In person. In nature. Together. It’s what I love best. Tactile. Shared physical experience. Individual awakening held in and fed by the communal. We are social animals who heal in connection, relationally. What does it mean to retreat? We take pause from the rhythms of daily life to create the conditions for deeper insight and growth. It’s an ancient practice and we need it more than ever in our modern world.
The retreats below are my self-created ones. If you are interested in having me facilitate a retreat for you, your organization, or your group, I do so for anywhere between 10-100 people. It is fulfilling heart-work for me and holding circles is my where my gifts align with the world . REACH OUT if you have an idea.
New York upstate
This already happened! Stay tuned for 2024 dates.
four nights
Landscape Themes: how containment begets new stretch, layers of density, seeing the forest and the trees within it, bloom and lushness, boundary and holding
Why here?
Many of you asked for a place close to NYC. Here we go! It’s a bucolic, 35-acre retreat location in the Shawangunk Mountains of the Hudson Valley. Green fields, walking meditation path, wood-fired sauna and trails. Our gatherings will take place in a gorgeous net zero studio with a sprung wood dance floor. We gather at a big farm table outside for local-organic meals made by our warm and kind hosts. The lodging options are rooms within a large beautiful farmhouse and above a red barn stable: lots of varied common hanging space and nooks, simple and tasteful rooms. This place will feel so inviting and intimate. Swimming holes close by. Flowers. Summer vibes. Starry nights. Very green. Very held. August is an ideal time to be in upstate New York. Abundance to the max.
Curious?
See below for WHAT we will be doing.
Click here for REGISTRATION and cost details.
Women and gender non-conforming.
All inclusive at different rates.
Tuition is $1200. Lodging + Food added = Final Price
**One full scholarship available:
This scholarship has been granted.
Please be in your discernment and integrity about whether this description fits you. This scholarship is about access. Are you someone who would likely never dream of attending a retreat because it isn't possible financially, even if you were to plan ahead and budget? Are you a member of a systematically disenfranchised or minoritized/marginalized group?
If you are interested please apply by emailing retreats@mollycaromay.com with a detailed description of 1) Why you want to attend this workshop in particular, 2) How a scholarship would make this possible for you. *If you have already received a scholarship for one of Molly's workshops in the past, we will first prioritize those who haven't.
New Mexico
This retreat wrapped and is complete! More soon on 2024 dates and locations.
Landscape Themes: the possibility of sweeping away, minimalism, expansion and holding big expression in a big container, playing the edges, pops of color, pockets of safety, the truest spare truth
Why here?
I have lived in, visited and loved this part of the desert since my early 20’s. Northern New Mexico is vast and pulsing with every shade of pink/red and green, a place that elicits stunning clarity in most people who encounter it. Veils are thin here. Super thin. On the ranch, you have access to miles of incredible and life-altering desert hiking, as well as other activities (like horse-back riding and massage, if you like). Ghost Ranch is a retreat center geared toward supporting artists and the arts. It has a colorful history, once called Ranch of the Witches by cattle rustlers hiding stolen goods in the canyon nearby. Georgia O’Keeffe she spent summers here painting and walking, eventually making it home. Our gatherings will happen in a beautiful yurt near the labyrinth. We will be staying in adobe-style dwellings grouped together. They say September is the most majestic time here. Warm days, cooler evenings. Stars beyond measure. Expansive.
Curious?
See below for WHAT we will be doing.
This retreat is full!
If you would like to be on the wait-list, please email retreats@mollycaromay.com.
You never know!
Please be in your discernment and integrity about whether this description fits you. This scholarship is about access. Are you someone who would likely never dream of attending a retreat because it isn't possible financially, even if you were to plan ahead and budget? Are you a member of a systematically disenfranchised or minoritized/marginalized group?
If you are interested please apply by emailing retreats@mollycaromay.com with a detailed description of 1) Why you want to attend this workshop in particular, 2) How a scholarship would make this possible for you. *If you have already received a scholarship for one of Molly's workshops in the past, we will first prioritize those who haven't.
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I’ve chosen two different locations during times when the landscapes naturally shine. What’s similar? I got very clear about my ideal environment for a group. A circular and/or stunning meeting space when possible. Spectacular nature with wandering and adventuring options right there. Delicious meals included. Everyone staying on site so the in-between, spontaneous, collective moments can work their magic. Varied lodging options (from solo to shared to camping) so you can assess preference and budget. Scroll way down for the WHAT, HOW, retreat rhythm, refund policy and testimonials from former retreat attendees. Both retreats shared the same blueprint framed on Story Mammal and each will have its own flavor based on the themes each particular landscape/terrain/ground calls up and out of us. Our bodies dance with and aren't separate from environment so we will attend to that truth. Group size: 20-ish.
“This retreat has been very safe, a container where I can let my voice speak what it wants to speak and be myself. I don’t have that in my daily life. I feel held by a circle of women who are also imperfect and healing and evolving and curious about the next step. They want to break out and make changes and grow. I want to be around these kinds of people. When I am with them, I feel alive!” – Rachel Schmidt
“Molly is incredibly intentional. She’s telling a story as she facilitates. I love the natural pacing she brings to the entire experience. The community and authenticity and safety she’s created has been deeply impactful. It’s mystical, almost like we’ve lost track of time and space. It’s hard to put into words!" – Britta Shiels
The What of IT
We use my Story Mammal framework to take a deep dive into stretching and celebrating the possibility within you. Your vitality! Your unique aliveness. How are the story you’ve told yourself about yourself and your nervous system deeply intertwined? Why does it matter? Oh, it matters so much! That knowing can be a sustained game-changer—the kind where your people ask, “What are you doing because something is different about you?” You can loosen it all and find a new fluidity that feels like renewed life-blood. The retreat will be 3 ½ days of profound and playful practice. We give our attention to pace, ultradian rhythms, speaking out loud the language of sensation, asking for boundary or closeness, reaping and sowing, separating from social media to some self-chosen degree, invoking titration and tasting edges, being serious and silly together. Our senses will be centered. You can expect ample times outdoors, exploration, night walks, movement, making and a heart-centered, kick-ass dynamic group of people. Lots of writing, working with personal and collective mythology, embodiment exercises, dyads/triads and full group processing in a holding container of discernment, respect, care and awareness of the larger orchestration beyond us.
I will invite each of us (me included) to track how we take care of our mammal selves in a group setting like this? Being physically together is imperative for discovering our growing edges. What patterns arise? What are you negotiating in real time? Where do you disassociate, over-ride, under-share or over-share, track too much or too little? All held in a curious and compassionate spirit of adventure.
Our Daily Rhythm
For arrival and departure: Our first session begins the first evening (Aug 2nd for NY and Sept 23rd for NM) so please plan to arrive that afternoon. Our last session ends midday on the last day (Aug 6th for NY and Sept 27th for NM).
Our morning session is two ultradian rhythms of deep work.
We then have a hours-long break for lunch, exploration, rest, and connection.
We gather back for a playful, often-outdoors session in the afternoon.
We break and then gather for a shared dinner (other meals will be shared or come-and-go) followed by a short, winding-down-for-sleep integration.
*Plenty of workshop time. Plenty of rest and solo time.
**Covid Protocols. Without knowing the future, I will access whatever needs to be done as we get closer. I've attended a 300 person indoor wedding + a large SE training + hosted a 20-person retreat during medium-peak Covid where mindful testing was done and worked, so I feel confident in being able to organize something similar so we can create a safe feeling environment for everyone.
"The laughter. The silly sensation feelings of what it is to be here. It’s magical. Molly’s retreats feel like you are in a swirl... but in a very safe and subversive, rebellious and tingly kind of way." – Jess Miller
“I felt instantly connected to every person here which feels magical. Being on retreat with Molly feels warm and safe. Absolutely safe. Which is a gift. I don’t think that’s something every facilitator can create. It feels natural and unforced for her. I can be exactly who I am here. This experience has radically changed my life. I have made friends who feel like soul mates. I feel like I’m falling in love with people.”
– Naomi Gottlieb-Miller
Who is your guide?
MOLLY CARO MAY
I grew up moving from country to country and that foundation embedded in me a curiosity about and respect for everyone. I’ve taught and facilitated personal story workshops for 13+ years—as space-holder, listener, weaver, and playful spark-plug. I'm the author of two books and am trained in Somatic Experiencing, a 3-year study of trauma resolution and nervous system resilience. There's more, of course. Blending soma and story is my deep delight! It has given me the most traction in my own life and I've witnessed its lasting power with those in my classes. Retreats are my soul song. I live for being a mammal alongside other mammals, in the flesh, where we can see and sense-into each other. The tactile life is for me and, on retreat, we get to GATHER and truly experience the magic of group-work together.
with support from Saadia Khalid
I’m a biracial Pakistani-American educator, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY/Lenapehoking. I am a mother of two daughters who make my world spin, partnered with a tender tender of plants, daughter of a Punjabi immigrant poet and a steadfast Southern-Italian-Brooklynite, the spiritual descendant of an 11th Century Sufi saint, and the middle strand in a braid of sisters. I grew up straddling cultures and continents, always feeling like I existed in the “between places.” What I quickly came to find was that the between places are full of incredible stories. I’ve spent my life and my career tending the seeds of my own stories and creating spaces for others to tell theirs. As an educator for over 16 years, I’ve worked with children, young adults, and adults in many different contexts and capacities, inside and outside of traditional classroom spaces, and always, always in co-creation. I believe that learning can and should be liberatory and that liberation happens in community. I believe in abolition. I am in a committed relationship with hope. I am fiercely tender. I laugh and cry copiously. I love enormously. I live for stories. And I am so honored and elated to co-create these spaces with all of you.
Refund Policy
This is your investment. When we commit, we set some magic in motion. Sit with it now. Is this what you want? Your body will tell you. That isn't just a saying or idea. It's real deal. Are you leaning forward or back?
If you cancel 3 months before the 1st day of retreat, your full tuition goes toward future credit with workshops.
If you cancel after the 3 months mark, 1/3 of your tuition goes toward future credit with my workshops.
Both of these expire 12/31/2024.
If we can fill your spot, your lodging is all refunded.
If we can't fill your spot, we follow the retreat center’s refund policy:
· if you cancel 3 months before the 1st day of retreat, you get a 100% refund of your lodging.
· and you cancel after the 3 months mark, we cannot refund your lodging.
If Molly has to cancel for personal reasons, Covid or forest fires, participants' tuition will be credited to future retreat dates and all lodging fees will be refunded.