next retreat
December 3rd-7th, 2025
Reclaiming Your Sovereign Voice
Facilitated by Sheila Chacko with special guest facilitator Mia Mayah
A sanctuary in the middle of the Umbrian forest,
Beneath roles, expectations, and inherited stories—beneath the stress and speed of modern life—there is a deeper life waiting to emerge.
A life led by Soul, not by conditioning and hidden loyalties. A life rooted in the wisdom of your body, your ancestors, and the living Earth.
Sanctuary – Ancestral Alchemy and Soul Embodiment is a transformative journey for women who feel the call to live in a way that is more magical, more true, more alive. Over four nights and five days in the wild beauty of Umbria, you’ll be held at Eremito, a modern-day hermitage and eco-hotel in a UNESCO natural reserve. Here, silence, forest, and ancient stone invite you into a rare digital detox—space to reset your nervous system, restore your vitality, and hear the voice of your Soul again.
This retreat is an initiation into sovereignty. Through alchemical family constellations, somatic practices, music, movement and ritual, you will meet your body as oracle and portal to Soul. You will touch the wisdom of your womb, listen to ancestral voices long forgotten, and let the living Earth reawaken your feminine heart.
In the sacred company of women…
You are not broken. There is nothing to fix, nothing to heal. These ideas are part of a paradigm that keeps women locked in endless cycles of striving—cut off from power, inner knowing, and deeper truths.
Sanctuary invites you to widen your perspective and expand your perception. To rediscover ways of understanding yourself and your life that are not new at all, but ancient—rooted in blood and bone, carried in your soul lineage, waiting to be remembered.
Through Alchemical Family Constellations, you will see how your current life experience has its origins in the ancestral lineage that proceeds you. Your symptoms, struggles, and issues are direct portals into the greater systems of which you are a part. By bringing them into awareness, you facilitate the release of what does not belong to you, restore flow to your lineage, and reclaim freedom in your own life.
You know there is more. More to you and more that wants to be expressed through you in this life. You feel the call. You may not be sure what is calling or what is means. But you feel it.
Dear woman, welcome... You are here for a reason.
Learn the art of ancestral alchemy,
So what about the problems and challenges you are facing right now? The traumas you have experienced or that live in your body passed down through your family lineages? The “disease” in your body or mind? The invisible limits you cannot seem to pass beyond? The relationship dynamics that repeat themselves again and again?
Dear sister, it is time to expand your perception of self. To see that your personal stories and struggles did not begin with you. They are echoes of human suffering carried through the generations, that live on in you, your body, and your life.
In the same way that your problems are not yours alone, neither can you restore balance and peace alone. The healing you seek, the peace you long for, the limits you are trying to overcome—these also are embedded in greater systems, human and beyond. When you begin to understand your place in the wider tapestry of life, unlimited support becomes available.
In this way, our struggles become the raw material for the art of alchemy in which personal burdens become blessings for the whole lineage, and pain becomes purpose that aligns us to our soul’s mission.
And reclaim your true nature as a multidimensional,
magical woman.
Aligning with Soul, and embodying Soul fully, is known as the Great Work of this lifetime—and the only thing that can bring the joy, aliveness, fulfillment, peace, and love we long for.
Sanctuary opens you to the possibility of living from this place. A life where your longings guide you toward deeper embodiment, where your desires become trustworthy compasses, where your lineage is felt as a profound source of strength and rootedness behind you.
And as if this were not enough, the alchemical journey of Soul embodiment opens you to your true nature as a multidimensional, magical being. You begin to experience life not as fixed, but as a living field of infinite possibilities: each moment is a wave of potential collapsing into form through your awakened perception.
Sanctuary plants seeds of remembrance that will continue to unfold for the rest of your life. It is not only a retreat, but a re-awakening of your essence, an invitation to walk forward more alive, more connected, and more fully embodied in the mystery of life.
The Journey Within
What makes Sanctuary so unique and so powerful is the truly holistic approach that includes the full spectrum woman that you are. Our journey of soul embodiment will include:
Body Temple Practices
Nourishing female embodiment practices that support self-connection, feeling, body literacy, and awareness. Somatic yoga, conscious movement, sacred touch, and breathwork for bioenergetic release.
Your body is a portal to your Soul, and the voice of your intuition.
Eco-Somatic Nature Practices
Practices to help you reconnect with your inner wilderness—your intuitive, instinctual nature—and the elemental forces as powerful allies in healing trauma and conditioning. Expand your awareness to include the land, the trees, the river, the animals and birds—and the wisdom they carry.
Nature is not outside of you, you are part of Nature. Reclaim the sensual intelligence of your living Earth body.
Embodied Wisdom and Ancestral Alchemy Sessions
Learn to map your psycho-spiritual landscape in an experiential way, navigating life and relationships with more skill and sovereignty. Topics may include: personality vs. Self, personality formation, the inner judge, inner child, intuition, ancestral consciousness, hidden loyalties, and belonging. Experiential rituals and constellation sessions.
Live a life of alchemy: transform pain into purpose, burdens into blessings.
Time for Rest, Silence, and Integration
Afternoons are yours to walk, sleep, lie on the Earth, or unwind in the jacuzzi or steam bath. You'll bask in silence between group sessions. Digital detox heightens self-awareness and restores access to your intuition—so often dulled by devices. Silent candlelit dinners offer a sensual, sacred opportunity to recalibrate your relationship with food and eating. We close each day with an integration session and herbal tea before an early bedtime.
Release doing for being. Less is more. All is revealed in the Silence.
Reclaiming Your Sovereign Voice
This December, Sanctuary opens as a space to meet your voice—just as it is. To notice where it trembles, where it hides, and where it longs to be heard. From there, we step into reclamation: letting your voice be your own, rooted in Soul, unfiltered by fear or conditioning. To speak and sing from this place is to awaken profound inner authority, where voice becomes power, presence, connection, and purpose.
The Sovereign Voice is not only about singing or speaking—it is about how you inhabit your life. It is the yes and the no, the truth spoken in intimacy, the clarity in work and vocation, the courage to ask for what you need, and the willingness to be heard on larger stages. Wherever you stand—in family, partnership, career, creativity, or longing—this journey meets you there.
To reclaim your Sovereign Voice is holy and courageous work. To open the throat is to break a spell, to acknowledge the burden carried by generations of women before you. It is an offering of freedom to yourself, your children, and all of humanity.
Supporting this retreat is guest facilitator Mia Maya, a talented musician and soulful guide. With her unique Rising Voices circles, she creates connective spaces where participants explore the edges of expression, harmonize in truth, and rediscover the joy of voice.
Digital Detox at Eremito
Digital detox is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity for presence and wholeness.
Neuroscience shows that constant screen use shortens attention spans, elevates cortisol, and disrupts our ability to regulate emotion. Spiritually and somatically, it severs our connection to the body’s wisdom and the subtle cues of intuition.
When we unplug, we reattune. Our nervous system settles. Our senses reawaken.
We remember how to be here—fully, deeply, now.
Eremito is a pioneer in the digital detox movement, offering a rare and sacred space with no WiFi or televisions on the premises.
Sanctuary Retreat embraces a full digital detox to support you to be fully present, restore your nervous system, and reconnect with your Self. If you have children or another urgent circumstance, you may request your phone briefly each day to check in. You can also be reached at any time via Eremito’s landline.
Your Guides
Sheila Chacko
Sheila Chacko is a guide for those on the journey of Remembering. Yoga and meditation teacher, holistic counselor with a focus on somatics & systemic family constellations, and specialist in women’s spirituality. A yogini of 20 years Sheila’ considers the wisdom of direct experience to be the most potent teacher and she empowers her students and clients to hone their skills of inner listening to be able to tap into their own inner guidance and power.
Her training is in yoga, Western depth psychology, trauma-informed counseling/coaching, and Systemic Family Constellations. Her methodology is integral and holistic, inspired by a Sufi psycho-spiritual map of the Essential qualities of the human being. Rooted in intuitive guidance, her teachings incorporate breathwork, somatic awareness, ancestral consciousness, guided inquiry, and embodiment practices to facilitate the Remembrance of Self. She is the mother of two children and considers mothering to be one of her greatest teachers. She lives with her family in Umbria, Italy.
Mia Mayah - Guest Facilitator
Mia Mayah is a multifaceted artist, originally from Zimbabwe with French and Italian roots. Mia is a singer, song writer, and photographer devoted to the raw beauty of authentic expression.
Through her offerings — including singing circles, voice workshops, sound healings, women’s circles, and women’s sailing trips — she creates soulful, connective spaces for individuals to rediscover and reclaim their voices. Her unique singing circle experience, RISING VOICES, blends sacred music with original compositions, inviting participants to explore the edges of their voice, harmonize in truth, and build voice-connections rooted in vulnerability and shared presence.
In addition to her musical work, Mia is also a photographer and visual artist. She offers 1:1 photography and group photo ritual experiences designed to capture the raw essence of each individual or collective. Inspired by authenticity, these sessions are more than just images — they are portals into the soul, holding space for you to be fully seen, just as you are.
Whether through sound or image, Mia's work is an invitation to show up fully, connect deeply, and express freely.
Where you will stay
Eremito is a modern day hermitage and gorgeous eco hotel in the spiritual heart of Italy. Nestled in 3,000 hectares of UNESCO natural reserve, the nights are deep black, the silence is dense, and the peace is palpable. Eremito is leading the way in the digital detox phenomenon and is known for its signature silent dinner. A Design Hotel and architectural spectacle, the simple sophistication of Eremito lends to slowing down and calming the mind.
There is a reason that Eremito has been featured by Condé Nast, Vogue, National Geographic, The Guardian, and Vanity Fair, among many others over the years.
We are so pleased to be hosting this retreat at Eremito as it is the truly perfect place to support the inner journey we will take together.
More Info & Application Process
Retreat Dates: December 3rd-7th , 2025
Start time: 5 pm on Wednesday December 3rd
End time: 3 pm on Sunday December 7th
What is included:
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A pre-retreat individual session to prepare and initiate the journey.
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Full board for 4 nights and 5 days.
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All teaching & practice sessions.
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A post-retreat group video meeting for integration and follow-up.
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A ‘’celluzza’’ with private bathroom (shower/toilet)
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3 Vegetarian meals per day with organic products grown on site or locally
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Free daily access to the Relax Area (SPA) Turkish bath and Jacuzzi. Robes & slippers included.
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Transfer in jeep (700 m) from parking point if you arrive by car
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Service and 10% Vat
Single and double room options available.
The application process for Sanctuary begins with a free discovery call — a space for us to meet and explore together whether this retreat resonates with where you are on your path. During our call, I’ll share more about the experience, including pricing, logistics, and answer any questions you may have.
Sanctuary is intentionally kept small to ensure an intimate, transformative container. The discovery call is an essential first step, offering space for mutual clarity and ensuring the retreat supports the depth of work you're ready for.
Sheila Chacko
