Meet Your Guide: Teresa
Introducing Teresa “Tree” Thomas
Teresa is a gentle, powerful ceremonial midwife and wilderness therapy guide who finds nature to be a reliable and resourceful healing salve. She uses nature’s power as medicine to move through stuck places in her life, and helps others do the same. When a problem presents itself, she turns to the elements of nature and leans into the natural rhythms and guidance.
Tree is often found in the kitchen, making some magical healing salve or nutritional sustenance to share with others. It brings her great joy. She calls to her ancestors, her mother, grandmother and brother from the other side, as the kitchen was a place she was graced with their love and presence.
Back in 2010, when she went to Southeastern School of Neuromuscular Massage, she had no idea this journey would lead her to so many discoveries in the psycho-spiritual and somatic fields of healing. Massage guided her deeper into the body, opening up the awareness of the mind/body connection, preparing her to begin the spiritual journey that ROPC offered.
The eco-psychology and spiritual aspects of Tree’s life began when she first participated in a vision quest in 2014. It opened her awareness to the unseen, which was known deep in her bones. The vision quest preparatory process and a deeper dive into her healing experiences, led to her studies of Michael Harner’s teachings with The Foundation of Shamanistic Studies, and In-Depth Channeling at the Delphi University of Spiritual Studies. Teresa went on to train with Kedar through his wilderness guide program, and the journey continues.
Tree began cooking for ROPC in 2015. Over the years, she has developed a customized menu that provides intentional food and nutrition for the brave souls who enter into the mystery of the eco-spiritual village encampment, supporting their journey to go deep within and to remember who they are. She partners with Mother Earth Food in Asheville to provide locally sourced and organic food, creatively blending the dietary needs of individual participants into a holistic group offering. Tree is now apprenticing other cooks, providing a structure to pass on the knowledge and wisdom she has garnered from her work in the kitchen, with the intent of supporting the growth and sustainability of ROPC. She is grateful for the opportunity to develop her natural talents in a way that contributes to the well-being of others, keeping her heart at the center and feet on the ground.
Professionally, Tree has extensive training and practice in a variety of body work, breath work and trauma healing modalities. She has dedicated her life to healing her personal trauma, ancestral wounds, and holding space for others to do the same. This journey has taken her down and around the bend, with four years in the sexual healing field that ultimately led her to the breath and body work practice of Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System (BBTRS). This embodied practice provides space for the trauma cycle to complete in a conscious and gentle way, reprogramming the nervous system into ease, and teaching one to self-regulate. Her private practice has evolved into a crafted blend of clinical training, intuition, experience from client sessions over the years, and continued education. She provides massage, private breathwork sessions and group workshops from her magical home office in Swannanoa, N.C. and other locations, locally and around the globe.
For more information on the programs mentioned:
More about Teresa's Retreat Chef services.
Teresa Thomas | Space to Breathe
Shamanism:: Foundation for Shamanic Studies founded by Michael Harner
In-Depth Channeling - Delphi University of Spiritual Studies
ROPC: How did you wind up connecting with ROPC?
I connected with ROPC in 2014, after hearing a client talk about a vision quest. I searched online for VQ and discovered ROPC. I thought Kedar would work with my son, but realized that I was the one ready for my own spirit work. This was the beginning of my journey. I became a mother at 18 and didn’t have much support from my family. I needed healthy role models and connections which I had not experienced much of in my life until I found ROPC. Now, I consider myself part of a soul family, where relating is reciprocal and mutually beneficial. I had no idea that ROPC would become part of my life’s work!
ROPC: What's your favorite part about working with ROPC?
My favorite parts are to be treated as an equal, being included, being heard by people that value my gifts and contributing to the health and well-being of others.
ROPC: Tell us a little bit about your background:
I grew up in a small town in North Carolina, just outside of Charlotte. My parents separated when I was 5 years old and I grew up under my father’s care. He worked a lot to provide the basics for my two siblings and me. My older brother and sister and I spent most of our time at home and in nature. We took care of each other and would visit my mom on weekends and holidays. My mother struggled with drug abuse, and yet as my sister and I entered our teens, we went to live with her. This was a chaotic time, as I was exposed to many inappropriate and dangerous situations. And yet, it was an exciting time, as I was given the freedom to explore my world, and be myself. I loved my mother deeply.
My mother lost her life at 38, when I was 16 years old, in a drug induced car accident. Many years later, as a mother of three, in a marriage to a drug addict, I stood in the kitchen and envisioned myself driving off the side of the road to my death. I knew at that moment that everything must change. My mother’s life and death had shaped my life and I couldn’t escape the grief of losing her. This was the beginning of a long healing journey. I packed up my three kids, two cats, and all our belongings and moved to the mountains to be closer to waterfalls. I later discovered ancestors dating back to the 1800’s had settled here in Buncombe County and surrounding counties. I have been discovering that my spiritual work and ancestral healing is why I was being called to these mountains, as many others are responding to their versions of this call.
Within a year of settling into my new home, I heeded the call to quest as it became louder and louder. I was confused in the beginning and thought the call was for my oldest son, as I had spent my adult life tending to others and had lost myself somewhere along the path in my duties of being a young mother. Nature was one unconditional aspect of my life that I could rely on to provide comfort, support and peace. Amongst the chaos of life, nature was the connection that never wavered. I didn’t know why, but I knew that I must answer the call of my primordial self.
ROPC: Describe to us your role at ROPC:
My role at ROPC is maybe the most multifaceted as I am the longest standing cook! I walk in all worlds in the container. I organize, manage and cook all healthy whole food, sugar free, with great vegan options meals. I bring in local, organic, whole foods by partnering with Mother Earth Food, here in Asheville N.C. I am a midwife ceremonialist assisting in the death lodge ceremony, fire tending, and heartbeat drumming are some examples. My role is ever changing, yet grounded in our community's heart, spirit and soul.
ROPC: Tell us about one of your initiatory Vision Quest experiences:
Meandering on a medicine walk, I found myself setting up a hammock by a waterfall. This was a prequel that led up to Vision Quest. This was the first experience that changed the trajectory of my life. It may have saved my life and my kids' lives. There was so much grief from losing my mother. I had cried so much for so long and she haunted me for years. I had no reference for the way things would unfold, but my body knew every detail. As the tarp poured a waterfall of rain behind me, I sat with the question, “What brought me here?” I had no words, only movements, however I was in another place in time that was ancient as I saw my ancestors calling me across the river. I had no thoughts, only a response to follow their call with my mother by my side. When my awareness came back to the time and place I knew myself to be, there were only primal movements and celebration for the liberation that my mother longed for…and finally found. After that experience, my entire relationship with my mother was forever transformed. This was only the beginning…
ROPC: What do you see as the role of a program facilitator?
The roles I see as a program facilitator include specific qualities. These qualities are much like those of a tree and part of why I resonate with my nickname, Tree. A program facilitator needs to stand tall with a deep connection to the earth’s energy. The years of growth add a new ring each year. Every time you show up it’s with new eyes and presence for what is in front of you. There is a swaying of its branches as the wind blows. I allow what I want to flow through me and then I respond with stable flexibility as I consider all. When I think of the roots of a tree I know there is a way to work in connection with nature and with other staff, apprentices, and participants. We work together in reciprocity while providing a safe structure for the mystery to discover. We are reaching for the sky and stars as we are of the earth, yet there is a wider perspective. We seek to be seen, heard, and known as one tribe or family. A balanced program facilitator treats others with equality and shows up in humble gratitude to be in service. They also create healthy boundaries and model a mature way of being and communicating.
