The Art of Aliveness: experiencing our girlhood on the coast of Portugal

May 30th-June 5th, 2027

In a world that feels increasingly heavy, choosing joy becomes a radical act!!  This retreat is an invitation to remember what it feels like to be fully alive:

In a world that constantly asks women to endure more, hold more, produce more, many of us have forgotten what it feels like to simply be alive inside of our own lives. We move through headlines, burnout, loneliness, pressure, and performance carrying heaviness in our bodies. This retreat is not about escaping reality. It is about remembering that joy, pleasure, play, beauty, and connection are not frivolous things… they are medicine!

This trip is a full return to our girlhood:

For full 7 days on the coast of Portugal, we gather to reconnect to the playful, expansive, vibrant parts of ourselves… that adulthood, grief, pressure, and survival have taught us to abandon.

designed for women who are longing to experience the magic she felt in her girlhood: through play, creativity, sensory immersion, and community

Portugal

May 30th - June 5th 2027
$3,700

01
Creative Expression + Joyful Exploration

02
Embodied Movement

03
Community, Connection, and Friendship

Join Our Girlhood Summer!

The joy of girlhood should be something we return to, even as adults:

The world has made so many women feel like life is something to survive instead of something to experience.

We’re overstimulated, disconnected, isolated from each other, constantly consuming information about how to heal ourselves while feeling further away from our actual lives. We don’t know when it happened, but it did: we stopped playing, stopped wandering aimlessly, stopped experimenting and being messy, stopped laughing until our stomach hurt from being silly and no longer worrying about what it’s like to be perceived as perfect.

This retreat is exactly happens when we stop trying to optimize ourselves for a second and actually live! A remembering of what happens when women are given space to play, adventure, slow down, move their bodies, tune into sensation, drop into creativity, eat yummy food, and connection with one another! We will be diving head-first into nostalgic-based crafts, creative writing and painting workshops, the ocean at sunrise and sunset, yoga movement and hiking that fulfills us, and so much more.

    • Premium lodging on a 250-acre private retreat center

    • All farm-to-table local meals: breakfast, lunch dinner, coffee and tea!

    • Daily yoga and meditation classes

    • Daily craft workshops

    • Daily creative embodiment workshops: writing, drawing, painting, and connection work

    • Supplies for all activities

    • Ample time for rest & reflection

    • 3-hour guided ceramics class with local ceramics studio

    • Guided hike along the Fisherman’s Trail

    • Day trip Town Excursion

    • Beach day Excusions to experience the most beautiful nearby cove beaches

    • Swag Bag with gifts

    • Excursion to local Winery

  • Morning
    Slow mornings with tea and quiet reflection
    Gentle yoga, meditation, and breathwork
    Group workshop
    A nourishing breakfast shared in community

    Afternoon
    Head out to the Beach to enjoy the sun and ocean waters! or Head out to the trailhead where we are guided along the most beautiful coastal views
    Lunch stop at our town excursion
    Unstructured free time to rest, swim, read, nap, explore

    Evening
    A beautiful communal dinner like making your own pizza in an outdoor oven
    Fun crafting workshop where we drop into girlhood nostalgia
    Fire pit conversations, stargazing, and moments of stillness
    Nightly yoga restorative to settle the nervous system into deep rest

  • Choose a Retreat
    Browse our upcoming events to find the one that feels right for you. We host events year-round in all different locations and climates.

    Reserve Your Space

    Apply below and we will respond if you are a good fit! You will then be sent a contract and deposit to complete.

    Review the Welcome Packet
    After booking, we'll send you a Welcome Packet with everything you need to know—detailed schedules, packing list recommendations, add-ons to consider, and more.

    Book Your Travel
    We'd recommend booking your transportation to and from the event as soon as possible, to ensure you can arrive without any complications or delays.

    Get Packed & Join Us
    Now all that's left to do is pack your bags and get excited for your new adventure.

    • Airfare

    • Transportation to / from the Retreat Center

    • Rental Cars (will be organized and split with other attendees upon booking!)

    • Additional spending money

Save your space before they're gone!

You can arrive here without knowing how to be you again:

On this retreat, you are not running on the world’s timeline— you are utilizing the space to create your own. Every ritual, every yoga class, every experience, every pause, every breath is designed to restore you, and to remind you that your body, your presence, and your life deserve attention, care, and reverence.

Real, impactful self-care rituals come from what’s already accessible to us. Real, radical self-care is learning to slow down, to inhabit your body fully, and to honor the rhythms you’ve ignored for too long. That’s exactly what we will cultivate here:

  • You arrive carrying the weight and roles of your everyday life

  • The wide-open space, quiet support, and communal connection begin to soften the tension you’ve been holding and bracing

  • Through shared meals, honest conversations, and time spent alongside other women, you remember what it feels like to be seen without needing to perform

  • If you don’t yet know what your own rhythm is, there is space here to explore it—gently, without pressure—and begin to reconnect with your identity beyond what you’ve had to be

  • Slowing down in this environment naturally brings you back into your own rhythm, or helps you discover one for the first time. Your mind, body, and nervous system begin to reset. You become reconnected to the signals inside yourself that you started to ignore

  • Your body softens, creating space for deeper presence, joy, creativity, and meaningful connection

  • By the time you leave, you feel lighter, clearer, and more connected—to yourself, to others, and to the subtle, powerful energy of the world around you

The Joy of Being Alive, Right Here, Right Now:

01 / Beach and Adventure:

This retreat is built around movement, sensation, spontaneity, and experiencing life fully. Ocean swims, beach days, horseback riding, hiking, sunset adventures, exploring coastal Portugal, music, dancing, salty skin, long afternoons in the sun, and moments that make you feel awake inside your own life again. We believe adventure changes women. Play changes women. Being immersed in beauty and the natural world reminds us we are meant to participate in life, not just manage it!

02 / The Freedom to Play:

Throughout the week, we’ll move through guided workshops centered around creativity, joy, embodiment, storytelling, ritual, and self expression. Remember those childhood art days where curiosity and joy felt endless? That’s the goal. This space is about reconnecting to imagination, intuition, and the parts of yourself that become buried beneath adulthood, responsibility, and routine. Expect hands-on workshops, reflective practices, a 3-hour intro to ceramics, nostalgic crafting sessions, playful exercises, and experiences designed to open you back up to inspiration.

03 / Connection that Lasts:

This retreat is rooted in the belief that isolation is making women sick, and community is part of how we come back to ourselves. Throughout the week, we cultivate a space where you can soften, be witnessed, feel supported, play and be silly, and remember what it feels like to belong inside authentic connection again! Each workshop, experience and guided activity is here to reconnect you to your childlike adventure!

Located in Portugal’s Alentejo region, our stay will be immersed on the 275-acre retreat center property: surrounded by old growth pines, oversized hammocks, open fields, and coastal air.. you’ll be taken into slower rhythm almost immediately.

  • Located in Portugal’s Alentejo region near the charming fishing village of Zambujeira do Mar, our stay sits just minutes from breathtaking beaches, dramatic coastal bluffs, sandy coves, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is peaceful, grounding, wildly beautiful, and the perfect backdrop for a week centered around joy, adventure, creativity, and coming back to life again.

  • Located just a 10-min drive from the most beautiful coastlines of beaches, our stay feels deeply connected to the land. Slow mornings practicing yoga beneath the pine trees, bare feet walking between meals, hammocks, gardens, and open fields. Riding bikes through the property, collecting eggs from the chickens, hearing peacocks in the distance, and laughing at the tiny goats wandering around like they own the place. There’s a kind of childlike wonder woven into everyday life here!

    Meals are made with local ingredients sourced from nearby farms and the property itself, designed to feel both deeply nourishing and incredibly beautiful. Slow dinners with Mediterranean stews, curries, local cheeses, fresh bread, roasted vegetables, fruit, wine, and music and fun that continues into the eve

    Movement is woven naturally into the rhythm of each day, with two yoga shalas — including an open-air pine shala tucked beneath the trees — offering space to reconnect to your body gently and intentionally.

    Everything about this place invites you back into a slower, more alive way of living.

  • We are situated on Portugal's Costa Vicentina, famed for it's wild beaches + rugged cliffs. This is Portugal's West Coast, off the radar for most tourists. We are ten minutes drive from the beach, with a variety of different beaches to enjoy in the area - each with it's own perks. 

    There are a few sandy beaches nearby, perfect for sunbathing or surfing.  

    We will be hiking The Fisherman's Trail with our incredible local guide. Known for dramatic Atlantic cliffs and beaches, this 13-stage, mostly sandy trail is considered one of the world's best coastal walks! It will be unforgettable .

Meet Your Hosts!

  • Sam Rueter

    Founder of The Body Is The Blueprint, Sam is an artist, creative entrepreneur, storyteller and facilitator based in Boston, MA. She’s spent the last ten years growing her art career as a figurative painter, alongside hosting 17 retreats globally with her previous company, Ember and Solis! Sam’s passion is all things creativity and community: she enjoys writing her Substack, The Art of, each month, yapping with her best friend Bri on their podcast- Down The Rabbit Hole. Find Sam hiking, adventuring and baking elaborate cakes, and cuddling with her boyfriend Luke and pup Luna on her off days!

  • Bri Wenke

    Bri Wenke is a multidisciplinary artist, facilitator, and podcast co-host. Her work explores the raw terrain of being human through figurative painting, immersive exhibitions, intimate workshops, and global retreats designed to foster reconnection and embodiment. As an ultrarunner, Bri draws direct parallels between endurance in the body and the excavation process of making art, continuously moving toward what lies beneath the surface. Bri loves all things nature: hiking, trail running, backpacking... and of course being the stoker of the campfire.

This retreat is for the woman who:

  • Feels disconnected from joy, play, creativity, or her sense of aliveness

  • Has spent too long in survival mode and wants to feel present in her life again

  • Longs for a vacation but has no bandwidth to plan one for herself

  • Craves meaningful connection and community with other women or has no one to travel with!

  • Wants to reconnect to her body outside of productivity, punishment, or performance

  • Misses the version of herself that felt curious, expressive, spontaneous, and free

  • Feels creatively burnt out, emotionally depleted, or uninspired by the pace of modern life

  • Longs for adventure, beauty, ocean air, movement, and experiences that make her feel awake again

  • Wants to spend a week immersed in nature, creativity, laughter, conversation, and intentional living

  • Is seeking softness, wonder, depth, and space to simply exist without pressure

  • Desires a retreat experience that feels grounding, playful, nourishing, and deeply human

  • Wants to remember that life can be silly, unserious, full, and joyous!

  • Is ready to reconnect to herself through joy instead of self-improvement alone

Does this make your soul sing? Apply to this retreat by filling out the questionnaire x

“This was my second trip with Sam and Bri- and I decided to come because the first one literally changed my life. I didn’t realize how badly I needed fresh perspective and connection with other women to get encourage me towards a more fulfilled life! Truly cannot recommend them enough!”

- Alchemy Retreat Attendee

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Please book your travel in and out of the Humberto Delgado Lisbon International Airport (LIS). The airport is about 2 hours from the airport. We recommend organizing rental cars with other retreat attendees.

  • No, Attendees are responsible to book their own airfare and, depending on the retreat, may be responsible for their own transportation to/from the airport. Please review what's not included on the specific retreat page.

  • All bodies require different things to feel good, just as ours do. Please note important restrictions and allergies when submitting your payment, we will make sure you’re taken care of.

  • Yes! It is important to us that everyone has the option to attend. Payments can be made in installments, chosen at check out. The first payment is needed to reserve your space and note, this first payment acts as your deposit and is non-refundable. If you are unable to complete the retreat payments, your space is given to another attendee after several attempts to resolve.

  • It may have been a little bit since we’ve all shared a bedroom with siblings, college dorm friends, or roommates— but we promise stepping outside of your comfort zone is worth it! We ensure that if we are in lodging where we share a bed, at least a queen-size mattress is provided!

    Don’t worry, we won’t be spending much time in our rooms. We will be adventuring the world together through the activities of the retreat and our rooms a quiet oasis to return to and rest.

  • If the retreat is outside of the United States, then yes you will need a passport. Please ensure that your passport does not expire within 12-months of the retreat date. Some countries will not allow re-entry

    If you need a new passport, don’t wait to get it. Passports can take 4-6 months to process.

  • We will share a packing list for all retreats after you book the experience so you don’t need to worry about figuring out what to bring, we’ve got you!

  • Every group is different, but we always have a wonderful, diverse mix of age ranges on each and every trip: from late 20’s to late 60’s. All ages are welcome! (beyond age 18)

Healing is never a solo journey. Since 2019, we have had the privilege of hosting retreats all around the globe, guiding a community of 200+ women, coming from our previous company- Ember and Solis. As we gather on each new experience, the same outcome prevails each time: we remember transformation of connection. 

Our Story
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Why Choose Wise Women Retreats?

  • We know how exhausting it is to be a woman in today’s society. To make all the plans, cover all logistics, have to be on top of all the details so things don’t fall through… These retreats are an opportunity for you to take off this hat and just receive.

    We do the planning, we make the reservations, WE take care of YOU. All you need to do is show up with your heart and ready to experience incredible change together.

    As artists, facilitators and travelers of 10+ years, we have the experience and expertise others may be missing x

  • Rooted in the belief that The Body is the Blueprint, our retreats create sacred spaces where women come home to themselves through movement, creativity, nature, and presence. This is where wounds soften, stories are honored, and the impossible feels possible again. Together, we cultivate resilience, spark joy, and rebuild trust — in our bodies, in each other, and in the journey ahead! We laugh, we cry, we play, we explore.. together x

  • We believe that all women and those identifying as women deserve safe spaces to explore themselves and the world. We are a zero tolerance company and our commitment to you is to create a safe experience to unfold. If at any time there this policy is not respected, we handle the situation immediately to ensure that all attendees are treated with loving kindness, inclusion, and opportunity.

Additional Offerings:

If this offering doesn’t feel aligned to what your body currently needs, review other upcoming experiences below. All designed to support you and your journey! x

See Upcoming Retreats