Coming Home

Yoga, Embodiment and Nature Connection Weeks for Women, Quinta da Pomba, Portugal

Next dates: June 6th-13th 2026

An Invitation from the Land, Quinta da Pomba:

“I invite you to come home to yourself and take your rightful place in the circle, no more and no less important than any other being present. I invite you to lean into vulnerability and trust, feel supported by your body wisdom, your immense inner strength, the land, the sisterhood and your shared humanity. I invite you to find the courage to speak your truths, to yourself, to the Earth and to each other. I invite you to commit to a healing path, the highest service of all. This is the medicine you are thirsting for, and the land and community will hold you as you journey home to yourself.“

It is my joy and privilege to be able to run regular Coming Home retreats on our magical, healing land. Coming Home retreats offer a soulful week of yoga, other embodiment practices, communal living and deep nature connection for women. The overall intention behind the week is to come home – to yourselves, your beautiful bodies, to nature and the land and to each other. Quinta da Pomba is my home – a beautiful eleven hectare piece of forest, gardens and pasture in a peaceful valley in the remote mountains of central Portugal. We are mostly off-grid and try to live as sustainably with nature as possible through natural buildings, forest regeneration, creation of a food forest and organic gardening.

I am convinced that the much-needed balm for our out-of-balance species is re-connection, back to our authentic selves, our incredible bodies, to nature’s balm and wisdom and to each other, celebrating the unique magic and wisdom that we all bring to the circle. This is the medicine we are thirsting for and Quinta da Pomba provides a nourishing, safe place for this medicine to unfold within and between us.

I share my home with my wonderful partner, Trevor Taylor, who represents the healthy masculine energy during this week with his unique blend of warmth, humour, generosity and integrity. He is our ‘in the background’ support and will also teach optional Tai Chi and Chi Gong sessions. Dicle Dogan, a beautiful woman from Turkey will be our passionate, talented chef for the week, cooking up nourishing food to feed our bodies and souls. Dicle is also an award winning choreographer and dancer, and teacher of contact improvisation and contemporary dance and somatic movement, and will share her art with us if we wish.

The format will be structured around daily morning meditation and yoga sessions and daily evening women’s yoga sessions. A morning ‘check-in’ circle and an evening sharing circle, usually around a theme we’ve been with during the day, will also be part of the morning and evening sessions. It is my experience that sharing our truths in a safe, trusted circle is a powerful medicine that can only come from the intimacy of supportive community and sisterhood.

In between these fixed sessions I am inviting in an element of fluidity and freedom to see what wants to arise within the space we create together. I invite attendees to feel very welcome to share their gifts and magic with each other in informal additional activities if they wish, especially if this helps us come home to ourselves in some way. When women come together, an incredible flow of entrainment and intuitive ‘rightness’ can quickly unfold in a graceful way that looks and feels like magic! Daily time connecting with the land will be encouraged, occasionally through an invitation to participate in gentle gardening, tree care or similar for an hour or so, and disconnection from technology will also be encouraged as far as is possible for everyone. But, importantly, everything on the schedule is optional. This is your time for reconnection and I encourage you to listen within to what truly feeds and nourishes your soul during the week and will utterly respect your choices – you will be encouraged to take your space when you need it. The only exception to this is showing up for your share of the washing-up, to honour everyone else and do our part (unless of course something genuinely prevents you from doing so).

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Daily schedule

7:30-8am	Meditation (Unguided, but I can run a meditation workshop early in the week if requested)
8-10am	Morning ‘Check-In’ Circle and Yoga
10-11am	Breakfast (Usually prepared for us by Trevor, but occasionally self-service)
11am-2:30pm	Free Time Optional nature connection and embodiment practices or pop-up activities led by group members
2:30-3:30pm	Lunch
3:30-5pm	Free Time Optional nature connection and embodiment practices or pop-up activities led by group members
5-7pm	Women’s Yoga and Sharing Circle
7:30-8:30pm	Dinner
8:30pm onwards	Free Time Optional activities such as creative writing, live music or chai and chat around the outdoor fire provided

My intention is that we will explore and enjoy living communally for this week, and to support this there will be an element of being involved in washing-up and keeping communal spaces tidy and clean. These tasks will not be onerous, and I hope will contribute to a feeling of group cohesion and connection through the week as we enjoy caring for each other and the space that is holding us. 

Please note that this is not a high-end luxury retreat! We live simply and close to nature here. The toilets are dry compost loos (i.e. no flush!), the shower is wood-fired and the heating in the accommodation is all through wood burners. We will be on hand to support with lighting fires and chopping wood, although learning to do this yourself can also be an empowering journey to go on if you’d like to – we will happily be your fire guides! The benefits of living close to nature and getting back to basics are huge, especially in these turbulent times, so if you are keen to reconnect to your roots then this is the week for you. And, don’t worry, if basic living feels like an ‘edge’ for you, you will be looked after very well and we will do our utmost to make you comfortable, well-fed, warm and meet your needs.

Accommodation options include four caravans, a geodesic dome, three bell-tents, a campervan, a large tent and the option to bring your own tent/van. June is a glorious time to be on the land, with usually warm, sunny weather and a carpet of wildflowers. The weather should hopefully be warm and sunny, but we do live in the mountains so evenings are cool and weather can be unpredictable, with rain and wind always possible. More detailed information can be provided about what clothes to bring on booking.

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Costs:

Prices for the week range between €525 and €890 per person (depending on your accommodation choice – please get in touch for a full price breakdown, by accommodation choice). If this price range is difficult for you then let’s chat, as there are possible options of paying less and contributing your help during the week (for example taking on more of the washing-up and other daily chores, staying on a bit either end to help set-up/close-down etc). I don’t want financial issues to stop anyone who feels drawn to be there from coming, so don’t be shy).