Journey Into Sacred Expression Women's Writing & Yoga/Movement Retreat - Lake Atitlan Guatemala Copy

Location icon
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
Users icon
Up to 10 in group
Date
December 7 - 14, 2024

Retreat Highlights

  • Intimate Women's Gathering: Only 12 spaces available.
  • Inspiring lakefront location with expansive volcano views
  • Daily guided meditation & yoga/movement practice
  • Two intensive self-exploratory writing circles on most days
  • Scenic lake-side thatch-roofed yoga temple & writing space
  • 7 nights stay in shared or private accommodation
  • 3 delicious organic vegetarian meals/day and juice bar
  • 4+ sacred healing ceremonies (eg. Mayan Fire Ceremony, Sound Healing, Movement, Sauna Ceremony)
  • Solar hot tub, on-site spa services, pool, sauna, jacuzzi
  • Breaks for swimming, hiking, kayaking, SUP, therapies, relaxing
  • Optional excursions (village tour, outdoor adventure)

About this Retreat

Your Guides

Details of this retreat

Recommended by Lonely Planet Wellness Escapes. Find yourself in a magical, luxury setting at Villa Sumaya on Lake Atitlan. Practice meditation and yoga as we look out over lake and volcanoes. Gather for raw, intimate expression with brave and beautiful women in a sacred writing circle. Indulge in fresh, delicious meals. Relax in a hammock. Take a swim. Join candle-lit ceremony. Fall asleep to the lull of the lake beneath watch of the stars. Breathe and relax into lakeside luxury as we gather for an inspiring and beautiful week beneath the watch of volcanoes. Join a circle of women in the spirit of reclamation for a creative inner adventure through meditation, yoga, self-exploratory writing, and sacred ceremonies at Villa Sumaya in Santa Cruz, Guatemala. You are invited to take a brave and honest journey into your center to connect with your intuition and express from your core.  

Created for all women who want to reveal their own truths, connect to their intuition, re-ignite their soul voice, feel empowered in their self-expression (whatever form it takes), and be inspired as the courageous storyteller of their own lives…this retreat is a gathering of women in the spirit of reclamation.  This retreat is not about ‘writing’ as a subject or art form. Every woman has a voice in her own life – we are gathering together to raise it up and own our self-expression. The Journey Into Sacred Expression Women's Retreat is recommended by Lonely Planet, and has been named among "Incredible Writing Retreats to Attend" by The Write Life for six years in a row. 

In this women's retreat, you will:
- Gather with a powerful circle of women in rawness, vulnerability and expression.
- Ground in your body and intuition through meditation, yoga and movement.
- Show up in this here and now, present to whatever is real to you, as you are.
- Honor and be witnessed for your embodied experience as a woman.
- Immerse in a journey that is both individual and collective to you and to the circle and to women.
- Reveal your truths moment to moment by connecting to your own inner voice.
- Embrace yourself in all of your contradictions and wholeness.
- Loosen the stories you tell against allowing yourself and your expression, in the many ways we tell them.
- Reconnect with your essential self, your vivid energies, your heart-led and soul-seeded desires - all that conspires for your expression.
- Call back your inner voice to hear what sways your soul.
- Reclaim your connection and belonging to the greater mystery and beauty all around us.
- Remember the magic that unfolds when women circle together with love and compassion at our core.

More Retreat Program Details:

Call in the four directions & feminine energy: 

The four directions (embodied by the serpent, the jaguar, the hummingbird, and the eagle) provide a thematic framework to inspire our sacred journey. They beckon you to an adventure of higher levels of perception and connection, to detach from self-limiting stories and come back to your heart and your courage. You are inspired to become more aware of how you influence your reality. You are invited to envision your life into greater beauty. You will plunge deeper into the center of your wild, knowing and beautiful feminine nature, calling her to rise in strength as we journey.

Meditate & practice yoga in nature:

With daily guided meditation and yoga, you reconnect with the direct sensory experiences of your breath and your body, and become increasingly aware of the power and influence of the energy you bring to each moment. Meditation and yoga support you to reach beyond your daily thoughts and become more present to the moment and to yourself. Through stillness and movement, you listen deeper within, open up, and release.

Allow raw creative expression:

In our women's circle, we raise inner journey themes and work through them with dynamic, reflective, and creative self-exploratory writing exercises. In addition to verbal writing prompts, we may bring in movement, images, nature, or sound. You will find that prompted writing gives you a key inside, and somehow you are more able to sneak past your internal filters to unlock fierce personal truths and insights. The circle provides a loving and encouraging space to free your inner voices, speak your experience, enliven your possibilities, spark your imagination, and connect more deeply to energies within and with each other. The alchemy is in the daring greatly - it's in the sharing. 

Explore and open y(our) stories:

With raw expression, we will play at exploring the inner stories that constrain us and limit our perception, such as character roles we play, limiting beliefs we animate, narratives we create and recreate, and the words that entrap us. You will open the possibility to transcend these ‘creative blocks’ of your creative energy. You will practice giving your feelings form, putting them into motion and expression so they can transform. You will play with the creativity of perspective, exploring how to rewrite your experiences, reclaim your narratives, and own your role as the storyteller of your life. You will let awe in and invite back mystery. As you explore your inner stories with honesty and compassion, you will feel your voice begin to emerge more authentic and true.

Gather in ceremony: 

We participate in evening healing sessions (sound, movement) and ceremonies for renewing wise and wild guiding energy. These will complement the writing journey in reclaiming your heart and soul voice.  

Schedule

Guests arrive on Saturday afternoon to relax and settle in. We'll open our circle in the evening after dinner. Our daily flow will begin on Sunday.

Here's a sample schedule (subject to change and days will differ, to accommodate ceremonies, special sessions and excursions):

7:00-8:30 Meditation & Holistic Hatha Flow/Vinyasa Flow
8:30 Delicious Breakfast
10.30-1.00 Sacred Expression Writing Circle/Discussion
1:00-3.45 Delicious Lunch & Free Time
3:45-6.30 Sacred Expression Writing Circle/Discussion
6.30 - 7.30 Delicious Dinner
7.30 Sauna, Circle, Healing Ceremonies (some evenings)

Meals are vegetarian and gourmet. Chicken/fish ($8 extra per meal) and alcohol can be added to meals at your discretion.

Relax in a hammock and enjoy the views, swim in the lake, do a meditative walk on nature trails, receive a spa treatment, dip in the solar hot tub & pools, or detox in the sauna in daily breaks.

On a day or two, we'll hold longer breaks and offer optional group excursions - visits to villages or hiking/kayaking adventure options.

You will also participate in afternoon/evening ceremonies with guest facilitators - such as Sound Healing, Traditional Mayan Fire, Cacao Ceremony, and Movement or Dance.

Guests are advised to fly into Guatemala City by 1pm on arrival day (or arrive the night before and stay near the airport so you are well rested to begin) and book return flights for mid afternoon on the last day or following day. We can provide hotel recommendations for stays in Antigua or near the airport before or after the retreat.
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change

Getting Here

Location icon Aimee Hansen, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Directions

The closest international airport to Lake Atitlan is Guatemala City La Aurora International Airport, three hours away from Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. From Panajachel, it's a ten minute scenic boat ride to the private dock at Villa Sumaya.

Guests are advised to fly into La Aurora Intl Guatemala City (GUA) by 1pm on the day retreat begins, and book return flights for mid/late afternoon on the day the retreat ends.

If you'd like to spend time in Guatemala before or after the retreat, we can provide hotel recommendations for your stay near the airport or in Antigua. It can be beautiful to enjoy a little stay in Antigua.

Once we have your travel plans, we can happily arrange your private transportation to Villa Sumaya from the airport, hotels nearby, or from Antigua.

Private shuttles are $100 - $15/25 per person, depending on how many other guests you are sharing with. We can coordinate with other guests with arrivals or pick-ups at similar times.

The private shuttle will pick you up from the airport or your hotel for the three hour journey to Panajachel, where it will bring you to the boat dock.

From the dock in Panajachel, we can pre-arrange the a private boat ride for $25-$5/per person, depending on how many guests you are sharing with. You can easily get a public boat to the Villa Sumaya dock too (15 quetzals, or $3). The ride is fifteen minutes.

Accommodation

Retreat guests will be staying in the gorgeous lake-view accommodation of the Lotus House. ​ Lotus House is a beautifully designed three-level building with very comfortable rooms that are elegantly decorated with exquisite local touches and furnishings. Tara Temple is on the top floor of the Lotus House. All of the Lotus House rooms have private bathrooms with hot stone showers and private balconies with exceptional lake views. They are centrally located near the courtyard, dining room, gardens and boutique. Shared rooms (doubles, triples - depending on group size) and privates are all available. All rooms involve some stairs.

Accommodation
Lotus House Shared Room: inclusive package - all circles, yoga classes, ceremonies, meals (1 person)
Accommodation
Lotus House Private Room: inclusive package - all circles, yoga classes, ceremonies, meals (1 person)

Venue & Amenities

Venue & Amenities
Venue & Amenities
A/C in Rooms icon A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi icon Free Wifi
Spa icon Spa
Sauna icon Sauna
Pool icon Pool
Towels icon Towels
Free Parking icon Free Parking
Kitchen icon Kitchen
Tour Assistance icon Tour Assistance
Hot Tub icon Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea icon Coffee/Tea
Cafe icon Cafe
Restaurant icon Restaurant
Fitness Center icon Fitness Center
Yoga Studio icon Yoga Studio
Housekeeping icon Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent icon Bicycles For Rent
Cradled by rural highlands and lush forests, Lake Atitlan is a breathtaking beauty framed by three majestic volcanoes. The lake is known to attract travelers in search of soulful reconnection. Resting in a secluded lakeside cove, Villa Sumaya is an eco-chic sanctuary dedicated to rejuvenation, holistic practices, and preserving Mayan tradition.

This gorgeous location offers expansive views, inviting and comfortable accommodation, delicious and nurturing slow-food meals, juice bar cafe, on-site spa, solar hot tub, fair-trade boutique and wood-burning sauna in unparalleled natural surroundings. Villa Sumaya is an eco-friendly wellness center perfect for self-care, refreshing perspectives and renewing energies.

Meals

Menu
Menu

Menu Types

Meals are vegetarian and gourmet. Chicken/fish ($7 extra per meal) and alcohol can be added to meals at your discretion. Many guests tend to purchase the Villa Sumaya cookbook PDF after spending time at the venue.

What's Included

  • Daily morning guided meditation & yoga/movement practice
  • Two self-exploratory writing circles on most days
  • 7 nights accommodation at Villa Sumaya (double or private)
  • Delicious vegetarian breakfast, lunch & dinner
  • Unlimited tea/coffee service
  • 4+ sacred healing ceremonies (eg. Mayan Fire Ceremony, Sound Healing, Cacao, Dance & Movement)
  • Sauna & night jacuzzi on one night each
  • Use of swimming pool & solar hot tub
  • Base gratuities for the local staff members
  • All Taxes

What's Not Included

  • Flights & transport to the retreat
  • Travel insurance (strongly recommended)
  • Additional options: optional excursions (approx $30-60 each); extra spa treatments, massages, or private sauna, meal supplements (fish, chicken $7), alcohol

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