Why I Struggle to Call These Retreats

Penny Light
Aug 4
3 min read

These aren’t your typical yoga retreats. They’re soulful journeys for women in their wisdom years, full of connection, culture, laughter, and quiet transformation. No kumbaya circles. No pressure. Just real life, shared beautifully.

This Isn’t a Yoga Retreat. And That’s Kind of the Point.

I always struggle with what to call these trips.

They’re not yoga retreats. Not really.

Yes, we do yoga most mornings, but it’s optional. It’s gentle. It’s there to help you feel more connected to your breath, your body, and the rhythm of a new place. Not to challenge you to nail a handstand or touch your toes to your forehead. You can come in jeans, for all I care.

No one’s judging.

These adventures aren’t silent or solemn.

They’re joyful. Real. Sometimes a little wild.

And no, we’re not sitting in a circle singing Kumbaya, unless you really want to, in which case I’ll be the first to hand you a tambourine.

Here’s the truth. These trips are about connection.

To yourself.

To each other.

To the world.

It’s about finding something you didn’t even know you’d lost. On a sailboat in the Aegean. On a dune in the Sahara. In the stillness of a morning paddle on a Sacred Valley lake. Or tracking lions in the African bush.

For years, I included a three-day personal growth workshop in every retreat.

It was powerful, heartfelt work. Women still write to me saying it changed their lives, helped them reclaim their voice, speak their truth, and soften into themselves.

But it was heavy.

Beautifully heavy, but still heavy.

And after doing my deep work these past few years through repatriation, step-parenting, burnout, rebuilding, and big love, I started to realize that not every moment needs to be processed.

Sometimes growth happens in the unstructured, the unexpected.

In the way we let our guards down over a slow dinner with women who feel like lifelong friends.

In the belly laughs around a fire.

In watching the sunrise from a place your soul always wanted to see.

These adventures aren’t about fixing yourself.

You are not broken.

You are becoming.

So no, there won’t be a formal workshop on these trips.

But there will be moments that shift you. Quietly. Gently. Without a whiteboard or worksheets.

That said, I have been working behind the scenes to reimagine that old workshop. The one that used to be so impactful. But now it speaks more to this chapter of life we are in. Not the hustle years of our thirties. Not the performative spirituality that demands you journal it all away. But the real, raw, unfiltered truth of this wisdom season.

It is coming. Likely as a local, three-day gathering with a soft landing, big laughs, and space to breathe into something new.

But these adventure retreats?

They are something else.

They are a break from holding it all together.

A chance to say yes to yourself.

They are not vacations. They are not retreats.

They are returns.

To joy. To connection. To curiosity.

To feel like you again.

So if you’ve ever thought

I want to travel again, but I do not want to do it alone

I want something more meaningful than a vacation, but less intense than therapy

I want to laugh, to explore, to feel like myself again

Then these trips are for you.

We’ll move our bodies. Eat beautiful meals. Immerse ourselves in cultures that open our eyes and our hearts. And come home with new stories, and maybe a new part of ourselves.

Because midlife is not a crisis.

It is a crossroads.

And you do not need to retreat from it.

You just need to step into it.

I will be right beside you when you do.

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