Wild Women Retreat at Samsara Ridge
Arriving at Samsara Ridge in early summer is like stepping into another world. The tall soft grasses sway in the light breeze and everywhere you look, shy wildflowers reach up towards the warm sunlight. The rolling landscape hides nooks for contemplation, groves for wisdom, a babbling brook for bathing, a small lake, and the perfect ridge perch for watching fiery sunsets. There’s no doubt that this land has a magic about it. You can’t help but feel the healing, joyous, and heartfelt tenderness that it offers and that Julia and her family steward through their care and love for this place.
What better way to gather than under the theme of Wild Women: Harmonious Passion for Work. At the time of this retreat, last June, I was going through several significant changes: moving from San Diego to Minneapolis and embarking on a new career path that felt ambiguous and scary. In the mysterious and comforting ways that the universe shows up when we need it most, I found a flyer for this retreat in a coffee shop in my new neighborhood. It felt too synchronous to ignore and I immediately reached out to Julia Beasley and Kate Noble, eager to join other like-minded women in community as we navigated unique transformations in our lives.
The retreat sessions were spacious, allowing time for contemplation and integration. We gathered in bell tents, under old trees, or around raging bonfires, tending to our internal landscapes as Kate and Julia guided tantric yoga sessions, somatic healing, forest bathing, walking/sitting meditations and drum journeys. We sang songs together, released limiting beliefs, drank cacao, ate delicious meals by the creek and connected to each other on a deeper level than we are often afforded in the bustle of day-to-day life.
This retreat grounded me in many ways. These embodied retreats take us out of our minds and into the present moment and I left with the assuredness and peace that comes from being in community and in nature. I was able to begin the process of releasing the striving and straining approach to my transitions, which I now see has opened up space for a quiet intuition to come forward and begin to gain confidence.
It’s special to be writing this almost a year out from the retreat. I came to the retreat seeking community, comfort, a balanced path towards my goals and passions, and a greater connection to the Midwest landscapes that I now call home. I can see that the seeds I planted and tended with my fellow Wild Women are now shoots and sprouts growing into sturdy vines.
