Upcoming events
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Song Circle
First Monday of Each Month | 6:30PM-8:30PM
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Tending the Vital Hive
Friday’s | 10:00AM - 2:00PM
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Funky Buddha Yoga & The Vital Hive
Selected Tuesday’s | 7:30PM
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Community Grief Ritual
Select Dates | 2:00PM - 6:00PM
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Writers in the Round
Thursday, Oct 1st | Doors: 6:30PM Songs: 7:00PM
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The Vital Hive Ancestor Feast
Friday, Oct 30th | 10:00PM - Sunrise
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Frame Drum Making + Ritual
Sunday, Nov 1st | 9:00AM - 7:00PM
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Friendsgiving: Breathwork, Cacao, & Community
Sunday, Nov 22nd | 12:30PM - 5:00PM
Song Circle
First Monday of each month | 6:30–8:30 PM | Somatic Wisdom Institute | Grand Rapids, MI | No Registration Necessary
Join us at the Somatic Wisdom Institute as we bring our voices together in the singing of heart songs! We will gather to share and celebrate songs of devotion from all around the world. These songs of love and healing are intended to connect us to our own hearts, to each other, to Mother Earth and to the Great Mystery. You are invited to bring any songs you feel inspired to share, we open sharing to the whole community the last 3o or 40 minutes of the gathering. Dancing and improvisation is encouraged!
August 3rd
September 14th
October 5th
November 2nd
December 7th
Tending the Vital Hive
Every Friday | 10:00AM–2:00PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | No Registration Necessary
This Fall at The Vital Hive. Below is our Fall schedule.
This season, we will gather each Friday to place our hands in the soil, shape pathways and gardens, and build beauty that feeds both people and the bees of the land! Tending the Vital Hive is our weekly community workday devoted to regenerative farming practices, edible landscaping, and living in reciprocity with the earth.
It is our dream to spend our days here on earth creating a place here on earth where the plants, animals and humans can find more and more reciprocity. Please join us!
Some days we plant.
Some days we build.
Some days we clear, compost, and make space for what wants to grow next.
All are welcome. No need to sign up, just show up
Email Micahm1@gmail.com if you don’t know our address
A simple shared meal will be provided at 2:00pm to close our time together.
Please bring:
A water bottle
Work gloves
Weather-appropriate clothing
Come for the whole time or what you can. Your hands matter.
Fall Schedule
September 25th - Tending the Gardens.
October 2nd - Tending the Gardens
October 9th - Tending the Gardens
October 16th - Tending the Gardens
We will be meeting all Fridays until October.. More details to come soon.
Funky Buddha Yoga & The Vital Hive Band
Selected Tuesday’s | 7:30PM | Funky Buddha Yoga Eastown | Grand Rapids, MI
Join Funky Buddha Yoga and The Vital Hive for a unique Slow Flow Yoga experience accompanied by live music. Move mindfully through a gentle, grounding practice while the soulful sounds of The Vital Hive create an immersive atmosphere for relaxation and connection. This special collaboration invites you to slow down, breathe deeply, and flow with the rhythm of live music in a supportive community setting. All levels are welcome.
Tuesday, August 25th | 7:30PM
Select Dates | 2:00PM-6:00PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | Tiered Pricing
Community Grief Ritual
Saturday, October 17th
Sunday, December 6th.
You are not alone in your grief.
Join us in tending the village heart for a communal stirring of grief. Whatever shape your grief takes — loss, unloved places, ancestral, ecological — it is welcome here.
In this ritual, we gather to honor Grief as a natural and deeply human process. Cultures around the world have gathered in rituals for thousands of years to acknowledge the grief that they’ve felt.
When we forget these ways of being with and tending our grief in community, we miss a vital and rich part of our lives- a part that connects us deeply to our joy and compassion. This is a practice of allowing the wild and tender places of sorrow to open us more deeply to our aliveness.
This space welcomes people of all experiences and all griefs — those newly touching grief, those long acquainted with it, and those simply curious about what healing in community can look like.
The ritual will be facilitated by Nic Despres, a ritualist, musician, and grief-tender, inspired and taught by the rituals of friend and teacher Josh Fox, Asheville, NC.
What to expect
To preserve the emergent and spirited nature of this ritual, it will be held tenderly with open palms, following the stream of what is alive within the unique group that attends. We will gather around an altar, orient to the space and each other, and learn how to hold this space together. A few of the ritual technologies we may employ to call in our grief are: storytelling, music, poetry, heart-sharing, breathwork, games, and somatic practices.
What to Bring
Altar items — sacred objects, votive candles, flowers, photos or items representing ancestors, your younger self, family, or beloved places (you will get these back)
Personal comfies: cushions, water bottle, journal, pen
If staying for the sauna and potluck: a dish to share, salad topping, swimsuit, and towel
We want this experience to be as accessible as possible while honoring the value of the work. To support this, we offer three ticket options: Benefactor, Classic, and Scholarship. Click to register to select your tiered option.
Address emailed upon registration.
Thursday, October 1st | Doors: 6:30PM Songs: 7:00PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | $22
Writers in the Round
Four songwriters. One mic. A night of songs, stories, collaboration, and whatever happens when musicians listen deeply to one another.
Join us Thursday, October 1st at The Vital Hive in Lowell for an intimate Writers in the Round featuring Kyle Joe, Micah McLaughlin, Hunter Hughes, and Aaron Wildey.
Rather than taking turns playing separate sets, they'll be passing songs back and forth throughout the night, sharing the circle and picking along with each other whenever the song calls for it. Expect familiar songs, new songs, stories behind the music, unexpected collaborations, and the occasional moment when four musicians find the flow and something new emerges.
The Songwriters
Kyle Joe is a Michigan singer-songwriter who is difficult to pigeonhole. Having released indie-folk records as Chain of Lakes since 2010, he has continued to branch out, creating an original folk musical, a collection of children’s songs (The Real Humdingers), and co-writing with artists including Spencer LaJoye, Sadie Campbell, Drew Hale, Andy Sydow, and Between Two Voices. More recently, Kyle has taken a deep dive into the world of heart songs through The Vital Hive. His critical accolades include multiple Kerrville New Folk Songwriting finalist nods—including a 2022 win—and two WYCE Album of the Year awards.
Micah McLaughlin started writing songs at 16 and has been following that thread for nearly 30 years. His songs are rooted in the strange and beautiful terrain of being human. They tend to be simple, honest, and direct—lyrics that get to the point with edges soft enough to tuck into your heart. A lifelong seeker, teacher, community leader, and musician, Micah’s songs live in the continuum between prayer, poetry, and proclamation. His presence invites everyone into the experience, moving beyond performer and audience, and into something co-created together in the moment. Micah writes and performs with Between Two Voices and The Vital Hive, both of whom have recently released new albums.
Hunter Hughes draws deep inspiration from troubadours like Cat Stevens, John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Iron & Wine, and Ye Vagabonds. His music carries the intimacy of a well-worn folk song—rooted in story, reflection, and the simple power of a voice and a guitar. Singing primarily in English, with occasional songs in Irish, Hunter creates music that feels both timeless and present. His songs explore the places where beauty, longing, grief, hope, and belonging meet, offering a reminder that even in uncertain times, we are not alone.
Aaron Wildey is a singer-songwriter from Grand Rapids, Michigan, formerly a member of The Muteflutes and currently part of the collaboration Between Two Voices. His influences range from Stravinsky to Thom Yorke, and his music moves freely between genres, textures, and moods. He blends genres and notes however he likes, often adding a touch of dissonance—the kind we feel beneath the surface but rarely talk about in person. Expect songs that are curious, unconventional, and willing to wander somewhere unexpected.
The Vital Hive Ancestor Feast
Friday, October 30th | 10:00PM - Sunrise | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | No Charge
As autumn settles in, the air turns crisp and the days grow shorter. This season invites us to slow down, to gather close, and to listen for the quiet voices of those who walked before us.
Across many cultures, this is known as the time when the veil between worlds grows thin—a time where we can honor our ancestors and call them near. This turning of the year offers gifts: remembrance, renewal, and the deep nourishment of connection.
This Ancestor Feast is inspired by Jeebigazhik, a ceremony shared by an Odawa elder, teacher, and peacekeeper in the lineage of Boys Sacred Fire Initiation. With gratitude for his generosity in passing along these teachings, Ancestor Suppers are now held in many places around the country.
Together, we will gather through the night, sharing food, stories, song, and prayer—feasting with our ancestors until sunrise.
Ceremony Details
When: Friday, October 30th 2026 at 10:00pm → Saturday, October 31st, just after sunrise
Where: Lowell, MI
Container: This is a closed ritual. No late arrivals; all who begin must stay until dawn’s closing. Limited to 16 people. PLEASE SIGN UP so we know you are coming.
Offering: There is no charge. Your offering is to prepare and bring a dish for your ancestor(s).
Limit: Space is limited to 16 participants.
Dress: Please bring a nice outfit for the feast.
Preparing Your Ancestor Dish
Each participant will prepare food for one ancestor (blood relatives, mentors, or those who profoundly influenced your life).
Guidelines for the feast:
Choose an ancestor to honor (wait at least 2 years after their passing, if possible).
Learn about them: ask living relatives, research their era, their culture, what they ate, what they loved.
Select a dish they prepared, enjoyed, or that reflects their culture.
When cooking, do not taste the food—the first bite is theirs.
Pray, sing, or speak with your ancestor as you cook. The preparation is part of the ceremony.
Bring enough for ~16 people to have a taste or small serving. Uneaten food will be burned in the fire by dawn.
What to Expect
During the feast, each person will be invited to:
Share stories about their ancestor(s) or ancestral lands
Share personal memories or meaningful memories if you knew this ancestor
Offer songs, poems, or prayers
Carry one another’s ancestors in community, “that they may eat through us”
Staying up all night feasting and some of the night around the fire.
Frame Drum Making Workshop + Ritual
Sunday, November 1st | 9:00AM - 7:00PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | $295
This workshop is an opportunity to connect deeply with the earth, your own rhythm, and community. These drums are sacred tools, and making them is a meaningful, hands-on process that invites presence, gratitude, and connection.
We’ll begin by honoring the animals, trees, and ancestors that are part of each drum. With gratitude, we’ll take time to listen and set intentions before beginning the building process.
You'll create your own drum from start to finish, and adorn it with the meaningful words and art of your choosing. After we finish and our drums are dry, we will choose an evening to gather and play together. You will learn some simple rhythms, and we will celebrate the sound we create together with our beautiful drums!
You’ll leave with a handmade drum, a deep connection to its story, and an experience rooted in care, creativity, and community.
Friendsgiving: Breathwork, Cacao, and Community Ceremony
Sunday, November 22nd | 12:30PM - 5:00PM | The Vital Hive | Lowell, MI | $95
We gather at The Vital Hive for Friendsgiving—a community breathwork and cacao ceremony centered around one of the most essential practices of being human: learning to balance the “me” and the “we.”
This experience is an invitation to drop into your own inner process while also exploring what it means to be part of a living, breathing community. A healthy and vital community asks us to develop a strong connection to our own center and then learn how to connect, move, breathe, and create together.
Taking a slightly different twist on our traditional breathwork ceremonies, this gathering will weave together breath, movement, song, and bioenergetics in ways that invite us not only inward, but toward one another. We will explore the places where the individual and the collective meet—where my breath becomes part of our breath, my movement becomes part of our movement, and we all contribute to the field we create together.
We will also work with Cacao from Cacao de Luca to deepen our breath meditation and support the opening of our heart. Through cacao, breath, song, and embodied movement, we will create space to connect more fully with ourselves and to each other.
The Breathwork Journey:
In this practice, we use a fast, connected breath to help shift our ordinary patterns of breathing and enter a non-ordinary state of consciousness. By sustaining a rhythmic, connected breath, we can move beyond our everyday mental patterns and become more deeply aware of the body, emotions, sensations, and inner experience.
This kind of breathwork can create space for emotional release, expanded awareness, deeper embodiment, and a renewed sense of connection. Rather than trying to make anything particular happen, we use the breath as a doorway—allowing whatever is ready to move, soften, emerge, or be experienced to have space.
No previous experience with breathwork is necessary.
Arrival & Optional Hapé:
We will gather at 12:30pm for an optional Hapé ritual. If you plan to participate, please arrive with enough time to settle in and prepare your space.
Please arrive by 12:45pm at the latest so you have time to create your breathing nest before the ceremony begins. Bring a yoga mat, blankets, pillows, and anything else that will help you feel comfortable and supported during the practice.
Opening the Ceremony:
The ceremony will begin at 1:00pm. We will move through breath, meditation, cacao, optional Sananga, songs, and bioenergetic movement, exploring both our individual inner landscape and our connection to the collective.
Friendsgiving Potluck:
At 4:00pm, we will come together for a shared potluck meal. Bring a dish to share!
Can’t Make the Breathwork?
You are still warmly invited to join us for the 4:00pm potluck. After the meal, we will open the sauna, hot tub, and cold tub for those who would like to stay, relax, and connect.
Breathwork Safety:
If you’re new to breathwork, please note that this practice is intended for participants age 16 and older and is not recommended for individuals with heart conditions, uncontrolled high blood pressure, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, a history of psychotic episodes, or who are pregnant. If you have any questions about whether this practice is appropriate for you, please reach out to Micah at Micahm1@gmail.com before registering.
As with any intensive breathwork practice, you are encouraged to listen to your body and honor your own limits throughout the experience.
This is an invitation to tend both the “me” and the “we”—to come home to ourselves and then discover what becomes possible when we breathe, move, sing, eat, and celebrate together.