Becoming a Warrior: Surrender, reconnect and stand fiercely with love at this wilderness retreat

There’s a particular sound that rain makes only when you are floating silently in the middle of a lake in a kayak – a percussive symphony of high-pitched plinks and deep hollow bloops.

This is Day 2 at Indigenous-owned Liberty Wilderness Lodge, and we (my new-ish boyfriend and I) are out on a kayak adventure, but nature has its own agenda. A previous version of myself may have thought, “oh, darn, rain, let’s turn back.” But after a couple days at Liberty, the new me surrenders to the rhythm of nature and enjoys the sensation of floating and getting completely soaked.

Then, I’m struck by an idea.

“Base camp, it’s Lia, over,” I say into my walkie-talkie.

I hear Trevin Muscat’s friendly voice: “This is base camp, what can I do for you?”

“Can you please fire up the sauna?”

“Roger that!”

Then I accept the rain with full surrender, arms out, face up, and allow this experience to let all my edges blur until I became part human, part sky and part lake.

The notion of surrender – a theme of this trip – was first introduced on our drive from Smithers, B.C. to the boat dock at Babine Lake. During the drive, we got to know Teara Fraser and Trevin, the husband-and-wife team who owns and runs Liberty Wilderness Lodge and our hosts for the next three days.

In addition to serving up gourmet food, relaxation and outdoor activities, the lodge offers the option of participating in a “warriorship” workshop that’s steeped in Indigenous teachings.

I like learning and growing and embarking on journeys that nourish the mind, body and soul. So, when the opportunity to visit Liberty Wilderness Lodge with a guest and participate in the warriorship work arose, I jumped on it. Also, being in a somewhat new relationship, I thought that being dropped off together in a remote, off-grid wilderness would be a fast-track to… getting to know each other.

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Surrender

“Nature offers us an invitation to surrender,” says Teara, who, in addition to co-owning the lodge, is the founder and CEO of Iskwew Air, the first 100 per cent Indigenous woman-owned airline in Canada. She explains that we will arrive at the dock for the 45-minute boat ride to Liberty if nature cooperates and the winds aren’t up. If nature doesn’t cooperate, we will surrender and wait.

“There’s something really precious about surrender, to let go of control of things,” she adds.

Luckily, the winds are on our side and we’re soon motoring along, watching all signs of civilization fade away to nothing but aspen and cottonwood trees, leafy above the lodgepole pines and firs, until eventually the red roof of Liberty, nestled high up the hillside and deep in the wilderness, comes into view.

Originally a log homestead built in the 1970s, it was renovated into a guest lodge before Teara and Trevin purchased it.

“Who is your target demographic?” I ask Teara, as our boat nears the little bay below the lodge.

“Liberty is for anyone who longs for adventure and a connection with simplicity.”

The lodge sits on the hillside, overlooking the lake, and it has a collection of lovely guest rooms, a cosy reading area and a large great room with high ceilings and a huge fireplace. On the property is a fully stocked boathouse and a wood-fired sauna and hot tub with stunning views. We opt to stay in the Trappers Cabin, a tiny, picture-perfect log house separate from the main lodge. It overlooks its own little bay, and we are immediately welcomed by a beaver that looks up at us and then disappears into the water with a saucy slap of its tail.

Touring this magical place, we learn that the lodge is powered by solar panels, has its own water system and high-speed internet (thanks to Starlink), and uses composting toilets.

Shift

The first morning we arrive at breakfast and after devouring fluffy pancakes and bacon with hot cups of coffee, I notice cards sitting face down beside everyone’s place setting. Teara invites us to flip over our cards, and mine reveals a drawing of a wolf in front of a full moon. The cards are from The Sacred Medicine Oracle by Indigenous medicine woman Asha Frost, and as we go around the table, Teara reads the cards, and we discuss what the teachings reveal. Each card offers wisdom for deeper reflection, a new perspective and even healing.

Back in our cabin, the conversation between my boyfriend and I takes on a new level of depth and intimacy following the openness at the breakfast card-reading, and then the four of us head out for a hike up Juniper Trail to Kinnikinnick Lookout.

Here, we savour a wide view in all directions – a view that, aside from us, contains no signs of humans at all, just wilderness.

Asked what he hopes people will take away from an experience here, Trevin says, “A sense of peace, a deep sense of connection to yourself and to what’s important to your life. There’s always a shift in priorities when you come here; things that seemed important are re-evaluated and sometimes shift entirely.”

Teara adds, “I want people to be able to take a breath, a full breath and remember what that feels like.”

Warriorship

Day two starts with another incredible breakfast, and after a soul-expanding kayak adventure, sauna and a gourmet picnic lunch, we are set to embark on the warriorship workshop with Teara.

She begins by introducing the nugget of the teaching – “to stand fiercely with love for what matters.” It’s about finding that sword inside yourself and learning to use it. We listen, we journal, we reflect and then we go out onto the land to meditate. I sit on the hillside with some tobacco in a shell that Teara has given me to make an offering to the land. As I meditate, I can smell the earth and feel the sun on my face.

Teara’s words come to my mind: “Our world desperately needs people to step into their warriorship, to stand fiercely for what matters. Our future generations need us to be fierce about the systems that are not serving us. We have to start paying attention and hold those things that matter with fierceness and deep love and be willing to show up – for racial justice, social justice and ecological justice. My hope is that people will connect with their own warriorship, witness it and inspire it in others.”

She says we need to “re-member” those parts of us, and so I meditate on pulling the pieces inside myself together to form a warrior who will be there when I need her.

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Connection

After a time, my boyfriend comes and sits beside me, and we look out at the view in peaceful silence. Everything looks different. The trees seem a little greener, the air a little sweeter. I realize that we have gotten to know each other better – not in a typical dating way, where you ask about preferences and look for red flags – but I’ve gotten to know him as a fellow human being, and our connection has deepened.

On the boat ride back, we explore the Indigenous world view of “all my relations,” wherein we are all interconnected and need to think of the impact we have on each other, not just for this lifetime, but for seven generations beyond us.

This world view wasn’t described during our time at Liberty, but I realize that from the moment we arrived, we were witnessing it. We were steeped in that way of being. The generosity of our hosts, the love put into every meal, the stewardship of the land, the slow pace and invitation to deeper connectedness to each other and the land has not only given me some desperately needed restoration, but it has left me empowered to stand fiercely with love for what matters.

This feature appeared in the October issue if Boulevard Victoria.

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