Retreats

A week where you are not the one holding it together.

Small group retreats for women who are the reason everything works, run by a brand and business development consultant who went on one as a guest first. You do not need to own a business to come. Capped at fifteen, because past fifteen a room stops being a group and becomes an audience, and you go home having met nobody.

The two dates Greece, August 2027

Cap: Fifteen guests
On the calendar: Two dates
Greece: From $3,265
Preparation: None

The format

Fifteen.

Alone in a group of fifteen

Every retreat is capped at fifteen women. Not because it sells better that way. Because fifteen is how many people can actually be known in a week.

The days hold rest, movement, food somebody else made, and long stretches of unscheduled time. There are conversations, and they are real ones. There is no workbook, no morning intention circle, and no expectation that you arrive with anything worked out.

You do not need to prepare. That is true of everything I run.

15Guest seats, capped

2Dates on the calendar

0Preparation required

On the calendar

Two dates.

Twice a year, and when a date fills it closes. Everything about both of them that is settled is on this page; nothing that is not settled is guessed at.

Somewhere in the United States

Announcing this autumn

April 2027 · Location named this fall

The next one is closer than Greece.

Shorter, and in the States, so it costs you a flight rather than a day of travelling. The same fifteen seats and the same absence of an agenda. I am walking two properties this autumn and I will not announce one until I have slept in it.

Dates, location and price go to the list first, and the list is how the seats go. Fifteen fills before anything needs advertising.

Hear about April first (opens my scheduling page) No payment. Early rate held for the list.

The long table at Armonia laid for dinner at dusk, lanterns hung from the vine pergola above it.

Full · Waitlist open

Douliana, Crete · 13–20 August 2027

Rise Into Her: The Greece Edition

Eight days at Armonia Retreat Center in a hillside village of about forty houses. Water, food cooked on site, long walks, and enough quiet to hear what you actually think. Movement led by Kris Krause. All fifteen seats are spoken for, and the list is how they get filled when one opens.

Everything about Greece Join the waitlist (opens my scheduling page)

Costa Rica · April 2026

The last one already happened.

Rise & Reground ran in Nosara in April 2026 and is complete. What the women said about it afterward is below, in their own words, including the one who said it on camera.

Melissa, speaking to her phone camera in her car on the way home from the retreat.

Play Melissa’s video about the Costa Rica retreat (opens in a new tab)

“I learned that I matter too.”

Melissa recorded this on her phone on the drive home. It is two minutes long and it is not edited.

The fact that you’re even considering it should tell you that you should go. You’ll come out the other end with new people in your life.

Kristi Asked what she would say to someone afraid to come alone

It greatly surpassed all my expectations. My only regret was that I did not pack more swim suits.

Alice Rise & Reground, Costa Rica

The friends you meet will be there for you if you are willing to reach out and share yourself. Costa Rica will remain in my heart forever.

BJB Rise & Reground, Costa Rica

Intimate group size, and leaders able to make us think, laugh and cry without judgement. No waiting, no rushing.

Carol Poedel Rise & Reground, Costa Rica

If you are weary from life and want to reset yourself, take a chance on an experience that will not disappoint you if you attend with open hands and heart.

Carol Poedel Asked what the week’s energy was

The open-sided pavilion at the Costa Rica retreat, mats and cushions laid out across the floor, the pool and the trees beyond it.

Nine in the morning, day three. Nobody was asked to be there and everybody was. That is the whole design: enough shape that the days do not drift, and no register taken.

Eight women sitting on mats on an open pavilion floor, most of them seen from behind, writing in notebooks with palms and ginger flowers behind them. — The middle of the week, on the floor

Two women standing together in the shallows with their backs to the camera, looking out at the breaking surf. — Everyone does this at some point

Sunset over the tide flats, palms in silhouette on the horizon and the whole sky repeated in the wet sand.

Costa Rica · the last evening, 2 May 2026

Low tide, and the beach was doing the thing where it holds the whole sky. Nobody organised this part. Everyone just walked down and stood in it, and then went and had dinner.

Read this part

Who this is not for.

Three kinds of week to rule out, and then the one this is.

If you want a mastermind, this is the wrong week. Nobody is going to pitch, and there is no room set aside for it.

If you want a curriculum and a binder to take home, I do not make those. The value here is not portable in that form.

If you need the week to produce a measurable outcome before you can justify the cost, do not book it. You will spend the whole of it auditing the experience instead of having it, and that is a bad use of your money.

What is left is a woman who is tired of being the one everybody depends on and wants a stretch of days where that is not the arrangement. She might run a company. She might run a household, or a department, or a family through a hard year. The qualifier is the depending, not the job title.

I do brand and business development consulting as well, and it is a separate thing you can book any time. It is A Sounding and The Build. Nothing about a retreat runs through it.

What it holds

Built for the week after.

That woman is the one the week is built around, so here is what it actually holds.

A retreat that only works while you are on it is a vacation. The point is the Tuesday you get home and something is different about how you answer the phone.

The structure is loose on purpose. Enough shape that the days do not drift, enough air that you can leave the room. Nobody will notice out loud if you sleep through the morning.

You will come home knowing fourteen women well enough to text them. Nothing in the schedule arranges that. It happens every time.

Included, on every retreat

Lodging for the full stay
Every meal
Daily movement, led
Every session and excursion
Ground transport once you arrive
Facilitation throughout
Airfare is not included
Travel insurance is not included

Exact inclusions vary by retreat and are listed in full on each retreat’s own page.

By inquiry

Bring your own fifteen.

If you already have the women, I will build the week. Your group, your dates, your location, run the way the open retreats are run.

This is also how teams and communities use it. The price is a function of where and how long, which is the one number on this site I cannot publish in advance, so it starts with a conversation instead.

Start a private inquiry (opens my scheduling page)

Before you book

What you are agreeing to, and what people ask.

The terms first, because they are the part that should never arrive as a surprise. Then the questions, in the order they actually turn up.

Three things you are agreeing to, and none of them changes after you book.

Deposit: $500 holds your seat. It comes off the total, and it is not refundable.
Balance: Pay in full, or in six monthly payments. If neither of those works, say so and we will talk about it.
Travel insurance: Buy it, and buy it the day you book. Your deposit and your flights are both committed early. Insurance covers the things I cannot.

Most of the rest comes down to one worry, which is whether you would be the wrong person in the room.

Do I have to own a business to come?

No. The retreats are not a business product and there is nothing to bring. Some women who come run companies, some do not, and it has never once mattered in the room. The consulting is separate and it is A Sounding and The Build.

Do I have to come with someone?

Most women come alone. That is the normal way to do this, not the brave version of it. Fifteen is small enough that by the second day you are not on the edge of anything.

Is this a work thing or a rest thing?

Rest. There is no curriculum, no deliverable, and nothing you have to report back on. I am a consultant and I do run diagnostic work, but that is A Sounding and it is a separate thing you can book any time.

What fitness level does this require?

None in particular. Movement is led by Kris Krause and designed around who is in the room, not around who is fittest. Where the walking is on uneven ground it says so on that retreat’s page, and if stairs and trails are a real concern, tell me before you book and I will be straight with you.

Can you accommodate how I eat?

Yes. List anything when you book and it reaches the kitchen well before you land.

The rest is arithmetic and dates, and all of it is published rather than sent after a call.

What does it cost and how do I hold a seat?

Greece is $3,265 at the early rate through 6 September 2026 and $3,450 after that, with a $500 non-refundable deposit. April 2027 is not priced yet; when it is, the letters hear first. Every figure is published on the retreat’s own page.

Do I need travel insurance?

It is not required and I would buy it anyway, on the day you book. The deposit is non-refundable and your flight will be booked months out. Insurance is the only thing covering either of those.

Can I book a private retreat for my own group?

Yes. Small groups, teams and communities. Send an inquiry and we will start with what you are actually trying to give them.

Twice a year

Fifteen seats, and when they go the date closes.

That is the number, not a tactic. April goes to the list before it goes anywhere else.

Join the list for April (opens my scheduling page)

Greece is full and the list is how a seat gets filled when one opens. Everything about Greece is on its own page.

Looking for the consulting instead? The Build is brand, operations and business development, with every price published.