Weaving Our Stories: An interfaith women’s retreat returns to Five Oaks in Paris

Niki Andre, Dr. Amira Ayad and Tanya Dyck Steinmann will co-facilitate the Weaving Our Stories interfaith women’s retreat at Five Oaks Retreat Centre, located along the Grand River on 77 acres of trails, wooded spaces, a labyrinth, a prayer room and peaceful places for reflection.

Julia Paul

Grant Haven Media Freelance Writer

As the pace of life accelerates toward the year’s busiest season, a reflective and restorative interfaith retreat is returning to Five Oaks Retreat Centre from Nov. 21 to 23. Rooted in the universal structure of the hero’s journey, Weaving Our Stories invites women from all backgrounds to explore their personal narratives, confront meaningful life obstacles, and rediscover the grounding power of shared community at the historic retreat property located at 1 Bethel Road, Paris, where the Grand River shapes a peaceful landscape.

As a co-facilitator, Niki Andre helps guide participants through an interfaith workshop designed for people of all faith.

“My work is about helping people experience embodied knowledge - getting it into your body and your heart.”

This workshop is in conjunction with the work Dr. Amira Ayad does, who uses archetypal storytelling and the hero’s journey framework in her therapeutic and spiritual care work.

“Amira is the person behind the retreat,” Andre said. “She uses the archetype of the hero’s journey to help people explore their own stories — what they’re being called to in their life, and what challenges or obstacles might be standing in the way.”

This event marks the second time the retreat has been offered. After its inaugural session, the response was overwhelming.

“It was one of the most requested programs they had,” Andre said. “There was an overwhelming response of ‘you must do this again,’ so we are.”

The hero’s journey shapes the retreat’s thematic structure, but Andre’s role focuses on bringing the teachings into participants’ bodies, hearts and spirits, ensuring the experience becomes more than an intellectual exercise. 

Her offerings include:

Circle singing and collective music-making

Spoken word and poetic reflection

Yoga, breathwork and meditation

Ritual and contemplative practices drawn from participants’ own traditions

These elements accompany Ayad’s teaching on the seven stages of the hero’s journey, creating a retreat that blends learning with creative, soulful experience.

Andre will once again be joined by Dr. Amira Ayad and spiritual director Tanya Dyck Steinmann.

Dyck Steinmann serves as the program coordinator at Five Oaks and also leads Wildscape Soul, her spiritual direction practice rooted in contemplative, nature-based exploration.

Ayad is a bestselling author, Natural Health Consultant, Registered Psychotherapist and a Spiritual Care Practitioner at Scarborough Health Network. She holds a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutics, a PhD in Natural Health and a Master of Pastoral Studies from the University of Toronto. Her work blends therapeutic insight, spiritual reflection and archetypal narrative structure — forming the foundation of the retreat design.

Weaving Our Stories is designed for women of all kinds, whether cis or trans, and for anyone seeking interfaith connection and opportunities for shared wisdom.

“It’s for people who want to experience what I call beloved community,” Andre said. “There’s an African proverb, ubuntu — ‘I am because you are, and you are because I am.’ That’s the spirit of this work.”

Participants last year represented a broad range of traditions, including Indigenous, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Pagan and others. Andre noted that many appreciated hearing stories, allegories and cultural wisdom rarely shared side by side in mainstream spaces.

“It’s rare to find spaces in our culture where these stories from different traditions can be honoured together,” Andre said. “People really appreciated that.”

Running from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, the retreat includes:

• Teaching sessions

• Reflective practices

• Sharing circles

• Fire-side storytelling

• yoga and meditation

• Structured and unstructured time for integration

• Ayad’s signature fabric arts storytelling, including communal weaving and individual fabric storybooks

Andre emphasized the importance of spaciousness: time for quiet, time for walking the grounds and time for personal processing.

“We’re leaning more into the retreat side of things this year,” she said. “It’s meant to be really restorative.”

Located along the Grand River on 77 acres, Five Oaks offers trails, wooded spaces, a labyrinth, a prayer room and peaceful places for reflection. The meeting of two rivers on the property is considered spiritually significant in Indigenous traditions, adding to the retreat’s contemplative atmosphere.

“It’s very peaceful, and the grounds are gorgeous,” Andre said. “There are trails, a labyrinth, a prayer room and places where people can practise according to their traditions."

The retreat is nearly full, and Andre recommends contacting Five Oaks directly, as online registration may close early.

Single accommodation is $374.

When asked to summarize the retreat in three words, Andre chose reflective, connective and joyful.

Above all, she said the experience offers something rare in a fast-paced world: a place to slow down, be cared for and reconnect deeply with oneself and others.

“This life is so busy,” Andre said. “It’s the perfect opportunity to take a minute for yourself, restore and experience self-care among like-hearted women.”