A MELT Experience
Root & Rise
We invite you to join our yin yoga retreat—where stillness meets transformation.
The Melt Experience
Please join us for 3 days of yoga classes, workshops, ceremonies and mindful meditation. We invite you to find the magic in your yoga practice on and off the mat. We promise to encourage you to surrender, breathe deeper, celebrate the experience of stillness and to be with your true self.
Dates
May 16, 17, 18
Where
Nevada City, California
Our Location
Join us in the heart of downtown Nevada City, California; the gateway to the Sierra Nevadas
LifeForce Academy
226 Broad Street, Nevada City, California 95959
Eateries
Lodging
The National
TheNationalExchangeHotel.com
The Outside Inn
OutsideInn.com
Inn Town Campground
InnTownCampground.com
Schedule
Please note this is a fluid format and is subject to change.
Friday
- 4:00pm: Arrivals
- 5:00pm: Opening Circle
- 6:30pm: Yin Yoga Experience and Sound Bath (Lily Jones, Erin McCarthy)
Saturday
- 9:00am: Optional activities (nature hike, brunch, farmers market, etc)
- 1:00pm: Cacao Ceremony (Neema Star)
- 2:30pm: Snacks/Light supper
- 4:00pm: Myofascial Release, Yin & Nidra (Lily Jones, Erin McCarthy)
Sunday
- 10:00am: Yin Yoga (Kelly Callender)
- 11:30pm: Lunch
- 1:00pm: Bracelet Making Workshop
- 3:30pm: Closing Circle
Your Hosts
Our core staff is composed of renowned teachers Kelly Anne Callender, Erin McCarthy and Lily Jones.
Additionally, we will have guest teachers and guides joining us.
Kelly Callender
Through the years she has found she gravitates toward Yang choices in our Yang world. She balances her world with Yin practices. Yin choices benefit us every time. There is a profound impact of Yin practices in enhancing our Yang-driven lives. Yin is yielding, allowing and nourishing. Instead of fighting back when confrontation arises, a yin-inspired life embraces it. Wraps its arms around daily challenges and gives you a big ol’ hug.
Ultimately, Kelly shows people how to dance within the chaos. She hopes to inspire them to get unstuck, unfreeze, and let go. She enjoys watching her students and those she loves to melt into their true nature.
In 2022 Kelly and her family moved to Shell Beach, California. She is looking forward to returning to Nevada County in September to connect with those in the foothills and be with some of her most favorite friends and students.
Erin McCarthy
As a long-distance runner and athlete, Erin was drawn to Yin Yoga to gain balance in activities, quickly noticing the benefits she felt within her body. She decided to jump into a Melt Yin teacher training in April of 2019 and has since enjoyed sharing her love of Yin with others. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness, is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and Restorative Wellness Practitioner. Erin seeks to enable others to work towards feeling their best through movement, nutrition, deep rest, and learning about their bodies.
@seeknourishment
@thewellnesssacademygv
Lily Jones
Lil has a passion for guiding people to their true heart through Yin Yoga and meditation; helping people create space to find their “Yin Within”. She has experienced the immense benefits of improved well-being, wholeness and balance both as a teacher and practitioner. Pains that she lived with for years have melted away.
For Lil, Yin offers space, mobility and restoration. The power of Meditation and Yoga Nidra brings her clarity, insight and openness to the mind and heart. These are the experiences she strives to bring to others through her offerings.
Lil enjoys an active lifestyle; snow skiing, hiking, cycling, paddle boarding, weightlifting and practicing yoga. She fell in love with Yin Yoga after her first class in 2016 and never looked back. Dedicating her Sundays to self care and Yin Yoga slows her down, allowing her to notice the subtleties in life and offering a unique opportunity to cultivate gratitude for her body.
After three years of faithful practice under Kelly Callender (MELT Founder), she took her practice to the next level (MELT Training RYT 200). Yin Yoga became a gateway to a deeper meditation practice. This led to her expanding her learning through certifications:
Yoga Nidra (Classical Yoga Nidra, California College of the Ayurveda) and Ananda Course in Meditation (Ananda).
Lil believes the power of Yin Yoga and Meditation bridges the gap between self and the universe, sickness and health, and between yin and yang. Cultivating a full spectrum of health for mind, body and spirit.
Mottos:
Yin Within
Never Miss a Sunday
Consistency over Intensity
@LilyYinWithin
Your Guides
Dawn Hoppe
Dawn is a lifelong seeker, a teacher of yoga, a maker of adornments, and a believer in both ritual and self-reflection as powerful tools to empower, evolve, and live more mindfully.
She has always been drawn to jewels and adornments. From the friendship bracelets of childhood to the heirlooms passed down from my grandmothers, she has always known there is magic within them.
She believes more than mere decoration, adornment is a sacred act. Since the beginning of time, people have adorned themselves as a form of expression, deeply personal, cultural, spiritual. She believes in the power of the stones and crystals and sacred woods. More than that, she believes in the magic we all have inside us.
She feels called to help others find their own magic through intentional jewelry and magic beads and the sacred act of adornment. Used as touchstones and prayer aids, her hope is that her pieces support you as you live into your own unique magic.
Neema Star
Neema Star is a Cacao Priestess and facilitator of transformational experiences, devoted to serving cacao with integrity and love. Her mission is to act as a channel for Mama Cacao, guiding others to connect deeply and profoundly with this sacred medicine.
With over nine years of experience, Neema Star has participated in ceremonies with elders from various indigenous traditions and visited cacao farms across Central America. She facilitates cacao ceremonies and activations worldwide, including intimate circles, transformational retreats, special holy day observances, and collaborations with festivals and intentional gatherings.
Most recently, Neema Star has been studying as an initiate with the Academy of Oracle Arts, embarking on a 3 year journey in Oracle Arts as a Ritual and Offering Practice. This program explores the Hermetic Qabalistic Tree of Life and various devotional and magical practices, such as Astrology, Divination, Elemental Theory, Egyptian Cosmology, Hermetic Qabalah, Ritual Theater, and Oracular Consciousness.
Cacao has become an integral part of Neema Star’s being, radiating from her presence and speaking through her heart. She invites others to surrender to cacao’s wisdom and is dedicated to helping individuals cultivate their unique relationship with this sacred plant.
MELT Experience 2025
May 16, 17, 18
Register now to reserve your spot: $399 per person
Space is limited and we encourage you to solidify your spot today!