Returning Home: Reflections from Our Spring Women’s Yoga & Mindfulness Retreat

This past weekend, a beautiful group of women gathered in the peaceful mountains of Schweibenalp for our Spring Women’s Yoga & Mindfulness Retreat.

Together, we stepped away from the noise of daily life and into a slower rhythm. A rhythm of breath, movement, deep rest, nourishing food, laughter, reflection, and connection.

There is something profoundly healing about coming together in community. To be witnessed. To soften. To remember that we are not alone...sometimes only in our thoughts.

Over the course of the weekend, we explored practices designed to regulate the nervous system, reconnect us to our bodies, and cultivate presence.

Our mornings began with gentle yet energizing practices. We welcomed the day with Qi Gong in the fresh mountain air, moving with the breath and awakening the body slowly and intentionally. This mindful movement practice helped us feel grounded, spacious, and alive. (link to my Qi Gong practice here for those who’d like to continue at home.)

We flowed through dynamic yoga practices that built heat, strength, and focus, inviting us to explore both effort and ease.

One of our workshops focused on the psoas muscle; often called the body’s “fight, flight, or freeze” muscle due to its intimate relationship with the nervous system (via the diaphram). We explored how this deep core muscle influences our posture, stability, and emotional state, and how mindful movement and breath can help release stored tension and create a greater sense of safety and grounding in the body.

We also spent time learning about the autonomic nervous system and how our breath can be a powerful tool to harmonize and regulate it. Through breathwork and mindfulness, we practiced shifting from states of stress and into states of calm, balance, and presence.

One of the breath practices we explored was Nadi Shodana (alternate nostril breathing), a balancing pranayama that calms the mind and helps restore equilibrium. (link to a guided practice here so you can continue at home.) We also practiced the Breath of Joy...or Dirga Pranayama with movement to get the energy out and bring in some joy.

We also practiced a 3-Center Meditation, honoring the wisdom and intelligence not only of the mind, but also of the body and the heart. Often, life asks us to live from the mind alone (and play that Tetris game of planning and organizing), but this practice reminded us to listen more deeply to the body and that the heart speaks to us in whispers...when we listen.

Mindfulness was woven throughout the retreat in tangible ways.

We shared a mindful eating and tasting practice with chocolate, kombucha, tea and wine, slowing down to savor each sip and bite while exploring the difference between true hunger and craving, and noticing the thoughts, judgments, and habits that arise.

We also practiced a back-to-back “Just Like Me” meditation to cultivate compassion, kindness, and connection; remembering our shared humanity and gently softening the loneliness that we sometimes might carry.

We had an evening of deep rest during a restorative yoga practice, where we slowed down completely and allowed the body to rest and receive. Supported by props and gentle guidance, we explored the art of stillness and surrender. From there, we melted even deeper into relaxation with a crystal bowl sound bath; inviting the nervous system to settle and the mind to become quiet.

And perhaps one of the most memorable moments of the weekend for some, was our cold-water dip in the mountain stream. There was laughter, courage, exhilaration, and the kind of aliveness that comes from saying yes to discomfort together.

Between practices, there was time to rest, journal, hike, connect, and simply be.

Retreats like this remind me that healing doesn’t always happen in big dramatic moments. Often it happens quietly…in a breath, a pause, laughter, and in a shared permission to rest and soften.

To all the women who joined me this weekend: thank you.

Thank you for your openness, your courage, your laughter, your vulnerability, and your presence. It was an honor to hold space for you.

If you missed this retreat and feel called to join us next time, my next Women’s Yoga & Mindfulness Retreat will be October 16–18, 2026. (p.s...this one is already starting to fill up, so if you're interested please sign up soon!).

Until then, may you continue to breathe deeply, move mindfully, and return home to yourself again and again.

With love,

Jennifer