Nourishing relationships
Kaneel has grown out of a dedication to learning, sustaining, and celebrating all that the more-than-human world is willing to share with us. Through our guided mindful outdoor experiences, we encourage people to connect with the natural world in meaningful ways so they may become active stewards of our planet.
Meet your guides
Davinica Nemtzow, Owner & Teacher
Davinica builds inclusive communities that honor our collective growth, healing, and sense of belonging through connection to each other and nature. Davinica has had many educational experiences, traditional and organic, that have shaped her relationship with the world. Some of these experiences include her certification as a Mindful Outdoor Guide from the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health; serving as a Jewish community leader in Philadelphia for 10 years; earning her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design; growing up in outdoor Montessori classrooms; engaging in environmental advocacy from a young age, and—most importantly—being a part of many communities that have taught her resiliency, radical hospitality, and ancestral wisdom.
Davinica and her dog live in Portland, ME, where she loves to explore Maine’s wild spaces, indulge in local food, nourish her friends, and play in her community garden plot. Davinica serves her local community by volunteering for Friends of Casco Bay, Friends of Woodfords Corner, the Maine Outdoor Film Festival (MOFF), and the Common Share at Brentwood Community Garden.
Cassiah Sahl, Teacher
Cassiah is a mindfulness meditation practitioner and a blossoming teacher who is passionate about community awakening and healing, especially through connection with nature. She offered Mindful Mondays in Nature to the greater Portland area in the summer of 2024, an introduction to mindfulness meditation course to her colleagues at Maine Health last spring, and co-led a Pleasure Retreat in the fall of 2023. She is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher through Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s 2-year training program. She leads regular mindfulness offerings in Old Orchard Beach.
When she isn’t teaching, she is practicing mindfulness through her work as a medical speech pathologist, cultivating concentration while training her dog Maisel, and opening her heart to presence and awe in Maine’s forests, rivers, mountains, and seashores through outdoor adventures.
Our Values
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
Community
We believe that the well-being of our community — including the people, land, and animals involved in our work — is more important than anything else. When we invest, financially and emotionally, in the care of our local communities we have the opportunity to feel a deeper sense of belonging and responsibility for our homes.
Sustainability
We endeavor to cultivate sustainability for the planet and within ourselves. We find interconnectedness in the ecosystems that we’re a part of by living slowly, intentionally, and with minimal waste.
Curiosity
When was the last time you laid your body down on the ground? Took notice of the light shifting throughout the day? We hope to nourish the joy and wonder of our inner child by exploring all that the Living Earth holds.
Rest
Mindfulness is a meditation practice where you pay attention to what is happening moment by moment. By slowing down and aligning ourselves with the rhythms of nature, we can have mindful, loving, and healthy relationships with ourselves and the land we inhabit.
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Learn more about our offerings, mindfulness, and wildlife in Maine
Our Namesake
Kaneel, Davinica’s middle name, is the Danish word for cinnamon. Cinnamon is healing, warm, and complex, all characteristics we strive to bring to our practice. Cinnamon is also used in many spiritual and cultural rituals around the world, including Judaism, the lens through which Davinica views the world.
Our logo, hand-drawn by Davinica, depicts a sprig of Eastern Pine and two sticks of cinnamon. Eastern Pine trees are native to Maine, a reminder that the land is an equal collaborator in our work.
The font in our logo is inspired by Greta Thunberg's handwriting and is an homage to her leadership in climate justice and neverending dedication to our planet.