Retreat · Jan 15, 2027 – Jan 17, 2027
Wintering ~ A New Year Retreat
- When
- Fri, Jan 15, 2027 – Sun, Jan 17, 2027
- Format
- In-Person
- Location
- Xenia Retreat Centre, Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada
- Schedule
- Friday 3pm - Sunday 3pm
- Price
- $975.00 USD
Embrace the slow season
Every January, we have gathered to welcome the new year, but this year, we are doing something different. We're not rushing toward resolutions or building vision boards of who we'll become. Instead, we're turning inward, toward the season itself ~ toward winter, and all the ways it asks us to slow down, rest, and let ourselves be changed.
This retreat holds space for the truth that all of us winter ~ some of us over and over again. Whatever this past year asked of you ~ grief, illness, exhaustion, change, the quiet unraveling of something that used to work ~ you are invited to bring it here, not to fix it, but to be witnessed in it. This is a weekend of ritual, not productivity. There is no goal or outcome. There is only the slow, sacred work of looking back, resting deeply, and re-emerging together.
Who is this for?
This retreat is for women of all ages who care for others and may be feeling depleted or burnt out. It's for those of us coming out of a holiday season that felt overwhelming, or for those who are carrying grief that hasn't found anywhere to land. This is for anyone who has been meaning to make time for their own care ~ and for the kind of care we can only find in each other.
Whether you're in the thick of your own wintering right now, or simply craving permission to rest without earning it first, this weekend offers a community of women who understand that life moves in cycles, not straight lines.
What to expect
A weekend that moves slowly, on purpose. In between gatherings, there's ritual, rest, good food, long stretches of quiet, and the particular ease of a group of women coming with similar intentions.
You'll meet Opa, a thousand-year-old Douglas fir. You'll walk the eleven-circuit labyrinth. You'll find your way into the cold, then warm slowly together. There's kundalini yoga to bring you back into your body, a communal mandala built from winter gifts, and bath salts to blend and carry home. There is nothing to prepare and nothing to produce. Every offering is an invitation, never an obligation ~ rest here is the point, not the reward.
Where you'll stay
This 2-night, 3-day retreat is held at Xenia Retreat Centre, a 38-acre sanctuary on Bowen Island, BC. A short ferry ride from West Vancouver, Xenia is home to towering old growth trees, an eleven-circuit stone labyrinth, a meditation sanctuary, and a small farm of horses and donkeys who will greet you on your way through the land.
We'll have the space to ourselves ~ cared for, fed, and held by this extraordinary place for the whole of our time together. Accommodation is spread across wooden cottages, two round yurts, and rooms in the main lodge, with beds to suit you whether you'd like company at night or a room of your own.
Nourishment
Our meals are vegetarian and prepared for us with care, curated for the season: warming, nourishing, and crafted to look after both body and soul.
From Friday's welcome dinner through Sunday's closing lunch, every meal is made with the same attention you'll bring to the weekend itself. Dietary restrictions can be accommodated ~ simply let us know well in advance.
What's included
Xenia's rooms range from cottages and yurts to lodge rooms, so you can choose the sleeping arrangement that suits you: $975 communal, $1,050 semi-private, or $1,200 private. Every option includes
- 2 nights accommodation at Xenia Retreat Centre
- 6 vegetarian meals: Friday dinner through to Sunday lunch
- A handmade ritual item
- A guided cold plunge in the sea, followed by time in the sauna
- A guided yoga and movement class
- A beautiful journal to write and reflect in throughout the weekend
- Ritual materials and ceremony supplies
- Extra gifts and treats along the way
Itinerary
- Friday, January 15th 2027Arrive from 3pm
Reflection ~ Looking back on the year gone by
There is an old instinct to take stock before the light returns ~ to look back at the year behind us before deciding anything about the one ahead. Most of us never get to do it properly. We cross from December into January mid-sentence, still carrying everything, with no one to witness what the year actually asked of us.
So we begin gently. Arrive at Xenia and settle into your room. Explore the land, meet the animals, breathe the fresh air. As evening comes we gather in circle for a ritual of arrival, where we name what we're carrying and give ourselves permission to set it down, before sharing our first meal together. We close the night around a fire, weather permitting ~ the flames marking our passage out of the old year and into the quiet of the weekend ahead.
- Saturday, January 16th 2027A full day together
Rest ~ In the Realm of the Cailleach
In the old Celtic world, the Cailleach was the keeper of winter ~ an ancient crone who struck the frozen ground with her staff and called the cold down from the mountains. She was not feared so much as respected: winter came because she willed it, and to survive winter was to learn her language.
Our fullest day, unfolding slowly. There is time in silence among the old trees, time on the labyrinth path where we let the walking hold the question, and an invitation to meet the cold on purpose before warming together again. We move, we rest, we eat well, and we let the season set the pace rather than the clock.
- Sunday, January 17th 2027Until we leave at 3pm
Renewal ~ Stepping into the new year
Nothing in nature emerges from winter all at once. The turn happens underground, long before there is anything to show for it. Our last morning honours that ~ not by sending you home with a plan, but by giving whatever has shifted over the weekend somewhere to take root.
A quiet morning. We gather outside to build something together from what the land offers ~ branches, stones, moss, whatever winter has left behind. There is a handmade ritual item to make and carry home, a small piece of the weekend to keep. We close in circle over our final meal, tidy Xenia together, and make our way back to the ferry ~ held by the winter season.
Facilitators
Megan Sheldon
Megan Sheldon (she/her) is a cultural mythologist, humanist celebrant, end-of-life doula, and co-founder of Be Ceremonial, the world's first guided ritual and ceremony platform. She is the author of Ritual Without Religion: A Humanist Guide to Creating Secular Ceremonies, and has spent years crafting ceremonies across the life cycle, with a focus on grief and the less visible moments of change and transition.