In the 2003 second edition of The Woman’s Retreat Book, I wrote:
Retreats. The word has an almost mystical power for me, a feeling of coming home to my deepest truth. Rabbi David Cooper in Silence, Simplicity and Solitude writes, “All of us have a deep reservoir of mystical experience that sustains a part of what some call ‘soul.’ The soul yearns to be nourished, and if the reservoir begins to run low, we feel ourselves becoming dull, empty, brittle, and arid. If it sinks lower, we enter into states of angst, despair, and depression.
I’ve spent twenty-four years studying and testing what makes a powerful women’s retreat. Each year I would tweak something, try something, learn something.
And this year I am ready, as a facilitator and guide, to create the retreat of my dreams.
For me as a creator, for you as a participant.
I’ve meditated, made mind maps, reflected, and journaled on the question: what are the elements of the most soul-nourishing women’s retreat I can imagine?
My list includes:
- Yoga nidra and other forms of meditation
- Restorative and gentle yoga
- Silent hike in awe-inspiring nature
- A desire photo decoding
- Walking the labyrinth with a potent question
- Intuitive art processes that free and reveal
- Gently examining and replacing substitute desires (also called shadow comforts)
- Stretches of silence to listen deeply without interruption from people or the internet
- Ecstatic dance
- Journaling prompts that help the brain calm so the soul can speak
- Entering a poem with your whole body
- Being witnessed without interruption or advice in a very safe way
- Laughter
- Meaningful conversation
- And most of all: Heeding the call of desire without needing to get anything done, finished, or accomplished by asking the most powerful question of all: What do I want? And having the time and space to hear the answer.
I wish someone could create this Desire Retreat for me and I am so delighted and excited I get to create it for you.
