Come to sanctuary in the mountains

Now that we have survived our first full week of 2022, we find ourselves settling back (perhaps a bit uneasily at first) into the saddle of work and responsibility. It’s a new year with new goals and even broader horizons. As we’ve been discussing the things that we’d like to accomplish in the coming years, exciting ideas have started flowing! 

One of our best ideas that continues to surface is establishing an outpost of sorts in the mountains. 

If you’re wondering where people in the subtropics want to go to get away, it’s the mountains. Always. Within a one-day drive of Naples is a magical spot that we both have come to love and adore. It’s called Highlands and is about an hour away from Asheville in North Carolina. Sound intriguing? It is. 

What does an outpost look like? 

To us it looks like a property with acreage, at least five, but up to as many as 20 acres. We’d love to have an abundance of land to wander and enjoy. If that property had a stream running through it, all the better. When two of the water signs of the zodiac, Cancer (Lisa) and Scorpio (Philip) put down roots together, there has to be H2O involved. Oh — and whiskey. But that’s a different post.

Of course we’d need a house, and in a perfect world, there would be a few other buildings like barns, sheds and even a cottage. It wouldn’t matter if they were a little ramshackle. After all, we know a guy (and a girl). We can make sanctuary out of ANYTHING. 

That’s what this would be — us finding (and creating) sanctuary in the mountains. But the dream is bigger than us. We want to share this sanctuary with you! 

Recently, we’ve had the experience of sharing our sanctuary at home with friends and colleagues who have never visited before. Over and over we heard, “Wow — now I get it.” Sanctuary suddenly made sense to them. Experiencing sanctuary first-hand is powerful, and that is why this idea of a mountain sanctuary as a retreat center is so appealing to us. 

We’re dreaming about live retreats and events and classes about sanctuary. A big, sun-drenched kitchen that produces beautiful, healthy meals for our guests, a light-filled room where Lisa can paint and share therapeutic art techniques, and a music studio where Philip can continue to write and record the soundtracks of sanctuary. A library filled with books. A property to wander with a labyrinth on the grounds where together we can explore the power of meditative movement. 

We could even have a barn and pasture for a couple of rescued horses and other animals. Can you see the vision developing? We can. We see a place, a true sanctuary, that cradles our bodies, awakens our minds and hearts, and encourages our spirits.

We would love your feedback on this idea. Would you consider coming to an event or retreat in a place like this? What would you like to experience while there? We would so love to hear as we continue to explore and develop this idea. Send us a message or add a comment in the box below.

With love and gratitude,

Lisa & Philip