Retreat to Heart
A deeper inquiry into love, patterns,
and self-worth.
Montezuma, Costa Rica | February 13–20, 2027
Interest List
This retreat is for people who are ready to look honestly at the patterns, protections, and self-worth wounds that influence who they’re drawn to and why.
You may be single.
You may have done years of “the work.”
You may be deeply self-aware and still find yourself repeating the same relational dynamics.
This retreat is not about opening your heart more.
It’s about understanding what has been protecting it.
Join the Interest List
Dates + Location
📍Montezuma, Costa Rica
📆 February 13–20, 2027
A Different Conversation About Love
What actually stops people from accessing their heart in relationships is not a lack of openness, but deeply ingrained protection patterns that shape who feels familiar, safe, or desirable. Many of us don’t struggle because we’re closed; we struggle because our nervous systems learned love through survival.
Chemistry is often mistaken for compatibility, intensity for intimacy, and familiar pain for truth. And underneath it all, shame quietly shapes self-worth, and self-worth shapes who we tolerate, pursue, or stay attached to long past what’s healthy. This retreat is an invitation to slow those patterns down, not to judge them, but to understand them.
What's Included?
Retreat to Heart is structured to give you space to step out of your usual roles and responsibilities, so you can focus on being present with yourself and the work unfolding.
The week balances guided sessions with plenty of space to slow down, reflect, and let things land in your own time. Nothing here is designed to push or overwhelm, the focus is on creating enough presence and support for honest reflection, embodied awareness, and meaningful integration.
→ Daily movement and breathwork
Gentle, supportive yoga and embodied practices to help you settle your nervous system, reconnect with your body, and stay grounded throughout the week.
→ Workshops and teachings
Guided sessions focused on relationship patterns, shame and self-worth, discernment, responsibility, repair, and building self-trust, shared in a way that’s accessible, honest, and practical.
→ Facilitated group conversations
Thoughtfully held discussions where you can reflect, listen, and share if you choose, without pressure to perform or overshare.
→ Time to integrate
Unstructured space for rest, journaling, walking, or sitting quietly because insight needs time, not just information.
→ Opening and closing circles
We begin the week by orienting together and end by reflecting on what’s shifted, naming what you’re carrying forward, and closing the container with care.
→ Comfortable retreat accommodations
A peaceful, nature-immersed setting in Montezuma, Costa Rica, chosen to support rest, simplicity, and nervous-system regulation.
→ Nourishing meals
Fresh, thoughtfully prepared food to support your body throughout the week. Dietary needs will be accommodated when possible.
→ Support throughout the retreat
Ongoing facilitator presence to help you stay regulated, grounded, and supported as things unfold.
What’s not included
→ Flights or transportation to Costa Rica
→ Optional spa services or excursions outside the retreat schedule
→ Anything not listed above
A final note
There’s no right way to do this retreat. Some people talk more. Some people listen more. Some people need rest. All of that is welcome. You’re encouraged to participate in a way that feels honest and sustainable for you.
The Journey: Day by Day
Over seven days, we move through a carefully held path of arrival, inquiry, embodied practice, reflection, and integration. Each day builds upon the last, creating space to understand relational patterns, soften protective responses, and reconnect with self-trust. The journey is intentionally spacious, allowing insight to land not just intellectually, but in the body and nervous system so you return home clearer, steadier, and more rooted in yourself. This retreat is not about becoming someone new. It’s about understanding yourself more clearly and learning how to relate from that truth.
Day 1: Arrival + Opening the Container
We begin by arriving and settling into the land. After check-in and rest, we gather for a welcome circle to orient to the week ahead and establish shared agreements for safety, presence, and care. Through gentle movement and guided reflection, we begin grounding into the body and into community, creating a container that can hold honest inquiry and relational depth throughout the retreat.
Day 2: Foundations of the Heart + Relational Patterns
This day introduces the core themes of the retreat. Through yoga and breathwork, we regulate the nervous system and establish embodied awareness. In our first workshop, we explore how relational patterns form, how early experiences shape attraction, attachment, and self-protection. Together, we begin mapping familiar dynamics with curiosity rather than judgment, setting the foundation for deeper understanding in the days ahead.
Day 3: Discernment, Attachment,
and Self-Trust
We turn toward discernment; learning to differentiate intuition from chemistry, familiarity, and survival responses. Morning practice supports presence and clarity, followed by a teaching and group discussion on attachment patterns and emotional availability. This day emphasizes responsibility without self-blame, helping you recognize how choices are shaped and how they can begin to shift.
Day 4: Shame, Self-Worth,
and Relational Survival
This is a pivotal day in the journey. Through embodied practice and guided inquiry, we explore shame as one of the most powerful and often invisible forces shaping relationships. We examine how shame organizes self-worth, influences tolerance, and keeps patterns in place. The work is compassionate, grounded, and deeply human, offering language and tools to loosen shame’s grip and restore self-trust.
Day 6: Integration, Choice,
and Re-orientation
This day is about weaving insight into lived experience. Through movement, reflection, and guided integration, we focus on choice, how awareness translates into different relational decisions moving forward. We explore what it means to choose from clarity rather than compulsion, and how to stay connected to oneself even when desire, fear, or uncertainty arise.
Day 5: Repair, Boundaries,
and Emotional Maturity
With greater awareness established, we move into repair, both internal and relational. Practices support boundary awareness, emotional regulation, and honest self-reflection. In our workshop, we explore what repair actually looks like beyond apology or endurance, and how emotional maturity transforms the way we relate to ourselves and others. The day closes with spacious time for integration and rest.
Day 7: Closure + Returning Home
On our final morning, we gather for gentle movement and a closing circle to reflect on the journey and honor what has shifted. Together, we name what is being released and what is being carried forward. The retreat closes with intention and care, supporting a grounded return home, not changed overnight, but more attuned, honest, and rooted in self-trust.
Meet your Guide
This retreat is guided by Dr. Sanaa Jaman, a teacher, facilitator, and writer whose work centers on relational patterns, emotional integration, and embodied self-trust.
For over a decade, Sanaa has led yoga, retreats, and group containers around the world, supporting people through periods of transition, grief, and relational change. Her work has evolved from movement-based practice into a deeper focus on how shame, attachment, and self-worth shape the way we relate to ourselves and to others.
Rather than offering quick insight or spiritual bypassing, Sanaa’s approach is grounded, honest, and relational. She works at the intersection of body awareness, emotional literacy, and responsibility, helping people slow down familiar patterns without collapsing into self-blame.
She believes that lasting change doesn’t come from trying harder or becoming “more open,” but from understanding the protections we’ve learned, rebuilding trust with ourselves, and learning how to choose differently with clarity and care.
Retreat to Heart reflects the maturity of this work. It is held with presence, discernment, and deep respect for each person’s lived experience. Sanaa guides the retreat with presence rather than performance, offering structure, inquiry, and support while honoring each participant’s pace and autonomy.
A Retreat Like No Other
Coming into the retreat, Monica carried high anxiety and the fear of stepping into an unfamiliar community. From the very first day, that fear began to dissolve. The openness, honesty, and safety of the space gave her permission to be open too; something she shared is rare for women of color, who are not always given safe spaces to unfold. Here, she found herself part of a community where every story was honored, every mirror was sacred, and every woman was held with care.
For her, this retreat was not just restorative, it was transformational. It became a sanctuary where women of color and all women were safe, supported, and celebrated. She left knowing her heart had changed in ways she didn’t even realize it needed, and that what she experienced here could not be replicated anywhere else. As she said, “This is not just a retreat, it’s an absolute must."
— Monica, Retreat to Heart Attendee
Pricing
Retreat to Heart will be held at Anamaya, a boutique retreat center in Montezuma, Costa Rica. Pricing reflects both the full retreat experience and the room you choose at the resort.
Because room types vary in size, layout, and occupancy, total retreat cost depends on the room you select.
Pricing Overview
- Single Occupancy Rooms
Private rooms for those who want their own space for rest, reflection, and integration. - Double and Triple Occupancy Rooms
Shared rooms for participants attending with a friend or open to shared accommodation. - Limited Availability
Each room type at Anamaya is limited and will be assigned on a first-come basis once registration opens.
A detailed room breakdown with exact pricing will be shared with those on the interest list before registration opens.
What your retreat tuition includes
Your tuition covers the full retreat experience, including:
- Seven nights of accommodation at Anamaya
- All retreat programming and facilitation
- Daily yoga, workshops, and group sessions
- Nourishing meals throughout the week
- Transportation to Anamaya retreat center from Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR)
Not included: airfare, travel to/from Costa Rica, optional spa services, or excursions outside the retreat schedule.
Payment & planning
- A deposit will be required to secure your spot once registration opens
- Payment plans will be available
- All pricing, deposit details, and payment options will be shared in advance with the interest list
Receive early access to room options, pricing, and registration details.
Your Home in Costa Rica
During Retreat to Heart, you’ll be staying at Anamaya, a boutique retreat center nestled in the jungle hills of Montezuma, Costa Rica. Overlooking the ocean and surrounded by nature, Anamaya is designed to support rest, reflection, and nervous-system settling.
Anamaya is not a luxury resort in the traditional sense, it’s a place intentionally built for retreats and inner work. The pace is slower, the environment is grounding, and the setting invites you to step out of everyday stimulation and into presence. The land, the views, and the simplicity of the space all support the kind of listening and integration this retreat asks for.
What you can expect:
- Comfortable, thoughtfully designed rooms and cabanas, many with ocean or jungle views
- A peaceful, nature-immersed setting that supports rest between sessions
- Open-air yoga spaces and gathering areas for group work
- Fresh, mostly organic meals prepared on site
- Access to spa services and quiet spaces for reflection during free time
Whether you’re journaling on your balcony, resting in your room, or sitting quietly between sessions, Anamaya is meant to hold you gently throughout the week.
Shedding is not the end of you.
It is the becoming of who you’ve always been.
Come sit in this sacred valley, where your shadows will be welcomed, your stories honored, and your heart reminded: you are safe to let go.
Welcome to The Sacred Shedding.
FAQs
Q: Why is this retreat intentionally small?
A: Retreat to Heart is designed to be intimate by choice. Relational work requires trust, nervous system safety, and enough space for people to be seen without pressure. A smaller group allows for deeper conversation, thoughtful facilitation, and a container where no one gets lost in the crowd.
Q: Who is this retreat for?
A: This retreat is for people who notice repeating patterns in relationships and want to understand them more honestly without self-blame or spiritual bypassing. Many participants are single, post-breakup, or at a crossroads in how they relate to intimacy, attachment, and self-trust. Prior experience with therapy, journaling, or inner work can be helpful, but it’s not required.
Q: Is this a therapy or couples retreat?
A: No. Retreat to Heart is not therapy, and it’s not a couples retreat. It’s an educational, experiential retreat focused on self-inquiry, embodied awareness, and relational patterns. While the work can be emotionally meaningful, it is not clinical treatment and does not replace therapy.
Q: What kind of work will we be doing?
A: The retreat weaves together guided reflection, group discussion, journaling, somatic practices, gentle movement, and rest. We’ll explore themes like protection patterns, attachment, shame, discernment, repair, and self-trust, not to “fix” ourselves, but to understand how we learned to relate the way we do.
Q: What if difficult emotions come up?
A: That’s a normal part of this kind of work. The retreat is structured to move at a human pace, with built-in rest and integration. You’ll be guided through grounding practices and reflection, and you’ll never be pressured to share more than feels right for you.
Q: Do I need prior experience with inner work or retreats?
A: No. What matters most is curiosity, honesty, and a willingness to slow down. Some participants will have years of personal work behind them; others will be newer. The retreat is designed to meet people where they are.
Q: What’s included in the retreat?
A: Retreat to Heart includes accommodations at Anamaya, daily meals, all group sessions and facilitated practices, access to retreat spaces, and on-site support throughout the week. Travel to and from Costa Rica, spa services, and optional excursions are not included.
Q: How does pricing work?
A: Pricing varies depending on the room type you choose. Anamaya offers a range of accommodations, including single and shared options. Full pricing details and room availability will be shared first with the interest list before registration opens.
Q: Is there an application process?
A: At this stage, we’re gathering an interest list. When registration opens, there may be a brief intake process to ensure the retreat is a good fit for both you and the group.
Q: What happens after I join the interest list?
A: You’ll receive early access to retreat details, room options, pricing, and registration before anything is shared publicly. Joining the interest list does not obligate you to register.
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