5 questions with Trish Dingman

Trish Dingman is co-founder of Heal Evolve Thrive. With her business partner, Maddi Rundle, they invite participants to reconnect to their true essence selves against the backdrop of the LUNA project – an all natural, off grid, sustainable living project and homestead comprised of yurts, forested trails, gardens and wetlands, located minutes from downtown Hamilton. What exactly is Heal Evolve Thrive?

Heal Evolve Thrive is a co-creation between myself and psychotherapist Maddi Rundle to offer retreats that help women in nurturing roles: yoga teachers, school teachers, community leaders, activists, healers, mothers and any woman who feels overwhelmed from caring deeply for others and is at a loss for how to care for herself. We help them reconnect to their hearts and remember that they are enough, perfect, wonderful, loved, safe and powerful. We also offer yoga teacher training and online self-study/care programs for all genders.

Nature is an essential part of Heal Evolve Thrive. Can you describe how and why this is so?

I got sober 11 years ago. What helped me most was a combination of yoga, nature and therapy. I learned that addiction comes in various forms; and, much of the world is stuck in cycles of addiction or codependence. I recognized that healing comes from getting quiet and listening to your own heart. When I moved from my Toronto apartment, two years ago, into a yurt at the LUNA project to live with my now fiancée David Masters, I rapidly experienced change. As I slowed down, I began to connect with the rhythms of nature (I’m still working on getting as still as nature!) And it became hard to travel into the city to teach yoga where it felt too frantic after spending so much time in quiet nature. It was my A-ha moment! I realized other adults needed the opportunity to step outside of the city to slow down and remember who they are without the stress and hectic pace of city living.

Heal Evolve Thrive is located inside the LUNA project which was created by David more than 10 years ago as an off grid, sustainable living experiment that offers outdoor education for school children from across Ontario. When I moved in with David, I wanted to be part of LUNA and bring the love of the forest, the yurts and nature to adults, particularly women. With Maddi, we’ve create a space for women to step outside of their busy lives and get quiet enough to hear what they really want, who they truly are and why they are here.

What can a participant expect at one of your workshops?

All our programs are geared toward reconnecting to one’s true essence self. By that, I mean connecting to the part of you that is still whole and remembers being connected to everyone and everything. We use yoga, meditation, psychotherapy, nature, art, play and big laughs. I believe reconnection happens best by stepping away from technology, noise, family and work stress and really sitting back to peer deep within.

You describe yourself as a yoga and self-inquiry facilitator. Can you describe what this means and how you arrived at this point?

After becoming sober, I spent years learning how to get quiet and connect back to myself. I’ve learned from some of the best yoga and meditation teachers, psychotherapists, nature guides, shamans and breath work facilitators. Over time I collected tools to manage stress, sort through feelings and communicate my needs. I learned to set boundaries and put myself first and that only when I am taken care of and loved by me first, can I help others. I lead others to listen deeply to themselves knowing that each of us is our own best teacher. I simply provide the space and whispers to guide people inwards.

You describe the area within the LUNA Project as a magical forest. Do you feel that people have lost their appreciation for the magic and mysticism of nature?

Yes, this place is magical! David has created a nature sanctuary minutes from downtown Hamilton. I think that nature reminds us that the world is a magical place. The birds, the animals, the flowers, the trees… Come on! Nothing but magic could create this kind of beauty. People try to mimic nature’s beauty with music and with decor in their homes… but no one can do it quite like Mother Nature. I think nature reconnects us to childlike innocence and much of our healing needs to come from this place of wonder. May nature be our mirror of wonder, grace and magic. May we remember that we are part of nature; not here to just observe, but rather to engage with it and remind us of our own innate magic.