I don’t know about anyone else, but I need a break. Going from online last year to in-person has been overwhelming at best, illness-inducing at worst.
Enter SoulScape: Syracuse University’s free overnight mindfulness retreat at Minnowbrook Conference Center in the Adirondack Mountains. Instead of spending your Saturday night studying, stressing or making otherwise questionable decisions, you can relax and unwind at a rustic-chic lodge with 28 acres of woodland on the shores of a picturesque mountain lake—yes, please!
Beyond its beautiful setting, SoulScape is an opportunity to connect with oneself and one’s peers beyond the surface level. Attendees have the opportunity to engage in discussions and group activities in hopes of inspiring introspection and vulnerability. You know it’s working when you feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude, purpose and belonging—or so I’ve heard.
Getting personal, I’ve wanted to go on the SoulScape retreat since my freshman year. Now, as a junior, I still have not gone. What’s held me back, you ask? Well, COVID-19. Sadly, SoulScape could not be held as usual last year due to the pandemic, so its return in 2021 is exciting if you’re anything like me.
See, I stay introspective, constantly asking: who am I? What are my likes? Dislikes? How have my preferences changed? How have I grown as a person? SoulScape can help answer these questions or, at least, begin to consider them.
To gain more insight into the inner workings of SoulScape, I spoke with peer educator and active campus community member Alexandra Nicole Santiago ’22, about her experience at the retreat in 2019.
Snippets on SoulScape with Peer Educator Alexandra Nicole Santiago:
When did you attend SoulScape?
“I think it was about two years ago, before COVID [Fall 2019].”
Why did you decide to sign up for SoulScape?
“I was already a peer educator, and I knew about SoulTalk [weekly gathering to discuss life’s ‘big questions;’ Thursdays from 7 to 8 p.m.]. I wanted to meet more people, and I wanted to have conversations—meaningful, deep conversations that would make me feel more connected to campus.”
What types of activities did you participate in at SoulScape?
“We discussed different topics like authenticity, meaning. We did yoga. We did a walking meditation where we walked along a trail in silence… in a group and… just admired nature [and] appreciated where you were and who you were with.”
Did you have an experience or realization at SoulScape that was particularly profound or impactful for you?
“I realized that there are other like-minded people on this campus. There are people who want to have these conversations and are open-minded. They don’t shy away from topics that can be deemed controversial. I felt like I was ‘in company’ for the first time since I’d been here at Syracuse University.”
What is something you think students should know if they’re considering attending SoulScape?
“That they will get out of the experience what they put in. It’s not a vacation or a place where you just take a break from the university—you have to engage in mindfulness for it to feel like it was fruitful. The fact that this [program] is free is something that we really have to get out there for people to know.”
As mentioned earlier and by Alexandra, SoulScape is free for Syracuse University students to attend, including transportation, food and lodging!
In a time where everything is “go, go, go,” sometimes it’s nice to take it slow. Slow it down this fall at SoulScape: Saturday, Oct. 23 to Sunday, Oct. 24. Applications close at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 10, on the Wellness Portal. SoulScape is only open to SU students.
For more information on SoulScape or to request accommodations, visit the Soul Series webpage, or contact the Barnes Center at The Arch health promotion team by calling 315.443.8000 or emailing healthpromotion@syr.edu.
Written by Cecelia Kersten ’23, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications