We are really excited to announce our new and upcoming retreat that focuses on women’s physical and mental health through perimenopause, menopause and beyond (first one is scheduled for Nov 13-16, 2026).

Let’s start by taking a look at menopause as a human experience.

Research suggests that menopause experiences vary widely around the world, and cultural attitudes have a strong influence on symptom severity and quality of life. Western women often experience stronger or more distressing menopause symptoms than non-Western women, which among other things can be due to the medicalization of this transition, lifestyle factors as well as a cultural stigma against aging.

Women experience this life transition in very different ways in other cultures, and in Japan for example, menopause is called kōnenki, which translates to "renewal years" or an "energy season" of life. Isn’t that a refreshing view on something a lot of women we know worry so much about, including ourselves maybe?

In Western societies, medicine and media often frame menopause as a medical condition that needs fixing, which may help create a negative view of a perfectly normal life change that every single aging woman goes through.

This medical focus can increase stress and may make symptoms feel worse, where other cultures view menopause as a natural stage of growth and wisdom, which might lower stress and reduce how painful or overwhelming the symptoms feel.

Because Western cultures place a very high value on women’s youth, there is also the ”stigma of aging”. Older women often face negative stereotypes about being less attractive and less useful. Constantly hearing these negative messages from media, advertising and society can make women dread getting older, and this dread and anxiety can turn the physical changes into a heavy emotional burden, also on a deeply subconscious level.

Diet and lifestyle can also have an impact on how the body handles hormone drops. High levels of stress, lack of rest and a diet with a lot of processed foods can worsen inflammation and fatigue during this transition, and some cultures naturally include more hormone-balancing foods than Western cuisine generally offers.

Perimenopause and menopause retreat for women

But what can a perimenopause and menopause retreat for women offer?

At our perimenopause retreat we will take a holistic look at this major life transition through a lens of empowerment, knowledge and acceptance. We would like to help women navigate the shifting family roles, job roles and significant biological transitions that occur in this stage of life.

We offer a structured environment for women to explore some of the big questions that come during this transition: Who am I now? What’s next? How can I re-imagine the rest of my life? How can I make perimenopause and menopause a little bit easier on myself?

Society treats perimenopause like a disease to be managed or fixed. We would like to reframe it as a positive initiation into a woman's wisdom years.

At the same time, we do know that perimenopause causes a neurological chaos, with brain fog, anxiety, panic and sleep issues, and we are aware that wildly fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels disrupt brain energy metabolism and key neurotransmitter systems. Emerging research is drawing attention for teacher plants' ability to target the specific neural pathways disrupted during this midlife transition, and they may help re-wire the brain's stress response during a time of extreme hormonal flux.

Hormonal shifts - and the biological reasons why you give fewer f*cks than ever before

A big change that happens through perimenopause is that all the hormonal shifts naturally lower a woman's estrogen and oxytocin levels – these are the "pleasing and nurturing" hormones, which together drive social bonding, caretaking and empathetic behaviors. These hormones have helped us navigate and smoothen out family and other relationships for decades, and through perimenopause many women report a sudden fading of the biological urge to keep everyone else comfortable. This marks a transition away from constant people-pleasing toward personal peace and self-care.

The science behind why we biologically suddenly don’t care so much about what others think and why we are much less inclined to people-please is fascinating and we have a long way still to go to scientifically understand menopause. But as many of you already know and feel, our hormonal and behavioural changes can create tension with the people we are close to.

Teacher plants can help women channel this sudden, intense clarity constructively, allowing them to stop people-pleasing so much and start living more for themselves - guilt free.

You have probably spent much of your life taking care of others – your children, your career, your partner. This retreat might be the first time you are choosing to put yourself first. So lean into a beautiful experience where you will feel held, looked after and taken care of for a change.

And a retreat like this – when done safely and with care – can help you zoom out and look at the big life questions that come up during this period of your life, and help you embrace new perspectives so you can move forward with more ease and acceptance of what is.

Modalities you can take home with you

What you eat during this transition has an impact on your symptoms, and all the meals we serve at the retreat will be delicious, perimenopause and hormone-balancing foods. And you can take home a recipe book with scrumptious, hormone-friendly desserts that will help with your cravings and sleep.

In time we also plan to work with sauna and cold plunge therapy (contrast therapy), which helps regulate the autonomic nervous system and relieve perimenopausal symptoms by training the body to switch between stress activation and deep relaxation.

So in addition to a hopefully life changing ceremony at the retreat, we aim to give you a lot of tools that you can take home with you and actively use as you navigate this big life transition.

What does the perimenopause and menopause retreat include?

Firstly, it is a time for you to (re)connect with yourself and your body. Enjoy being looked after and cared for in a supportive and safe setting. Meet other women who are going through this transition too, and who also want to make the most of their lives through the joy and the struggles.

We will do a teacher plant ceremony, a cacao ceremony, yoga, meditation, breathwork (a powerful tool you can take home with you to help deal with anxiety and stress), a gentle nature walk focusing on presence and mindfulness. There will be workshops on matters surrounding the emotional and physical changes we experience through perimenopause and menopause. We will serve hormone-friendly meals and connect over the fire, talking about things that truly matter.

We are truly excited about this new retreat option and we hope to support women (including myself!) through this major life transition with powerful tools you can use every day - even weeks, months and years after your retreat.

Feel free to be intouch if you would like to go through the screening process, if you have any questions or if you'd like to organise a phone call to talk more in detail.

We look forward to hearing from you!