A week of surf, yoga, ceremony and sisterhood on the Pacific coast.
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What this actually is
A week that changes everything
If you are here, something is calling you. A pull toward more aliveness, toward moving your body, toward real connection with women who are asking the same questions you are.
This retreat answers that call.
Jungle on one side, ocean on the other. A place that slows you down whether you planned to or not, and does half the work before you have even unpacked.
It is a week of surf, yoga, ceremony and long meals at a long table. It is also a sacred space to hear yourself again, to remember what you actually want, and to let the clarity rise on its own.
You leave alive, energised, and certain of who you are walking back toward.
two women watching the sunset from the poolmorning yoga practice looking out to the oceanthe group heading to the beach with the boardsswimming under the waterfalla handstand held by the pool at sunsetfree movement on the terracedancing in a circle as the sun goes downthe evening circle by candlelighttwo women holding each other at the end of the weekthe circle gathered at sunset
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The High on Life philosophy
Feeling good was always meant to be the baseline
High on Life is a way of living, not a week away.
It is the practice of raising your own state on purpose. Moving your body. Eating food that is alive. Being present enough to feel your life while it is happening. Living in gratitude until gratitude becomes the temperature you live at.
Joy is not something you wait for. It is something you cultivate.
Most of us are taught to reach outside ourselves to feel lifted. This is the opposite. The high was always inside you, and you are the one who generates it. This week wakes it up, and sends you home able to keep it burning on your own.
the Costa Rica coast beside the retreat
Slow down enough to hear yourself again
The journey
Built on purpose
This week is designed. Every practice, every ceremony, every hour has a reason to be exactly where it is.
Each day turns toward a different part of you. The part that needs release. The part that has been waiting for permission. The playful one. The one who knows exactly what she wants and has not been asked in years.
By the end you have met the full spectrum of yourself, not just the version you present. That is why women leave with something that lasts rather than a nice feeling that fades on the flight home.
The next one is coming
Dates, the house and the rooms go to the waitlist first. Early access, first pick of rooms, and the best price.
The week
What to expect
An idea of what is waiting for you. The ocean sets the timetable, not me, so surf moves with the tide and no two days look identical. Open any line to read more.
Every morningYogaWe open the day on the mat before the heat arrives. Movement, breath and stillness, and all levels are genuinely welcome.Read moreClose
Hatha, Vinyasa and Yin across the week. Woven together so that mind, body and soul end up in the same room.
We move mindfully, always connected to the breath, always working toward the same thing: coming home to your body and to yourself.
Every practice has modifications for beginners and variations for anyone who wants more, so wherever you are is exactly where you start.
Three timesSurfThree guided sessions with local instructors, boards and equipment included. You will fall, and you will stand up.Read moreClose
Surfing is the most joyful teacher I know. It is play and practice at the same time, and it will show you things about yourself that no amount of thinking ever will.
You paddle out slightly afraid. You get worked. You come up laughing. You try again. Somewhere in that loop you meet your own patience and the part of you that keeps getting back up. Confidence built in the water does not stay in the water.
Our instructors are brilliant with beginners and the beach we surf is gentle and forgiving. This is not about performance. It is about trying something new, together, and laughing a lot while we do it.
Every dayThe dharma circleA talk, a guided meditation and journaling prompts. One hour, and the spine of the whole week.Read moreClose
What I share comes from years of studying and applying the universal laws and manifestation, combined with neuroscience, energetic and somatic practices. It is all about harnessing the power of the mind that builds the reality you are living in.
This is where the clarity arrives. Where you release what has been standing in front of your gift, and start to see the life you are actually meant for.
Three eveningsCeremonyCacao, voice and ecstatic dance, held by Ema. No experience needed, nothing expected of you beyond showing up as you are.Read moreClose
Cacao ceremony
Pure ceremonial cacao, shared in circle. It opens the heart and softens the guard, making it far easier to feel what you have been holding at arm's length. We set an intention together and let it work while we move, sing or sit in silence.
Voice activation
Using your own voice to open your throat, your chest and everything that has been quietly clenched for years. We tone, we hum, we sing together. It releases something words cannot reach.
Ecstatic dance
Free movement to music with no steps and nobody watching. Your body moves the way it wants to, which for most of us is something we stopped allowing a long time ago. It is where the thinking stops.
One dayWaterfall and jungleA full day out in the wild, swimming under cold water.Read moreClose
Walking through jungle, swimming under cold water, remembering that your body is for more than sitting at a desk.
It is usually the day the group stops being a group of strangers.
ThroughoutFree timeReal space that belongs to you alone.Read moreClose
Most often it lands in the afternoon, though it moves around with the surf. Sleep, swim, write, say nothing to anyone.
A week with no room in it is a week you cannot digest.
Everything is included once you land, from the villa and all your meals to surf, ceremony and transport, so you can fully relax. Full details go out to the waitlist.
At the table
The food
Three plates a day, cooked fresh by our private chef.
Locally sourced, organic, and beautifully presented. Colour on every plate, to nourish your body and fuel you through the day and everything we do in it.
Each meal is freshly and intentionally prepared with love, and shared at a long table where the meals run long and the conversations run longer.
Every dietary need is looked after. Tell us before you arrive and it is handled.
the circle holding hands before dinnerrice and prawns served on a wooden boardcold pressed green juice with the morning platesthe long table set for dinnerfresh fruit and a summer roll at lunchlunch laid out down the middle of the tablea platter of tropical fruit cut for the table
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Honesty first
Who is this retreat for?
I would rather lose you here than have you sitting outside the circle in Costa Rica. So let me be straight about it.
This is for you if
You feel a pull toward something more and you have stopped being able to ignore it
You are in a transition, or you can feel one coming
You want space to be with yourself and actually hear yourself again
You want more clarity about where your life is going, and more confidence walking toward it
You are looking for real connection with like-minded women, the kind that lasts past the airport
You want to awaken your playful side and have fun with your new sisters
You want to come home present, in your body, living with more mindfulness and balance
You are ready to show up for yourself, properly
You are willing to be seen by women you have not met yet
Please don't come if
You want a beach holiday with a yoga class attached
You plan to sleep through the mornings and skip the circles
You want a drink in your hand. This is a sober week. No alcohol, no cigarettes, no vapes, no substances
You want a private, quiet week to yourself
You need to stay reachable for work
You would like the photos more than the week
The women who get the most out of this are the ones who decided, before they arrived, to show up fully.
women gathering in circle at the retreat
Words from women
On this trip I was able to reconnect with parts of me that had been under the surface for a while. Being with women from all over the world, experiencing different cultures, new ideas, real human connection. It is something I had been longing for.
Deema
I did not expect to have such a life-changing experience beyond yoga and surfing. It helped me come out of my comfort zone and be myself without limitation, and it brought out a version of me I thought I did not have. It made me learn to love myself more, to be gentle with myself, to rediscover a self love I had put aside for a while.
Chloe
Something I had been working on before the retreat really got solidified during it: learning to stay with myself in uncertainty. That has always been a tough one for me. This retreat broke me open in ways that made me reconsider my life. What kind of life do I want to live, and how can I be more intentional?
Arielle
the women of Vol. 1 on their last evening
Your host
Hi, I'm Lise
At eighteen I looked at the life laid out ahead of me, the studies, the safe job, the retirement at sixty, and realised none of it excited me. It had been written for me and I had never questioned it. So I left.
Five years ago in Panama, during a breathwork session on a solo surf trip, I saw it: a circle of women, the ocean, ceremony, real connection. I could not unsee it.
Yoga is what made it possible. Before the mat I was running almost entirely on push and do, rarely arriving anywhere. Yoga taught me how to come home to myself.
I trained as a yoga teacher and holistic guide, and everything I have learned since is folded into this one week. So that you do not spend years finding on your own what someone could have helped you reach.
I live on the Pacific coast now, and during the retreat I am with you the whole week, laughing, surfing, eating, probably singing badly around a fire. I cannot wait to meet you.
Her profound authenticity softens and deepens something in us, so we can feel safe to open up and release. She's a joy therapist. She heals you. Trust me.
Veronica
Lise helped me find my spark back after one of the darkest times of my life. Today I feel more free, confident, and worthy of all the good things in life.
Anna
She has this rare ability to connect with people wherever she goes, and to open the path for other women around freedom, travel, and alignment.
Caroline
Your facilitator
And this is Ema
Ema is a cacao ceremony facilitator, voice activation guide and ecstatic dance practitioner living in Costa Rica. She left her old life to follow something she could not name at the time, and found her way through ceremonial cacao, sound and movement.
Her approach is warm, grounded and completely body-centred. No experience is needed and nothing is expected of you beyond turning up as you are.
During the week she holds the cacao ceremony, the voice opening and the free movement evening, so each woman can soften and come home to her body at her own pace.
I came in feeling completely shut down. By the end of the ceremony, I was singing sounds I didn't know lived inside me.
Laura
I've done breathwork, yoga, meditation, but nothing has opened me the way cacao and voice work did. My body literally shook and then softened. I cried, I laughed, I felt free.
Sofia
The channeled message Ema shared was exactly what I needed to hear. It's like she reached into my soul and reflected back the part of me I'd been ignoring.
Maria
The waitlist
Be the first to know
Early access to booking, first pick of rooms, and the best price. Dates go to this list before they go anywhere else.
