RETREATS IN NATURE
Women Returning Retreat™
A Retreat of Presence, Rhythm & Remembering
September 18th - 20th, 2026
Mammoth Lakes, CA
There comes a season when a woman no longer wants to push harder, perform more, or keep abandoning herself to meet the pace of the world.
She wants to breathe again.
To soften.
To listen.
To remember who she is beneath the noise.
The Women Returning Retreat™ is a deeply intimate three-day, two-night retreat experience held in the high mountains of Mammoth Lakes, California.
Limited to 5 women
for lodging
Day Attendance is open
Together, five women will gather in a rustic mountain cabin surrounded by forest, fresh alpine air, volcanic earth, and the quiet wisdom of the natural world.
This retreat is rooted in presence, honesty, nervous system restoration, and reconnecting with your inner rhythm.
Through guided reflection, conversation, stillness, nature connection, nourishing meals, and gentle practices, we will explore what it means to live in relationship with ourselves again.
We will learn from the wilderness around us — The Owl, The Bear, the forest, the changing mountain light — allowing the land itself to become a teacher.
This is not a retreat about becoming someone new.
It is about returning to the woman already within you.
Returning to your body.
Returning to your truth.
Returning to your natural rhythm.
Returning to the wisdom beneath survival and constant doing.
There will be space for quiet.
Space for honesty.
Space for laughter, tears, rest, reflection, and deep exhale.
Held in the beauty of the Sierra mountains, this gathering is intentionally small so each woman can feel seen, supported, and deeply held.
The Forest
The forest is not simply where we gather.
It is part of the experience itself.
The towering pines, volcanic earth, changing mountain light, and crisp alpine air invite a different rhythm to emerge — one that is slower, quieter, and more honest.
Together we will walk beneath the trees, listen deeply, and reconnect with the wisdom that nature so effortlessly reflects back to us.
The Owl.
The Bear.
The stillness.
The seasons changing around us.
The land becomes a guide reminding us how to soften, trust, rest, and return to ourselves again.
The CabinS
Our retreat home are 1950’s rustic mountain cabins nestled in the old heart of Mammoth Lakes beneath the grounding presence of Mammoth Rock.
Backing directly to the forest, this space invites you into the quiet rhythms of mountain living — where blue jays and ravens move through the trees, coyotes occasionally call in the distance, and on certain evenings the owl can be heard in the stillness of the
night air.
Inside, the cabin is warm, simple, and deeply cozy.
The retreat offers two bedrooms for guests, creating an intimate and connected gathering experience. Accommodations include one king bed, one queen bed, and two twin bunk spaces. Private room options may be available, and guests are encouraged to bring a friend, sister, or mother if they would like to share a room together.
As the day winds down, we will gather around the fireplace with warm tea, nourishing meals, meaningful conversation, laughter, reflection, and moments of deep exhale after days spent immersed in nature, presence, and restoration.
Women Returning™ is intentionally small, welcoming only five overnight guests and up to three additional day participants. This intimate setting allows space for genuine connection, personal attention, restoration, and the softness that often emerges when women gather together in a supportive and intentional way.
Gathering in the Forest Sanctuary
At the heart of our retreat space will be a large bell tent nestled among the trees — a soft gathering place for reflection, conversation, creativity, teaching, and presence.
Surrounded by forest and mountain air, the tent becomes its own little world.
A place to slow down.
To sit in circle.
To journal, weave, listen, and share honestly.
To sip warm tea while the wind moves through the pines outside.
Layered with cozy textures, candlelight, blankets, floor cushions, and grounding natural elements, this space is meant to feel welcoming, earthy, and deeply held.
Some of our teachings around the Inner Seasons, rhythm, wilderness wisdom, and self-awareness will unfold here together.
Other moments may simply be quiet.
The sound of breath.
Pens moving across paper.
The comfort of women gathering without needing to perform.
The gathering tent is not about perfection or polished retreat experiences.
It is about creating a space where you can arrive exactly as you are and feel safe enough to soften.
NOURISHING Meals
Food will be part of the medicine of this retreat.
Our days will be nourished with hearty, grounding meals thoughtfully prepared to bring comfort, warmth, and connection after time spent in the mountain air.
Slow mornings with warm coffee, relaxing herbal teas, fresh berries, and nourishing breakfasts shared around the table.
Evenings gathered beside the fireplace with warm bowls of homemade chili, roasted chicken and vegetables, fresh seasonal foods, and comforting meals meant to help the body soften
and settle.
This is not rushed nourishment.
It is the kind of eating that reminds you to slow down enough to taste, breathe, connect, and receive.
There is something deeply healing about being fed with care while surrounded by forest, fresh air, and women walking beside you in honesty and presence.
Non-meat options will lovingly be available upon request.
Connecting with your Inner Seasons
There are seasons within every woman.
Times of emergence.
Times of visibility.
Times of letting go.
Times of deep restoration beneath the surface.
Throughout our time together, we will explore the wisdom of the Inner Seasons — learning how to recognize your natural rhythms rather than forcing yourself against them.
We will speak honestly about exhaustion, becoming, grief, transition, longing, creativity, stillness, and the quiet truths waiting underneath constant doing.
This retreat is not about fixing yourself.
It is about learning how to listen.
To understand what season you are truly in.
To honor what is asking to be released.
And to gently harvest the wisdom your life is already offering you.
Nature, Stillness & Restoration
Much of our time together will be spent reconnecting with the quiet wisdom that nature naturally offers.
We will walk beneath the pines.
Pause beside volcanic rock and under open sky.
Listen to the wind move through the trees.
Notice what begins to soften when there is nowhere to rush to.
This retreat is not built around constant activity or packed schedules.
It is intentionally spacious.
There will be guided walks, quiet moments of reflection, restorative time, and opportunities to simply sit, breathe, and reconnect with yourself in the stillness of the mountains.
The forest has a way of gently slowing the nervous system.
The cool mountain air.
Surrounded by fresh, clean water.
The sound of birds moving through the trees.
The occasional coyote calls at dusk.
The feeling of your body finally exhaling.
Together we will practice listening again — not only to nature, but to ourselves.
To the rhythms beneath the noise.
To the body beneath the pressure.
To the quiet truths that often only emerge when we finally become still enough to hear them.
Learn the Rhythm of Scents
Aromatherapy & Mindful Scent Pairing
Scent is deeply woven into the human experience.
The smell of pine in the forest.
Fresh coffee in the morning.
Rain on dry earth.
Lavender before sleep.
A single scent can instantly bring us back to a memory, a feeling, a season of life, or a sense of comfort within the body.
In this workshop, we will explore Aromatherapy through a mindful and grounded lens — learning how essential oils and natural scents can gently support daily rhythm, emotional awareness, nervous system regulation, and intentional living.
Together we will explore:
The basics of essential oils and scent profiles
Mindful scent pairing for different moods and inner seasons
How scent impacts memory, emotion, and the nervous system
Simple ways to incorporate oils into everyday rituals
Morning, evening, grounding, and restorative scent practices
Creating intentional sensory moments within daily life
This experience is less about perfection and more about awareness.
How can scent help us slow down?
Feel safer in the body?
Create comfort?
Support presence?
Mark transition and ritual within everyday life?
Participants will have the opportunity to smell, explore, reflect, and create meaningful relationships with scents that resonate personally with them.
This is an invitation to reconnect with the senses and remember that even small moments — a cup of tea, a breath of lavender, the smell of cedarwood in the evening — can become anchors that bring us back to ourselves.
Slow, Intentional Movement for Mindful Embodied Rhythm (SIMMER)
& Restorative Yoga
SIMMER is a gentle movement practice rooted in nervous system awareness, seasonal living, and reconnecting women to the honest language of their bodies.
Created within the Women Returning retreat experience, SIMMER invites participants to move slowly, intentionally, and in relationship with the season they are truly in — rather than forcing movement through pressure, performance, or exhaustion.
Inspired by the rhythms of nature, mountain stillness, and the understanding that healing and transformation do not need to happen urgently, SIMMER blends:
grounding movement
breath awareness
intuitive stretching
embodied reflection
gentle mobility
seasonal attunement
restorative nervous system practices
Each session encourages women to soften their pace, listen inwardly, and move in ways that create connection rather than depletion.
There is no perfect form.
No expectation to push.
No pressure to perform.
Only an invitation to notice:
What does my body honestly need today?
Guided by the elements of the land — aspens, volcanic stone, pine forests, wind, silence, and changing light — SIMMER becomes a practice of returning to rhythm, presence, and self-trust.
This is movement for women who are ready to stop overriding themselves and begin listening again.
Nature does not force itself into bloom year-round.
SIMMER is the practice of moving in relationship with the season you are truly in.
Step into a deeply restorative sound experience designed to calm the nervous system, quiet the mind, and reconnect you with the wisdom of your body.
Using crystal & brass Tibetan singing bowls, grounding frequencies, breath, and intentional presence, this sound bath invites you into a slower rhythm where the body can soften and the mind can begin to settle.
Sound has a unique way of reaching places words often cannot.
As the bowls resonate through the space, many people experience deep relaxation, emotional release, clarity, stillness, and a heightened sense of connection within themselves.
This experience is not about performance or doing.
It is about receiving.
You will be invited to rest comfortably while being immersed in soothing tones and vibrations that support restoration, reflection, and energetic balance.
Each session is intuitively guided and influenced by the energy of the group, the season we are in, and the intention being held within the space.
Rest. Breathe. Listen. Receive.
Your Host & Guide
Jess Lea is a guide, embodiment lifestyle coach, sound practitioner, and space holder devoted to helping others reconnect with themselves through presence, rhythm, nature, and honest self-awareness.
For over twenty years, her curiosity surrounding her own healing, transformation, and understanding of the energy body has led her through extensive study, lived experience, and certifications across multiple healing and awareness-based modalities.
Her work blends years of study and practice in energy healing, sound therapy, intuitive guidance, embodiment practices, and nervous system awareness.
Jess has studied and practiced within a variety of modalities including shamanic work and journeying, animal spirit guidance, Akashic Records, Reiki and energy healing, body bio tuning, sound therapy with crystal singing bowls and vibrational instruments, as well as intuitive coaching and emotional support practices.
Her approach is gentle, grounded, and deeply intuitive — focused less on fixing and more on helping people understand the language of their own energy, emotions, body, and inner seasons.
Drawing inspiration from the wilderness, the rhythms of nature, and the transitions we move through as human beings, Jess creates spaces that invite people to slow down, listen inwardly, reconnect with their truth, and return to a more honest relationship with themselves.
Jess currently wanders frequently and is home-based in Mammoth Lakes with her fiancé and their two dogs, living along the forest edge where life still feels wild — with the sounds of owl, coyote, ravens, bear, and a roaming pack of dogs moving through the property.
Whether through retreats, sound baths, coaching sessions, writing, or group experiences, her work centers around one simple idea:
There is wisdom already within you.
Sometimes we simply need the space and stillness to hear it again.
An Invitation to Return
This retreat is for the woman who is ready to step away from the noise long enough to hear herself again.
The woman who has been holding everything together.
The woman standing at a threshold.
The woman longing for rest, clarity, honesty, softness, and connection.
If something in your heart has quietly whispered yes while reading this, trust that.
You do not need to arrive perfectly healed, fully rested, or with everything figured out.
You only need the willingness to come as you are.
Women Returning is intentionally intimate and limited so each person can feel deeply supported, seen, and held throughout our time together.
September 18-20th, 2026 • Mammoth Lakes
Retreat Investment
Pricing:
$1,400 person, shared rooms
(2 rooms available)
$1,600 person, private room
(1 room available)
Your retreat experience includes:
Three days and two nights accommodations
Nourishing organic hearty meals cooked special for us by Sara.
Endless coffee, teas & fresh mountain water
Guided experiences and teachings with Jess
Aromatherapy with Heidi
Nature walks and forest gathering spaces
Gentle movement practices
Evening sound bath
Retreat materials and thoughtful touches throughout your stay
A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required to reserve your space.
The remaining balance may be paid in flexible monthly payment installments leading up to the retreat
Saturday Retreat Experience
For women local to Bishop or the surrounding Eastern Sierra communities who would prefer not to stay overnight.
$500
Open for three women
(due upon registration, Non-refundable - May be transferable)
Includes:
Full day retreat access (9am - 7pm)
Lunch, tea, and snacks during your visit
Workshops, teachings, sound bath, and gathering experiences for that day.
This option is intentionally limited and available on first come basis.
Because this gathering is intentionally intimate and space is very limited, deposits allow commitment from both sides while helping support retreat preparation and planning.
