In today’s world, we’re inundated with messaging around the “right” way to be a woman. We’re encouraged to “be quiet,” “calm down,” and “be appropriate.” We stifle our voices to fit in and keep ourselves safe. To avoid being seen as “too much.”
With all this noise, it’s easy to feel lost. To lose your grounding. To be repeatedly knocked off course, even as you’re doing everything you can to stay centered. To search endlessly outside yourself for the answer…consuming more and more in an effort to “shape up” or “fix” what’s wrong.
Until one day you look up and realize…you don’t even recognize yourself anymore. That somewhere along the way–in the sea of other people’s opinions and ideas about who you “should” be–you’ve lost track of who you really are and what you truly desire.
It’s time to cut through all this BS that tells you who and how to be. It’s time to get back to the core, to unleash the gift that you are, and to rediscover your most sacred, most essential expression.
You’re not alone, sister. These are all ways we’ve been taught to hide who we are and to cover up our essential expression!
Maybe you’re not sure what “your unique expression” is anymore. Maybe you’ve been suppressing it so long that you’re afraid to find out. Or maybe you’ve already got an inkling of how delicious you are and you’re simply looking to deepen into your next level of authenticity and vulnerability inside a sacred container.
No matter where you are on your path, The Expressed Woman mini retreat is a doorway back to you, in every sense of what that means to you. It’s a sacred opportunity to slow down, tune in, and nourish yourself alongside redefining what expression means in your life from the inside out. It’s time to stop apologizing for who you are, and to step into your essential expression, and the way it moves uniquely through you.
As women, it’s the ability to be fully & authentically connected to yourself and to others that’s key to your health, happiness, and satisfaction.
Yet, it’s really challenging to step into this knowing when you’re rushing through life and activities, by checking off boxes of self-care, and believing the BS in the transformational industry that there is something about yourself that you need to fix. There is NOTHING wrong with you. Instead, it’s time to become more of YOU.
In other words, it’s time to soften and give yourself space with others in community to nourish a connection to your own soul and what lights you; that free, unbridled, uninhibited part of you that is inside you even as you’re reading this page.
Admission: The full investment is $97 for this day retreat, but there’s a special discounted rate of $47 available for you until June 2nd.
Location: The Goodland, a fun and hip Santa Barbara boutique hotel
To extend the impact of this work into the larger community, I will be donating 10% of all proceeds to Rachel Elizabeth Cargle’s non-profit organization Therapy for Black Women and Girls, which provides mental health services funding to women of color (you can learn more here about this very important cause: https://www.gofundme.com/rachelcargle)
Please note that advance reservations ARE REQUIRED to reserve your spot and space is capped at 50 women!
REFUND POLICY: Tickets are non-refundable. You are responsible for the full fee regardless of whether you actually attend or complete the program. In the event that you get sick or have an emergency, you can either transfer your ticket to someone else, or choose to donate the full amount to Rachel Cargle’s non-profit organization.
“Before working with Melanie I had been searching for support and for like- minded souls. After attending Melanie’s free event, I knew that I had found my tribe: Melanie was speaking my language. This journey has completely changed my life, I feel stronger, more connected to my truth, supported in this life, and more intuitive. Melanie is a safe space, she sees you, and welcomes you home.”
Get ready for a day of embodied learning and exploring, as well as restoration and relaxation, AND sisterhood!
As women, we’re taught to believe that our needs can wait until later…that we’re only allowed to slow down after everything and everyone else is taken care of.
We squelch our desires and isolate ourselves to keep others comfortable, cutting ourselves off from our own life force, and the power of community in the process.
It’s time to wake up to ourselves…and to break free from all we’ve been taught to be and all we’ve been taught to hide.
This day-long immersion is designed to nourish you from the inside out. It’s a space where you can be seen and heard, softening into who you really are.
Throughout our time together I’ll combine my integrated approach of body-centered life coaching, feminine embodiment practices and rituals, journaling, sisterhood and sharing in safe space, yoga, and so much more to support you in deepening your understanding of your own expression.
You’ll get to:
Also, I feel thrilled that throughout the day I will be weaving into our journey three amazing experts whom I adore, and whose incredible content will support you in deepening into the exploration I’ll be leading you through.
These women are leaders in their fields, and each of them has a wealth of wisdom to share around embodying and nurturing expression in all its forms. Joining for these mini-workshops integrated into our work together will be an herbalist/apothecary owner, an acupuncturist/women’s cycles expert, and a reiki practitioner.
At the end of our time together I’ll also be sharing ways to continue to your journey, if you’re feeling the call to learn more.
It’s my intention that you walk away feeling empowered, inspired and connected to the core of who you are and what “living fully expressed” means to you.
“The room of uniquely beautiful women gathered in a circle to introduce themselves and share what they were bringing with them and what they wanted to leave with. Some brought love and wished to leave with laughter, while others brought friendship and hoped to leave with acceptance. Each woman in the circle came from a place of vulnerability and open mindedness as they let themselves see and be seen by the other warm faces in the room”.
Ashley (Ashe) Kelly-Brown is the co-owner and creator of Pura Luna Womens Apothecary, a plant medicine boutique store, event space, and healing center in SB. She is best known for her work as the lead makeup artist and co-owner of LunaBella Makeup and Hair. She is also an herbalist and peri-steam hydrotherapist.
Her journey to holistic healing and alternative medicine came about from a desire to heal herself 7 years ago. She was introduced to the healing plants of the rainforest and their physical and spiritual medicine. In addition to healing and learning from the plants, she took several courses in other healing modalities. Her mission in life is to help women heal themselves and create spaces to do.
puralunaapothecary.com
Kris González is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Board-Certified Herbalist and guide into the lost art of radical self-care called Nourishing Life or 養生 yǎng shēng. The principles are based on the preservation of health, not just the treatment of disease. The methods promote health and longevity and guides us away from those that might cause harm. She specializes in Female Healing Arts. She teaches her female patients how to gain an understanding of their biological rhythms within the lens of Chinese Medicine. She educates on gracefully approaching the 7 year cycles of Women, Menstrual Attunement, and Longevity Medicine. She is a certified Healer Within Practice Leader from the Institute of Integral Qigong and Taichi and is also certified in the therapeutic application of essential oils; Aroma AcuTouch. She is also the resident acupuncturist for Peristeam Hydrotherapy Institute aka Steamy Chick where she provides herbal consultations and education on perineal steaming for healing gynecological and andrological conditions using steam and smoke therapy also known as fumigation therapy in Chinese Medicine. She is also a faculty member at the Wise Womb Medicine Path.
www.thewayofyin.com
Hi I’m Nicole Morgan, owner and founder of Nicole Morgan Healing. I’m an intuitive, Reiki coach, yogi, fitness enthusiast, dancer, and always a goofball. One of the main modalities I lead with is Reiki which is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. A Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing, Reiki is administered by “laying on hands.”
I hope to inspire, but also motivate. I hope to learn, but also to experience. I hope that my actions can teach others that it is possible. I am a girl that will dance even when there is no music to be heard. I am a girl that laughs every day because when you smile and laugh the rest of the universe will join in on your happiness. I am a girl with big dreams and high hopes.
This is me… I am loving, truthful, protective, humble, outgoing, silly, optimistic, loyal.. I am a daughter, sister, wife, & friend.
www.nicolemorganhealing.com
“Melanie’s approach is nothing I’ve ever experienced before. Shes a mystical blend of coach, sage, Goddess, and your best girlfriend. She sees you, and I mean really sees you, AND THEN she gets you. That’s a powerful combo for feeling seen, got, heard, and validated. She’s incredibly loving, nurturing and makes you feel safe no matter what you’re exploring.”
“When I first met Melanie, it was at an almost-too-good-to-be-true day of yoga and sharing that she was offering for free to women. I instantly connected with her warmth and sincerity and felt somehow changed for the better by those shared hours and I was excited about what might happen next.”
When opportunities like this show up, I know how easy it can be to back away. You might be reading this and feeling “YES! YES! YES!” inside, and I imagine you’re human and you may have some of these thoughts, too! Check out what some of my previous and current participants have said.
Q: I won’t know anyone. Will everyone know each other already?
A: “A quality of consciousness that Melanie invites with her unique genius drew together a gathering of amazing, intentional women.” -A.L.
Q: I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do there and I’m scared it might feel uncomfortable.
A: “After attending Melanie’s [previous] event, Occupy Beauty, I knew that I had found my tribe: Melanie was speaking my language.” -G.R.
Q: I haven’t done yoga in years. I’m not sure I even can.
A: “She knows the mechanics of the body and gave me some invaluable tools – minor but mighty, that have helped my practice on the mat tremendously.” -R.S. | “Before working with Melanie, I was really uncomfortable, almost afraid, of being in my body.” K.D.
Q: I have a hard time opening up with other women. Is this another way to feel left out or inferior?
A: “Working with Melanie and gathering with incredible women who continue to inspire, offer friendship and create an undeniable sisterhood -that is love and pure magic.” -L.S.
Q: What if I discover something new about myself and realize I want to make a big change in my life? Can I handle that?
A: “I instantly connected with her warmth and sincerity and felt somehow changed for the better by those shared hours and I was excited about what might happen next.” -M.C.
Q: Six hours? Can I really take that much time away from all the things I have to get done?
A: “There is always so much to get done. That will never change. But taking the time for “me”, above anything or anyone else, not only sustains me, but nourishes me. I’ve learned this intentional time is now required for my health and well-being.” C.D.
If you’re feeling a “YES!” I encourage you to follow it – trusting that you don’t need to know the why or the how.
Imagine having me, and an expert team of women who can hold that space with you during this powerful immersive retreat.
Imagine making new connections, being with women who really see you and get you.
Imagine what could be possible in your world from the moment you leave.
Be honest – if you don’t join us at The Expressed Woman, when will you create another opportunity for yourself to be in depth and in community?
It’s time to respond to the calling.
Stepping into your full expression is a shift from fear into joy, from isolation into community, and from suppression into freedom.
I look forward to seeing you there!
“Today gave me hope and taught me numerous lessons about my value as a woman.”