Honoring Natalie Rogers | The Heart of Nourish Your Soul Retreat
When I first discovered Natalie Rogers’ work over a decade ago, it felt like coming home.
As the daughter of humanistic psychology pioneer Carl Rogers, Natalie didn’t just inherit a legacy, she expanded it with profound grace and creativity. In her groundbreaking books The Creative Connection: Expressive Arts as Healing (1993) and The Creative Connection for Groups, she introduced the Creative Connection® process: a gentle, intermodal way of weaving together movement, sound, visual arts (like drawing and painting), writing, and guided imagery to unlock our inner wisdom, release emotions, and foster deep self-discovery.
Natalie believed that creativity isn’t reserved for “artists” it’s a universal language for healing and transformation. She emphasized creating safe, person-centered spaces where judgment falls away, unconditional positive regard reigns, and individuals can access their authentic selves through playful, sequential arts experiences. No rules, no perfection, just permission to express, explore, and connect body, mind, and spirit.
This philosophy has been the quiet foundation of my own teaching for 16 years. When I facilitate intuitive painting workshops or lead my Soul Retreats, I’m drawing directly from her person-centered expressive arts approach. Painting becomes the inviting “first door” accessible, forgiving, and full of gusto, opening into a broader artful journey that includes movement to awaken the body, poetry to honor inner whispers, clay to ground ideas in form, nature immersion to let the forest co-create, and reflective sharing to weave it all into life purpose insights.
My Nourish Your Soul Retreat (June 12–14, 2026, in my peaceful woodland home studio in Hedgesville, WV) is a living embodiment of this. In our small VIP group of just 6 women, we gather in the stillness of 22,000 acres of pristine forest. Nature as our gentle co-facilitator.
We begin Friday afternoon with a meet and greet, dinner and setting intentions, sharing ideas and answering questions. You’ll receive a gift to make your weekend even sweeter:
Next morning we start with an ice breaker to connect to self and bond with the group members.
During the course of the weekend there will be group exercises, but also time to reflect and work alone. You will be able to express yourself with clay sculpting (shaping emotions into tangible forms), poetry inspired by a forest bathing, guided meditations. Enjoying home-cooked European meals shared around the table, and circle reflections that often reveal surprising alignments with one’s deeper calling.
Everything is provided: all art materials, fresh home cooked meals, snacks, and soulful company.
No prior experience needed; only a willingness to cross the threshold into your own valor. Let creativity nourish you from the inside out.
Women 45+ often find this weekend especially transformative. A midlife pause to reconnect, release, and rediscover joy in self-expression.
Natalie Rogers’ legacy reminds us: When we create in safety and freedom, we don’t just make art, we heal, we grow, and we touch something sacred. Life purpose coaching and Natalie’s work added extra dimensions to my intuitive painting workshops. They taught me how combining a multitude of art forms create an even deeper wholeness. I’ve seen it happen time and again in retreat circles: tears turning to laughter, hesitation blooming into fearless color, quiet women stepping into radiant presence.
If you’re feeling the call to nourish your soul through creativity this June, join us June 12–14. It’s more than a retreat. It’s a gentle revolution of the heart.
Today, dear friend, cross the threshold into your own valor. Let the canvas, the clay, the forest, and your inner voice guide you home.
With love and creative fire,
Elisabeth
