Retreats are not just another wellness trend. They have been a sacred practice for thousands of years across the world, and they have great benefits. Not only will most participants leave with a felt sense of community, peace, and purpose, but now science says it has a biological impact on your body. In this article, we will walk you through the history of retreats and how it can—truly—transform your life from the inside out.
An ancient ritual
The word “retreat” has several definitions, but it is originally part of the military vocabulary. In this context, it refers to an army withdrawing from the battlefield in order to find safety.
Joining a wellness or spiritual retreat is a similar process. In a world where burnout and exhaustion have become the norm for any functioning woman, consciously stepping away from our daily lives, for a few days at least, is an act of resistance.
A retreat is an invitation to shut down the outside noise and attune to the voice within. As you slow down, you can find clarity and gather up strength for the way forward. With a renewed sense of purpose and community, you know you won’t be walking alone anymore.
Yet, this practice comes from thousand-year old indigenous traditions from all over the world. Since the dawn of time, people have been retiring in community, and sometimes alone, to perform sacred rituals, celebrate rites of passage, reinforce relationships, and ask for personal as well as collective guidance.
In this next part, you’re invited to (re)discover powerful initiations from ancient times to this day.
Eleusinian Mysteries | Ancient Greece
The Eleusinian Mysteries were one of the most sacred spiritual traditions of ancient Greece, practiced for nearly two thousand years until the 4th century AD. Dedicated to the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, this initiation took place each year in Eleusis, a small town close to Athens. The event lasted about a week, and only devotees of the cult, both men and women, were invited to join.
As participants were sworn to secrecy, parts of this ritual remain a mystery. However, research has put in evidence that practices might have included sea baths, fasting, offerings, dancing, and theater performances.
The myth of Persephone’s descent into the underworld and her return to the earth being a representation of the eternal cycles of nature, it is most likely that this event was also linked to the agricultural year.
This profound experience was a promise of a divine blessing, maybe visions and apparitions of the goddess herself, a better understanding of the Life/Death/Life cycle, and a strengthening of the community.
Corroborees | Australia
Corroborees are traditional ceremonial gatherings of Aboriginal peoples in Australia. Men, women, and children come together around the sacred fire to listen to creation stories known as Dreamtime. Elders lead the ceremony and engage through dance, music, rituals, and storytelling. Participants are invited to paint their bodies as well, adorn themselves, and even take part in the performances.
This is not just art—this is remembering. The whole community comes together to keep their traditions alive and pass down their wisdom, beliefs, and traditions to the new generations.
Danza de la Luna | México
La Danza de la Luna, or Moon Dance, was founded by Abuela Tonalmitl in Mexico in the 90’s. She studied the thousand-year old Borgia Codex from the Mexicas—Aztecs—to revive an ancient, sacred ritual, in order to elevate the role of women in the world. It was not only resistance to patriarchy, it was a revolution—an invitation for women to reclaim their power, discover and share their medicine, and move through life as a pack.
Every year, women from all walks of life come together for 4 nights of dancing, chanting, fasting, and praying under the full moon. Rituals also involve temazcales—traditional sweat lodges—and chanupas—obsidian pipes.
In this collective prayer in motion, participants honor the directions, the elements and all invisible forces that support them. In the circle, women get a chance to meet themselves and find their rightful place among their peers.
What science says about retreats’ benefits
If such practices have been perpetuated for so long, it is because the benefits of gathering in community with a personal quest, yet a common intention to connect and support one another, are felt and proven.
Participants from our last Embodied Woman Retreat in Molelos, Portugal, said:
"It felt like a high… calming, soothing, embracing, grounding—[...] something that feels like an expansion of the mind, the heart, and the soul.
“I feel reenergized. I feel rejuvenated… anew, almost. [...] I feel a renewed sense of purpose.”
"I feel deeply nourished & revitalized in all of my bodies and can already see and feel the healing taking place across my family around the world.”
And what is deeply felt in the body, science now confirms. Research led by Dr. Joe Dispenza and UC San Diego shows that retreats literally change your biology:
- They alter your blood chemistry, hormones, and gene expression
- They shift your microbiome, nervous system, and brainwave patterns
- They activate healing proteins and cellular repair mechanisms—just through breath, intention, and embodied presence
You don’t just feel like a new woman when you return home—you are.
The Embodied Woman Retreat
There comes a moment in a woman’s life when words are no longer enough.
When healing doesn’t live in another book, another insight, another explanation—but in the deeper, wilder currents beneath the surface. The kind only your body knows how to reach.
That’s where we’re going.
We are inviting you to join us for our second Embodied Woman Retreat in Portugal from October 15th to October 18th 2025. This sacred gathering is meant for women ready to return to themselves not just mentally or emotionally—but biologically, spiritually, and sensually.
This isn’t a retreat for just your mind. It’s a return to your primordial knowing—through movement, breath, sound, nature, and art. An invitation to:
- Move the stories out of your hips, belly, and chest
- Breathe into your depths until your nervous system softens
- Sound your truth into the forest and the fire
- Touch the earth, the water, the canvas, and your own skin
- Create from the wildness that’s always lived inside you
This is transformation from the inside out—through the ancient technologies women have used for centuries to come home to themselves.
You can find more information on the program and the space here.
If your body feels the pull. If something in you is whispering “Yes. It’s time.”
You can book a short call with Nada, and we will hold a space for you.
Sources:
- Gitana, Hellenion, Eleusinian Mysteries / Eleusinia ta megala
- Artlandish, Aboriginal Ceremonies
- Dr Joe Dispenza, Unlimited Dr Joe Dispenza, Processing A Biological Upgrade.
