My recent retreat client gets to know my neighbor, “Fancy”, on one of our walks.

Everyone who comes to our home for a reflective retreat is coming with their own unique intention. Right now, we are hosting couples and individuals that want to fast-track their progress. In other retreats, part of the process is often connecting with others and basking in the energy of the group.

I love retreats like that and our intention is to one day host those as well. My retreat clients, however, have been working with me for quite some time. When they let me know they are interested in intensive time together, I have to sit with their progress to see if they are ready or if they need more time in session work.

There is no magical time to make this happen. All unfolds as it should. If you feel like you would benefit from working 1:1 with me, I would welcome the opportunity to start that conversation. You can take the initiative by contacting me here. Once we have had a few sessions together, if you are interested in working together intensively in a retreat space, I would be happy to discuss that with you then.

Our wood-burning stove, purposefully adorned.

Our Home and Land

When you arrive, you’ll look left and look right wondering which door to use. That’s because there’s a screen door leading to a massive screened in patio. This is where I spend a lot of my time when the temperatures allow. If you’re one of our guests, I’ll probably tell you all about the different types of birds on our property… from the Cooper’s Hawk that visits me every morning to the Cardinals that skiddishly slide into our bird feeders and then quickly swoop out.

Once you’re in the door, you’ll find art everywhere. Not only am I an artist, but my husband Peter is also an artist. Between the collages I create early on in January every year at my Illumined Collage Retreat to Peter’s Fractal Soul Portraits (and everything in between), this is an art haven. It is sacred and every piece has been very intentionally placed.

You’ll see crystals thoughtfully placed – and do you see that jar with a note in it in the photo above? There’s an incredible story I’d love to share with you when you’re here about that paper and the house and property we ended up purchasing.

Our dirt and gravel road that leads to wildlife galore – and a lake!

In Stillness There Is Truth

Life in the country is absolutely stunning. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise to you. What might or might not come as a surprise to you is why we chose to create this retreat center in the middle of nature. If you’ve read my book, “I am Her Daughter: The Healing Path to a Woman’s Power“, you know that the time I enjoyed most was the time I spent with nature. It has so much to teach us if we only take time to stop and listen.

That’s the hard part sometimes, isn’t it? When all of the distractions of carpooling and school work and to-do lists falls away, it’s just us and nature. We spend so much time unintentionally avoiding it that we wanted to create a space to celebrate it.  Nature and all of its glorious creatures are here to teach us a lesson. Truthfully, they’re here to teach us many lessons – but we’re not taught that as children so we don’t know to listen until often much later in life.

Our time together is so precious in retreat. No subject is off limits. The point of this sacred space is to give you not only the space and time to explore what’s holding you back from reaching the best version of yourself or your marriage/partnership, but to also provide you the stillness needed to quite all of your distractions so you can come into a state of receiving. When you’re in a state of receiving, answers come flooding to you.

 What Participants Say

Recently, I had one of my clients visit our home for a retreat of sorts. We stood outside one night and watched meteors soar overhead, one after another. She would go out on our screened-in patio most mornings to drink her espresso and just tap in. When I asked her at the end of her time what she got out of her time with me in retreat, I was thrilled to her her response.

“Licia, this was the first time that I felt like I really got through to my inner child. I thought this was just me kind of going through the motions, but in my session work with you while I was here, I had a breakthrough. I got to feel and see the spirit of that little 4-year-old girl and oh my God was her spirit bright. The stillness, the walks that we took, the nurturing food I was fed with love… it all mattered for this moment. This was my breakthrough. This was the moment I needed to experience to give myself permission to shine.”

Bone broth soup

The Food

One of the great joys I have is in providing food that feeds your body and your spirit. Our menu when you come is entirely customizable. Our goal when you’re here, again, is to remove every distraction possible so that you can focus on the reason you’re here in retreat – to heal.

The process is to simply reach out with any food sensitivities, preferences, allergies, etc… And we’ll take it from there. When you’re here, we don’t want you to feel like you’re at home. We want to remove you from all of the things keeping you from your healing – and food is one of those things. It’s important to feed your belly and your spirit and during your time here, we understand that we can do both with food.

During Amber’s time here, she ate a pescatarian diet and had a gluten allergy, so we made her everything from butternut squash soup to nachos with guacamole. At the end of her time here, she said, “Licia, thank you and Peter so much for taking such consideration and care in planning the menu from my time with you. I feel so cared for. My body feels better than it has in so long. I can literally feel the love you poured into the menu and the preparation. I feel supported: mind, body and spirit.”

If you are considering a retreat by yourself or with your partner or spouse, I need to work with one of you for at least three sessions before we explore retreat work, so I encourage you to reach out to me here to learn about starting sessions with me.

In the meantime, I wish you immense healing and big love.

XX – Licia