Camp Dreamspace
at Camp Orkila
Orcas Island Retreat for Massage CE and Self-Care
You need this.
November 1st-5th 2026
Escape to Orcas Island for a transformative week of education, nature, and restoration. Train with leading instructors while immersed in a serene landscape of forests, shorelines, and cozy hearthside evenings.
Your retreat includes six hours per day of expert, hands-on training, bodywork sessions designed to replenish your own system, and gentle outdoor excursions to reconnect you with the natural world. Our program is intentionally free of sales, gimmicks, and gadgets—just meaningful skill-building and authentic care.
Leave feeling renewed, confident, and ready to elevate your practice with techniques that enrich your clients’ experience and support stronger cash-based revenue.
Island residents: Enter discount code Resident at registration. Residency will be verified.
Retreat Course List
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November 1st - Forest Bathing Experience & Evening Beach Campfire
Essie Hicks is a massage instructor and bodyworker based in Olympia, WA. She is the founder of Dreamspace Natural Therapeutics, and loves leading people into the woods to discover the healing properties of nature.
Forest Bathing for Healers with Essie Hicks LMT, Forest Guide
Day one after you arrive and start to unpack and settle in we will casually come together to experience the ancient forest Camp Orkila stewards. Forest bathing practices are an ancient Earth connection that span the globe. We will explore practices of mindfulness, breathwork, and learn how connection with nature as a self care practice. We will end our day with an evening beach campfire hosted by Camp Orkila.
4 skills and boundaries CEUs for massage therapists in Washington State OR 4 Self Care CEUs for massage therapists who are eligible in their state for self care CEUs.
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Nov 2nd- Breath and Thoracic Mechanics with Dr. Evan Hassel
Dr. Hassel practiced as a licenced massage therapist for over a decade before earning his doctorate in phyisical therapy. He is also an accomplished martial artist and instructed community classes in Akido.
Breathwork and Thoracic Mechanics with Dr. Evan Hassel DPT
Unpack your trunk! Discover how breath shapes movement. In this dynamic course, Dr. Evan Hassel blends functional anatomy, manual therapy, and guided breathwork to help massage therapists understand the diaphragm and thorax as an integrated system.
Learn why rib mobility matters, how to identify dysfunctional breathing patterns, and how manual techniques can restore efficient, easeful breath. Perfect for therapists working with chronic pain, stress-related conditions, or mobility limitations.
Total 6 CEU for Massage Therapists
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November 3rd - Reiki Level One with Barb Stouffer
Barb Stouffer is an herbalist, yoga instructor, homesteader, and Reiki Master. Barb holds a bachelors degree in psycology which informs her mind-body approach to healing arts.
Reiki - Level One with Barb Stouffer , B.S., Reiki Master
This course certifies you to take Reiki Level 2, and provides you with self care rituals to help cleanse your energy field and ground yourself after working with patients.
6 CEU for Massage Therapists
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Nov 4th- Patrick Stockstill LMT
Patrick Stockstill is a licenced massage therapist and certified Eselen® massage instructor based in Eastsound, WA at the Healing Arts Center.
Esalen® Massage Introduction with Patrick Stockstill
Esalen® Massage offers a grounded, heart-centered approach to touch that nourishes both giver and receiver. We will explore basic Esalen Massage techniques, presence-based touch, and self-care principles that support a long-term, sustainable bodywork practice. Through demonstrations, embodied awareness exercises, and hands-on exchange, you’ll begin to develop more easeful body mechanics and intuitive connection using the felt sense.
6 CEU for massage therapists
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Nov 5th - Sound Healing with Dr. Mary Attwood
Dr. Mary Attwood, N.D. practices naturopathic medicine and functional medicine at Heart of Wellness in Tumwter, WA.
Intro to Sound Healing with Dr. Mary Attwood
Explore simple, inspired ways to incorporate sound healing into your massage, energy work, or bodywork sessions. Learn about planetary tuning forks and introductory sets by BioTonics, with one set available for demonstration (no need to bring your own). Experience crystal singing bowls and the gong through both an experiential sound bath and an observational class. Come ready to bring more vibrational medicine into your practice—and to give and receive a sound-infused treatment.
6 CEU for massage therapists
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Explore Eastsound
Rest time will be worked into the retreat so you can enjoy the beauty, shops, and farmland of Orcas Island.
November 1st-5th
Camp Orkila
Orcas Island, WA
Camp Dreamspace is a long-time vision brought to life by the incredible teachers and healers who have joined in this collaboration to offer both healing and education in the healing arts.
In 2021, I noticed a trend among holistic healthcare practitioners: we were not always receiving enough of the same services we were providing to others. At the same time, the people we served were suffering more deeply than usual, creating additional strain on healers. I began asking employees to work on each other daily—whether through breathwork, holding space, gentle touch, or fascia release between clients, even for just a few minutes. It helped.
To ease the strain and anxiety of our clients, we must first receive healing ourselves and remind one another to continually seek restoration.
This concept is known in Latin as Cura Te Ipsum or “Heal Thyself.”
It reflects the philosophy that we cannot serve from an empty well. If we are to heal others, we must first tend to our own well-being.
This retreat will be facilitated by me, Essie Hicks, LMT, and collaboratively presented by a group of compassionate and highly skilled practitioners and doctors.
We will gather on November 1st, a cultural moment of introspection and reflection. Fall is the time when tourists leave Orcas Island, life slows down for residents, and thoughts of the coming year begin to wind through our minds as the rains return, the wind sings through the trees, and dark evenings draw us indoors by the fire.
Camp Orkila, one of the oldest camps in the Pacific Northwest, offers old-growth trees, beautiful shorelines, and historic bunkhouse lodges with cozy fireplaces for us to rest, reflect, and succumb to the giggles before we nod off with our classmates.
For the past 25 years, Orcas Island has been a refuge and respite for me throughout my career as a healing practitioner. I am so grateful that this collaboration made its way from Dreamspace to reality.
I have a feeling you will make lifelong friends here. Orcas is Magic!
Visit our Registration page to sign up!
Yours in Healing,
Essie the Massage Therapist
Getting There
If you are coming from the mainland there are a few ways to get to Orcas Island.
Ferry
Walk-on Ferry
Kenmore Air
Getting Here is half the fun!
FAQs
Do I need to bring a table?
Yes. You need table and oils, a blanket, and face cradle covers, but two sets of sheets will be provided for you.
How much is the course? Can I make payments?
1800.00 for the week and includes lodging at Wally Fisher Bunkhouse Lodge, meals, and all programming.
Early Bird Pricing of $1350.00 will be available until March 31st 2026.
Yes. You can make payments. You will recieve a monthly invoice.
You can read the payment policies HERE
We have scholarships available. Apply HERE
Can I bring my kids?
No. This program is for adults; however, Camp Orkila may be able to accommodate families in their own bunkhouse. Booking for that needs to be done separately through Camp Orkila directly, and we can’t guarantee space. If Camp Orkila can accommodate your family, children must have supervision while you are on course, and must not disrupt class.
Ok, but can I bring my dog?
No, no dogs unless they are a licensed support animal.
I live on the Island and don’t need lodging. Can I have a discount?
Yes, the price for Island Residents is 1350.00. Use the discount code: Resident. Residency will be verified.
We do encourage you to stay and enjoy meals with us.
What will a day on retreat look like?
(This schedule may shift slightly based on weather and instructor availability.)
7:30–8:30 am – Optional Meditation Morning Movement Class
8:30–9:30 am – Breakfast
10:00 am–12:30 pm – Morning Session
12:30–3:00 pm – Lunch / Healing Practice/Rest/Reflection/Explore
3:00–6:30 pm – Evening Session
6:30–7:30 pm – Dinner
7:00–8:30 pm –Cozy Fireplace/ Campfire/Meditation/Silent reading or journaling group
10:30 pm – Quiet Hours Begin
How many CEUs can I earn?
There are 28 total teaching hours available to you. Four of those hours are self-care hours allowed by the Washington State Department of Health.
If you want to earn more CEUs, hands-on practice hours will be available during the course.
Your question wasn’t answered above?
Contact us, and we will get back to you in 2-3 business days!
