5.0
Verified
return to the heart
I had another wonderful weekend retreat with Irina Devi at Menla - one of my favorite retreat places !
Softening Into Ourselves: Nourishing Spirit, Deepening Connection
Cameron's Staff Pick
Top Rated
Softening Into Ourselves: Nourishing Spirit, Deepening Connection
4.8056 reviews
375 Panterkill Road PO Box 70 Phoenicia, NY 12464 United States
November 9 - 12, 2026
About this Retreat
Sue Lembeck-Edens brings warmth, wisdom, and more than three decades of experience to her work as an educator, facilitator, and guide in body-mind practices. A Licensed Massage Therapist, Dance/Movement Therapist, and yoga instructor, Sue’s teaching is grounded, imaginative, and enlivening. Her approach emphasizes integration, curiosity, and collaboration, drawing on Eastern healing traditions, Five Element Theory, anatomy, and kinesiology.
As co-founder of Three of Cups Retreats, Sue creates thoughtful, creative, and deeply nourishing experiences that help women explore their authentic selves through mindful movement, creative arts, and community. Sue lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Rachel Mefferd is an acupuncturist, dance-movement therapist, and lifelong student of the body’s wisdom. For more than two and a half decades, she has guided people toward greater balance, resilience, and connection through the practices of Chinese medicine, therapeutic movement, and compassionate inquiry.
As co-founder of Three of Cups Retreats, Rachel creates spaces where women can slow down, listen deeply to themselves, and reconnect with what matters most. Her retreats weave together movement, creativity, nature, meaningful conversation, and restorative stillness, inviting participants to fully engage and discover the wisdom that emerges when they gather in community. She lives in Claremont California in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains.
Details of this retreat
Much of our lives ask us to lean forward—to respond, manage, and care for others. This retreat offers a different rhythm. Together, we will practice leaning back into support, cultivating receptivity and trusting stillness. We will explore what becomes possible when we shift from effort to presence, from yang to yin, and from holding ourselves up to allowing ourselves to be softly held.
Mindful movement, dance and art will be the central pathways into this exploration. As we dance, we will notice the gestures, patterns, and rhythmic qualities of expression that naturally draw us. What actions feel familiar? Which ones feel dynamic and enlivening? We will also gently explore aspects of ourselves that may have been hidden, neglected, or pushed aside in service of who we felt we needed to be. With curiosity rather than judgment, we will welcome these forgotten parts back into relationship.
Through guided inquiry, we will begin to recognize the stories our bodies have been telling and the possibilities they have yet to express. Together, we will discover “our dance not done”—the impulses, and expressions that may have been interrupted or left waiting for a more welcoming moment. We will create space for these unfinished dances to emerge and unfold. Written reflections and art explorations will help us anchor our discoveries, weaving embodied experience into awareness and insight.
Our Women’s Circle will provide a sacred space for witnessing and being witnessed. A place for stories, dreams, longings, and discoveries to be shared as we practice deep listening, remembering the healing that emerges when we gather in community and speak from the heart.
Schedule:
Monday, November 9
3 - 6 pm Arrive & Check-in
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Welcome, The Art of Softening; Bon Fire
Tuesday, November 10
7:30 am “Greet the Day” Labyrinth Walking Meditation
8 - 9 am Breakfast
9:30 am - 12 pm Meeting Ourselves with Curiosity, Qi Motion, Art & Writing Explorations
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
2 - 5 pm Weaving Connection; Somatic Movement, Yoga and Reflections
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Making Sacred Objects That Hold Our Stories
Wednesday, November 11
7:30 am “Greet the Day” Cycadean Rhythms
8 - 9 am Breakfast
9:30 - 12 pm Listening within; finding the rhythms that move us
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
2 pm Discovering the Dance Not Yet Done and Journaling
4 - 6 pm Sharing Our Voices Listening Circle
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Healing Sound Bath
Thursday, November 12
7 - 11 am Check out of rooms
7:30 am Closing Circle
8 - 9 am Breakfast
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch & Departure
*Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Mindful movement, dance and art will be the central pathways into this exploration. As we dance, we will notice the gestures, patterns, and rhythmic qualities of expression that naturally draw us. What actions feel familiar? Which ones feel dynamic and enlivening? We will also gently explore aspects of ourselves that may have been hidden, neglected, or pushed aside in service of who we felt we needed to be. With curiosity rather than judgment, we will welcome these forgotten parts back into relationship.
Through guided inquiry, we will begin to recognize the stories our bodies have been telling and the possibilities they have yet to express. Together, we will discover “our dance not done”—the impulses, and expressions that may have been interrupted or left waiting for a more welcoming moment. We will create space for these unfinished dances to emerge and unfold. Written reflections and art explorations will help us anchor our discoveries, weaving embodied experience into awareness and insight.
Our Women’s Circle will provide a sacred space for witnessing and being witnessed. A place for stories, dreams, longings, and discoveries to be shared as we practice deep listening, remembering the healing that emerges when we gather in community and speak from the heart.
Schedule:
Monday, November 9
3 - 6 pm Arrive & Check-in
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Welcome, The Art of Softening; Bon Fire
Tuesday, November 10
7:30 am “Greet the Day” Labyrinth Walking Meditation
8 - 9 am Breakfast
9:30 am - 12 pm Meeting Ourselves with Curiosity, Qi Motion, Art & Writing Explorations
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
2 - 5 pm Weaving Connection; Somatic Movement, Yoga and Reflections
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Making Sacred Objects That Hold Our Stories
Wednesday, November 11
7:30 am “Greet the Day” Cycadean Rhythms
8 - 9 am Breakfast
9:30 - 12 pm Listening within; finding the rhythms that move us
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
2 pm Discovering the Dance Not Yet Done and Journaling
4 - 6 pm Sharing Our Voices Listening Circle
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 9 pm Healing Sound Bath
Thursday, November 12
7 - 11 am Check out of rooms
7:30 am Closing Circle
8 - 9 am Breakfast
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch & Departure
*Please note this schedule is subject to change.
Getting Here
Menla, 375 Panterkill Road PO Box 70 Phoenicia, NY 12464 United States
Accommodation
Deluxe Queen
Deluxe Queen Room with Queen Bed and Private Bathroom
Free Phone and Hi-Speed Wifi Internet Access Available
Air Conditioning
All Rooms in Lhasa are Handicap-Accessible, Including Four Rooms with Wheelchair Accessible Showers.
Deluxe Queen Rooms are Available in Lhasa Inn and Kathmandu House
* Please note that rates include meals and accommodations
Deluxe Double (Shared Room)
Deluxe Double Room with Two Full Size Beds and Private Bathroom
Free Phone and Hi-Speed Wifi Internet Access Available
Air Conditioning
All Rooms in Lhasa are Handicap-Accessible, Including Four Rooms with Wheelchair Accessible Showers.
Deluxe Double Rooms with Private Bathrooms are Located in the Lhasa Inn
* Please note rates include meals and accommodations.
This booking is for one bed in a double shared room: We May Assign You a Roommate if You Do Not Register with One.
Customer Reviews
Verified
5.0
Verified
Impeccable kitchen...beautiful surroundings
The lovely girl who cleaned my room, Amy, literally MADE my entire trip. She was so kind.
The scenery is magnificent, the landscape supreme, the food was AMAZING, cleanliness was top notch.
Everybody at Menla was extremely helpful and nice, with the exception of one person who shall remain nameless.
The scenery is magnificent, the landscape supreme, the food was AMAZING, cleanliness was top notch.
Everybody at Menla was extremely helpful and nice, with the exception of one person who shall remain nameless.
4.0
Verified
This is a special place
I attended Menla for a Therapist Ketamine retreat. There were approximately 35 attendees and 8-10 faculty. The buildings and the grounds are stunning and do what they set out to do..... force you to relax! The conference center offered so much space and ability for smaller groups to break out. I was fortunate enough to stay in a deluxe room which had stunning and peaceful decor and a very comfortable bed.
The Menla staff was welcoming and helpful.
I was disappointed with the meals. I live in the SF Bay area and am fortunate to have access to very high quality and thoughtful vegetarian food. I found the meals to be Okay but not delicious. I should mention that our group didn't have breakfast. I did appreciate the creative beverage offerings and constant access to fresh fruit - the apples were yummy!
The Menla staff was welcoming and helpful.
I was disappointed with the meals. I live in the SF Bay area and am fortunate to have access to very high quality and thoughtful vegetarian food. I found the meals to be Okay but not delicious. I should mention that our group didn't have breakfast. I did appreciate the creative beverage offerings and constant access to fresh fruit - the apples were yummy!
3.0
Verified
Nice place, kind staff, pricey, food was not good, not enough
The cabin was comfortable, and the shared areas were nice. The food, however, was extremely limited—mostly beans and vegetables, essentially a $2 meal with no meat or chicken. After one hour of being served, most of the food was gone and not replenished, so arriving around 1 p.m. meant finding almost nothing left. Beans can also trigger gas and discomfort, and the Indian dishes were too spicy, causing bloating. For the price of the stay, the meals felt inadequate.
Staff should wait until meetings are finished before moving items or making accommodations. The trail signs were also confusing and unclear; improving them would make a big difference.
Staff should wait until meetings are finished before moving items or making accommodations. The trail signs were also confusing and unclear; improving them would make a big difference.
5.0
Verified
Breathing in the Heart of Nature
I've visited the center twice, in June 2025 and June 2026, and both times I found it restful, peaceful, and a place to feel at one with nature, with many opportunities to swim, walk, and hike without leaving the center. It's a great place for meditation, reflection, care, and nourishing food. I had a spa session with Nitty, a Reiki practitioner with over 30 years of experience, and it was better than expected. While there, I saw many animals and birds, and a woman using the Cornell University bird app was able to identify 37 species in one sitting on the patio of the main building. The staff is very friendly, and the spa center with a swimming pool is the most luxuriously built of all the buildings. The biggest luxury I've found in Menla is silence.
Last Chance
