About this Retreat
Elizabeth Pyjov's goal is to make the world more compassionate by helping people practice self-compassion.
She is a founder, CEO, theologian, lawyer, facilitator, published poet, and business school faculty who holds three Harvard degrees, speaks five languages, has lived in seven countries, and has created over a hundred different programs for happiness, energy, connection, and resilience. Through her organizations, Happiness Sangha and Lead with Compassion, she has reached well over 100,000 people.
Her approach combines what she learned about ritual and meaning at Harvard Divinity School, her literature degree from Harvard College, neuroscience studies at Stanford Medical School, the rigor of Harvard Law School, experience living in seven countries, fluency in five languages, and her time studying with the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Jon Kabat-Zinn to think outside the box and help people find happiness and fulfillment today.
Elizabeth understands motivated, intelligent individuals. Her past professional experience includes being an Investment Funds Associate at Sidley Austin, human rights work at the United Nations, legal investigations for the New York Attorney General’s Office, and managing Compassion Journal for the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She has also worked in marketing for Italy’s top television station RAI in Rome, and as a literary translator for Italian Nobel Prize-winning author Dario Fo. She now helps organizations all over the world create a more compassionate culture.
Living, working, or studying in Argentina, France, Italy, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, and Russia has led her to understand that among those of different traditions, customs, and religions, people find happiness in many of the same ways. They want to be healthy, do meaningful work, and be close to loved ones—and what brings joy is practicing compassion, self-kindness, and deep awareness.Elizabeth’s clients include the Library of Congress, The Carlyle Group, Novartis, and Deutsche Bank, as well as courts, startups, top law firms, and universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and NYU Medical School. This work is the biggest privilege of her life.
Larisa Forman has been practicing yoga for 20+ years and teaching in the Boston area for over 10 years. Larisa leads workshops and immersions both nationally and internationally, leads a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training at The Yoga Loft, is a frequent presenter at The Nantucket Yoga Festival, and her yoga class was chosen as a part of "The ideal wellness day in Boston" by Well+Good.
Larisa is a yoga innovator blending the deeply traditional with the latest developments in fitness science, combining the Western obsession with the physical body and the Eastern approach to the Mind/Body/Spirit connection. Larisa received her 200H with PranaVayu Yoga founder David Magone in Boston and her 500H with her beloved guru Sri Dharma Mittra in NYC. Larisa is a Sanskrit enthusiast and loves meditation. Sharing these ancient techniques with the modern-day practitioner brings her tremendous joy :)
Details of this retreat
Reclaiming the Five Expressions of Feminine Wholeness
This March, as the sun starts to warm the snow, you are invited to crack the ice and let the water move.
Together we will remove the mask of usefulness, of “should,” of not disappointing anyone, and no life force moving through. The goal of this retreat is contact with every part of you as a woman, so that what you do has a deeper reason inside you.
A healed woman is not one role. She is a chandelier with five crystals, and each one is lit. She can be the hermit and the protector, the lover and the mother, the one who serves from her own star. Nothing is blocked. She gets energy from all of them.
Inspired by Carl Jung’s work on archetypes, we will open and heal five expressions of a woman’s divinity:
The Sage: union with intuition. “I accept myself, and I am accepted.”
The Amazon: union with action. Strength, boundaries, the ability to receive. “I am enough.”
The Geisha: union with the body. Enjoyment, flow, beauty, the right to rest and pleasure.
The Matriarch: union with family. Healthy belonging without losing yourself.
The Queen: union with service. Influence, higher mission, satisfaction that no one can take away.
Elizabeth Pyjov will facilitate. Come for the archetype work and the meditation, stay for the forest walks and nourishing food, and leave knowing what you want, able to feel it, and no longer at war with yourself.
What awaits you:
Three days of live work in a strong field of women
Healing the Sage, the Amazon, the Geisha, the Matriarch, and the Queen
Exclusive practices that are not taught in open classes
Group sharing and working with what you actually came with
Meditation and inner contact practices
Gentle Goddess yoga and mindful movement
Forest walks on Menla’s 330 acres
Candlelit evening practice
Working with the shadow: the healthy “no”
Reaching new levels of self-acceptance
Letting enjoyment and the body back in
Growing in compassion
Enjoying each other’s company
Eating three healthy meals a day
Accessing deep relaxation
Leaving with a map for how women heal
You will come away knowing what you want in each expression and able to give that to yourself. New possibilities open in relationships, work, health, energy, and satisfaction.
Schedule:
Friday, March 12
The Ice, and the Sage
3 pm Arrive, check in, and explore the property
5 - 6 pm Official welcome, introductions, and the image of the frozen lake: why women heal through all five archetypes
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 pm Candlelit opening practice: Healing the Sage. Intuition, roots, the shadow, and “I am, and that is enough.” The wound of rejection and belonging to yourself again.
Saturday, March 13
The Amazon and the Geisha
7 - 8 am Gentle yoga, stretching, and movement
8 - 9 am Breakfast
9:30 - 11 am Healing the Amazon. Action, protection, receiving resources, and the difference between strength and the clever victim: achiever mode, burnout, and war with everyone. The healed Amazon creates from joy and can say no.
11:30 am - 12:30 pm Free time. Vintage barn, fitness room, a walk, a nap, journaling.
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
2 - 3:30 pm Optional group hike or time for spa treatments
4:30 - 6 pm Healing the Geisha. Welcoming the Goddess of Ritual. Love of life itself, not of a specific person.
6 - 7 pm Dinner
7:30 - 8 pm Gentle 25-minute yoga for excellent sleep
Sunday, March 14
The Matriarch, the Queen, and the chandelier
7 - 8 am Gentle stretching and movement
8 - 9 am Breakfast
9 - 10:30 am Time to pack and check out
11 am - 12:30 pm Last practice: Healing the Matriarch and the Queen
The Matriarch: sacred union with partner, children, and the next generation without burnout or self-loss
The Queen: higher values, influence, and service that resonates inside
Meditation on the five lit crystals: Sage, Amazon, Geisha, Matriarch, Queen
How to keep the water moving after you go home
Formal retreat closing
12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch and departure
*Please note this schedule is subject to change.
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