Herbal Immersion
Slovenia
19-23.8.2026
Medicine of the Land is a five-day herbal retreat held in the green heart of Slovenia, hosted on the living, breathing luscious land of Vayu Project—a beautiful regenerative homestead devoted to earth-honoring ways of living.
This is an invitation to slow your body to the pace of the land and remember how to listen.
Through daily herb walks, hands on medicine making and plant spirit meditations, we will meet the flora of forest, meadow, and riverside as teachers and allies— learning their medicine, through presence, relationship, and reciprocity.
Remembering, becoming re-acquainted with backyard remedies, traditional healing practices and our personal and collective connection to the earth.
Guided by the elements and gentle threads of astrological herbalism, each day opens a doorway: Earth grounding us in place and belonging, Water carrying us through river offerings and infusions, Air refining breath and perception, Fire awakening the with solar herbs, resins, smoke, and ceremonial flame, and Ether weaving it all together through ritual and remembrance.
With our walks and plant meditations, we will learn and practice foraging ethics and wildcrafting, homesteading, kitchen witching and hands-on medicine making of tinctures, syrups, oils, resins, smudge bundles and more.
With evenings by the fire, shared garden grown meals, and ceremonies held in rhythm with the earth, Medicine of the Land is both practical and poetic—an embodied retreat for those who feel the call to connect with elemental herbal medicine where it grows.
Vayu Project
Vayu is a beautiful regenerative land project and homestead — a small family farm resting atop a green hill overlooking the Savinja Valley, nestled amongst old-growth forest, open meadows, and lush lovingly tended gardens.
This land feels like a small piece of paradise, with no busy roads or nearby neighbors — just earth, trees, flowers, wildlife, and the gentle lull of a flowing creek. Blessed with fresh spring drinking water, much of the land remains wild and abundant, rich in medicinal and edible herbs, fruit, fungi, and the quiet rhythms of a living ecosystem.
Life here moves in close relationship with the land — through seasonal foraging, cultivating, and preserving food, making medicine, and tending animals with care. Nourishing meals are lovingly prepared from what is grown in the gardens and gathered from the surrounding landscape, carrying the flavors and vitality of the place.
Arriving here, the body softens — a deep breath, a sense of being held, of leaning into home and belonging. Bird song mornings and quiet evenings together around the fire, beneath open skies and stars, connection deepens and something ancient begins to stir.
Gathering within this living, breathing homestead, — offers a space to learn the medicine of the land not only in theory, but in practice and relationship. To remember how to listen, how to tend, and how to give back to the earth that offers so much.
Slovenia
Held on the storied soil of Slovenia — a land of deep green abundance, rich folklore, and living plant wisdom. Between lush old-growth forests, alpine peaks, flower-filled meadows, and clear flowing waters, an ancient relationship with the plants is still quietly alive — held in the hands of the people, carried through generations. Here, herbal medicine is not only a practice, but a living tradition: gathered from sunlit slopes, prepared in home kitchens, rooted in intimacy with the land. Despite its small size, Slovenia holds a remarkable meeting of worlds — where the Alps, the Adriatic, and the Pannonian plains converge — giving rise to extraordinary biodiversity. Herb-rich fields, wild fruit-laden hedgerows, and vibrant forests offer a landscape that feels both abundant and deeply held. There is a palpable aliveness here echoing through the land. Rivers, trees, and flowers seem to whisper. The rhythm of birdsong and flowing water guiding the days. The wild is cherished and thriving. Rooted within this landscape is the spirit of ancient Slavic traditions, where the rhythms of the earth, seasonal cycles, and the healing power of plants are honored. These threads weave through the countryside — in ritual, in practice, in stewarding the land. A place where the earth still speaks — and the people, listen.
Faciltators
Shir Rilov
Shir Rilov is a clinical herbalist, wild-craftress, medicine maker, and facilitator of herbal wisdom, lovingly walking the good medicine road.
Originally from Israel, where she is currently based, her practice is rooted in the rhythms of the seasons and the wild wisdom of the land, guided by a deep commitment to relational, earth-based healing.
Having studied both formal and folk herbalism, she bridges integrative clinical herbalism with earth-rooted traditions, weaving together herbal and elemental energetics, plant spirit medicine, science based teachings and hands-on remedy crafting.
Through her practice, The Fairie Apothecary, she offers courses, workshops, deep immersions and community-rooted care — creating spaces of re-membering, grounded healing, and true connection to the living wisdom of the plants. Bringing herbal medicine and plant teachings wherever she goes.
Franziska
Franziska Traunmüller is a co-founder of Vayu Project. A devoted gardener and regenerative farmer whose work is rooted in deep care for living systems.
With a Master’s degree in Biology and a diploma in biodynamic farming, she brings scientific understanding and hands-on experience to cultivating the land. She is passionate about growing vegetables, herbs, and plants from seed, tending life from its earliest stages with patience and attention.
For her, working in the garden is a meditation, she is dedicated to supporting biodiversity, restoring soil health, and growing local plant varieties in rhythm with the seasons and the stars.
Caring for animals, supports farm life with her children, enjoys baking and preserving food, she brings seasonal abundance to everyday nourishment.
Marcus
Marcus Schilling is a Vayu Project creator and co-founder. A devoted steward of the land he calls home.
As a permaculture-farmer, builder, gardener, and tree whisperer, his work is guided by an intimate relationship with the living landscape and its many seen and unseen layers.
Through the cycles of the seasons, he forages wild foods, medicines and materials, living in rhythm with nature’s offerings while also cultivating and working the land, tending gardens, and raising animals in close relationship.
Working with natural materials, he builds in harmony with the environment, holding space for both the land and the people who come to it, offering opportunities for a genuine connection with nature to be experienced by each visitor.
Mahela
Mahela Nilsiri-Schilling is a co-founder of the Vayu Project, a devoted mother, community cook, gardener, and energetic healer whose life is rooted in close relationship with the land.
She works with the rhythms of nature, gathering wild foods and seasonal ingredients, preparing simple, nourishing and delicious meals that bring people together and support community wellbeing.
Alongside her loving hands in the kitchen, she tends gardens and animals, and raises her children in connection with nature.
As an energetic healer, she offers grounded support for balance, restoration, and wellbeing.
Her work is centered on care—feeding people, tending land, and creating spaces of connection and nourishment.
Tuition
Early Bird
Only 800 €
The early bird gets the Herb!
Root in early, save your place and receive
15% off when joining by July 1st.
Immerse Yourself
Only 950 €
From July 2nd onwards. A loving investment into 5 days of immersive herbal learning, practice and connection.
Share the Journey
Only 855 € each.
Step in together and receive a 10% discount each, when signing up as a pair.
Accomodations
Bring your own Tent
Included in retreat price
Camp out on the land,
immersed in wild beauty & nourishiment.
Cozy Haybarn
Full farm experience
with a cozy haybale bed,
in the shared sleeping space of the barn gallery.
Included in Retreat Price
Rent A Tent
Only €10
Limited availabilty
Dreaming of nights camped beneath the stars,
but don't have a tent?
Now worries, we've got you covered.
Private Space
Only €20
Limited Availabilty
Need your space?
A few private accomadtions are available
on the land - for singles or couples.
