I Went To An Adult Summer Camp to Heal My Inner Child
Guest contributor Lina Żeldovich shares the story of her adult summer camp experience at Soul Summer by Loftie.
I am holding a warrior pose on my yoga mat, basking in the morning sun next to a lake. “Let’s assume a tree pose,” commands our instructor, just as a heron lands nearby. After a few more moves, she lets us relax in a happy baby position.
Honestly, right now I’m happier than any baby out there. I’m kidless in an adult summer camp, feeling like a kid once again—what more can a mom ask for?
Summer is traditionally a time for family vacations, but sometimes parents need a vacation away from family. Welcome to the era of adult summer camps, which are particularly popular right now when so many people are longing for the good ol’ days, when they had neither responsibilities nor worries. I don’t know who first came up with the idea, but they sure were a genius.
Yet not all adult summer camps are the same. What attracted me to Soul Summer by Loftie, set at the Black Creek Preserve in Esopus, in New York’s Hudson Valley, was its spiritual ‘Heal Yourself’ itinerary.
Yoga? Yes. A sound bath? Never had one, but up for it. Somatic movement? Also, a first for me, but sure. Foraging for edible plants in the forest? As long as I’m guided by a pro, why not? Summer camps are supposed to be where you try and learn new things, so I’m game for new anything.
One brainchild of Matt Hassett, founder and CEO of Loftie, is a smart bedside lamp designed to improve sleep according to human natural circadian rhythms. The Soul Summer camp took the concept of wellness and healing to another level. It made me feel like a kid again.
Evolving Into A Kid At Adult Summer Camp
Our first morning begins with a Cacao Ceremony by the lake—a heart-opening ritual practiced by many Indigenous populations of America during which the rich drink was consumed to foster connection, bonding and healing.
After breakfast, we gather on the yoga mats to learn what the concept of somatic movement is all about. Our instructor Kirsten Smits flips on high-octane music and explains the basics.
A different form of therapy, somatic movement focuses on releasing chronic muscle tension that we unwantedly pack into our bodies from the stress of everyday life, which can cause pain or health problems. Somatic therapy also can help individuals process and release the physical and emotional effects of trauma from their past.
Kirsten’s class is a cross between yoga, dance and self-massage, in which you move to the music, pat your body down and shout your frustration out into the blue sky. What’s truly surprising is the extent to which it works, in terms of mood-boosting and tension-release. Perhaps when little kids run around in circles or roll on the ground, they achieve a similar effect. By the time the lesson ends, I feel like a supercharged, mischievous 10-year-old ready to get in trouble.
That doesn’t take long. After lunch, we head into the forest, led by botanist Dina Falconi, to learn to identify edible and not-so-edible plants. After we sniff, rub and chew on a few medicinal and palatable leaves and flowers, she draws our attention to Fool’s Parsley, a poisonous look-alike cousin of the popular edible herb.
So I do what a mischievous 10-year-old version of me would do—I pick it up nto examine closely, immediately earning a reprimand from our guide. “Drop it and clean your hands!” she admonishes me. Contrary to one’s expectations, being yelled at feels good—a responsible grownup is watching out for me. I can keep being a careless “kidult.”
Childhood is great—until it isn’t. Each and every one of us has lived through difficult and sometimes traumatic experiences as children. As adults, we may think we have forgotten these moments or have gotten over them, but that’s not always true. Oftentimes, we carry these childhood traumas throughout life instead of letting them go. That’s what we tackle the next day.
Healing My Inner Child
Shortly after morning yoga, we gather on the mats again for a “Heal Your Inner Child” session. “When you think about childhood, what would you want to say to that 10-year-old you, dealing with something distressing, painful or traumatizing?” asks Alexina Graham, who is leading that session. “Write a letter to that 10-year-old self. Tell that child what they needed to hear at that moment.”
For the next few minutes, our group becomes so silent that you can hear the fish splashing gently in the lake. Everyone seems to have something to say to their little vulnerable selves. On my part, I am writing a message to a little girl with neatly braided hair who is watching the farm she grew up on being torn down by bulldozers, to build new homes.
Once we’re done, Alexina tells us about our next healing step. Later tonight, as we set a fire in the fireplace, we set the letters on fire, too. As they go up in flames, we imagine the painful memories go up in smoke, and make peace with whatever happened long ago. S’mores certainly help sweeten the memories.
From there, we dive into the sound bath—a meditative experience where participants are immersed in the sounds and vibrations of instruments including singing bowls, chimes and gongs that promote relaxation and wellbeing. This is yet another form of healing therapy that uses sound waves to calm down your body and mind.
Following the instructions of our sound maestro, Jen Rubinetti, we once again lie down on the yoga mats—only this time with eye masks for a fully immersive experience.
The therapy is called a bath for a reason—I feel the waves of soothing sounds washing over me, akin to ocean currents. The singing bowls and chimes calm me down. The rattles sound like waterfalls. Even the gong sounds, while somewhat unsettling, feel necessary, as if they are giving me strength. That’s not just a placebo effect. Sounds can alter brainwave patterns. Sound frequencies can interact with the brain, encouraging it to shift from active and alert states of beta waves to more relaxed states of alpha and theta.
An hour later, I emerge from the bath with a sense of deep cleansing, as if the cells in my body have been thoroughly washed. They are all shining like little stars.
As I board the train home the next morning, I realize that I see the world differently. It’s more colorful and harmonious. My fellow train travelers seem less intimidating. I am more focused and less anxious. I am more content and not afraid of the future. Both my adult self and my inner child seem to be at peace. I don’t know if I can heal all that ails me, but I now know more ways to do it.
Disclosure: The author was a guest of Soul Summer but any opinions expressed in this post are her own.
IF YOU GO
About the author:
A culture shock junkie, Lina Zeldovich shimmied with belly dancers in Turkey, cooked zebu in Madagascar, fished for piranhas in the Amazon, sipped a drink made from a venomous snake in Peru—and always lived to write the story. Her work has appeared in AAA Magazines, AARP, BBC, Smithsonian, Washington Post, Toronto Star, AFAR, Atlas Obscura, Saturday Evening Post, Garden & Gun, Sierra Club, and InsideHook, among other publications. She holds several journalism awards including NATJA’s gold, silver and bronze, and lives in New York so she can fly nonstop to almost anywhere. Follow her on @LinaZeldovich.
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