June 12 -16, 2024
Menla Retreat:
Finding Safety in
Yourself & Others
A transformative 5-day retreat at Menla, an oasis in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, where we’ll delve into the essence of true safety amidst enchanting streams and serene valleys. We’ll have a total of 65 participants.
Safety comes from inside of our bodies.
Think of all the times your environment was peaceful or you were around loving people, yet your body was still bracing or experiencing anxiety. There’s a good reason for this.
When we have trauma and chronic stress, our bodies live in a state of bracing from remembered and expected threats. Our nervous systems are often more attuned to dangers than to positive events.
This doesn’t happen because we’re negative or broken; it's simply the body prioritizing survival, sometimes to the point of not recognizing that it is already safe.
Embracing Safety and Joy:
Navigating the Journey from Tension to Expansion
A body that constricts is trying to protect itself, safety and joy soften this tightness.
This may initially seem scary or even threatening to the body, so it's crucial to grow our ability to experience safety and joy.
This retreat focuses on easing those deep-seated tensions by fostering a sense of security, while also expanding your ability to enjoy feelings of openness and love.
Embodied Safety and Somatic Wisdom:
Exploring Holistic Healing
This 5-day retreat is not just about learning concepts; it's an invitation to experience safety as an embodied reality.
We delve deep into the philosophy of somatics, offering you insights and techniques to heal from stress and trauma.
You’ll discover how to feel safety your body, recognizing this state as something more than a mere notion but as a tangible, lived experience.
A deeper understanding of your body's unique language of sensations will alchemize the relationship with yourself from one of mere coexistence to one of deep, compassionate friendship.
Connection Through Practices:
Yoga, Sound Healing, and Group Dynamics
In this section of the retreat, we bring theory into practice.
Participate in guided somatic group practices, engage in rejuvenating yoga sessions, and immerse yourself in the transformative power of sound healing.
You'll learn to nurture feelings of openness, love, and joy within your body.
It’s a celebration of connection — with yourself, with fellow participants, and with the harmonious rhythms of nature around you.
Wholesome Dining:
Organic, Plant-Based Meals
In the spirit of holistic well-being, we offer organic, vegan, and vegetarian meals, each thoughtfully bean-based and crafted at Menla.
Every dish is a blend of nourishment and artistry, designed to delight your senses and support your journey.
For those with specific dietary needs or allergies, we're here to ensure your meal experience is as caring and personalized as every other aspect of your retreat.
Your Facilitators:
We are going to deeply support you through these 5 days with an amazing team of beautiful people trained in bodywork, psychotherapy, somatics, and coaching.
This is also the first retreat with the entire HLN team!
Luis Mojica
Luis Mojica is the founder of HLN and he’ll teach the lectures, lead the somatic practices, and be part of the Q&As. He is a globally acclaimed Somatic Educator who teaches people how to find safety in their bodies through nutrition, self-inquiry, and somatic techniques. He is bringing his entire team, and more beautiful humans to make this experience as supportive, transformational, and sturdy as possible.
Camille Leak
Camille Leak is the Co-Facilitator & Community Manager at HLN. She’ll be here to assist in deepening the Luis’ teachings, hosting the Q&A sessions, supporting you in breakout groups & beyond. She’s also trained in Somatic Experiencing at the Advanced level.
Marika Malaea
Marika Malaea is the Operations Manager & Assistant at HLN. She’ll be bringing her own brand of co-regulation, including really good hugs and laughter, to the retreat as well as offering on-demand support emotionally and somatically throughout the week.
Evan Glenn Adams
Evan Glenn Adams is the Admin Manager & Sound Healer at HLN. He’ll be bringing his gorgeous sound healing medicine to this retreat, inviting you into daily sound healings to get you into your body and out of your mind. He’ll also be supporting you during breakouts & beyond, including 1:1 mini sound healing sessions on-demand.
Holly Kiefer
Holly Kiefer is a licensed therapist, bodyworker, and self described “Witch that gives really good hugs”. And she does! She’ll be here to provide on-demand emotional and somatic support throughout the entire week.
Zach Kalatsky
Zach Kalatsky is a somatic coach & body worker. He is like being held by a big rock with soft moss all over it. Zach is here for on-demand support* emotionally and somatically throughout the entire week as well.
June 12 -16, 2024
Schedule
Please note: our schedule tends to shift from day to day to meet the needs of what’s coming up in the space. Every offering on the schedule is optional. You can allow your own capacity and comfort to decide what you do.
We will be offering optional breakout groups each day to support you in being seen, heard, and connected in an intimate setting. Each group will have 8 - 13 people in them.
We also have free time scheduled for each full day. Free time is your time. You can sleep, visit the spa or the pool (or swimming hole!), hike trails, sunbathe, read, dance - whatever your body needs to integrate the morning material before we do the evening work.
Wednesday, June 12th
Orienting, Grounding, & Introductions.
You will check-in, enjoy the beautiful land, and then meet us in the teaching space.
Luis will introduce himself and his team, orient you to the space, and lead a group practice to help your body land from travel.
We’ll move into introductions then break for dinner and then come back for an evening somatic ceremony and sound healing to open the week.
3:00 - 4:30pm
Check in and enjoy the land
4:30 - 6:00pm
Orientation + feeling the now + introductions
6:00 - 7:00pm
Dinner
7:30 - 9:30pm
Group practice & Sound healing
Thursday, June 13th
Relating To Stress & Activation
Our first full day begins with optional yoga and then a delicious breakfast.
Luis will teach a lecture & do a demo on how to relate to what we try to avoid: our activation. The sensations that turn into anxiety and fear.
We’ll break for lunch and meet up again for a group movement practice to teach you how to move your body through the different trauma responses (fight, flight, freeze, and fawn).
Evan will lead a sound healing and then we’ll move into optional breakouts & free time.
We’ll have a delicious dinner and then meet for our evening somatic ceremony where we begin to practice being seen, being heard, and being witnessed together.
7:30 - 8:15am
Yoga
8:00 - 9:00am
Breakfast
10:00 - 11:30am
Activation isn’t bad: lecture & demo on Stress and Activation
12:00 - 1:30pm
Lunch
1:30 - 3:00pm
Group movement practice w/ Four F’s w/ Q+A + sound healing (20 min)
3:00 - 4:00pm
Smaller group breakouts
3:00 - 6:00pm
Free time
6:00 - 7:00pm
Dinner
7:30 - 9:30pm
Group practice: Capacity for being seen and supporting
Friday, June 14th
Boundaries, Fawning, & Co-Regulating Through Touch
We begin the day with optional yoga and breakfast, then we move into learning the somatics of boundaries.
How does it feel to express a boundary? How does it feel to repress a boundary? Luis will lecture on one of his most popular topics: fawning. Why we fawn and how to not make this part of our personalities. He’ll do a demo as well.
We’ll break for a delicious lunch and then and then come back to practice how to express our somatic boundaries. Luis will lead this practice and then host a Q&A to deepen our understandings. Evan will lead a sound healing and then we’ll move into optional breakout groups and free time.
We’ll have a delicious dinner and then meet up for our special evening ceremony of Co-Regulating With Touch (Part 1). This is one of the most moving ceremonies Luis leads.
An outer circle will move, make sound, or just witness and hold space while an inner circle supports each person who chooses to take a minute to lay on a massage table and request to be seen, touched, and supported however they need.
This ceremony is an excellent way to practice uncoupling and tend to your capacity for being seen and supported.
7:30 - 8:15am
Yoga
8:00 - 9:00am
Breakfast
10:00 - 11:30am
Somatic boundaries/fawning & demo
12:00 - 1:30pm
Lunch
1:30 - 3:00pm
Somatic boundaries practice w/ Q+A + sound healing
(20 min)
3:00 - 4:00pm
Optional breakouts
3:00 - 6:00pm
Free time
6:00 - 7:00pm
Dinner
7:30 - 10:00pm
Co-Regulating With Touch: Part 1
Saturday, June 15th
Tending To Capacity & Co-Regulating With Nature
We’ll start the day with optional yoga and breakfast and then Luis will lead a lecture and demo on tending to capacity so we can learn to honor the body instead of push the body.
How do we build our capacity for more without burning out? This will all be explored.
We’ll break for lunch and then reconvene for a nourishing practice around co-regulating with nature. Most of us have trauma related to people so practicing a felt-sense of safety with other humans can be really difficult.
This nature practice will open your body up to support, co-regulation, and peace with the natural world. We’ll follow it up with a Q&A, a sound healing, and then optional breakouts and free time.
We’ll have a delicious dinner and then meet up for the second part of our special evening ceremony of Co-Regulating With Touch (Part 2). The same as the night before, but we’ll switch circles. The inner circle from the night before will become the outer circle and vice versa.
This allows everyone to experience the table and the different roles of holding space.
7:30 - 8:15am
Yoga (optional)
8:00 - 9:00am
Breakfast
10:00 - 11:30am
Tending to capacity lecture + demo
12:00 - 1:30pm
Lunch
1:30 - 3:00pm
Co-regulating with nature w/ Q+A + sound healing (20 min)
3:00 - 4:00pm
Optional breakouts
3:00 - 6:00pm
Free time
6:00 - 7:00pm
Dinner
7:30 - 9:30pm
Co-Regulating With Touch: Part 2
Sunday, June 16th
Integration & Closing Our Space
We’ll start the day with optional yoga and breakfast then enjoy an hour of free time to just sit with your body and notice what it’s feeling from the week.
We’ll meet up around 10am and go into our final session of integrating what we’ve experienced, sharing what you learned, and closing the space together.
We’ll have our final lunch together and then have lots of time for hugging, final sun bathing, and goodbyes.
7:30 - 8:15am
Yoga
8:00 - 9:00am
Breakfast
10:00 - 12:00pm
Special closing ceremony
12:00 - 1:00pm
Lunch
1:00pm - ?
Sun bathing, hugging, and goodbyes