Activating The Medicine of the Heart: Kundalini Yoga, Sound Healing, and Meditation

Rest and reconnect with your heart, nature, and beloved community for two nights and three days in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains. On unceded Ohlone & Awaswas land, Mount Madonna Retreat Center is a refuge for rest, transformation, and building community. Mount Madonna is a community-managed space known as a school for Ayurveda and Yoga with temple grounds, a retreat center, and community dining residing on 380 acres of redwoods and grasslands. It welcomes persons of all faiths. 

All human beings are born with a purpose and with their own unique medicine.  Our unique medicine activates us on our path of life and wants to be expressed.  The medicine of the heart is a very important aspect of each human that yearns to be awakened and activated.

In these times when life is moving fast, I ask the question, “How is your heart?”  The heart has its own unique intelligence in the body.   Many ancient traditions have taught us that the heart can be a compass for our emotional health and for where we are being guided to next on our life journey.  This weekend retreat is open to all humans who want to connect with their heart and be able to hear the wisdom and guidance of their heart through Kundalini Yoga & Meditation, Movement, Sound Healing and self-inquiry.

This weekend will be rooted in movement to support participants in connecting with their bodies and hearts and practice listening and feeling what they hear and sense.  Through slowing down, connecting with the land, dance, Kundalini Yoga & Meditation, and sound healing, we will set the atmosphere for the medicine of our hearts to be activated and expressed.  As we activate our hearts, we may find grief, joy, fear and sorrow, and many other treasures.  This weekend will be a practice time to trust all that we encounter on this journey and to bring it out to the world.

Partial scholarships are available. 

Arrival: Friday, April 21st 4 pm

Departure: Sunday, April 23rd 2 pm

Attending the retreat means you are committing to the entire experience. Late arrival and early departure not allowed. 

Location: Mount Madonna Retreat Center  

 445 Summit Rd, Watsonville, CA 95076 

FAQ: 

1. Payment plans available

2. All prices are per person.

3. All deposits & payments are NON-REFUNDABLE and NO EXCHANGES. This includes if the retreat gets canceled for reasons beyond the control of the organizers such as acts of God, Covid-19, or Mother Nature. Purchase of travel insurance is required to attend. Please make sure you purchase travel insurance that would cover a cancelled retreat or your personal need or emergency to cancel your retreat. Make sure to check fine print. Fear of travel isn't the same as not being able to travel. Another option is plans that cover up to 75% of your expenses if you cancel for any reason. In these unpredictable times, this type of planning is important to protecting your investment in the retreat. As a small BIPOC-run business, we are unable to assume the loss for your investment.

Travel insurance recommendations: worldnomads.com or www.allianztravelinsurance.com

Click here for Insurance policies where you can cancel for any reason.

4.  All meals are included and lovingly prepared by the retreat center. The Ingredients are organic with an abundance of vegetables, protein, and fruit. Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and other dietary needs are available upon request. 

Shirley Johnson, LMFT

Healer, Licensed Therapist, Ritualist, Yoga Instructor

Radical authenticity and self-acceptance as a philosophy, life ideology, and a healing practice -- this is what licensed psychotherapist and healing practitioner Shirley Johnson lives by. Based in Oakland, CA by way of The Bronx, NY, Shirley has alchemized over fifteen years experience of exploration of self and specialized training in energy work, movement, psychology and yoga into a passionate profession: restoring intimacy and vulnerability in the collective consciousness through community building and ancient healing arts.  Shirley holds a BA in Modern Culture and Media & Ethnic Studies from Brown University and completed her graduate studies in clinical psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies.  Shirley has studied with a number of healers and yoga teachers including Elder Malidoma Some, Gurmukh, Krishna Kaur, Maya Blow and a number of others.  Shirley is a sought after speaker for various events and training on mental health and wellness, intimacy, and race. She is also a contributor and lead trainer to yoga teacher trainings across  the United States.  In her private practice, Shirley works with adults and couples and specializes in codependency recovery, intimacy, money and vulnerability, especially in Black women and women of color. For more info you can follow her on IG at @soulisticwellness or visit her website at www.soulisticwellness.com

Satya de la Paz August (she/her) is first and foremost a student of Yoga and life. She is also a a Queer, Multiracial, Black Womxn, trailblazer, healer, and community/joy/radical self-love advocate. Offering 14 years of experience teaching Yoga, dance, and meditation, she infuses dynamic alignment, chanting, storytelling, and community-building into her classes. Satya offers Yoga as a means of collective and personal liberation and decolonization: accessing our innate healing capacity through therapeutics and compassion, meeting media-driven body shame through mindfulness and affirmation, freeing the heart of resentment and blame, and healing the mind of ableist and hierarchical ways of moving and acting. Multiple expressions of poses are offered as students are encouraged to listen to their own body wisdom and access needs. Satya is deeply grateful for her mentor, Abby Tucker, as well as all of her dharma and movement teachers, Sally Kempton, Rob Preece, and Sianna Sherman. Honoring the traditions of Hatha Yoga, Tantra Yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism, she empowers multiracial, multi-gender, and multigenerational groups to awaken their true nature of awareness and bliss. Off the mat, Satya is active in social justice movements, gardens, and cooks.

Find out more about Satya and her offerings at soulfowoakland.com

 Please note that this retreat will go on regardless of the state of Covid-19. Some retreat activities will be inside.  Purchase of travel insurance that covers Covid-19 and other emergencies is required. Covid-19 test is required for all participants regardless of vaccination status within three days of the retreat start. Feel free to reach out with any concerns or questions about safety.

Here is the retreat scholarship application. Please apply by March 1st, 2023

The drive from Oakland or San Francisco is about an hour and a half or more. We organize carpooling and make every effort to support those who need a ride. In 10 years leading retreats we have never had someone who has needed a ride not be able to get one. However, we can't guarantee a ride to the retreat. 

For those of you coming from outside of the Bay Area you can fly into San Jose, Oakland or San Francisco. We will help you connect with carpooling. You may want to fly in the night before or plan to arrive before 1 pm on April 21st.

Location: Mount Madonna Retreat Center  

445 Summit Rd, Watsonville, CA 95076 

Here are a few testimonies from previous retreats 

Geetali Testimonial

Zach and Emma Testimonials 

Shaketa Testimonial 

Crea and Jen Testimonials