The HeART of Living: A Journey through

the Beauty and Impermanence of Life

There is a moment in late August

when the light in Puglia begins to change.

The earth already knows how to let go.

Amid twisting olive trees and ancient stone,

beauty and loss have long lived side by side.

As the harvest nears and the land turns

slowly toward darkness,

something becomes possible

that wasn’t before.

This retreat is for that threshold.

You don't have to be in crisis to be here.

You might be navigating endings or

standing at the edge of something

that cannot yet be named.

You might be carrying grief,

fresh or long‑held, named or unnamed.

You might be a seeker, artist, or lover of

myth drawn to depth over surface.

The Japanese call it mono no aware:

the bittersweet ache of things passing.

The Buddhists call it anicca:

the truth that nothing stays.

The Stoics called it memento mori:

remember that you will die.

In Yogic Philosophy, it is vairagya:

a sacred detachment from what

we cannot hold.

This is not about fixing anything

or rushing toward the light.

It is an invitation to meet

impermanence, as a teacher,

as a companion to loss,

and as a doorway to greater meaning.

WHERE WE'LL GATHER

At Masseria Specula,

a restored 17th‑century farmhouse

on the Ionian coast of Puglia,

we gather in that turning light,

where endings and beginnings 

breathe together.

WHAT WE'LL EXPLORE

Over seven days and six nights,

we alchemize the ephemeral into gold 

with myth, somatics, and sacred arts.

We move through embodied practice

and breathwork, chakra balancing,

Vedic wisdom and sacred movement,

intuitive collage, poetry, and writing

mandala and erasure, archetypal

exploration and symbolic ceremonies,

turning what feels heavy into something

that can be held, seen, and renewed.

We walk the baroque streets of Lecce,

where every stone holds the memory

of beauty and loss, life and death,

and stand at the edge of the Ionian Sea,

where the horizon invites spaciousness 

and the courage to let go.

Symbols appear. Synchronicities unfold.

And deep inquiry reveals the beauty that

has been there all along.

The HeART of Living Retreat is for you if you are ready to:

• Meet loss, transience, and beauty with presence, not bypassing.

• Move and create from the body, not just the mind.

• Work with myth and sacred art as pathways to personal meaning.

• Return home with a deeper sense of what remains, and how to live more fully in the midst of impermanence.

Like Persephone, like the Phoenix, like the grain that falls before it rises:

Descend into what is ending. Return to what is alive.

Daniela and Jasmine met at Columbia University's Spirituality Mind Body Institute, where a Somatic Leadership course became the unexpected ground for a deepening friendship and the discovery of striking synchronicities between their paths, their losses, and their work. Between them, they bring two Columbia MA degrees, the institutional depth of The Jung Center, somatic and creative practice, and first-hand experience of death and loss.

They are not guiding you somewhere they haven’t already been.

Daniela Sarnacchiaro
Originally from California and now living in Italy, Daniela’s path has been shaped by profound encounters with death, including the loss of both parents and her husband before the age of 28. These experiences sparked a deep curiosity about impermanence, meaning, and the preciousness of life, as well as a commitment to exploring how we live, create, and love in the face of change.

Daniela holds a Certification in Somatic Coaching, an M.A. in Psychology and Spirituality from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Visual Arts from UC San Diego. Her research has focused on Purpose in Life and cultivating it within ourselves, leading her to develop a model grounded in the Five Elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Air, and Space. Drawing on creativity, embodiment, and a deep respect for the mystery of being human, Daniela invites others into a transformative process of self‑discovery, meaning, and purpose.

Her work draws on Jungian depth psychology, archetypes, mythology, and the understanding that grief is not a problem to be solved. It is an intelligence. And it deserves a container worthy of it.

@innerlandspace on Instagram

Jasmine Shah
A psycho‑spiritual coach, visionary educator, and Director of the Jung Center’s Mind Body Spirit Institute, Jasmine’s work lives at the threshold where trauma, consciousness, and the soul converge. With an M.A. in Psychology and Spirituality from Columbia University, she is rooted in the archetypal cycles of death and rebirth, guiding others through the underworld terrains of the psyche, where shadow becomes teacher and dissolution opens the way for return.

Integrating depth psychology, myth, and the arts, including poetry and classical dance, she invites a descent into the imaginal as a pathway to transformation. Her work is devoted to creating spaces where the soul can remember itself and to supporting individuals and groups to move toward greater authenticity, meaning, and wholeness.

For this retreat, Jasmine brings the poet’s ear, the justice worker’s refusal to bypass, and the transpersonal psychologist’s understanding that death is not the end of the self. It is one of its most profound teachers.

@jasmine.coach on Instagram