For-rest Retreat — Salmo, Canada
A 54-acre mountainside retreat with a yurt, sauna and trails in Salmo, BC
Johanna grew up in the Canadian Rockies, where she worked for years as a lodge chef and hiking guide. She later moved to Colorado, and eventually to Salmo. Her lifelong dream was a property with trails and a gathering space, a place to relax, be in nature and make room for personal growth. For-rest Retreat is that property, owned and run with her husband Jon, a professional carpenter from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who built every structure on it.
The land is 54 acres of mountainside off the Nelson-Nelway Highway, 1.5 km north of Salmo and about 40 km south of Nelson. More than 3 km of hand-built trails are open to hikers and mountain bikers, and Johanna still spends spare time cutting new ones. The property sits on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Sinixt, Syilx, Secwépemc and Ktunaxa peoples, and its stewards say they act as the land's current caretakers.
The 30-foot yurt is the centre of it, heated by a wood stove in cooler months. It seats about 16 in a circle, takes 20 or more on yoga mats, and holds roughly 40 in chairs. Weekly dance, yoga, song and drum circles and sound immersions happen here, alongside live music, women's circles and retreats. Nearby are a sauna for 8 to 10 people with a cast iron tub cold plunge, a commercial kitchen, a Zen garden, an outdoor stage and a wood-fired pizza oven.
Three rentals, the Casita, the Caravan and an off-grid Cabin a ten-minute walk up a forest trail, sleep up to 11 guests, and there is room for tents and camping units. Johanna, a certified natural chef trained at Bauman College in Boulder, cooks for retreats. The calendar ranges from a women's heart medicine retreat guided by Andean cosmology to mountain bike and yoga weekends, a hike-and-paddle retreat, a spring cleanse and monthly Soul Sessions. Groups can also book the grounds for their own gatherings.
Traditions: Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin and Anusara Yoga, Sound Healing, Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku), Qigong, Yoga Nidra, Somatic Movement
Programs: Community Soul Sessions, Community Classes in the Yurt, The Stars Within – Women's Heart Medicine Retreat, Bloom – Spring Cleanse, Nourish & Rejuvenate Retreat, Ride & Revive Women's Mountain Bike & Yoga Retreat, Wild Hearts Hike, Paddle & Yoga Retreat, Custom Personal Retreat Packages, Sauna and Cold Plunge Rental