About Our Retreat Leaders & Staff

Retreat Leaders:

Meriah Kruse

Meriah Kruse provides the overall vision for all Gentle Adventure Retreats, leads daily Feldenkrais Healthy Morning Workshops, and provides teachings in the use of self-massage, sitting and walking meditations, affirmations, breathing exercises, freeMOTION classes, and related topics. She also supervises the adventure and cultural components of our retreats. Learn more about Meriah...

All retreats

Mary Crone

Mary has enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, for the last 5 decades. She is a community activist working with organizations to promote diversity and healing conversations. Mary is an experienced guide for women on their inner journeys, encouraging transformative learning through the use of writing, relaxation techniques, creative ritual, movement and spiritual renewal work. She is the mother of three interesting, talented adults: Eli, Abraham and Emily.

South Carolina Retreats

Bunny Rodrigues

She is a cultural artist, storyteller, and quilter – and also an archivist of the literature, handcrafts, and history of the fascinating Gullah people from the Carolina Low Country and the Georgia Sea Islands. Bunny will ‘talk story’ with us about the Gullah people and teach us to make traditional grass dolls during our visit to her unique Gullah Ooman Store.

South Carolina Retreats

Brooke Pohl

With nearly 20 years as a practicing mediator, Brooke embodies a quality of compassion and humor. She is Co-Resident Director for Shambhala Training, a secular path of meditation and study, in Lexington, Kentucky. Always physically active, whether it’s in dance, horseback riding, or deep sea diving, she is trained in Middle Eastern belly dance and is intrigued with the spiritual roots of this woman’s folk dance. Brooke has been a teacher of Sogetsu Ikebana, a school of Japanese flower arranging for 15 years and teaches Ikebana workshops internationally. She is the mother or two independent minded, beautiful daughters, Chelsea and Alyssum.

Maui and Kentucky Retreats

Kendra Adkisson

Kendra has accomplished so much in her relatively brief life. As a young woman she worked in a factory in a kibbutz in Israel in order to learn about communal life. She participated in rites to become a Buddhist nun in Burma as part of her research for a thesis on Women in Buddhism. At Vanderbilt University, she was a member of the comedy improvisation ensemble ‘Tongueincheek’. She graduated from massage school specializing in prenatal massage and became a working doula, providing labor assistance to women delivering their babies. In addition to her work with Gentle Adventure Retreats, Kendra is a faculty member of the Lexington Healing Arts School.

Maui and Kentucky Retreats

Donna Stafford

Donna, mother, gardener, and home-maker for 28 years on the Island of Maui, is busy raising Chameleon Vacations Maui, an alternative accommodations referral business. Donna is an advocate for simple lifestyles and living in harmony with the aina (Hawaiian for ‘land’). She serves as our official island hostess, sharing her warm love of both Maui and the Hawaiian culture with participants on Maui retreats. In her words, “Given Maui’s delicate ecosystem and vulnerability, I want to attract travelers who are willing to give and take of the true riches of Maui.” You can reach Donna at www.donnachameleon.com

Maui Retreats

Gordean Leilehua Bailey

Auntie Gordean has been a student of ancient and modern Hawaiian traditions since she was a small child. One of the most revered Kumu Hulas on the island of Maui, Auntie is the director of Wehi Wehi Leilehua Halau, master lei maker, choreographer, historian, and a remarkable cultural artist. She and her husband, John, are proprietors of Baileys Farm, a ten-acre flower farm in the foothills of Mt. Haleakala. Auntie Gordean is our guide in Catching the Aloha Spirit: Chanting, Hula, Lei making, and much more. Her long-term dream is to build a Hawaiian cultural center in the Hawaiian Homelands on Maui’s southern slopes.

Maui Retreats

Gina Machorro Espinosa

Gina is the proprietor of Puerto Escondido’s central visitor’s information booth and the originator of Gina’s Walking Tours. She is relied on both by visitors and by vendors and service providers as she diplomatically and skillfully creates business-friendly alliances between her neighbors and international visitors to Puerto Escondido. Gina is an indispensable and active adviser and participant in the Puerto Escondido Gentle Adventure Retreat, and one of our official hosts.

Mexico Retreats

Dr. Robert Rodgers

Dr. Robert Rodgers became a full time energy healer after resigning in 2003 as Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for the Health Administration Program at the University of Kentucky. A graduate of the intensive four year program for healers at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, Robert uses cutting edge approaches to healing that are powerful complements to traditional medical care. Robert is a former tenured professor of management, a county manager in Virginia and a U.S. Navy officer who served during the Vietnam era. He holds a Ph.D. and a Masters of Labor and Industrial Relations (MLIS) from Michigan State University, a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) degree from Cornell University and a Bachelors degree in Economics and Math from Vanderbilt University.

Mexico Retreats

Abraham Mauricio Salazar

Abraham is one of the finest, most highly respected traditional bark painters in the State of Oaxaca. In a highly distinctive style, he depicts the sights and sounds of his home village through sophisticated compositions and juxtapositions of color. He will teach you the basics of designing and executing a traditional folk art painting. Whether you are an experienced visual artist or can’t draw anything but a stick figure, you’ll have a wonderful time painting and relaxing with Abraham, making a colorful painting you can take home as a souvenir of your journey to Puerto Escondido.

Mexico Retreats

Patti and Alejandro

Patti and Alejandro are gifted healing artists and the proprietors of Temazcali Espacio Meditativo, a healing arts center based on traditional pre-Columbian healing practices such as massage therapy, healing baths and the use of steam. A visit to their hand-crafted center is like stepping back in time to another era, a place to receive nurturing care by intuitive professionals.

Mexico Retreats

Omar

Omar, who will serve as one of our official hosts, brings a lifetime of familiarity with the village, local people, fishing and the sea surrounding Puerto Escondido. He knows where to look for giant sea turtles, dolphins, flying manta rays, and other ocean miracles. He will take us out in his fishing boat for a delightful afternoon exploring the coastline and whatever other surprises may come our way. Omar is bilingual, and spends part of each year working with an outdoor adventure company in Canada.

Mexico Retreats

Jeanne Terry

Jeanne’s commitment to studying creativity, human potential and transformation for the past 30 years has taken her on a winding path through art, education, and bodywork. Director of a program for teen mothers, she is also a jeweler, Hakomi body worker and doll maker – making mythical dolls, creatures, and fantasy worlds from polymer clay objects and fabric. In her words…

”Seeking to find a fulfilling and authentic life, I have studied, trained, and experimented with a variety of methods of self-discovery and personal ‘improvement’. The ability to experience yourself beyond your normal state of consciousness is quite possible and there are many methods one can use.”

Kentucky Retreats

Janine and David Musser

Janine is the Executive Director of the Wolfe County Arts Association. David is a former Artist-in Residence for the Kentucky Arts Council, and for other arts-in-education endeavors such as C.R.E.A.T.E and the Different Ways of Knowing Program. Longtime advocates for the value of cultural and community arts, Janine and David were co-directors for many years of the Hazel Green Academy program in mountain arts. Janine will teach you to make a traditional double-bottom reed basket, and David will bring his handmade dulcimers along. Whether you consider yourself musically inclined or not, he'll have you playing the dulcimer in a matter of minutes!

Kentucky Retreats