Sacred Retreats
A few days where nothing has to be achieved, and everything is allowed to be felt.
Away from the noise, the expectations, the shoulds.
However you arrive here
Something in you is stirring, and it asks to be heard.
Sometimes there is a struggle. Something you cannot think your way out of, however you turn it over. You sense that the answer is not in more thinking, but you don’t quite know where it is.
And sometimes there is no problem, only a longing. For depth. For real contact, with yourself and with others. For pausing at what is actually alive in you, underneath everything you do and have to do each day. For knowing yourself better, and living closer to yourself.
- For more aliveness. For feeling more deeply.
- For contact that goes further than the conversations you have every day.
Perhaps you notice that you spend much of your time in your head, and that your body has become a voice you barely understand any more. That you run on routine, while something in you is hungry for what is real. For feeling what is there, without thinking it away or smoothing it over. A Sacred Retreat is a place to return to that.
What it is
A journey inwards, together
A Sacred Retreat is a deep journey where awareness, connection and embodiment come together. A few days in which you step out of your ordinary life and take the time for what otherwise never gets any.
We work through the body. Not because talking has no value, but because your body knows things your head reasoned away long ago, or holds back. That same head that serves you so well can also keep you small, and make you withdraw at the very moment you would rather be rooted in your own strength. Through breath, movement, touch and stillness you come into contact with what is really alive in you. And it is given room to be there. The days move between body work, ceremony, and moments of rest and integration. Between intensity and softness. There is room to turn inwards on your own and connect with yourself, and room to connect with the others in the group. Because part of what heals here comes about precisely in the together. In a community where everything may be seen and nothing is judged. The recognition in one another, going through it side by side.
You are not in this alone. You are with an open group, curious to learn more about themselves and willing to explore that in connection with others. Alongside me there is often a spaceholder who helps carry the space, so that someone is always there for whatever comes up in you. At some retreats I work together with others who bring their own strength or expertise.
Themes
What a retreat can be about
Most retreats have a theme of their own. A different way in to the same thing: coming closer to yourself. These are examples of themes we can work with. And sometimes there is no fixed theme, and we work with whatever is alive in people’s lives at that moment.
Boundaries and needs
Feeling where your yes and your no live. In your body, not only in your head. Learning to say what you need without apologising for it, and discovering what happens when you really take up your own space.
Connection and open communication
For couples
A retreat to go deeper together. About what lives between you, and what sometimes stays unspoken. About real contact, daring to be honest, and meeting each other again. Beyond the patterns that creep into every relationship.
Sensuality and sensory contact
Back to your senses, back into your body. A journey towards aliveness and presence, in which you learn to feel again. Without judgement, without hurry. For anyone longing for more contact with the body as a source of energy and pleasure.
Emotional release
Room for what has been held in for a long time. What is stuck may move, what was carried may be there. A retreat to let go of what your body has held on to for too long, and to come home to yourself a little lighter.
Life and death
Pausing at the fact that life ends, and at what that shows you about the way you live. Room for farewell, for what you carry with you, and for feeling how much vitality sits underneath sitting with death. A journey that brings you closer to life, precisely by not keeping death at a distance.
Some retreats last a few days, others a single day.
Retreats are usually held in Dutch. Would you love to join one in English? Let me know, and I’ll keep you in mind for an English edition.
Dates
See the upcoming retreats
The dates, the locations and the number of places are on Hipsy. There you can read what to expect for each retreat, and book your place.
Nothing listed right now? Then the next one is in the making.
Collaborations
Alongside the retreats
Alongside the retreats, I sometimes work together with others.
Together with Denise of Take a Breath we guide deep journeys inwards, with plant medicine and breathwork. And sometimes I am there at events hosted by others. Keep an eye on my socials for what is coming.
A place to practise
A retreat is not separate from your daily life
It mirrors it. The same patterns, masks and tendencies you carry at home, at work or in your relationships come up here too. The difference is that here you can actively work with them. Consciously, with care, in a safe setting.
What do you do when it gets uncomfortable? Where do you adapt, where do you withdraw, where do you keep yourself small? Here you are allowed to see it. To pause with it, to give it room. And to practise a different answer: making another choice than the one you are used to. Finding out which beliefs you carry with you, and which you can let go because they no longer fit you. That makes a retreat more than a journey inwards. It is a place to experiment with who you are and who you want to be. And to take something of what you find here back home with you.
Nervous?
That is welcome too
Perhaps you feel curiosity and hesitation at the same time. Part of you senses that you want to be there and longs for depth; another part thinks: what am I getting into, who are these other people, and what if I feel what I would rather not feel?
That is not something to simply step over. The fact that there is doubt means something in you is being touched. Something that usually stays more in the background. That is exactly what you can bring with you into the retreat. The aim is not that you never feel tense again, but that you learn to be all right with feeling it, and still do what you want to do. That is why safety matters so much in the way I work. You set your own pace and decide how far you go. Everything is an invitation and nothing is required. Every layer in you may be there. The curious one, the hesitant one, the vulnerable one. You have nothing to prove and nothing to force. It is precisely because nothing is required that there is room to open up and explore. Sometimes I run shorter online events where you can get a light taste of how I work. Keep an eye on my socials for those.
If you feel that you want to, and beforehand you think: this is quite nerve-racking, but what will we actually be doing? Who else will be there? Why do I find it nerve-racking? Then go. You will be grateful to yourself.
Nina · translated from Dutch
Why with me
Held by structure, guided by intuition
Someone once asked me: what is the strangest thing you have ever seen at a retreat? I didn’t really know what to say, because I rarely find anything strange. Whatever comes up says something about you, something that may be seen. I look at it with an open gaze, without judgement. People often tell me I ask the questions others don’t dare to ask. Questions that take you past the familiar story, to what lives below the surface. Always with room to give no answer if you don’t want to, or if you simply don’t know. Not knowing is a good place to be; it is where movement can start. And the depth doesn’t only come from the questions. It comes just as much from the body work, where words stop. However deep it goes, my approach stays grounded. I move with what is alive in the moment, with a considered foundation underneath.
I found it a lovely open atmosphere, and down to earth — no tendency to float off into higher realms.
A. · translated from Dutch
Experiences
What participants took with them
From the moment I walked in it was warm and relaxed. There was so much openness to be fully yourself, and to share emotions that usually don’t get much room.
Marloes · translated from Dutch
The reflections that came up were very valuable, and Els had a real feel for what would help each person. The day was thoughtfully put together and still left room for whatever was needed in the moment.
Paul · translated from Dutch
Curious, or something stirred?
When a retreat takes place, where, and what you can expect: it is all on Hipsy. Still wondering whether this is the right moment, or which retreat suits you? I am glad to think it through with you. In an open conversation we can feel together whether it fits, and whether I am the right person for what is alive in you.