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Kay Gardner is best known for her work as a founding member and Senior Lead Trainer of Internal Family Systems (IFS), a model she has studied and contributed to since 1991.
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With over 40 years of clinical experience and 30 years in private practice, Kay brings a wealth of expertise and a compassionate presence to her work. Her background as a therapist and teacher of Hakomi Body Centered Psychotherapy enriches her approach, combining body-centered awareness with spiritual depth. Known for her heartfelt and skillful teaching, Kay creates an inviting space for transformative learning and healing.
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Kay is currently and most intimately working with Legacy Burdens - offering workshops and retreats around the globe and currently writing her first book on the subject.
about
Spirit of the Land Retreat
October 4–9, 2026
Kilkenny, Ireland
Step onto sacred soil and into sacred remembrance. Guided by the deep teachings of Kay Gardner. This retreat offers an embodied experience of spiritual and energetic systems. You’ll explore how intention, presence, and ancestral connection can deepen not only your personal healing, but also expand the depth of your therapeutic practice. Expect fun and the unexpected in ceremony, sacred connection to the land, communal healing, storytelling, and space to soften into what you’ve inherited and what you are ready to transform. Come home to your Self, your lineage, and the spirit of the land.
Legacy, Cultural Burdens & Blessings Retreat in California
Soquel, CA
January 16 -18, 2026
Details
Legacy Burdens are beliefs, feelings, and emotions that are handed down through the family line either directly or indirectly. These beliefs turn into burdens if tied to shame. Sometimes legacy burdens only go back a generation or two, but others can go far back, even hundreds of years.
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This retreat offers participants a framework and greater clarity on working with clients' legacy and cultural burdens. With a small group, intimate setting this in-person retreat will be highly experiential as well as didactic allowing for a deep dive into the exploration of legacy burdens.
Participants will learn what legacy burdens are through their own personal exploration of their own legacy burdens. Additionally, participants will gain deeper insight as they are invited to explore their ancestors’ burdens and their relationship with them.
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Join Kay in Portugal:
The Spiritual, Energetic Lens of IFS
March 1 - 6, 2026
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This retreat will help you expand your experience and understanding of parts work to include a rich and deep resonance with energy and spirituality. Kay has taken the things that have enriched, inspired and enlivened her along this path and included them in this retreat.
All the systems we will explore (the chakras, the enneagram, the dakinis, the sacred marriage, the marriage within, shadow work, the survival strategies etc ) are there to help to wake us up, to not only who we are, but how our patterns run energetically.
The Retreat will take place in Sesimbra, Portugal. Sesimbra, a hidden gem just a stone's throw from Lisbon, is a charming town, beloved by locals. Sesimbra is beautifully situated next to Arrábida National Park, where you'll find stunning hills covered in Mediterranean vegetation, dramatic cliffs, and untouched beaches.
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NEW! Mystery School
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During these uncertain times, have you been in relationship with fear? With grief? With disapointment? And as you quietly consider this question, has this relationship mostly been influenced by reacting to… or responding to situations? If the energy of responding too arouses curiosity… This program could be a seed for you.
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Details
We will spend Friday mornings together, exploring our energy bodies, getting to know Parts, and the issues that live in each chakra. Through processes such as tantric meditation, parts work, and a practice called "Feeding your Demons (Tsultrim Allione)" we will work together to awaken the possibility of unburdening parts and bringing ourselves into a state of self-love and authenticity.
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Join Kay & Ted on Zoom every day from 9am to 12:30pm:
March 20
April 24
May 22 (all day)
June 19
July 31
August 21
Sept 18
Oct 30
Nov 20 (all day)
Cost: $900.00
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Remembering Ourselves Home:
5-day Retreat for Women in Ontario
led by Kathy Cox and Kay Gardner
May 11–16, 2026 in Elmhurst, Ontario
As we transition from one stage to the next, women often face obstacles in realizing our full potential. Join Kay Gardner and Kathy Cox in a workshop that will allow each woman, no matter our age or phase in life, to break down those barriers and step into their authentic power. Through movement, art, writing, time in nature, and deep connection, you’ll:
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Break through inner barriers
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Reclaim your personal and authentic power
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Identify and shift blocks to manifesting your calling
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Reflect and be witnessed in heartfelt community
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Coming soon...
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A Retreat in Portugal
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Legacy Burdens in Michigan (May 2026)
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Womens' Retreat (May 2026)
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Spiritual Lens of IFS (Virtual with Souliology, June 2026)
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July 16-18. Seattle legacy burden retreat (July 2026)
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Energetic Lens of IFS (Virtual with Souliology, December 2026)
