The Gathering
A six-day replenishment retreat in Costa Rica.
Let's be frivolous.
It looks like a luxury. It's an investment.
December 11–16, 2026
Let's TalkBy invitation. We have a conversation first.
The Gathering
A six-day replenishment retreat in Costa Rica.
It looks like a luxury. It's an investment.
December 11–16, 2026
Let's TalkBy invitation. We have a conversation first.
01
Where you are
You're tired because none of it was for you.
You're the one who holds it. You're so good at it that people hand you things without asking. Whoever needs holding finds their way to you, and you hold them, because you can. You could hold the whole world if it came to that. Some days it feels like you do.
And somewhere in there, anything just for you started to feel frivolous. Who has time for that. So you keep not doing it. Another year goes by.
Here's what I've come to think.
Frivolous is just what we call it when a woman spends something on herself.
So let's be frivolous. Six days, and nothing on the schedule that isn't for you.
02
What this is
You know by now it wears off somewhere between the airport and Wednesday.
That's because a break stops the drain. It doesn't refill anything.
Refilling is a different skill, and nobody taught it to us. Most of us give ourselves just enough to keep functioning. Just enough to keep giving to everybody else.
Six days of being cared for. Not caring for yourself, which is just one more thing you do. Cared for. Someone else cooks. Someone else drives. Someone else's hands. Someone else holds the circle so you don't have to.
And what comes back when you stop holding isn't rest exactly. It's exuberance. The part of you that's funny and curious and a little wild, that hasn't had room to move in a while.
That's the thing I'd call beauty, and it has nothing to do with your face. It's felt, not seen. And it isn't something the world grants you and can quietly take back as you get older.
The shift
It was never theirs to decide.
That's the whole shift. From waiting to be told, to choosing it. From controlling life, to receiving it.
It's not too late. It is never too late.
03
How this began
I'd been leading retreats for years by that time. But this time I wasn't holding the circle. I was in it.
That's when I understood what this actually is. Gathering isn't a nice thing to do when there's time. It's the mechanism. It's how we come back.
This December I'm doing it again.
04
Six days
We build three things.
Because nothing is more beautiful than a woman in a relaxed body.
An Ayurvedic rhythm your body recognizes. Warm oil on your skin every morning, food cooked for you at the hours you can actually digest it, early nights, and long afternoons that belong to nobody but you. This is a five-thousand-year-old system for restoring a depleted body, and it works whether or not you believe in it.
Because pleasure is the fountain of youth, and we were sold a much more expensive version.
We dance. Your body doesn't tell the truth in conversation, it tells the truth in movement. We shake, we take up space, we let the hips go. Nobody is watching and nothing is being performed. Add a waterfall you climb down into, hot springs so beautiful you'll keep saying it doesn't look real, jungle, and food you actually taste.
Because it's the part that comes home with you.
Circle, ceremony, and ten other women who see you clearly for six days. Space to look honestly at where your life stopped fitting. And the practice of giving to yourself on purpose, until it stops feeling like something you have to justify.
05
What comes home with you
A weekend away stops the drain for a minute. It doesn't refill anything, and you know that by Wednesday.
What actually changes a woman's life is much smaller than a retreat, and it happens on ordinary days. So you'll leave here knowing how to do these, and they take minutes.
Wake up your own hands, then use them on yourself. Self-massage, with thank-yous to the parts of you that carry the most.
Facial and neck movements that bring the flow back to your face. Two minutes, and people notice.
The ancient one. Circulation, drainage, and the glow that comes with it.
Short bursts that move stagnation into joy. You'll use these on the worst days.
For vitality, and for coming back into your own presence.
A journey your nervous system understands without translation.
How to put down what isn't yours, so you're not carrying it into the next room.
Warm oil, your own hands, fifteen minutes. Taught on day one, and most women tell me it's the one that stayed.
These are small on purpose. They fit into a life that's already full, and they compound.
You'll still be giving. You'll just be giving from overflow instead of from empty.
06
Afterwards
Giving to yourself stops feeling frivolous and starts being how you refuel
The thing you've been meaning to make, you start making
You make the change you've known you needed to make, and you're steady even without knowing how it turns out
Your relationships go deeper
You participate again. You take the chance. You wear the thing
You're clear that you don't have to carry it all
You know exactly how you want the next year to feel
You stop waiting for someone else to confirm you're still beautiful
07
In their words
"There's no coping anymore. I'm beyond coping and I've really moved into thriving."
Quinne Brown Huffman, Facilitator of Our Creative Return
"How young it all felt. Dancing with sisters, moving so yummy and sexy and out of my head."
Nikki, Retreat guest and Guardian
Hemalayaa · 25+ years · 600+ women gathered in person · Owner of Embody Costa Rica
08
The Details
Included:
The Nest
$2,900
Private room, shared bath
The Vista
$3,300
Private room, private bath, a view
The Beloved
$4,400
Private room, private bath, a view, and three private sessions with me
Sharing a room with your sister or best friend: $2,200 each.
The Labyrinth Room at Embody, shared by up to four women: $1,900 each.
$1,000 deposit. Payment plans available. Flights not included.
09
A little about me
I've spent twenty-five years in this field. Yoga, dance, embodiment, Ayurveda. I taught at festivals for two decades and made twelve DVDs along the way, yoga and dance movement, which found their way around the world and into a lot of living rooms.
Somewhere in there I ended up on Ellen and the Today Show.
These days I live in Costa Rica, and I own the land and the retreat center we'll be gathering on.
I'm not doing this because I have it all sorted. I'm doing it because I know exactly what it costs to be the one who holds everything, and I know what comes back when you stop long enough to be held yourself.
More than six hundred women have gathered with me in person over the years.
And the ones who gather here become family. It happens every time. It deepens, and it keeps growing long after everyone has flown home.
Featured on The Ellen Show and The Today Show, and in The New York Times, the LA Times, and Yoga Journal.
10
The Invitation
What if one week of it were yours?
Six days at the close of the year, in a circle of women. You put the year down, and you walk into the next one already knowing how you want it to feel.
Bookings close November 10th, 2026, because women need time to book flights and I keep this circle small on purpose.
If something in you has been leaning toward this while you read, let's have a conversation.
Let's TalkTwenty minutes, just to connect. No pressure either way. We'll both get a feel for whether this is the right fit, and honestly whether it's the right timing for your life. If it isn't this year, that's clarity.