Midlife Women’s Retreat in France
For women in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, navigating midlife transitions, identity shifts, and life beyond long-held roles.
Château de Puissentut, France · October 15 – October 21, 2026
A reflective retreat for women navigating midlife change, identity transitions, and life after long-held personal or professional roles
Midlife often arrives quietly.
Roles evolve. Children grow and leave home. Careers shift or soften. The pace of life changes, sometimes before we feel ready for it.
What once felt familiar may no longer fit in the same way. You may find yourself asking new questions about who you are now, what matters most, and what you want this next chapter of life to hold. For many women, this stage also carries burnout, emotional fatigue, or a sense of depletion after years of sustained responsibility.
This retreat offers time away from routine to pause, reflect, and reconnect with yourself beyond roles and expectations. It creates space to listen inwardly, understand what is changing, and explore what comes next with clarity and steadiness.
Athara Retreats by Seoka Salstrom, PhD, offers an opportunity to do just that.
A healing retreat for women who are ready to hear themselves again
Midlife can hold both steadiness and uncertainty. For many women, particularly those navigating the empty nest or long-held responsibilities shifting, this stage can feel both freeing and disorienting.
You may have spent years caring for others, organizing family life, or prioritizing work and responsibility. When those structures change, a quiet space opens. It can feel unfamiliar, even unsettling, to return to yourself and ask: Who am I now? What do I want next?
This retreat exists to meet that moment with warmth, honesty, and depth. It offers time and space to pause, reconnect with your own needs, and reflect on the next chapter of your life without pressure or expectation.
Surrounded by nature and supported by thoughtful facilitation, gentle humor, and a sense of camaraderie, you will explore what matters to you now, what you want to carry forward, and what you are ready to release.
It is a grounded, experiential, reflective retreat for women who feel ready to realign with themselves in a meaningful way.
This is a reflective midlife women’s retreat designed to support you through one of the most meaningful transitions of your life
The retreat brings together grounded psychological insight, practical tools from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness practices, and the restorative clarity of being held by nature.
Alongside this, the retreat emphasizes embodied awareness, inviting participants to work not only with thoughts and emotions, but with the wisdom of the body through breath, movement, and presence
The approach draws on evidence-informed principles that support women navigating emotional, identity, and life-stage shifts during midlife, including changes that may occur during perimenopause or menopause, and the emotional and hormonal shifts that often accompany this stage of life.
This is not therapy, and it is not a wellness escape. It is a considered, emotionally intelligent space where you can understand who you are becoming, reconnect with your own needs, and explore the next season of life without judgment or pressure.
Guided by Seoka Salstrom, PhD, the experience balances depth with ease, allowing you to explore important questions while feeling grounded and steady.
The retreat focuses on identity, clarity, belonging, and rediscovering your own voice after years of caring and responsibility
Founder-led and guided by Seoka Salstrom, PhD, the experience balances depth with ease, allowing you to explore important questions while feeling grounded and steady.
It is a space where women step back from daily roles and reconnect with themselves in a way that feels natural, honest, and spacious.
Exploring the Emotions and Questions That
Shape Midlife
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Midlife can bring questions that are difficult to explore within the pace of everyday life. This retreat offers time, space, and guidance to understand the emotional and identity shifts that often accompany this stage.
Through guided workshops, reflective practices, experiential exercises, meditation, and gentle conversation, you will explore themes that help you understand where you are now and what feels important moving forward.
You will look at the patterns and beliefs that have shaped you over the years, and begin to notice which ones still serve you and which you may be ready to release. You will explore the space created when long-held roles shift, and how this change can reshape identity, purpose, and emotional rhythm.
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Together we explore:
understanding who you are beyond long-held roles
emotional awareness and relating to your inner experience
boundaries and the quiet resentment that can build when they are missing
guilt and self-expectation in midlife
rest, clarity, and nervous system steadiness
reconnecting with joy and widening your emotional range
listening to your body as a source of wisdom
meeting fear and possibility with grounded courage
embodied awareness and listening to the body’s signals
using movement and breath to support emotional regulation and clarity
These themes are approached gently and practically. Nothing is forced, and there is no expectation to share more than feels comfortable. This is a space for honest insight, experiential learning, and genuine reconnection.
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This retreat is designed for women in midlife, particularly those navigating the empty nest, identity shifts, or significant life transitions.
You may be noticing changes in purpose, direction, emotional rhythm, or how you relate to yourself. You may feel a sense of space that is both welcome and unsettling. You may be asking new questions about who you are beyond long-held roles or responsibilities.
This space is for women who feel the change of this life stage and want to understand it with curiosity, compassion, and clarity.
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your children have grown up or left home
you are navigating midlife transitions
your sense of identity feels in flux
you feel stretched, tired, or disconnected from yourself
you want depth beyond surface-level wellness
you value reflection, honesty, and meaningful conversation
you want grounded, evidence-informed guidance
you prefer a calm, inclusive, accessible retreat setting
you want time in nature without pressure to perform
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The holistic retreat follows a rhythm that supports reflection without overwhelm. The days are structured enough to hold you, while spacious enough for you to move at your own pace.
There is no pressure to share more than feels comfortable, and no expectation to take part in anything that does not feel right for you.
You will experience:
ACT-based workshops
reflective practices for journaling and clarity
experiential exercises shaped by the group
guided meditation and quiet reflection that support nervous system regulation and a nervous system reset
embodied movement practices, including restorative yoga, breath work, and gentle, purposeful movement designed to support emotional and psychological integration
time outdoors for grounding and perspective
meaningful conversation with other women
optional activities for rest or exploration
moments of stillness and integration
The content is responsive rather than standardised, shaped by what participants bring and what the group needs in the moment.
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By the end of the group retreat, you will have created space to hear yourself more clearly and understand what this stage of life is asking of you.
The experience does not promise dramatic transformation. It offers something quieter and more sustainable: clarity, steadiness, and a renewed relationship with yourself.
You will leave with:
a clearer sense of who you are beyond long-held roles
emotional tools to support midlife transitions
insight into the patterns shaping your decisions
clarity about what matters to you now
renewed confidence in your next steps
a calmer inner rhythm
deeper self compassion
meaningful connection with women on similar paths
This lasting shift is supported by the retreat’s neuroscience-informed phases of Deep Rest, Exploration, and Integration.
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Held at Château de Puissentut in Homps, France, the retreat takes place in a beautifully restored medieval château surrounded by rolling hills, gardens, and open countryside.
The setting offers both connection and solitude. A space to gather and space to retreat inward.
You will have access to:
peaceful communal areas for reflection and conversation
gardens, woodland paths, and countryside walks
a pool (weather dependent) and areas for rest and relaxation
quiet indoor and outdoor spaces for journalling or contemplation
comfortable accommodation designed for deep rest
Everything about the environment is chosen to support calm, clarity, and reconnection.
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, is a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience supporting women through periods of transition, identity change, and life reorientation.
As a retreat leader and coach, Seoka weaves together evidence-based practices from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with warmth, curiosity, and grounded presence. Her work is shaped by a deep respect for the emotional complexity of midlife, particularly the shifts that occur when long-held roles evolve and new questions begin to surface.
Through experiential workshops, guided reflection, and thoughtful group dialogue, participants are supported to reconnect with their inner clarity, develop a steadier relationship with their thoughts and emotions, and move forward with greater intention and self-trust.
ACT focuses on mindful, values-based living and learning to relate differently to discomfort rather than avoiding it. In a retreat setting, ACT is not therapy. It is a collaborative, compassionate approach to personal growth that helps women meet change with openness, courage, and clarity.
Seoka is known for creating spaces that feel emotionally safe, intellectually grounded, and deeply human, where insight unfolds naturally without pressure to perform or fix anything.
Retreat FAQS
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We intentionally create a safe, judgment-free space where vulnerability is welcomed and respected. Group sizes are kept small to support genuine connection, trust, and personal attention. Confidentiality, mutual respect, and care for one another are central to how the retreat is held. Disrespectful or disruptive behavior will not be tolerated.
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The seven day experience follows a gentle, flexible rhythm rooted in neuroscience and human psychology. The retreat moves through phases of Deep Rest, Exploration, and Integration. Structured sessions are balanced with spaciousness, movement, time outdoors, and opportunities for rest, reflection, and quiet conversation.
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Participants are supported before and after the retreat through:
a pre retreat virtual orientation
optional follow up group or individual calls
an optional post retreat WhatsApp group focused on support and integration
This support is designed to help you settle into the experience and carry insights into daily life afterwards.
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All bookings begin with a conversation. This allows us to understand where you are in your life, what you are seeking, and whether this retreat is the right fit for you before confirming your place.
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Price is €3,935 for a double room and €4,630 for a single room.
All accommodation, meals, and programmed activities are included, along with facilitated workshops, guided reflection, daily somatics and gentle movement, and retreat programming. Travel, optional spa treatments, and personal expenses are not included unless otherwise specified.
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Yes, but a small one. Many women attend on their own, particularly those navigating transitions such as the empty nest or evolving life roles. Group size is limited to between 7 and 14 women to support depth, safety, and meaningful connection.
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No. This retreat is not therapy and it is not a wellness escape. It is a reflective, psychologically informed experience that draws on evidence-based approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to support clarity, self understanding, and intentional next steps.
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No. While the retreat is designed with the empty nest and midlife transition in mind, you do not need to identify with any specific label. This experience is for women who feel that a chapter of life is shifting and who want space to reflect, reconnect, and explore what comes next.
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Yes. We are committed to ethical and sustainable travel, including supporting local businesses, honoring the land, and practicing thoughtful stewardship of place throughout the retreat.
Photo credit: Lodging images courtesy of Château Puissentut