Adults Retreat in Vermont
A reflective retreat for anyone wanting to strengthen emotional resilience, realign with their values, understand the mind with greater clarity, and live with steadiness and intention in challenging times.
STOWE, VERMONT | 26TH TO 29TH MARCH, 2026
Many adults reach moments when life feels less certain than it once did. A chapter shifts, a direction changes, or a familiar path begins to open into something new. These periods can be full of possibility, but they can also test our steadiness.
Even when we know the kind of life we want to lead, familiar obstacles rise up and take the wheel: reactive emotions, narrowing thoughts, old relational patterns, or internal narratives that keep us small.
This retreat offers a thoughtful place to step back, breathe, and reconnect with what matters most.
Whether you are navigating change, considering a new direction, or seeking greater clarity and grounding, the retreat brings together guided reflection, practical skills, meaningful conversation, and the steadying rhythm of time in nature. It is designed for adults who want not only to understand themselves and others more deeply but to fortify their ability to live in closer alignment with their values.
Athara Retreats by Seoka Salstrom, PhD, offers an opportunity to do just that.
Why This Retreat Exists
At Athara Adventures, we created this retreat because living a meaningful, values-led life requires more than good intentions. Most people care deeply about who they want to be - with their families, their communities, their colleagues, and themselves. But caring is not the same as being able to live that way consistently.
Increased environmental pressures, emotional reactivity, old stories, relationship dynamics, stress, fear, and the mind’s protective habits can override even the clearest values.
This retreat exists to help you build the emotional resilience that makes valued living possible.
It offers a grounded, experiential space to understand what gets in the way of living your values, and to strengthen the skills that allow you to move through those obstacles with steadiness, clarity, and courage.
Emotional Resilience as the Foundation
Participants are not coming here to “fix themselves.” They are coming because they want to live more fully according to what matters. They want their actions to reflect their values - not their fears or their histories.
This retreat focuses on strengthening the skills that make that possible in real life:
responding rather than reacting when emotions surge
noticing unhelpful thought loops without getting entangled
understanding how past experiences show up in the present
becoming less avoidant and more flexible
navigating relationship patterns that undermine connection
returning, again and again, to core values
These are the building blocks of emotional resilience. They allow people to stay grounded in who they want to be, even when life becomes uncertain or challenging.
We know from research, clinical work, and our own lives that values-based living requires emotional capacity: presence, flexibility, steadiness, and support.
It is not about willpower. It is about having the tools to move toward what matters even when discomfort, fear, or internal barriers arise.
Throughout the retreat, participants learn practical ways to:
• work with difficult emotions
• expand their emotional range
• understand the nature of the mind
• relate differently to thoughts that constrict or discourage
• make choices that align with what matters most
This is the deeper aim of the retreat:
to help you build the resilience required for meaningful, prosocial, values-driven action in your own life - and in a world that needs it.
The retreat focuses on clarity, grounded confidence, connection, and the ability to return to what matters when life feels uncertain.
You will explore the patterns that shape your thoughts and behavior, understand what supports you and what pulls you off course, and reconnect with a steadier sense of inner direction.
Guided by Seoka Salstrom, PhD, the experience balances depth with ease. It invites meaningful exploration while offering structure, support, and enough spaciousness for you to feel grounded and steady. It is a place where you can step away from daily demands and reconnect with yourself in a way that feels honest, human, and spacious.
Exploring the Emotions and Questions That Shape Times of Change
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Periods of change often bring questions that are hard to navigate while moving at full speed. This retreat creates space to notice what is shifting internally and to understand those changes with clarity, compassion, and greater psychological flexibility.
You will explore how your mind responds to uncertainty, how old patterns resurface under stress, and how to relate to difficult thoughts and feelings in more open and resilient ways.
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• how your mind works during stress or uncertainty
• loosening avoidance patterns
• navigating emotional reactivity
• reconnecting with your values
• grounding when the path ahead feels unclear
• widening your emotional capacity
• understanding what supports your growth
• relating more skilfully to difficult emotionsThese themes are explored through gentle, practical, experiential learning.
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Nature has a way of clarifying things that feel tangled. Vermont offers quiet, perspective, and a sense of spacious steadiness - a grounding companion to this work.
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This retreat is for adults who feel life shifting or want to strengthen their emotional resilience. You may be navigating change, feeling “in between,” wanting clarity, or simply needing space to reset.
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• you want emotional tools that support your values
• you want steadiness, not pressure
• you want to respond rather than react
• you value meaningful conversation
• you want clarity around what matters most
• you appreciate nature as grounding
• you want to move through life with greater intention -
You will experience:
ACT-based workshops
reflective practices
experiential exercises
time in nature
gentle movement
meaningful conversation
calm supportive environment
The content is tailored rather than standardised, shaped both by what participants share beforehand and what the group needs in the moment.
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By the end of the retreat, you will have created space to strengthen your emotional resilience and understand he mind with greater clarity. The experience does not promise grand transformation. It offers something quieter and more sustainable: clarity, steadiness and a renewed relationship with yourself.
You will leave with:
clearer values
greater emotional resilience
practical psychological skills
steadiness during uncertainty
connection with others
a calmer internal rhythm
confidence in valued action
This lasting shift is supported by the retreat’s neuroscience-informed phases of Deep Rest, Exploration and Integration.
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The retreat is held at the von Trapp Family Lodge - a landscape of mountains, open fields, and quiet trails that supports reflection, grounding, and steady emotional work.
You will have access to:
• peaceful communal areas for reading, journalling or quiet conversation
• walking trails, skiing (depending on conditions), and open outdoor spaces
• spa and wellness facilities
• comfortable rooms designed for deep rest
• quiet indoor and outdoor spaces for reflectionEverything about the surroundings is chosen to encourage clarity, calm and reconnection. It is the kind of place where your thoughts have room to soften and settle.
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While the retreat is not themed around any specific world event or personal transition, it acknowledges something true and present: many people today feel stretched by uncertainty, division, pressure, or strain. In such times, standing firm in your values - and doing so alongside others - becomes essential.
This retreat offers community, connection, and shared humanity. It is a place to rebuild steadiness, clarity, and courage from the inside out, and to practice living with intention in relationship with others.
This is a reflective retreat designed to support you when life feels like it’s shifting.
Through grounded psychological insight, experiential learning, and tools from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), you will learn to understand your mind more clearly, relate differently to difficult thoughts and feelings, and reconnect with what matters. ACT helps people meet discomfort with curiosity rather than avoidance, and to move toward values-based action in a sustainable, authentic way.
This is not therapy or a wellness escape. It is a considered, emotionally intelligent environment where you can slow down, explore your inner world, and strengthen your ability to live your values with clarity and steadiness.
Begin your Athara experience
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1. Choose your retreat
Select the retreat that fits where you are now.
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2. Book a conversation
A quick call helps us understand what you are seeking and recommend the best fit.
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3. Join us on your next chapter
Experience meaningful personal growth in extraordinary landscapes.
Bringing Love and Science Together
with Compassion and Humor
Seoka Salstrom, PhD, brings more than 20 years of experience as a clinical psychologist, helping people in all stages of life understand their inner world and build the resilience needed to live in alignment with their values. With a grounded, compassionate presence, she blends humor with evidence-based tools from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and experiential learning to build meaningful, connected individual and group experiences.
ACT emphasizes presence, values, and the ability to meet discomfort with curiosity. In a coaching and retreat setting, ACT is not therapy; it is a practical, supportive approach that strengthens the emotional capacity required for valued living - the kind of living that supports families, communities, and a more prosocial, connected world.
Retreat FAQS
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We intentionally create a safe, judgment-free space where vulnerability is welcomed and respected. Group sizes are small to allow deep connection and personal attention. Confidentiality and mutual respect are at the core of our group agreements, which are the foundation of our time together. Disrespectful or disruptive behavior will not be tolerated.
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The 5-day experience follows a carefully designed, yet flexible flow rooted in neuroscience:
Deep Rest
Exploration
Integration
Frequent breaks, optional movement, outdoor activities, and cultural tours are woven into the week to ensure balance.
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We offer integrated support, including:
Pre-retreat virtual orientation
Optional follow-up group and individual video calls
A supportive email series for post-retreat grounding
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All booking journeys begin with a call with Seoka, either by filling out our contact form or by booking time on her calendar. If it seems that this retreat aligns well with your interests and goals, we’ll officially confirm your participation and send you a payment link.
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The 4-day Adults Retreat in Vermont is €2,090, although the price will be conveniently displayed in your preferred currency.
This retreat includes daily brunch, gentle movement sessions, engaging workshops, pre- and post-retreat follow-up support, access to spa facilities, and one special dinner. Please note that lodging, additional dinners, spa treatments, and activities outside the retreat's offerings are not included.
If you choose to stay at von Trapp Family Lodge, we have secured a special room rate for you available until February 26, 2026.
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Yes—but a small one. We limit the retreat to 8–12 participants to cultivate connection with self and others. Many participants join solo, and strong bonds often form quickly in this nurturing, inclusive atmosphere.
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Absolutely. We are committed to sustainable and ethical travel, including:
- Supporting local inns, guides, and artisans
- Following Leave No Trace outdoor principles
- Enjoying locally sourced, seasonal meals
We believe in honoring the people and land we visit.
Photo Credit: Banner image by Laura Peruchi | Lodging images courtesy of von Trapp Family Lodge & Resort