Cameron's Staff Pick

15th Annual Sage Academy Sound Healing Retreat Intensive

Name: 15th Annual Sage Academy Sound Healing Retreat Intensive
Start: 2025-06-27
End: 2025-06-29
Location: Menla
Rating: 4.5

4.502 reviews

375 Panterkill Road PO Box 70 Phoenicia, NY 12464 United States

June 27 - 29, 2025

About this Retreat

Your Guides

Silvia

Thomas

Lea

Katya

Scott

Silvia Nakkach, M.A., MMT

Grammy® nominated composer, interdisciplinary vocal artist, educator, author, academic consultant, Hindustani raga musician, experimental new music, embodied improvisation, and recording artist. A former clinical psychotherapist and an internationally accredited specialist in transcultural sound and music therapies, including music in shamanic practices. For many years, she has been on the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) faculty, where she created the premier certificate program in Sound, Voice, and Music in the Healing Arts offered by a major academic institution. She teaches the Metaphysics of Sonic Resonance in East-West Psychology and Contemplative Asian and Transcultural Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is a Mentor at the CIIS’s Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research. She is the Founding Director of the International Vox Mundi School of Sound and the Voice, with Training Certificates in Japan, Brazil, S. Korea, and throughout the US. She is a core faculty of the Sedona Sound Healing Institute. In addition to her academic credentials, Silvia has devoted more than 40 years to the study of Classical North Indian Raga Music under the direction of the late Maestro Ali Akbar Khan and other great living masters of the Chant of Dhrupad tradition, presently under the direction of Pt. Uday Bhawalkar. Silvia has released sixteen CD albums and is a contributing author of several scholarly books. Her book Free Your Voice has been published by Sounds True More here: www.voxmundiproject.com

Thomas Workman

Thomas is a multi-instrumentalist, certified sound healer, instrument builder, visual artist, teacher and founder of Ancient2Future Sound Healing. He brings together unique musical instruments, compositional and improvisational skills, shamanic practices, and practical knowledge of the healing power of music. In this session we will explore a wide variety of instruments such as didgeridoo, conch shells, fujara, bamboo flutes, bone flutes, nose flutes, hulusi, kamale n'goni, various drums and percussion, and much more. We will learn how to incorporate some of them into a sound bath or private setting. In 2010 Thomas completed the certification course for Sound Healing at the Sound & Music Institute at The Open Center in NYC. In 2012, he founded Ancient2Future Sound Healing. Thomas conducts sound healing sessions for individuals and groups. More here: https://www.thomasworkman.com/events

Lea Garnier

Lea Garnier has worked in the healing arts for over 25 years and is an established practitioner in the field. She is the Director of Sage Academy of Sound in Woodstock, NY which she founded in 2007. She is an Upledger trained Craniosacral Therapist, practicing since 1990. She is a certified yoga instructor trained in the Desikachar lineage. Lea is a student of the shamanic arts which inspired her ongoing interest in therapeutic sound for healing, which led to the organization in 2010 of the first annual comprehensive Sound Healing retreat in the northeast, The Sound Healing Retreat Intensive. Now in its 15th year, it is an ongoing platform created specifically for the pioneers of sound healing to come together and share their knowledge and wisdom, often resulting in deeply transformational experiences for participants. Due to its massive appeal, and to meet the demands of this emerging healing modality, Sage created The Sound Healing Certification Program in 2013. The program focuses on the fundamental areas of sound healing and caters to an international audience of practitioners working in the healing arts. In 2013 Gong Camp, with 91-year-old master Don Conreaux was created. In 2014 Lea created an innovative program integrating sound healing and various styles of yoga, specifically Yin and Vinyasa. This grew into a teacher training called The Yoga of Sound, a Nada Yoga Retreat. More here: https://sageacademyofsound.com/our-programs

Katya Valomova

Katya Varlamova is a clinical herbalist, naturopath, plant wellness educator, and founder of the organic herbal wellness line Warmicita Herbals. Katya's journey with the plants started in back 2006. Just two short years later she was calling on their healing powers to help her recover from a devastating traffic accident. Lovingly and patiently, the plants helped her restore her physical body and held space for the much needed emotional healing to unfold. Ever since, they have been guiding Katya on a powerful journey of self-discovery and healing magic. Years of herbal studies, adventures and work have followed. They have taken Katya around the US, South America and Europe - growing medicinal plants, making remedies, practicing clinical herbalism, and holding plant medicine circles and retreats. In her work with clients Katya relies on the healing powers of Western herbs, precious teachings of TCM and Ayurveda, and magical gifts of the Amazonian plant medicine. When the work calls for shifts in the non-physical realms of being she frequently uses flower and tree essences, gem elixirs, guided meditation, inner child work, breath work, ritual and ceremony. Katya leads plant walks, hosts women’s circles, and teaches plant medicine classes & retreats in NYC, the Hudson Valley, the Andes and the Amazon. IG @warmicitaherbals www.warmicitaherbals.com, More About Katya About Katya's Private Practice

Scott Williams

Having worked for years as a successful Creative Director, Scott sought something with a deeper resonance. Liking the tone of sound baths, he decided to attend one at Sage Academy of Sound in Woodstock, NY, on a whim. That experience was his big bang and first awakened him to the power of Sound. With a deeper understanding of what good vibes meant, he felt a strong need to go deeper and, in 2015, decided to train with Sage. Since then, he's been working with them regularly to spread sonal sunshine. He is now part of the Sage Sound Sangha and one of their senior teachers. In addition to bathing in Sound, he recently added bathing in Forests to his offerings. Practicing as a Forest Therapy Guide has allowed him to work with new kinds of vibrational medicine and wisdom – that of nature. Much like Sound, it enables him to create more opportunities for people to meet themselves at the gate of their own healing paths with the support of something greater. He is currently training to become certified in the art and science of psychotherapy. He divides his time between upstate and Brooklyn. More here: https://sageacademyofsound.com/faculty-1 www.upstatestud.io

Details of this retreat

In 2010 Sage Academy of Sound, located in Woodstock NY, created the 1st annual Sound Healing Retreat Intensive at Menla. After directly experiencing the healing benefits of sound, and dedicated to sharing this with others, the founders created a platform that would give sound pioneers a beautiful environment to share their knowledge, as well as a place to rest and explore. Fifteen years later, this program, led by Sage Academy director & founder, Lea Garnier, continues to inspire many on the healing path of vibrational medicine.

The world’s foremost experts in the art and science of Sound Healing will come together to immerse retreat participants in the sacred power of sound. Under the guidance of these remarkable scholars, healers, and sound practitioners, students will explore the healing potential of Tuning Forks, Crystal Bowls and Pyramids, Tibetan Bowls, Sacred Gongs and Bells, Voice, Drums, Conch, Flutes and other sacred sound instruments. Participants will learn the therapeutic application of sound tools to create sacred space, shift and expand consciousness, address a range of physical conditions, restore balance, and promote positive change at the cellular level. Featuring: Sound Pioneers Silvia Nakkach, Thomas Workman, Lea Garnier, Nicholas Pertrucco, Katya Varlamova and Scott Williams

Full program description here:

https://sageacademyofsound.com/2025summersoundhealingintensive

https://sageacademyofsound.com/our-programs

Schedule

Friday, June 27

3 pm Arrival & Room Check-in
3:30 - 4:30 pm Lea Garnier: Intro
4:30 - 6 pm Afternoon Session

Nick Patrucco: The Power of the Drum & Ancestral Journeying

6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Evening Session

Lea Garnier & Sage Sangha: Creating Vibrational Doorways with Sound & Sound Bath

Saturday, June 28

7 - 8:15 Optional Morning Sadhana

Yoga

8 - 9 am Breakfast
9:30 - 12 pm Morning Session

Thomas Workman: From Ancient 2 Future: Sound Tools Through The Ages

12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
2 - 5 pm Afternoon Session

Silvia Nakkach: Medicine Melodies of Diverse Vocal Traditions

6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Evening Session

Lea Garnier & The Sage Sangha: Crystal Corpus: Sound Healing Ceremony

Sunday, June 29

7 - 9:30 am Check-out of Rooms (Before or After Breakfast)
7 - 8:15 am Optional Morning Sadhana

Scott William: Forest Listening

8 - 9 am Breakfast
10 am - 12 pm Morning Session

Katya Varlamova: Icaros & Andean Ceremony

12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
2 - 5 pm Afternoon Session

TBD

5 - 6 pm Departure

*Please note that the schedule is subject to change.

Getting Here

Menla, 375 Panterkill Road PO Box 70 Phoenicia, NY 12464 United States

Accommodation

Deluxe Queen

Deluxe Queen Room with Queen Bed and Private Bathroom Free Phone and Hi-Speed Wifi Internet Access Available Air Conditioning All Rooms in Lhasa are Handicap-Accessible, Including Four Rooms with Wheelchair Accessible Showers. Deluxe Queen Rooms are Available in Lhasa Inn and Kathmandu House * Please note that rates include meals and accommodations

Deluxe Double (Shared Room)

Deluxe Double Room with Two Full Size Beds and Private Bathroom Free Phone and Hi-Speed Wifi Internet Access Available Air Conditioning All Rooms in Lhasa are Handicap-Accessible, Including Four Rooms with Wheelchair Accessible Showers. Deluxe Double Rooms with Private Bathrooms are Located in the Lhasa Inn * Please note rates include meals and accommodations. This booking is for one bed in a double shared room: We May Assign You a Roommate if You Do Not Register with One.

Standard Single - Shared Bath

Menla Private Queen Room with Queen Bed and Shared Bathroom Public Phone and Hi-Speed Wifi Internet Access Available This lodging type is not ADA Compliant Private Queen Rooms with Shared Bathroom are Available in Thimpu House, Panther Cottage and Potala House * Please note that rates include meals and accommodations

Economy Single - Shared Bath

Standard Single Room with a Twin Bed and Shared Bathroom Bathroom is Shared with One to Six Other Guests on Your Floor. A phone is not available but high-speed WiFi is available in the room Phone Access Available in Nearby Conference Center and also Lhasa in Business Center. All calls are free of charge. This Lodging Type is not ADA Compliant. * Please note rates include meals and accommodations.

Economy Double - Shared Bath (Shared Room)

Standard Double with Twin Beds and Shared Bathroom The bathroom is Shared with other rooms on the same floor. High-speed Wi-Fi is available in the room. Phone Access Available in Nearby Conference Center and also Lhasa in Business Center. All calls are free of charge. This Lodging Type is not ADA Compliant. * Please note that rates include meals and accommodations * Please note: this is an open door policy room, meaning there are no keys to lock the door (we have lockers you can use at Lhasa if needed) * This booking is for one bed in a double shared room: We May Assign You Roommates if You Do Not Register with others

Camping

Camping Campers Have Access to Bathrooms with Showers in Lower Level of Conference Center. Menla Has Six Wooden Camping Platforms by the Pantherkill Stream (First Come First Serve). If All Platforms are Full or You Prefer Not to Use One, There is Also Camping Space in a Small Field by the Stream. Accommodations Fee Includes All Meals. Phone and High Speed Wi-Fi Available in Upstairs of the Conference Center and also Lhasa in Business Center. All calls are free of charge. This Lodging Type is not ADA Compliant. * Please note that rates include meals and accommodations

Commuter

Commuters Menla Encourages Members of the Community to Participate in Our Wonderful Programs! Includes Meals, Public Phone, Public Computer, and Wi-Fi Internet Available in Lhasa Inn. Accommodations Fee Includes All Meals.

Customer Reviews

4.50 out of 5.0 average rating

Anonymous • Oct 03, 2023

4.0

Verified

Weekend retreat stay

The property is on a beautiful, peaceful location.
Nature is all around and sometimes a little too close but you are literally surrounded by woods.

The food was really good and I liked the buffet style and fruit basket.

The gift shop although small had a nice selection of items and I purchased a few fun items.

Since the dining area was on the opposite side of the site from the convention center, a lot of students drove back and forth on the property. I chose the walking paths to get around.

Marie • Apr 18, 2022

5.0