SOMA ALCHEMY: Shed & Shimmer
Enliven your radiant life-force through somatic practices and embodied ritual
Join us for a transformative weekend of Soma Alchemy, where we step boldly into the sacred cycle of shedding what no longer serves and shimmer in the potency of what wants to emerge.
"Shed & Shimmer" is a ritual arc of release and renewal—an invitation to soften the armor, peel back the old skins, and awaken the glimmering pulse of your deep feminine life force. Through somatic practices, intuitive movement, and creative ritual, we enter the alchemical cocoon of radiant emergence.
This is a space for women who are ready to:
Shed outdated patterns, grief, and tension held in the body
Shimmer in the luscious unknown—slow down, feel deeply, and reclaim inner sensual space
Move with intuitive wisdom and creative agency
Reclaim pleasure as a source of power, nourishment, and self-initiation
Shimmer in expressive authenticity, radiant presence, and embodied connection
Together, we will tend to the body as a sacred threshold—one that knows how to release, to remember, and to rebirth. As we shed what has weighed us down, we soften into the shimmering center of self: alive, potent, and unapologetically luminous.
You’ll leave this weekend reconnected to your:
Sensual vitality
Emotional and energetic clarity
Expressive radiance
Grounded inner power
Deepened connection to yourself, the Earth, and a circle of women shimmering
Come as you are. Leave more fully who you are becoming.
Led by Alycia Scott Zollinger
Alycia Scott Zollinger (she/her/us) is a psychosomatic healing facilitator, dancer, and educator known for her compassionate ability to hold sacred space for transformational change and embodied empowerment. She is originally from Miami where dance and nature were her wellsprings for healing connection and vitalized pleasure. She is a graduate of the Seattle School of Body-Psychotherapy, a Certified Yoga Instructor, and a Movement Integration Specialist with a Masters of Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Alycia is a designated Master of Movement Education and Therapy with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association and a peer editor for the International Body-Psychotherapy Journal. She is a lifelong dancer who has been practicing Butoh, Japanese Ritual Dance Theater, since 2006, and has trained with master artists from Diego Piñón and Natsu Nakajima, to Sifu Jerry Gardner and Sankai Juku.
Alycia has performed around the globe and continues to train and collaborate with mental health practitioners, somatic educators, and creative wizards. Her devotion to individual and collective well-being is wholeheartedly rooted in the belief we are all interconnected and possess innate embodied wisdom awaiting our empowered awareness.
Hayley Shannon
Hayley Shannon (she/her) is an embodiment devotee generating brave spaces for authentic aliveness and communal healing. She is originally from Michigan where dance and nature were her sanctuaries. After earning a B.A. in Communications and Dance with a focus in Psychology, she migrated to Seattle to experience a new way of life at age 21. Her life transformed after studying dance/movement therapy and breathwork in Greece in 2016, inspiring her to create Dance Healing. She deepened her practice through Tamalpa Institute’s somatic expressive arts training (Level 1-3 + year-long apprenticeship with their master faculty), breathwork facilitator training with Tai Hubbert, and qigong facilitator training with Suzannah Stason.
Now based on Orcas Island in the Salish Sea, Hayley continues to offer transformational embodiment opportunities online and in person, blending qigong, movement and ritual healing arts.
REGISTRATION DETAILS:
Over the course of our weekend together, we’ll move through cycles of shedding, simmering, and shimmering within a natural sanctuary of forest and garden. In Shed & Shimmer, we will weave individual and collective ritual with spacious and lovingly held time for personal reflection, integration and shimmering.
Registration includes campsite, access to communal kitchen, bathrooms, and showers, along with breakfast and Saturday night dinner (along with los of shared communal yumminess).
Shed & Shimmer will take place on private land due south of Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. The land is beautifully tended with gardens, reflection pond, and forest campsites, along with a studio yurt where we will meet.
Friday Evening — Arrival & Opening
Arrive at 5:00pm to settle into your campsite and the land.
At 6:00pm, we’ll gather for a community potluck dinner (please bring a dish to share)
At 7:30pm, we’ll immerse into our opening circle, intention-setting and connecting rituals to create the container for the weekend.
Saturday — Full Immersion
Breakfast (8:00–9:00am): Overnight oats, coffee, and tea provided.
Program begins at 9:30am and runs throughout the day with guided practices, threading embodiment and creative ritual, ecosomatics and sensuous empowerment.
Lunch on your own (time to cook in the shared kitchen, rest, or meander in the gardens).
Dinner provided for the group (details provided on site). Please let us know of any dietary restrictions.
Sunday — Integration & Closing
Breakfast (8:00–9:00am): Overnight oats, coffee, and tea provided.
Program begins at 9:30am and continues until closing circle at 4:00pm.
Lunch on your own during the midday pause.
The immersion will be held at a forested retreat space 20 minutes south of Port Townsend, WA on the Olympic Peninsula with:
Campsites tucked into the trees (bring your own gear)
Garden paths to explore and enjoy
Shared facilities including a kitchen, bathrooms, and showers
Breakfast provided daily, along with coffee and tea
Dinner provided on Saturday night
Guests are invited to bring their own additional meals and snacks, which can be prepared in the communal kitchen.
Throughout the weekend, you’ll have opportunities to:
🌿 Replenish yourself with embodied nourishment
🌿 Rest in your forest campsite
🌿 Meander the gardens and forest
🌿 Share meals and conversation in the communal kitchen
“I don’t think I could find someone more skillful than Alycia in teaching these exercises - it requires vulnerability, humility, and personal expression to teach an unusual moving art / type of mindfulness. I have a VERY sensitive disposition - HSP is the Wikipedia version of my internal sensitivity. That said, I experienced the expressive portions of this class as an exercise in mindfulness that brought a distinctly different inner experience and feeling that I do not achieve in Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong or seated meditation.”
“Hayley is an amazing practitioner to learn from. Her energetic warmth and humility combined with her power and confidence models the kind of leadership that I desire to have in facilitating such vulnerable and sacred spaces for others.”
“It’s very interesting. Alycia, you really share your knowledge with passion and love. I felt a bit unsure at the beginning, but as more moves and sounds came out of my body, and my system, little by little, let go, I gave myself entirely to the moment, to the movements and sounds. It really felt good. Leaving, I was filled with calming energy and totally relaxed. Have to let you know that I had the BEST VERY BEAUTIFUL BLESSED sleeping night in a long time (amazing 7+ hrs.) that evening... So, it is fantastic.”
“I gained back the trust in my body, beyond what I thought was possible. I now live, not only from the head, but from the whole bodies intelligence. I no longer feel the need to go to my therapist that often: the body knows how to heal, I just have to step out of their way. I am leaving more embodied, trusting and feel like I belong.”
“I’ve never really expressed myself through my body like this. Emotionally, it was really quite odd and uncomfortable at first. But still it was an exciting and new experience. I loved it. I love being pushed outside my comfort zone into a whole new world of possibilities and that’s really what it was; an entire world of possibilities. The possibilities of the body are endless. The principles I have learned so far in this class have been enormously helpful. I’ve loved every minute of it. It’s so cool to explore our bodies in such a way that is immensely helpful and constructive at the same time. I’ve noticed that I have become more upright and carry myself in a different way than before. I’m an entirely different person now and I like it that way.”
“THANK YOU!!! I’m eternally grateful for this beautiful, incredible experience. Words can’t even do it justice for how life-changing this has been for me. A spark has been ignited. You inspire me so much Hayley, and I truly admire what a pure, kind soul you are.”
