

→ Explore Accommodations

Nourishing Meals

Your registration includes six lovingly prepared meals prepared by Chef Rissa Stiefel Tutia, Founder of Blossoming Earth: Eco-Culinary Arts.

• Thursday dinner
• Friday brunch & dinner
• Saturday brunch & dinner
• Sunday brunch

Meals will be primarily vegetarian, with gluten-free options available. Our intention is to serve fresh, wholesome, satisfying food that nourishes both body and spirit.

Kissing the Ground…

EmbodyFest is rooted in:

• Consent
• Presence
• Respectful communication
• Inclusion
• Personal responsibility
• Care for the land, facilities, and one another

Many offerings involve movement, interpersonal connection, and optional touch-based practices. Participation is always optional, and clear communication and consent are essential.

We encourage attendees to honor their own boundaries, move at their own pace, and help co-create an environment of warmth, safety, authenticity, and mutual care.

Blessing the Space…

Your Hosts • Organizers • Facilitators

Lev is the chief vibes officer at the Body Repair Shop and our resident MC. His approach is rooted in deep listening — connecting symptoms to their cause and guiding the body toward its own resolution. Specializing in trigger point Thai massage therapy and trained in the Coaching the Body method, Lev has synthesized his own style of Thai Ju Jitsu. His style blends emotional release techniques with deep muscular relaxation. 

As an RYT-500 hourYoga Teacher Trainer and with a Bachelor's in Traditional Eastern Arts from Naropa University, Lev has a contemplative pace of life, enjoying nature, loafing and a regenerative lifestyle. He leads workshops and retreats throughout the year, including a body/mind transformational retreat called “Back to Nature, Back to you.”

Follow Lev at http://www.bodyrepairshop.org

Chitra McDevitt (C-IAYT, LCSW) is a licensed somatic therapist dedicated to helping individuals navigate trauma recovery and addiction. By beautifully weaving ancient yogic wisdom with modern mental health principles, she offers a grounded, body-based approach to deep healing. Chitra’s extensive background in yoga education, Thai massage, and dance grounds her work in profound somatic awareness. She invites clients into the here and now, creating a supportive space to discover and nurture their own embodied wisdom. Facebook- Yoga Therapy with Chitra and Instagram- chi.mcd

As a White Lotus resident and EmbodyFest organizer, Brian Chamowitz is excited to welcome old and new friends into a weekend of inclusive connection and embodied play, where everyone can feel seen, heard, valued, and included. His deepest intention is to cultivate internal and external spaces that foster safety and belonging.

Brian is especially interested in the intersection of our deepest nature—the quiet, aware presence beneath experience—and the rich complexity of being human. He is particularly drawn to integrative frameworks that bridge these dimensions, including Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Jill Bolte Taylor's Whole Brain Living.

By day, Brian coaches adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) at Sunflower Partners in Charlottesville. Outside of work, you'll likely find him hiking, biking, and swimming in the Blue Ridge Mountains, playing bike polo, or enjoying time with friends and family.

Brian  hopes to contribute through vulnerability, playfulness, loving presence, generosity, and attuned leadership.

Melanie Ross-Fairchild ( LMT/RYT) Makes her home in the foothills of the Beautiful Blue Ridge of Virginia where she has danced with  Thai Massage since 2016. With teachers from Asheville to Knoxville , Greece Israel , Italy and Thailand , Melanie has trained Dynamic and Osteothai  in the mountains of North Carolina and the Old City  of Chiang Mai . Dedicated to bodywork as a career, Mel also dances with the forms of Contact Improv , Acroyoga , Ecstatic Dance and  Modern Postural Yoga . Balancing  movement and stillness, conscious touch ,  deep listening a deep love of nature and an ongoing curiosity toward nonduality all shape Melanie’s experience and offerings in the world . Find her website melanierossfairchild.com or connect on Instagram @melaniesflying.

After five years of traveling around the globe,  immersing himself in the worlds of plant medicine, dance, yoga, Thai massage, and other somatic therapies, Tim settled down four years ago to call the Shenandoah Valley his home. He  is currently the resident Thai massage Bodyworker at White Lotus Eco Spa, and besides for being passionate about sharing the practice and teaching of Thai massage, he loves spending time building  community through food rescue, cooking, and creating safe spaces for touch and play by organizing  community Thai massage jams. 

Eliza Segell is a consent educator, dance/movement facilitator and student of play. Her work explores how movement, touch, communication can deepen our connection with ourselves and one another. She creates experiential spaces where people can practice noticing what they want, communicating clearly, and navigating connection with greater choice and awareness. Her approach is informed by her work as a doula, relationship and sex therapist, and teacher of Contact Improvisation. With curiosity and care, she invites people to experiment, play, and discover new possibilities for connection.

 Megan Sprague is a local sound scaper, dancer, dreamer and Sacred Time Keeper. 

Deeply drawn to music and movement; she holds sanctuary space for communal connection in nature, including ceremonial offerings to honor the changing seasons of time. Since 2012 she has been exploring life through the lens of the Tzolk’in Calendar of the Maya; sharing her passion through written reflections, personal readings, and pathfinding experiences. 

 A graduate of the Strengthening Health Institute, she has also received multiple sound healing trainings that have inspired her personal evolution as a musician and multi instrumentalist. An eternal student of Life, her deepest prayer for humanity is that we might learn to behold and be held by the Greater Web of Creation; honoring each day as Sacred and each heart as Holy. Www.hymnsforhumanity.love

Laura Lee Gulledge is a critically acclaimed author, teaching artist, and cuddle facilitator. Coming to embodiment thru artistic burnout, she brings an authentically imaginative and accessible approach to wellness.

She depicts healing practices visually through her zines & graphic novels in the emerging graphic medicine genre. She practices healthy creative “Artnership” most notably through her collaborative public murals with teens.  And she founded the Society of Snugglers (SOS) platonic cuddle community out of her Autistic peers’ shared needs for connection and coregulation.

Whether it’s cocreating cuddling or cartooning, Laura Lee is passionate about consent culture as a form of collaboration, creativity, and care. #artnerlove whoislauralee.com