The hosts recommend that you take the week of work so that you can truly lean into the nervous system reset work and fully immerse in the curated daily sessions, have time to reflect and really integrate everything you are learning and experiencing, lean into the community vibe and group activities, and join the scuba sessions with the larger group. Scientifically, it takes day for your body to truly let go of the stress and energy you take from working, so you will get less out of the retreat if you work and can’t fully immerse. That being said, if you want to come and do need to work a few days, you can do so and it won’t be a problem at all! We will have good wifi and will work with you on which days would include diving and other activities so that you can try to plan accordingly.

In our day to day lives, we are always so busy and so “on”. We aim to help you disconnect from the daily grind and noise of your normal life and make space to listen to yourself, connect with yourself, reduce anxiety, and get your nervous system back to a safe and baseline state. We will do this with activities such as yoga, breathwork, ice baths, and guided sessions that teach you techniques on achieving a healthy nervous system and how to take these lessons with you and integrate them into your day to day life once you leave… as well as having loads of fun and non-serious activities.

Macie, co-host of the retreat, loves scuba diving. The peace it can bring, the community it brings, and the lessons learned from it are applicable to life in so many ways. It is also fun and a hobby that you can take with you all over the world! That being said, if you don’t want to scuba dive or learn how to scuba dive on this trip, you can opt out and spend that time doing something else you may want to do on the island (go to the beach, spend some alone time, go explore something else).

Utila is an island of the coast of Honduras. It has a population of about ~4,000 people and is famous for its diving. It’s extremely safe!!! There are no resorts and besides the main part of town, most of the island maintains a more rustic and natural vibe, with mostly dirt roads. The main language is English and the original founders/settlers on the island were English pirates (as in from the UK). Today, the local community is made of many types of people with a blend of the english caribbean culture, mainland Honduran/hispanic influence, and afro-caribbean culture… and with people of all of these cultures living there together, it is a special place! It also has no cars. It is only golf cart, motorbikes, or scooters, so it has a really fun vibe to it.

We will be mostly eating simple, local foods. Breakfasts will consist of eggs, some meat, beans, fresh juices, fresh baked local sourdough bread, avocado, fruit, etc. Lunch and dinner will vary depending on the day and the schedule, but it will always consist of quality foods with lots of protein, veggies, fruit, cooked with butter or olive oil (no seed oils!!!). We will be almost exclusively gluten free, with the exception of the fresh, local sourdough bread that will be available at most meals. Almost all food will be cooked for you, but for a dinner or two, we will cook together as a community and go into town and find groceries together and use the experience as a community building exercise (being on an island and finding the groceries you need, having to work with whichever fruits and veggies are available that day is truly an adventure and will test some patience ha :) )We will eat a few meals out in town as well so that everyone can experience the local community and we can support the local establishments as well. All meals will be included in the price, even the ones at restaurants, but if you want something extra you can always purchase it yourself and keep it at the house. If you have dietary restrictions, we can very likely accommodate in our group meals, just let me know ahead of time.

There are no plans made by the hosts that include alcohol, and we are confident you can have an amazing time without it. Our goal will be to create the most epic week and help you feel so comfortable being yourself that you don’t want or need alcohol. The focus of the week is def on health and wellness and community, and though alcohol can sometimes be a great thing that brings us together, we want to build community without it as much as possible. That being said, if we are at dinner and you want to order a drink, or you want to go somewhere outside of the house and experience the island in a different way that includes alcohol or nightlife, you are very welcome to! We aren’t your parents. There will be no judgement or “rules” against it or anything like that, just not something that will be in the house or apart of the retreat schedule/plans. If someone wants to go out and go dancing one night… Macie will likely join you :) Just as long as you wake up in time for the morning sessions :)

Yes! We will have daily sessions and meals planned but you will have a plethora of free time. You will likely make friends with the other guests and the hosts and other plans may naturally spin up, or you may want to use it to digest everything you are learning and experiencing in the sessions and activities and just go lay at the beach or take a nap. Either way, you will have some time to rest throughout the week as needed.

Though things are subject to change, the following is the plan for co-hosts and other collaborators once on island:

Macie Holstein (co-host)- Macie is doing all of the logistics which will take up most of her time, but she will also lead the ice bath sessions and a few yoga classes if the need arises outside of the scheduled yoga classes (Macie is a yoga teacher and has her YTT200 certification). Macie will also be the resident tour guide on any exploration of Utila. Fun fact, she did her divemaster here and lived here for 6 months, and has visited and been back 5 times, spending about a year of her life on this island :) ! So she is excited to share it with everyone!

MarCello LaGreca (co-host)- Marcello is a meditation teacher and certified anxiety coping and nervous system coach who works exclusively in the coaching and nervous system reset space. He will lead numerous sessions on understanding our limiting beliefs, making space for tuning into our truest selves and what we want when everything is quiet around us, and guide us through formulating some sort of vision for what we want out of life. He will also lead breathwork or meditation sessions most days. See more about Marcello at website, https://marcellolagreca.com.

Local yoga teacher- We will hire a local yoga teacher on the island to lead yoga classes a few days of the week. This is so that we can get a new perspective and to support the local community with our money and our resources.

Scuba diving instructors/guides- We will hire a local private dive business to take us diving and teach any diving courses that are needed. The owners are American/Chilean but have lived on Utila for years and years and employee locals as dive guides.

Photographer- We will have a photographer who lives on island come and film some of the diving as well as some of our activities and sessions, as well as take some glamor shots of everyone throughout the week (come on just admit it, we all love some good pics, especially during golden hour at the beach :) )

I am happy to setup a payment schedule with you if you need to pay in installments. Just let me know if this is something you need and we can work it out.

We will have one of the houses one day early and one day late from the retreat dates in order to prep for the retreat, starting on the 19th and ending on the 28th, so if you need (or just want) to come a day early or stay a day late, you can do so. If you do this though, you will be responsible for food that extra day and if the house is super full, we may have to get creative on sleeping arrangements if more people come early or stay late than there are rooms. Let us know if this is something you are interested in or need when signing up.

All dives will be boat dives and we will be selectively be going to the North side of the island for most dives, which has the best diving. The reefs are healthy but have a little bit of coral bleaching (as does most of the Caribbean), you are likely to see a plethora of normal reef fish, eagle rays, reef sharks, and hopefully…. whale sharks!! Utila is famous for its whale sharks and we will be there during the whale shark high season. If our captain hears of a whale shark nearby, we will drive to the whale shark and allow everyone to snorkel with it. We don’t usually scuba dive with whale sharks… unless we are already in the water diving and the whale shark happens upon us (this is rare but we can always hope for it)

Yes this is possible, if you have a friend or significant other you want to share a room with, we can work out a lower price for both of you, though the majority of the costs are related to food, host fees, paying the yoga teachers, scuba diving, local transport, etc, so splitting the room will likely take something like a few hundred dollars off per person but it won’t split the price in half or anything that dramatic, given the above mentioned costs are per person, and not per room. Let me know if you are interested in this though and I am sure we can figure it out!

Right now, the majority of people who have expressed interest in this retreat are in their late 20s-late 30s, and the majority of them work a full time job. Some people live in larger cities like NYC, San Francisco, and a few others are also digital nomads who work full time while travelling. It’s shaping up to be a cool group of people who are in similar places in life based all over the US and Central America, but of course we welcome anyone who will be a good vibe and wants to experience the retreat even if you don’t fit the exact description.

Jan 30- 100%

Feb 15- 90% (if you find someone to fill the spot, I will give you 100% of your money back)

Feb 29- 70% (if you find someone to fill the spot, I will give you 100% of your money back)

Mar 15- 40% (if you find someone to fill the spot, I will give you 100% of your money back)

Mar 15- April 20-No cancellations past Mar 15 unless extenuating circumstances that we can of course handle as they arise, it will be really difficult to fill the spot this late in the game. If you can find someone else to fill the spot though, I will give you 100% of your money back!

The cancellation schedule is like this because the closer we get to the date, the less likely we are to fill the room, and the more work it will be to market and find participants for the hosts, so we want to give you as much back as possibly since we know life happens, but it is also a financial investment from the hosts and we need to make sure we don’t incur too many losses if there are a larger number of cancellations (hopefully that won’t be the case).

Yes!! Macie purposely choose to have a male co-host so that there is a healthy mix of feminine and masculine energies at the retreat, as well as both perspectives and wisdoms in all of our convos and activities. Though we will likely do most activities together, towards the end of the retreat Macie will lead one session for just the girlies, and Marcello will lead one session for just the men so that we can talk through our learnings and experiences as it relates to our unique experiences as women/men.

There are a few ways to get to Utila, and your choice depends on your budget and how quickly you want to arrive, and where you are flying in from. Macie will help you with any and all travel logistics based on your needs.

* Option 1: Fly into Roatan, Honduras (RTB), then a ferry from Roatan—-> Utila.

* Flights cost somewhere between 500-800 USD (roundtrip) to Roatan and then the ferry is ~65 USD (roundtrip

* When arriving, the ferry only leaves once per day to Utila at 2 pm, so your flight needs to arrive by 1 pm at the latest (and yes you can make the ferry at 2 pm if you arrive at 1 pm, they will let you skip the customs line if you are trying to make the ferry and then I can work with you to have a taxi setup waiting on you to take you (another 20 USD or so)

* The ferry going back to Roatan leavs Utila only once per day at 10:20, and it takes about an hour, so you need to book your flight for 2 pm or later. You mayyyy be able to make it the to airport in time earlier, we can work on the details and figure it out.

* Option 2: Fly into San Pedro Sula Honduras (SAP), then take a smaller regional flight directly to Utila on CM airlines

* Flights to SAP airport usually cost between 200-500 USD (roundtrip) depending on where you are coming from, and the CM airlines flight costs about 250 USD (roundtrip)

* The CM airlines flight directly to Utila ONLY RUNS ON SATURDAYS. It always leaves at 3 pm from SAP—-> Utila, so your flight into SAP needs to arrive before ~2 pm and needs to leave the next saturday after 10 am, but we can work on those details if this is how you decide to get to the island.

* Option 3: Fly into San Pedro Sula, take a car to La Ceiba, Honduras, and then a ferry from La Ceiba—-> Utila

* This is listed as an option as it mayyyy be slightly cheaper than the other options, but it take a lot longer (the car ride from the airport to La Ceiba is a few hours long and is much harder to time given traffic on the mainland. If you want to explore this option, I will help you compare the prices and other options depending on where you are flying in from.