Cowgirl Rejuvenation Facilitators:

(based on facilitator availability)

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Robyn Reed Gaddy

Robyn is the current General Manager of The Cliff Ranch.  Robyn has worked for the last 25 years leading groups in adventure education.  Her past experiences as an Outward Bound instructor and director, Girls on the Move Executive Director and Head of School for Sussex School help Robyn create comfortable retreat spaces for participants to have their own personal adventure.   In 2003, Robyn founded Mamameah, a retreat business with workshops focused on helping new mothers create a healthy balance in motherhood with activities in self compassion, art and adventure. Robyn has a master’s degree  in Experiential Education and loves the  opportunity to turn a retreat experience into a peaceful or lively adventure based on what a guest may need. She believes that the power of personal choice in retreat activities creates personal rejuvenation.

 

Gillian Kessler

Gillian can be found dancing to loud music, teaching exuberant teens to appreciate language, writing in the early morning when everyone is asleep and exploring the wilds of Montana with her beautiful family.  Gillian has degrees in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing and Theatre and Dance from Santa Clara University. She's been an educator in elementary, middle and high school grades since 1996 and has taught dance and yoga around Los Angeles and Missoula. Gillian earned an educator's grant to study Afro-Brazilian dance and culture in Bahia, Brazil in 2000 which brought a whole new element to her creative work. In addition to leading movement, writing and dance workshops for children, teens and adults in California, Montana and Oregon, she currently teaches middle school English at the Missoula International School. Her poems and essays have been published in Mamalode Magazine and she writes frequently for Flapper Press.  Her poetry was featured in the anthology, Poems Across the Big Sky Volume II.  Her first collections of poems, Lemons and Cement, came out in 2017. Gillian was recently selected as one of the poets for the Montana Poetry Series; Ash in the Tree was published by FootHills Press in July 2021. 

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Amy Ragsdale

Amy  is a writer and choreographer living in Missoula, MT.  After graduating with a degree in Art History from Harvard College, Amy performed with several modern dance companies in Boston and New York. On moving to Montana, she was hired to head the Dance Program at the University of Montana, earned a masters in Movement Studies from Wesleyan, went on to become a full professor, establish two dance companies – Mo-Trans and Headwaters Dance Co. – earn UM’s award for Outstanding Faculty and the 2009 Governor’s Arts Awards for the State of Montana.  She has taught dance on four other continents, and had her site-specific dance work shown on CNN’s World News.  Her travel memoir, Crossing the River: A Life in Brazil was published in 2015.  Her articles have been published in Outside, Outside On-line, Mamalode, and High Desert Journal. Her Outside article with husband Peter Stark, What It’s Like to Die from Heatstroke, was selected for the 2020 edition of Best American Sportswriting.

 

 

Jen Bardsley

Jen was born and raised in Montana and is receiving her BFA in Fine Art and Masters in Clinical Mental Health from The University of Montana in August. Jen has been a professional artist since 1998 and has been in the helping professions for over 20 years. Jen has worked with ages 3-70 teaching, coaching and leading workshops locally and internationally.  Jen offers a holistic approach to her teaching that is strength-based; using mindfulness in expressive arts that excavates unconscious dream-work and emotional heart processing.

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Daphne Braun

Daphne is the founder of Elska Consulting, an independent educational and workplace consultancy whose mission is to empower people as they make educational and professional choices. Daphne brings over 20 years of kindergarten-college educational experience as an educator, school director, and student advisor. She started her professional life in music and theater as a professional actress; the love of the theatrical arts brought her into education as a drama teacher with a special love of improvisational arts. Daphne has worked with ages 5-75 using improv as the conduit for community building, introspection, awareness, and just plain fun. 

Daphne holds a BS from Northwestern University (Cum Laude), a JD from Southwestern University (Magna Cum Laude), a College Counseling Certificate from The University of California, San Diego, a certificate in positive change management from PROSCI international and is a member of the New York Bar of Attorneys. She’s a seeker of good hikes and belly laughs..

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Joey Banks

Joey Banks  is a Family Physician. She has worked over 20 years in women’s issues, reproductive care, and gender care. Her family has lived in Montana for 11 years. Joey offers participants a lively and fun evening conversation of dessert and wine/tea on women's bodies and health. 

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Bridget Ambrose

Bridget Ambrose is an Energy Intuitive and Reiki Master/Teacher with advanced training in Energy Medicine, Integrated CranioSacral and immersive Tarot courses. With her highly developed energy medicine skills and intuition, Bridget can look, listen and feel people’s energy fields, allowing her to gather and interpret information about their whole beings. Sessions allow for a softening of physical and emotional tensions leaving clients with an increased sense of wellbeing. When the body experiences ease, it reignites its ability to self-heal. Bridget believes we are all inherently intuitive in our own unique way, sessions reconnect you to this truth.  

With a degree in Psychology and an extended background in Child Development she has worked as an educator and mentor with both children and adults in a variety of settings. She resides in Montana with her family and works with people all over the world. 

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Melissa Kovics

 Melissa was drawn to movement from the early age of three, as a form of expression. It is a way to release anger, fear, sadness, or anything that holds us back. She has the belief that no matter the experience that each of us walks through; Laughter love and spiritually connected movements are the key to balancing the mind, body,  and soul. Melissa had the great opportunity to dance with the American Gridiron dance team at the Tour de France and continued as a professional hip hop dancer with world renowned dance troupes in New York and LA.  By fully incorporating Melissa's 32 years as a professional dancer and teacher she continues to develop as a yoga instructor; while being an Energy Practitioner and Reiki Master, helps to refine it. Her students and clients are helped towards rediscovering the tools within them to get out of their heads, walk through their fears and start designing the life they deserve to become engaged and alive. Melissa empowers participants to live from their heart with their soul’s light and to become your own happy Koa.

 

Rasa O'Neill

For over twenty years Rasa has enjoyed sharing her love of yoga with others and has been known for her heartfelt, personable and diverse approach to teaching. Each class is a playful invitation to the adventure of Self-discovery through creative movement flow, restorative poses, vitality increasing breath practices and a yummy deep yogic relaxation. Getting in touch with what’s essential and seeing through what’s nonessential reveal our natural ease, peace and beauty of Being. Originally from Lithuania, Rasa is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University Master’s program in international economics and relations and has multiple certifications from advanced Yoga Teacher programs in New York and India. Rasa is grateful to the priceless teachings of Zen, Advaita and Direct Path as they illuminate her life and shape her class offerings.

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Kali Linder

Kali is a lifelong dancer, off-key singer and devoted lover of music.  She founded and ran Oula- a mind-body dance fitness company - for 11 years, during which she had the privilege of training over 1,000 people around the world to step into their bravery, trust themselves and their body, and connect with their communities by leading Oula classes.  After selling Oula in 2021, she has taken up DJ-ing and karaoke-ing in the woods.  She lives in Missoula with her husband and three young daughters and loves living room dance parties, experiencing live music, and seeking out joy and laughter.

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Emily Linton:

Emily Linton is the founder of Eat.Move.Excel.  She is a health coach who helps busy professionals feel good in their bodies and avoid burnout. As a health coach, Emily meets you where you are. She views the health journey as one of "a little bit better," not perfection.

 

Her coaching empowers you to build confidence and create systems for living a healthy life. Together you figure out how to: fuel for an active lifestyle, achieve a consistent workout routine, get adequate rest for mind and body, use positive self-talk, and engage in healthy relationships. 

 

As an athlete herself Emily had known for years that movement is only one piece of the health puzzle. This made her double down on supporting clients in a more holistic way. Emily graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, earned certificates from Precision Nutrition and ACE: Behavior Change Specialists, graduated from the College for Executive Coaching, and passed the National Boards for Health and Wellness Coaching.

 

When Emily is not coaching you can find her out adventuring on the trails with her husband and two daughters.