Daylong Retreat for Women Starting Over: The Art of Aliveness, IN-PERSON
Date: Sunday September 27, 2026
Time: 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM, PST - Potluck Lunch
Location: Private Home in Sonoma County
Cost: $150
There are times in life when the identities we have lived begin to fall away. A relationship ends. Children need us differently. A role we’ve inhabited for years no longer fits. A life that once made sense begins rearranging itself.
And somewhere in the middle of all that change comes the question:
Who am I now?
This day is for women who are starting over—often after a breakup or divorce, but also through any transition that is creating space for something new.
Many of us have become very good at orienting toward other people. We take care of children, partners, friends, clients, and communities. We notice what others need. We anticipate. We accommodate. We hold things together.
And yes, people may genuinely need us.
But there may also be parts of us that feel safer focusing outward than turning our attention toward ourselves.
What happens when some of that energy becomes available for you?
Not as another self-improvement project. Not by figuring out the next version of yourself. But by becoming curious about what makes you feel alive.
An Exploration of Aliveness
Aliveness is the life force already moving through you.
Creativity. Pleasure. Play. Anger. Rest. Curiosity. Sensuality. Voice. Movement. Knowing what you want and what you don’t want.
Rather than asking What should I do with my life now? we’ll explore a different set of questions:
What has energy for me?
What draws me?
What wants more room?
What happens when I allow there to be more of me?
We’ll experiment gently with what it feels like to let more of your own life force live in your body—to hold a little more of your own voltage without immediately directing it toward someone else, making it useful, or turning it into something you have to accomplish.
There is no right way to experience aliveness.
It doesn’t necessarily mean becoming louder, bigger or more expressive. Sometimes more aliveness is a whisper. Sometimes it is a clear no. Sometimes it is color, movement, laughter, stillness, longing, play or rest.
The practice is to stay at the pace of your own nervous system and become curious about what feels genuinely alive—not what you think you should feel.
The Art of Aliveness
At the center of our day will be an expressive art process using paint, collage, words, images and found materials.
Think vision board—but instead of creating a picture of the life you think you should build next, we’ll let image, color and intuition lead.
What colors feel alive?
What images pull you toward them before you know why?
What surprises you?
What wants to take up more space?
What might your life feel like if you followed what has energy?
No artistic experience is needed. This is not about making something beautiful. It is about giving your hands, senses and imagination a chance to know something before your thinking mind has to explain it.
Earth. Air. Fire. Water.
Throughout the day, we’ll also explore the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water - as different expressions of aliveness.
Details:
We’ll spend time outdoors at a private home in Sonoma County, under a shaded deck.
There will be facilitated group sharing, plenty of space for your own experience, and time to gather around the table to connect socially.
We’ll share a potluck lunch together. Art materials will be provided.
You do not need to know who you are becoming. Come find out what makes you feel alive.
I will email you the location details a few days before our meeting.
We will be a small group of 10-14 women. Registration is required to save your spot.
*Please note that space is limited and there are no refunds unless the group is cancelled.