Bend of Ivy Lodge

12/11/2025

The last few weeks at Bend of Ivy Lodge have been full. Been busy with several 2025 client retreats completing and me hosting several tender family, friend and team gatherings. The gatherings gave time to honor BOI's roots with connecting, storytelling, thanking and letting go. Joy, gratefulness and love has been a big part of my last few weeks.

People's shared stories of life changing experiences at Bend of Ivy has fueled and inspired me during my 11+ years stewarding Bend of Ivy Lodge. I'm grateful for the many amazing teachers, healers, clients and wise beings that I met and/or supported here. It changed me, my work and my life.

Bend of Ivy clients enjoyed 35 years (since BOI's 1995 founding) exploring and savoring the nature and land here. Since 2014, so has my family. BOI has been a beloved special celebration and renewal place for my family. Precious memories.

Photos in this newsletter are from a recent family gathering, and of beloved creatures and favorite property spots.

My life/work/service journey with Bend of Ivy anchors for me the precious and timely need to steward, create, nurture, and savor sanctuary spaces. Sanctuary 'in/ with' nature (externally.) And 'in/ with' Self (internally).

My stewardship of Bend of Ivy Lodge completes this week. The property's new owner, BeLoved Asheville, now begins their stewardship. I'm excited for them!

Nexts, New Beginnings & Chapters...
I've designed and nurtured eco sanctuary spaces and places for over 40 years. It's a passion for me. I'll continue that. Along with other passion work, service and play.

To stay connected: email me at susan.intentionalgrowth.org, sign up for my newsletters, or connect through my website Intentionalgrowth.com. My website speaks to some of my interests and work (wide, diverse)... Designing, Transition and Growth Coaching, Enneagram Consulting + more.

With Love,
Susan

PS.. Want to connect on garden designing/consulting, Enneagram consulting/ typing or coaching partnership/ support? Reach out, and we can explore if working together may be a good fit. I'm selectively accepting a few new clients in 2026.

Many have asked. My beloved home and garden continues as my sacred sanctuary space. Am grateful, it nurtures, roots and restores me (garden photo share above). It's a nature play space. Weeding is therapeutic and relaxing for me! I've designed and nurtured eco sanctuary spaces and places fo...

11/06/2025

Bend of Ivy Lodge: Transition Announcement + News - https://mailchi.mp/bendofivylodge.com/bend-of-ivy-lodge-transition-announcement-news

10/20/2025

On Friday, after 11 years of lovingly stewarding, managing and co-owning my beloved property and retreat center Bend of Ivy Lodge (BOI), an impactful life, work and service chapter came to a close. With some tenderness, I was grateful to transition the Bend of Ivy Lodge property to amazing new property owners. The new owners are a beloved WNC non-profit organization, BeLoved Asheville.

With this ownership transition comes change. I’ll continue to manage and steward BOI until mid-December, when scheduled 2025 BOI events complete. Under the new owners, the property will then no longer operate as a retreat center rental venue. Bend of Ivy Lodge will complete that history and service.

I want to thank Bend of Ivy’s many wonderful clients for the many years of choosing Bend of Ivy for their impactful retreat work.

And, I want to thank the talented and wonderful BOI Team for their caring work, energy, and support for the land, property, and me. Thank you Erin, Hayley, Misty, Rowan, Alec, Lucas, Johnny, Katie, Dava, Ja, Liesl, and Ian! Ian!

And thanks to my family and friends for their caring support of me and my letting-go process and transitions over the last couple of years.

Knowing of BeLoved Asheville’s work, mission and vision gives me joy, peace, and gratitude in the letting-go and embracing process of this transition. They understand the sacredness of healing land, nature, energy and legacy. They will be loving stewards of the property, goats, wildlife and nature.

It’s been a privilege and honor to witness the impact of the land and place on others, and to share Bend of Ivy’s sanctuary space and property for healing and growth work. My family has had many joyful family weddings and celebrations at BOI. As have so many other clients.

Thank you.
Love, Susan Walters

10/12/2025

Savoring a precious.
Beloved Bend of Ivy Lodge feels like she’s glowing, with the change of seasons. Feel fall sweeping in. Magnificent new splashes of golds and reds are emerging daily in the landscape. Transitions happening in nature, as they do in life.

I’m so grateful to the amazing BOI team that lovingly helps me care for the land, grounds, goats, property and clients. All beloveds.
Thanks Erin, Misty, Rowan, Hayley, Alec, Lucas, Johnny, Katie, Dava and Ian. 💚

“October is a symphony of permanence and change.” - Bonaro W. Overstreet

With gratitude and love,💜
Susan

09/27/2025

WNC Rises💚❤️

09/26/2025

❤️💚

" I give myself permission to heal",
Maybe I take a step away,
leave WNC behind for a breath,
give myself the grace of distance.
Because healing is not abandonment,
it is courage.

" I give myself permission to heal",
Maybe I host a potluck with my neighbors,
like those first nights after the hurricane—
when the lights were gone but the fire of community burned brighter than any lamp.

" I give myself permission to heal",
Maybe I volunteer by the rivers,
planting hope in the mud,
lifting broken beams from broken homes.
Because healing is also building.

" I give myself permission to heal",
Maybe I throw flowers into the water—
to honor the souls we lost.
Each petal a prayer,
each ripple a memory.

" I give myself permission to heal",
maybe—I show up at community gatherings,
to speak of resilience,
to tell the truth:
“We were bent, but not broken.
We were wounded, but not defeated.”

“There is no wrong way to heal, only the brave way.”

And so, this anniversary,
Healing is not a single path.
It is many doors, many choices.
Every way is valid.
Every way is sacred.

And as I give myself permission to heal,
I also open the door for you.
To rest.
To rebuild.
To remember.
To rise.

“We heal not only for ourselves,
but to give others permission to do the same.” 💜

🌈🌊

09/15/2025

❤️ Thank you BeLoved Asheville.

Together we rise, rebuild and heal.

✨ Almost a Year After Hurricane Helene ✨A year has passed since the winds howled,
since the rivers overflowed their banks,
since our hearts broke open like shattered glass across Western North Carolina. 💔

But here’s the truth that time reveals:
From brokenness, beauty rises.
From ruin, resilience blooms.
From grief, a deeper love takes root. 🌱❤️

We remember the Day the storm took everything.
We remember the silence afterward—
the aching quiet of loss,
the sacred question whispered by every soul: How do we begin again?

And then—hands appeared.
Hands carrying water.
Hands lifting trees from the streets .
Hands holding one another when words failed. 🤝🏡

We discovered healing not in forgetting,
but in building, together.
We discovered that when one house rises,
an entire village begins to breathe again.
We discovered that love is stronger than any storm. 💙

Today, as we stand close to the this anniversary,
we honor not only what was lost,
but what was found:
a family called community,
a movement called radical love,
a truth that healing belongs to all of us. 🌎✨

To every neighbor, every volunteer, every heart that chose compassion over comfort—
you are the story.
You are the proof that hope is not fragile.
You are the reminder that unity is our strongest shelter.

Because together, we rise.
Together, we rebuild.
Together, we heal. 🙏❤️

🏡🌎✨💙

08/22/2025

Yay!!💚

BREAKING: The Blue Ridge Parkway has reopened from Asheville to Graveyard Fields and Mount Pisgah! This 38-mile stretch includes some of the Parkway’s most beloved hikes and overlooks—just in time for the fall season. 🍂

Plan your visit and check current road status at go.nps.gov/Helene.

08/13/2025

August 2025 Newsletter: Experience & Create Sanctuary

https://mailchi.mp/bendofivylodge.com/august-2025-newsletter-experience-create-sanctuary

08/09/2025

We can find true refuge within our own hearts and minds—right here, right now, in the midst of our moment-to-moment lives. We find true refuge whenever we recognize the silent space of awareness behind all our busy doing and striving. We find refuge whenever our hearts open with tenderness and love. We find refuge whenever we connect with the innate clarity and intelligence of our true nature.

07/18/2025

Whether you’re growing a garden, creating a retreat, or shaping a new chapter of your life, asking the right questions is where it begins.

In our July Newsletter, Susan shares 6 guiding questions for a creative process— whether it’s about life, event or garden planning, plus some reflections on what nature has to teach us about intentional growth.

We also just extended our Summer Booking Special through 8/15 for 2025 + 2026 events and retreats at Bend of Ivy Lodge. 🌿

Read the full newsletter and explore upcoming retreats, garden inspiration, inner work and more:

https://mailchi.mp/bendofivylodge.com/july-2025-newsletter-design-gardens-events