Sacred Pause: A Retreat for Women

Yoga, Meditation, Writing and Visual Arts in Nature.

Vaccinations are required to attend this retreat. Some exceptions may be allowed due to medical reasons. Please inquire before registration.

As women, we are often doers, caretakers, and volunteers. It is difficult for us to stop, to take time for ourselves, to care for ourselves. Yet, it is essential for leading a conscious life. Allow this retreat to be a time for you to return to yourself, to reflect and integrate, to heal, to take a “Sacred Pause” and tend to what’s within your heart. This is a perfect retreat for a woman who is going through a transitional period in life and is ready to rediscover herself. All ages are welcome.

The theme for our retreat is the power of story. We will uncover our personal stories through writing, sharing and visual arts.

“What’s your story?”

in a patriarchal society, women’s stories are often undertold and undervalued, even by ourselves. This retreat is an alchemical blend combining yoga and somatic movement, meditation and reflection, journaling and free-writing and artistic expression in the beauty and quiet of a natural setting at the Whidbey Institute.

Each day we will combine quiet and guided meditations with journaling and reflection. We will explore the stories in our bodies through movement. With the aid of a guide, we will wake up our inner artist and create visual representations of our stories using words and imagery. Each piece of the alchemical mix will feed the others. In what way does moving our bodies mindfully interplay with our expression on paper in writing or drawing? As we walk on the trails and take time to contemplate the beauty of a tree or leaf, are new pathways equally opened to find beauty in the stories of our own lives?

No prior experience is necessary in any of the fields mentioned. Those new to Yoga, Meditation, Writing and Art are all welcome.

Sources and resources for our retreat include Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones”, Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic”, Annie Murphy Paul’s “The Extended Mind” and Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”.

For more detailed information, please visit JoannaDunn.com