Boreal Bliss 2025 Wrapped
What a year! Thank you to those of you who joined us and truly made 2025 special. We wanted to share a few of our highlights from the past year.
Now some of these highlights are big wins, and some are “small” wins. Maybe ya had to be there? Maybe…just maybe, you’ll love reading about our aspirations and silly delights. Maybe you’ll delight in them as much as we do.
1. We set a goal to work with some media outlets this year. That led to some really fun and surprising collaborations.
First, we were featured on The Lift in Duluth, MN. We were able to share some simple mindfulness practices in nature with the charming host, Bailey Warfield.
Then, Amanda was asked to share simple strategies for stress relief amidst the busy chaos of a Minnesota summer on Minnesota Live. The hosts went way off script and Amanda was bound and determined to get through her talking points, lol. She wore a blue blazer to the set (instead of yoga clothes?), then they really wanted her to lead them in yoga, but then the yoga practice was pretty awkward. It all makes for a good smile.
We had a really fun collaboration project with the Portage and Paddle podcast. This is a really natural fit for us, and we are so inspired by the work of Joe Frederichs, author of two excellent BWCA related books, and the host of this great podcast. Later, he followed up with one of our wilderness guides, Shannon, to feature her story empowering women in the BWCA.
2. The high of the year for us is easily the collaboration with Deep Portage and a branch of the Minnesota Department of Health, the Cass County Statewide Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). The purpose of the trail is to promote wellbeing. It’s an accessible and approachable way to teach mindfulness in nature to thousands of children and adults! The trail turned out beautifully. We are so thrilled about the opportunity to bring this wonder walk to Deep Portage: news story with video here.
3. Our non-profit is chugging along. Admittedly, there is a lot of learning in this space. We are ever learning, but we were honored to offer 20 scholarships in 2025. We continue to support scholarships through the proceeds of our retail shop at retreats. Even cooler, four people donated to our non-profit without us prompting or asking. That was super exciting! (If you would like to donate, you can donate here.)
4. We coordinated and successfully delivered our very first family retreat! Thanks to the yoga, nature, education, and fishing talents of our crew, it was a huge hit! We are excited for another round of Spring family retreating in 2026: Family Yoga, Nature, Fly Fishing Retreat.
5. We went to a new location and loved it! Sugar Lake Lodge is a phenomenal family-owned and operated resort. The experience there was so great in fact, we had to say yes to returning. Even though we didn’t *really* have it in our plan for the upcoming year. We are delighted to return in 2026 for our Lake Life retreat.
6. We met with a new venue in 2025. We are thrilled to head to Kona Kona Resort in 2026 for our newly announced Startlement retreat. This resort is serene, quiet, and relaxed.
7. We are celebrating our favorite northwoods learning center investing in upgrades to their building. Deep Portage Learning Center has brand-new carpet and new drinking fountains! The new carpet in the giant yoga space is so amazing! The fresh look with the windows + oversized fireplace is very appealing. In addition, there are new drinking fountains with water-bottle fillers. This may seem small, but to us it’s huge! In the past couple of years, they’ve also invested in a new roof, windows, and fresh paint on the building. This year they also invested in a new snowmobile for cross country ski trail grooming. We are overjoyed at the opportunity to cross country ski on the magnificent trails through the woods for many years to come! All this in addition to the collaboration on the new mindfulness trail?!
8. Birchwood Wilderness Camp revealed a brand-new custom wood-fired sauna on their campus! Our retreaters were excited to experience the fresh, beautiful, and more spacious design.
9. Speaking of Birchwood, we brought retreaters on new adventures at Adventure Awaits! Along with our long-held favorite day trips to Romance Lake and Seagull Lake, our standard retreaters were able to add a day paddle to Chikwauk Nature Center & Museum. Upon arrival via canoe, we hiked to the top of “Blueberry Hill” for a stunning 360º view of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Gunflint Trail wilderness, and Canada.
10. Amanda is embracing playing music at retreats!! (This was a really big personal obstacle for me to overcome! I attended the February retreat last year as a guest. That freed up a little mental capacity for me and I decided to try playing 6 songs during a yoga class. It went really well and helped me gain confidence to continue leading music at retreats. It is so vulnerable to share our personal creative gifts, but powerful too.)
Not to mention, sometimes magic ensues when you boldly put yourself out there. The impromptu group sing-a-long at our fall Flow Retreat will always be a cherished memory.
11. Bryana is embracing teaching yoga “off the mat”!! At our annual fall yoga retreat at Camp Olson, Bryana taught almost exclusively on the trail and/or in a kayak. This was a revelation to Bryana - that it would be acceptable to her to only lead mindfulness, meditation, and nature immersion sessions in the woods and not on the mat in a formal class setting at all. :) In fact, it was a great complement to the traditional yoga class options led by Amanda and Stacy at this retreat.
12. After literally YEARS of talking about it, we were finally able to “be about it”. We carved pumpkin heads with friends and got them to dance around in them with us. When the world tells you to “shoot for the moon”, believe them. ;) This was a dream come true for us! lol!
13. In 2025, we welcomed retreaters from across the state of Minnesota, out-of-state, and even from Canada. Some returning, and some brand-new to Boreal Bliss. The joy that both of these categories of retreaters bring is indescribable as a leader and dreamer of these events.
pic of Bryana & Amanda from January 2017
It’s funny that we are almost 10 years in, and we still find ourselves in disbelief reflecting on it all. I can hardly believe all of the places we explored (both new and old favorites visited), and the people we were lucky enough to connect with along the way. Retreats are among the most vivid experiences and memories I have each year. When I reflect on the year that has passed, I can hardly believe the cherished moments I’ve been fortunate enough to collect and savor. This is all due to the reality that there are incredible people throughout Minnesota (and beyond) that are also game for seeking out awe, wonder, and mindfulness - to fully live in the present. What a wonderful life. Thank you!
