Life Works: Mother Retreat

Mother Retreat

Dates TBA (last offered Spring 2009)

As always at Life Works our goal is to release women from the limitations that we have lived under for generations. Our place in history gives us an opening to become our full and potential selves. The world needs our compassion, our vision and our nurturing. And so do we.

Life Works is offering the mother of all our retreats, 5 days and 4 nights of deep and life-changing work that is simply not done anywhere else with the sole purpose of freeing women from the compensations that they have made in their own lives because of the woman that raised them. Called Mommy, Mom, Mother, Gran, Auntie and even by proper name sometimes, we each had our own mixed maternal influence from which we modeled our personal blend of how to be a woman.

We have specific sometimes even codified expectations, ways we must behave and patterns deeply engrained in our psyches. We may even think there are no other ways to be a woman in life other than how our mothers were. Most often we are in reaction, either being exactly like our mothers operating on our own personally designed default position and/or being the opposite of them, spending our lives being sure not to do anything, we think, the way she would — conforming or rebelling still as adults. Thus, we are trapped between two mirrors in a funhouse, compelled to be her or not be her. A losing game.

As little girls we look up at the people around us to figure out how to behave. The people most often there were our mothers. We have emulated the maternal influence in our lives without thinking or pausing. Now as adults ourselves we have the opportunity to decide if those qualities, habits and ways of being in our lives need to be adjusted and realigned so we can be our own authentic, expressive and full selves.

Yes, the work is deep and profound. You will be stimulated, irritated, and enlivened as you look at your relationship with her from every angle possible. You will learn about her by experiencing other women reacting to their relationships with their mothers. There will be release, clarity, insight and resolution which will free you in ways you can’t imagine. We work deep into your relationship to womanhood and uncover what is authentic for you. You’ll find a life that is uniquely yours.

Our mothers in many cases gave up their creative lives for us. It is up to us create lives that include all parts of womanhood and the incredible array of our possibilities. The way is not over, under, or around but through this maze of thoughts and beliefs we have about our mothers in order to become ourselves. Do join us.

In our past Mother Retreats, the intensity and depth of the work we did was life-shifting. Participants reported outstanding results in many, sometimes unexpected, realms of their lives. We asked ourselves questions and experienced a sense of deep release, increased possibility and peace both within ourselves and with the women who birthed us. We expect this Mother Retreat to be as profound and liberating.

We intend it will open us to new relationships with all the women in our lives by examining that first and most important one — the one we had with our Mommy. In between you'll have the opportunity to enjoy Wainwright House, eat healthy food, be in nature, relax, rejuvenate, release what you no longer need and realign your intention to have a remarkable life.

Hours are 10am Thursday through 4pm Monday. The fee is $1650 which includes the course, all materials, shared room, all meals from Thursday lunch through Monday lunch. Please make a deposit of $500 to reserve a place. All balances must be paid by one month before retreat. Mark your calendar now. We can promise it will change your life. Women only.

If you have participated in this retreat before, the fee to review is $1500. Please call for additional information: 212-741-8787 or toll free, 877-741-8787.

For printable flyer, click here.

To enroll

Please send a check or bring cash to Life Works, 55 Fifth Avenue 19th floor, New York, NY 10003 to make a deposit for a retreat ($500) or to pay in full ($1650). If you make the minimum $500 deposit all balances are due in the Life Works office at least 3 weeks before the beginning of the retreat.

Homework will be sent to you as soon as we receive your deposit. There is preparation for this retreat and materials to return to us so that we know your preferences for rooms and food, which must be returned at the latest 2 weeks before the first day of the retreat. Please make your plans early to reserve a place so you will not be disappointed. There is no other place that we know of that does this deep and life-changing work. Let us know you want to be with us today.