POSTPONED - NEW September DATES COMING SOON!
Shadow Work for Cultivating Ease
A daylong retreat
A day of slow magic
Sunday July 27, 2025
10:30am-7pm
Compass Lodge, Fairfax
A one-day retreat for softening your grip, listening to your body, and rediscovering the parts of you that already know the path to freedom.
What if ease isn’t something to earn… but something you’ve forgotten how to access or trust?
There are moments when we crave rest, openness, relief. Like we’re overtaken by the swarms of chaos, the weight of responsibility, or the pressure of obligation. But when ease finally arrives, it can feel… unfamiliar. Unsafe. Fleeting. Out of reach. Wrong.
This full-day retreat is a space to explore our relationship to ease—and to explore strategies to reclaim it as your baseline. Through a blend of body-based shadow work practices, somatic processing exercises, guided self-inquiry (and a little fairy dust), we’ll gently surface the unconscious patterns that make stillness feel like a risk and softness feel out of reach.
Because in a world that demands urgency, slowing down is an act of rebellion.
And like the story of the tortoise and the hare, it’s often the slowest path that carries the deepest wisdom.
Sunday, July 27
10:30am-7pm
Meals included.
To ensure the cohesion and intimacy of the group, space is limited to 15 participants and tickets are offered on an application basis. Apply now!
(Apply before 7/16) Early Bird Pricing: $287
Tickets: $387
Join us for a day of Slow Magic
During our day of spacious exploration, you’ll experience…
✨ A guided somatic active imagination practice to connect with the felt sense of ease in your body—and surface what resists it
✨ A trauma-informed introduction to Shadow Work, including an overview of the Shadow as it’s known in the Jungian psychological model, plus how to work with Shadow aspects using a simple, digestible (and repeatable!) framework that you can use on your own or with your therapist (they’ll be impressed)
✨ A specific, step-by-step Shadow Work process for Ease to help you identify your subconscious blocks toward the vibration of ease, freedom, softness, and ease in your every day life
✨ A deep-dive workshop into your personal blocks to ease, with prompts and somatic practices to help you name, reclaim, and begin transforming it, plus hot-seat coaching and group exploration
✨ A solo integration window with access to private meditation spaces, river plunge, creative expression stations, 1:1 support, and gentle nature-based support—so you can meet your Shadow in your own rhythm
✨ Beautiful and nutritious brunch, dinner, and snacks which are included with your ticket.
✨ A closing elemental ritual + group sharing circle to honor what you’re ready to release, what you’re redefining, and what you’re choosing to carry forward
This is for you if…
🌿 You’re a chronic overthinker, and are highly effective at intellectualizing your feelings instead of feeling them
🌿 You know what you ‘should’ do for your creative or business project, and you know how to do it… you just can’t seem to execute.
🌿 You feel trapped in your routine, overwhelmed by the daily demands of life
🌿 You feel numb to the never-ending slew of current events and collective turmoil… like there’s not enough space to grieve what’s happening in the world before the next thing arrives
🌿 You’re constantly riding on the edge of burnout
🌿 You’re highly intuitive, but sometimes struggle to discern between the voices of intuition and anxiety.
🌿 You know you’re capable of creating a fuller, more easeful life for yourself…. you’re just not sure how yet
🌿 You feel like you’re on the precipice of a big transformation or influx of abundance… but something is just not quite clicking (yet!!!)
🌿 You crave community and want to be with others — to see and be seen
Early Bird (apply before 7/16): $287
Regular Tickets: $387
Tentative Agenda
(Subject to change)
10am - Arrival window begins
10:30am - Opening circle
11:00am - Morning Workshop Sessions
12pm - Brunch
3-5pm - Integration Space
5:30pm - Dinner
6:30pm - Closing Circle & elemental Ritual
7:00pm - departure window begins
8:00pm - Cleanup
About the Facilities
The retreat is hosted at Compass Lodge, a private hillside sanctuary tucked among trees, with winding garden paths, forest views, and hidden nooks that invite quiet exploration. Guests are welcome to rest in hammocks beneath the sky, lounge in sun-dappled chairs, or dip into the private creek for a refreshing plunge.
The space includes a bright, cozy indoor lounge for group workshops, with sunlight streaming through large windows. A full kitchen is available for water, tea, and simple comforts, and a private meditation room offers a quiet space for rest or reflection—or 1:1 support with a practitioner for deeper integration.
Two semi-private outdoor decks overlook the trees and are perfect for journaling, self-practice, or stillness. Guests can also explore open-air creation stations with general-use supplies, enjoy a cool dip in the above-ground pool, or rinse off under the outdoor shower.
Additional integration spaces include a garden walk for grounding, barefoot connection, or walking meditation, along with plenty of tucked-away spots to be with yourself—gently and without rush.
Everything is designed to support softness, curiosity, and self-directed healing in a space that feels both held and free.
The Compass Lodge is located in the hills of Fairfax, CA.
Address will be privately disclosed to participants after registration.
🌿 Compass Lodge Amenities
Two forest-view decks
Full kitchen
Cozy indoor lounge / Workshop Space
Private Meditation space & Practitioner Room
Above-ground pool
Outdoor shower
Private creek access
Art stations – open-air setup with general-use supplies; based on weather
Garden walk with nooks for plant connection, barefoot grounding, or walking meditation
Two hammocks nestled among trees
Lounge chairs Scattered for soft rest and sunbathing
This circle isn’t about bypassing your tension, overriding your fear, or ignoring the ongoing turmoil in the world.
It’s about building the capacity to hold more of yourself—so that ease becomes something you embody, not chase.
Because when you can access ease in your own system, you carry it into the world.
You model another way.
And little by little, freedom ripples outward from the inside.
Come with your questions.
Leave with a deeper relationship to your inner landscape—
and a little more permission to live like you belong to yourself.
Meet the Facilitator
Rachael Besser, CLC is a Somatic Coach & creator of Body-Based Shadow Work™️. Rachael's coaching practice blends the Jungian Psychological Model and IFS-Informed Parts Work with personal spirituality and philosophy. Her work emphasizes the importance of Somatic practices and nervous system education while navigating the psychic arena that is the human mind. Her passion is teaching tactical tools and frameworks that empower individuals to navigate the deep inner work sustainably, with lasting results, by approaching emotions as the language of the subconscious mind.
Rachael will be facilitating the workshop sessions and supporting 1:1 integration. For additional events and more information on 1:1 coaching, please visit her coaching page here.
Meet the Facilitator
Mandy is a facilitator, coach, and writer who helps people explore how illness can serve as an initiation into deeper personal and collective transformation. With a Master’s in Psychology focused on trauma-informed, somatic, and holistic approaches, she weaves together parts work, nervous system practices, intuitive and imaginal methods, therapeutic arts, healthcare advocacy and systems thinking to support healing that integrates body, mind, relationships, and spirit.
Mandy will be House Managing and supporting 1:1 integration. Click here to learn more about Mandy’s work!
In a world that demands urgency, slowing down is an act of rebellion.