Touching Fat: Sensual Somatics for Fat People
Facilitated by Jules Pashall & Scarlet Tunkl
May 29-June 1, 2025
This retreat is for fat folx who want to deepen their connection with their fat and explore it as an access point to sensual and embodied presence. This is a space for fat folx who have a hunch that exploring touch and fat together might help us all get a little more free. This is a space for fat folx who want to play in FAT/NESS, FAT/NESS being the materiality of fat tissue infinitely multiplied by the sensual & energetic experience of being surrounded by other fat people.
Touching Fat, facilitated by Scarlet Tunkl and Jules Pashall, will use touch, rest, movement, noise making, and creative play to experience ourselves, each other and this painful gorgeous world we are part of. This retreat will focus on fat as more than just a descriptor of bodies, but as an energy! A mood! A taste! A feeling! Fat will be our access point to sensual presence. Each practice will pull inspiration from some of the qualities of fat: soft, lush, fluid, velvety, deep, full, whole. For four days and three nights we will bask in the sweetness of FAT/NESS; nourishing and replenishing our hearts and bodies in a loving fat affinity space.
While touch is often seen as primarily erotic, we hold it as that and so! much! more! Touch connects us to ourselves, our surroundings, our memories and our presence. We all need touch, and most of us need it far more than we receive it. Our fat also deeply needs touch! The more we touch parts of the body that feel numb or ignored, the more we find our way back to sensation. The more sensation we experience the more alive we feel. You deserve to feel all your aliveness! Most sessions will center on self-touch and we will experiment with partnered touch and group touch as is comfortable.
If you are fat and longing for a space to explore more touch, more feeling, more presence, more connection please join us for Touching Fat!
From Lush & Whole, retreat from last year at Wildheart
“This completely transformed my relationship with fat… I’ve never loved my body more on a visceral level (as opposed to intellectual). I am so grateful for my fat. I also felt my resentment of and distrust of smaller people shift. Learning that we all have fat and genuinely understanding how lucky I am to be fat.”
“This was a gorgeous, fun, wild container – and helped me open to love on + commit to centering my fat + connecting to my fat as a resource. I’m forever grateful. I didn’t know how much I needed permission to feel my fat and fatness. I’m leaving full, so full of love.”
“I have subjected my fat to so much violence, pain, hatred- this retreat gave me permission + courage to love my fat, to be more wholly myself.”
“I am now in a felt way honestly a bit in love with my fat, all fat people, the fat in my lineage I was told to be scared of. I have so much love for it.”
“Scarlet expertly cultivates one of the safest most held containers I’ve ever been in. The chance to be witnessed in community with supportive loving trauma informed facilitation is a beautiful rare and deeply transformative experience.” – Brittany Moore
“This retreat warmed me from the inside out. I feel more at home in my body and my body feels more at home among other bodies who have generated a new respect for fat and the ways it holds and moves us.”
“They created so much space + permission for me to show up in my wholeness- with my fat, my pain, my needs, my beauty, my younger selves, my art. I have never been in a fat-centered space and I feel profoundly changed. I feel so seen, safe, held, free and connected.”
Sample Schedule:
Arrive
Thursday 5/29 between 1:30-3:30pm
Depart
Sunday 6/1 between 2-4pm
Day 1, Thursday 5/29:
1:30-3:30pm Arrival
3:30 Opening circle
5:00 Tour
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Dinner clean
8:00 Evening Session: A fat mug of sleepytime touch
9:30pm ZZZZzzZzZzzZZZzZzzzs
Day 2, Friday 5/30:
7:30 Morning practice (participant led!)
8:30 Breakfast
9:30 Morning session: waking up to our fat
11:30 Lunch & Break
1:30 Afternoon session: feeling our fat
4:00 Break
5:30 Ritual fat waters (& mikveh)
7:00 Fat Shabbat Dinner
Day 3, Saturday 5/31:
8:00 Morning practice (participant led!)
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 Morning session
12:00 Lunch & Break
2:00 Afternoon session
4:00 Break
5:00 Evening touch lab
6:00 Dinner
8:00 Sensation party!
Day 4, Sunday 6/1:
8:00 Morning practice (participant led!)
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 Closing circle
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Clean and pack
2-4 Depart
Who is it for?
This retreat is for fat folx! Fat folx who want to touch! Who want to feel! Who want to deepen their connection and appreciation of their fat through somatics and sensuality in a fat only space.
Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve been fat in the past, but am not currently fat. Is this space for me?
This space is for folx who currently identify as fat. We honor that folx who have been fat need access to a space like this and hope to offer more spaces for people of all sizes soon!
Can I come with my partner or friend?
Yes! We welcome your participation with a friend, partner, lover etc… We ask that you pay special attention to integrating with the group and getting to know other participants too.
I’ve never done somatics before. Can I attend?
Yes! The activities and experiences offered at this retreat are easily modified for anyone regardless of previous experience or physical ability.
Is this retreat about sex?
This retreat is about sensuality; our capacity to experience sensations through embodiment and specifically fat/ness. Sexuality is one aspect of sensuality that will likely arise due to the nature of sensation. Other aspects of sensuality you can anticipate are emotional resonance, play, grief, peaceful presence, self love and more.
What does Shabbat & Mikveh mean? Is this space explicitly Jewish?
Shabbat is a weekly Jewish practice of resting and Mikveh is a ritual bath to mark transitions. You do not need to be Jewish to attend this workshop nor is it a Jewish space! Because your facilitators are queer Jews, we will be using the inherent gift of our retreat happening over Shabbat to support our time together but there is no expectation of connection to Jewish religious or spiritual practice.
A note on food
We are able to accommodate most diets. We serve meat and dairy daily, and always have vegan and gluten-free options available. If you send us your dietary preferences in advance, we will do our best to make sure there is good food for you at each meal! All living accommodations have access to a full kitchen (separate from the main/commercial kitchen). We will provide breakfast groceries for you to prepare and eat on your own. Lunches and dinners are communal shared meals. Drinks include: coffee and tea, dairy and non-dairy milk, lemon and lime juice for water, red and white wine.
Facilitators
Jules Pashall is a somatics practitioner, Jewish ritualist and artist.
They have been working with individuals and groups around accessing fat as a resource for collective liberation since 2009.
Their work is centered in the belief that all life is interconnected. They believe transforming our relationship with fat tissue is an entry point to undoing how violent systems and hierarchies live in our bodies.
Jules has an MA in Somatic Therapy from CIIS. You can find their writing in “Diverse Bodies, Diverse Perspectives: Towards a More Inclusive Somatics” and “The Fat Studies Journal.”
https://www.instagram.com/fat.as.the.sea/
Scarlet Tunkl is an artist, writer, educator & somaticist devoted to helping people find resilience in a collapsing world. She is a white, Jewish, queer, fat, femme working in the fields of emotional and mental care since 2005 with a commitment to liberation and relational ethics. Some of her training includes: ritualizing grief with Francis Weller, a certificate in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy from The Embody Lab, and coaching with Leadership that Works. Scarlet holds an MA in Visual and Cultural Criticism & MFA with a focus on Social Practice. She is the creator of The Wailing Institute and Pre Apocalypse Counseling. https://www.intothedeepcoaching.com/
https://www.instagram.com/intothedeepsomatics/
Retreat Location
WildHeart is located on 46+ beautiful acres in the Hudson Valley. Retreatants will have the option to stay in a single room, double room, dorm, or camping in either our main retreat center or in private two-bedroom cabins. All options have access to shared kitchens and bathrooms. Daily events will take place in the studio, shared common spaces, and outdoors. Retreatants are welcome to enjoy the lawns, walk in the forest, and swim and boat in the lake during their stay! More info about directions and transportation options HERE.
Retreat Costs
By offering a variety of housing options, and two free spots for multiply marginalized fat people, we hope to make this retreat financially accessible to all! If you need to pay using a payment plan or need financial assistance to attend please reach out: contact@wildheartcenter.art
These prices are all inclusive! You receive all retreat content and facilitation, housing, food and drinks, and access to the land, lake, and studio spaces.
Housing / Food | Standard Rate |
Single | 1200 |
Double | 950 |
Dorm | 750 |
Camping | 600 |
Commuter (w/ food) | 550 |
Commuter (w/o food) | 450 |
Support price – $1950
Refund Policy
- In advance of 2 weeks – full refund (less processing fee)
- Within 2 weeks – no refund
(This policy stands even in case of sickness so we encourage participants to plan accordingly)
Covid Policy
We keep each other safe!!! If you decide to join us, you are agreeing to follow our COVID policy:
Week Before (May 22-28)- Mask indoors in stores, on public transportation or at large gatherings
Before coming on the morning of Thursday May 29 take a rapid COVID test
Travel to Wildheart Mask on any busses, trains or planes
Do not attend if you feel sick!
2 Free Spots for Multiply Marginalized Fat People
We are offering 2 free spots for fat people who are multiply marginalized and would not be able to attend otherwise. If you are fat and: a person of color, a trans woman/femme, chronically ill, disabled, and/or super fat and cannot pay for this retreat, please email contact@wildheartcenter.art to get the registration code for one of these spots.
