Meet Your Retreat Hosts

Beth James

Hey Beautiful Beings

A longtime yoga teacher (over two decades), I started Barefoot originally as a yoga festival set in the woods of Michigan. My vision has always been to bring people together and combine my favorite healing things: yoga, community, and nature!

That was over 12 years ago. Since then, as my life has grown and shifted, so has my business. I have led people on over 30 international retreats, plus dozens more smaller community-based events right here in Michigan. My original educational background is a degree in anthropology, and I have always been a wanderer (just ask my mom!). The same first year as the festival, I began running international retreats, and I’ve never looked back. Bringing people together to learn about themselves and other cultures throughout the world has been one of my most rewarding and gratifying jobs.

Over the last five years or so, my mission and purpose have not only deepened but also shifted. I am now remarried, raising my two beautiful daughters, and I consider myself in my midlife. I’ve spent the past five years broadening my knowledge on all things womanhood—studying feminine archetypes, psychology, tantra, and training with feminine embodiment leaders and coaches. At first, this was about my own curiosity and wanting to return to a more feminine state after ending a long marriage where I was overly in my masculine and essentially burnt out. I started to feel like the yoga community wasn’t serving me, so I began a deep dive to once again become a seeker.

Now, my business is centered around creating health and harmony—first and foremost within my family, and then focused on a regulated nervous system. This has led me to work specifically with women, both one-on-one and in small group containers, doing what I refer to as Embodiment work. At its core, this work is a blend of tools and healing modalities to help you feel best equipped to keep your nervous system calm and steady, ultimately guiding you to live authentically.

I run leadership trainings twice a year, coaching others in this industry—those who also want to run events and retreats and are looking for ways to deepen their connection to their purpose and mission, while staying in integrity and good health.

I will forever be a student of life. My daughters are currently my greatest teachers, and much of my inspiration for working with women and helping heal past trauma, disempowerment, and insecurities is for future generations. Our festival mission is very family-centric. We have many families who return year after year, and together we’ve watched our families grow. The community is full of incredible people not just from Michigan, but beyond. It is here to be a source of support, inspiration, growth, healing opportunities, and a reminder of what is possible in the world today. We need places and spaces where we can safely and authentically connect with one another and with nature—ultimately, to bring this work home and be better for our families.

When you work with me, I welcome you with open arms, giving you permission to be vulnerable and to feel safe. It is my mission to serve from the highest good and to continue doing the work on myself so I can be a vessel of love and light.

Erica Schumaker

Erica Schumaker is a yoga teacher, retreat leader, and coach with thousands of hours of teaching and mentoring experience, devoted to guiding others through deep and lasting transformation.

With her psychology degree, a background in dance, and over 20 years of dedicated yoga practice, Erica brings a wealth of knowledge that connects science, somatics, and spirituality.

She guides heart-centered individuals to reconnect with their wholeness, reclaim their truth, and step into their fullness and freedom.

Known for her inspirational dharma talks, playful energy, and heartfelt humor, Erica creates experiences that are both expansive and grounding. She helps others cultivate resilience, regulate their nervous systems, strengthen self-trust, and move forward with clarity and confidence.

As the founder of Yoga by Erica, she leads international retreats, teacher training programs, and immersive courses. These offerings provide students with practical tools for healing, personal development, growth, and lasting transformation.

Erica is a Level II Reiki practitioner, E-RYT 500, and she is nearing completion of her ICF certification as a trauma-informed coach. Having been sober for over six years, she is awakened to her worth, firmly anchored in faith, and passionately devoted to empowering others to embrace their own journeys.

Her mission is to create safe, sacred spaces that bring people together and guide them to evolve, expand, and reconnect with their authentic selves. Erica is a living testament to the work she teaches, embodying the message that freedom is possible, connection is essential, and life becomes profoundly beautiful when one chooses faith over fear and flow over force.

This work is both her calling and her greatest joy!

From Past Retreaters

Erica leads a wonderful retreat that's led with love, wisdom, and thoughtful intention. She has a special way of seeing the light in others and creates a sacred space that's ideal for connection and healing. This is my second retreat with Erica, and I plan to attend more! Both times I have left her retreats feeling inspired, restored, and full of love.

- Alana C

You will feel joy, comfort and laughter just being around her, but the lightness you feel from putting down the bags of trauma, pain, shame that you have been carrying around for years (that were never really yours to carry) or even decades and truly reconnect to yourself and GUS (God, Universe, Source) is the best investment you can give to yourself. She has a strong but loving, gentle way to push you out of your comfort zone into the growth zone! She is a great reminder that you can do hard things when you put in the work. I am not only thankful for reconnecting with myself during her retreat, but the beautiful friendships I have created in her events are ones I will cherish for life!

- Debra M