.png)
Reframe · Renew · Refocus: Looking Back on Our First Retreat in Portugal
Four days of reflection, movement, creativity, connection and a little space to hear ourselves think.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
In October 2025, my co-host and I welcomed a small group of women to the Portuguese countryside for our first Reframe · Renew · Refocus retreat. The idea had been taking shape for some time.
We'd actually met at a retreat in Portugal ourselves, and somewhere along the way began talking about the kind of experience we'd like to create.
We wanted something thoughtful, spacious and genuinely human. A place where women could step away from the demands of everyday life, reconnect with themselves and explore whatever was happening in their lives without feeling pressure to arrive at some grand revelation.
Not another opportunity to optimise ourselves. Not a packed schedule of activities designed to produce a new and improved version of who we were. Just some time and space to pause, reflect, connect and perhaps begin to see things a little differently.
And so Reframe · Renew · Refocus was born.
A Little Space to Breathe
We chose a beautiful retreat space near Oliveira do Hospital, in central Portugal, surrounded by greenery, open skies and nature.
It was the kind of setting that encouraged you to slow down almost as soon as you arrived.
There was time for communal meals, quiet reflection, walks, conversations and simply doing nothing in particular. That last part was important to us.
We're so accustomed to filling our time that rest can begin to feel like something we need to earn. We wanted to create an environment where participants could engage with the work, but also have permission to step away, take a nap, sit outside or enjoy a conversation without feeling they were missing something.
Our approach was deliberately flexible. We had a structure, of course, but we also wanted to respond to the people in the room rather than force everyone through a rigid programme. The retreat followed three broad themes: Reframe, Renew and Refocus.
Reframe: Meeting Change
We began by looking at change.
Not necessarily the dramatic, life-altering kind, although there was room for that too. But the transitions, disappointments, achievements, unexpected turns and quieter shifts that accumulate over time.
We invited participants to revisit the previous 12 months, noticing not just what had happened, but how those experiences had felt. Through a guided somatic exercise, they began mapping their own seasons of change, connecting events with the emotions and sensations associated with them. Which experiences had felt nourishing? When had they felt most connected, energised or at ease? What had been difficult, and what might those moments reveal about their needs, values or boundaries?
What emerged was interesting. The maps weren't simply a way of taking stock of the year that had passed. They also helped participants recognise what they wanted more of in the year ahead.
I loved that something designed to help us look backwards also opened up a conversation about what we might want to move towards. It's a reminder that reflection doesn't have to be about dwelling on the past. Sometimes it's how we begin to recognise what matters now.
Renew: What Matters Now?
Our second theme was about values, priorities and alignment.
One of the things I find interesting about personal development is how easily we can continue pursuing goals that made sense at an earlier stage of life without stopping to ask whether they still fit.
The career we once wanted. The version of success we imagined. The expectations we've absorbed from family, society or our own earlier selves. Some of those things may still matter enormously.
Others may not. Renew was an invitation to get curious about that distinction.
What matters to me now? Where am I directing my time and energy? What feels nourishing, and what feels increasingly out of step with who I'm becoming?
Drawing on coaching, reflection and the conversations that emerged within the group, we explored how our values show up in everyday life.
Not simply as attractive words on a page, but in the choices we make, the boundaries we maintain and the things we repeatedly prioritise.
Refocus: From Insight to Intention
By our third day, the focus shifted towards what participants wanted to carry forward.
After two days of reflection and exploration, we wanted to create space for something a little different. More play, creativity and possibility. Less analysing, more imagining.
We began with playful movement, inviting everyone to reconnect with their bodies, experiment and have a little fun. Because while personal development can involve some difficult questions, it doesn't always have to be terribly serious.
From there, we moved into vision boarding, giving participants an opportunity to explore what they wanted to bring into their lives. Not necessarily a list of goals to achieve, but a visual expression of the things they felt drawn towards, the experiences they wanted more of and the possibilities beginning to take shape.
Our forth and final morning was all about restoration and integration, with time for individual one-to-one coaching sessions, offering a more personal space to explore whatever had emerged over the previous days.
And, rather wonderfully, individual massages.
I think that balance was important. We wanted to give people opportunities to reflect and make sense of their experiences, but also to rest, enjoy themselves and receive a little care and attention. As the retreat drew towards its close, we invited everyone to consider what they wanted to take home with them.
Because it's one thing to leave a retreat feeling inspired. It's quite another to return to the familiar rhythms of everyday life and find room for something different.
The Things That Happen Between Sessions
Of course, a retreat isn't only about the workshops. Some of the most valuable moments can happen in the spaces between them.
Over meals. During an unplanned conversation. On a walk. In a moment of laughter or shared recognition.
There's something rather special about bringing together people who might otherwise never have met and creating enough space for genuine connection.
One of my favourite little moments came courtesy of Charlie, our fantastic chef.
While painstakingly straining fresh pineapple by hand for that evening's delicious fruit cocktail, he remarked on how wholesome the whole experience felt. The group, the atmosphere, the pace of things.
I remember thinking that it was a rather lovely observation, particularly coming from someone who wasn't participating in the workshops themselves.
Because that's exactly what we'd hoped to create.
Not simply a programme of interesting activities, but an environment where people could feel comfortable, connected and free to move at a different pace.
And if that atmosphere was noticeable even from the kitchen, perhaps we were getting something right.
What We Took Away
Rather than focusing exclusively on big goals or dramatic changes, we explored small, realistic intentions.
What might help you remember what you've discovered when life becomes busy again? What would you like to make more room for? And what small action could help you begin?
For me, this is an important part of coaching. Insight matters, but it becomes particularly useful when we begin to translate it into how we live.
Not through pressure or an elaborate plan to reinvent ourselves, but through choices we can return to, practise and adapt.
One participant described the retreat as:
“The retreat was a great reset. Now I just need to stay on track.”
I rather like that observation. Because it captures something important about retreats, workshops and personal development more generally.
A few days away can create perspective, connection and new possibilities. But the work of integrating those experiences happens afterwards, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives.
And that's not always straightforward.
Which is why I think it's important not to promise that a retreat will transform someone's life in four days. What it can offer is a pause.
An opportunity to notice something, question something or reconnect with something that has become difficult to hear amid the noise of everyday life.
What happens next is an ongoing process.
And What About Us?
Creating and facilitating our first retreat was a learning experience for Melissa and me, too.
We brought different professional backgrounds and approaches to the work: my experience in somatic coaching, movement and embodied awareness, alongside Melissa's experience in NLP, career coaching and people development.
But what connected us was a shared belief in creating space for people to explore their lives with curiosity, compassion and a little more freedom from expectation.
We wanted to hold a thoughtful structure without becoming overly attached to it. To make room for different personalities, experiences and ways of engaging.
And to remember that sometimes the most useful thing we can offer isn't another exercise, another insight or another answer.
Sometimes it's simply enough space. Looking back, that's what I find myself returning to.
The importance of slowing down. The value of being witnessed and heard. The possibilities that emerge when we loosen our grip on how things are supposed to be.
And the reminder that reflection and forward movement don't have to be opposites.
Sometimes one makes the other possible.
Until Next Time
Reframe · Renew · Refocus began with a fairly simple idea: creating the kind of space we had both appreciated and wanted more of ourselves.
Our first retreat was an opportunity to bring that idea into the world, share it with others and learn from the experience.
And I'm grateful to everyone who became part of it.
When was the last time you gave yourself permission to pause, without needing to justify what you might achieve by doing so?
Curious about our future retreats? Register your interest to hear about upcoming dates and experiences.
Comments