Eight days in Crete.
A small-group retreat for women in Douliana, a hillside village in western Crete with about forty houses in it. One property, and eight days that ask nothing of you.
“The fact that you’re even considering it should tell you that you should go.”Kristi, retreat guest
“It greatly surpassed all my expectations.”Alice, retreat guest
It works because you are holding it, and holding it is the part nobody sees.
Eight days will not fix that. What it does is put you somewhere the weight is not yours for a week, with women in the same position, and let you find out what you think when nothing is asking for you.
Movement, led by Kris. Strength, mobility, and whatever your body will actually do that day. There is nothing to be behind in.
One day is Crete: the gorge trails, the harbour at Chania, villages from the eighteenth century. The next has nothing on it at all.
Twice in the week the group sits down together. No workbook, no binder, and no round the room where everyone has to say something.
Dinner, cooked on site. The first night and the last are the full group; in between, you eat when you are hungry and go to bed early if you like.
The point is the phone call you take at home a fortnight later, and how differently you answer it.
The excursion lineup is still being finalised. Everyone holding a seat gets the full schedule as it lands.
About forty houses on a hilltop above Souda Bay, in the Apokoronas region of western Crete. Stone streets, and an architecture largely unchanged since the eighteenth century. A village people live in rather than a resort town, which is the whole reason it was chosen.
One house, in the middle of the village, and for eight days it is only ours. Shared rooms, twin beds, and every room has its own bathroom. Kris and I are in the house too.
Photography by Armonia Retreat Center.
Host · Brand and business strategist
Fourteen years in corporate marketing, then a retreat that turned out to be the thing that ended that chapter. I left, I got baptised, and I built this out of obedience rather than a plan. Here I am the person who booked the property, chose the village, and will make sure the week actually works, so that nobody in the room has to be the one holding it. The longer version is on the About page.
Movement · Your Time Fitness, Minnesota
Fifteen years working with women on strength and mobility, mostly women who had written off both. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in her twenties and built her practice around what she learned doing it. She leads the morning movement in Crete, and she meets you where your body is that morning, which on day four is a different place than it was on day one.
Your flight is the only thing you book yourself, and I will sit down with the routes with you once you have a seat. Airlines have not opened August 2027 schedules yet; when they do, budget $1,000 to $2,000 round trip from Minneapolis.
Not included: airfare, travel insurance, and personal spending or anything outside the schedule.
Four things women say to me before they book. All four are reasonable.
Eight days once, against the fifty-one weeks you spend being the one everything runs through. The week is built so that nothing needs you in it.
Most women come alone. That is the normal way to do this, and the group is small enough that by the second day you are not on the edge of anything.
There is nothing to be fit enough for. Kris designs the movement around who is in the room. If stairs and hills are a real concern, tell me before you book.
It is, and the figure is below rather than after a call. What you are actually buying is eight days in which nobody needs anything from you.
Play Melissa’s video about the Costa Rica retreat
The price is here anyway, because you should be able to see what a thing costs before you decide whether to wait for it. Choose how you would pay and you go on the list. When a seat opens I call the list in order.
The seat · shared room, twin beds, private bathroom
$3,450
No payment is taken to join the list. Picking a plan only tells me how you would pay if a seat comes up, and it is the same list either way.
Not willing to wait on a seat? Gatlinburg is open: five days in the Smokies, 13 to 18 April 2027, booking now.
See GatlinburgIf yours is the quieter question, about the money, or the flight, or whether you would be the wrong person in that room, send it. I answer it myself, usually the same day.
Chania International, CHQ, about 33 km away; most cities connect through Athens. Fly in on 12 August, a day early on purpose, and be at the airport by 3:00 PM on the 13th for the group transfer. Ground transport is included both ways, and everyone holding a seat gets the full pre-travel guide.
No. Every room is shared, twin beds, each with its own bathroom. There is no single room and no supplement to buy one, so the price on this page is the price whoever you come with.
Yes, and you will be roomed together. Say so when you book. It does not change the price either way.
Yes. List anything when you book and it gets to the kitchen well before you land. Meals are cooked on site with Cretan ingredients, so most things are straightforward.
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.
Fine. There is wifi in the house and you will have service in the village. Nobody is taking your phone off you; Crete is nine hours ahead of Minnesota and the distance does most of the work on its own.