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Experience Peru’s beauty and receive the high-frequency energy of ancient codes held within its sacred lands.
Wake up surrounded by the Andes. Walk Machu Picchu and the ancient Inca sites. Take part in Andean ceremonies held by the family who has cared for this land for generations. We handle every detail, from your arrival in Cusco to your transfer back to the airport.
Payment plans are available. Prices are farther down this page.
The experience and training behind the Oracle Woman team
Clinical Nurse with us Holosomatic Bodywork® InnerCamp
Vital energy activation Facilitator Spinal Energetic Practitioner
Accredited by CMA Complementary Medical Association
IBF member school International Breathwork Foundation
CPD-recognized training CPD Certification Service
You need to leave the field of shrinking and enter the field of possibilities. Here you learn to recognize your soul's guidance and live by it.
You’ve always felt more than you could explain. You remember a world of harmony on this Earth, and you understand things nobody ever taught you. But the gap between what you remember and what’s actually around you slowly turned into disappointment. Then you were told you were too intense, or that what you wanted wasn’t realistic. So you started to shrink, to be loved and accepted. And inside, a sentence settled in: there must be something wrong with me. Sometimes, you feel like a stranger in this world, as if you belonged to another civilization somewhere other than Earth.
So you set aside your inner voice and your deepest desires. Somewhere along the way, you learned to follow a rulebook nobody ever handed you, that everyone else seemed to have read. Then came the voices you collected, your mother’s, a teacher’s, and later the coaches and the readings, each one a borrowed piece.
The field of shrinking makes your voice smaller, and the life you came here to live shrinks with it. Being accepted starts to taste like emptiness. Your life on Earth was never meant to feel half-alive from the inside.
And now you’ve reached a point where your soul isn’t whispering anymore. It’s screaming. Maybe your body went on standby, and emptiness moved in. Or you’ve just made a decision that shifted your whole life. Pleasing stopped interesting you a while ago, and your body has started stopping you whenever you head down a timeline that isn’t yours.
You can feel something new and bigger opening. It’s exciting, and it’s confronting at the same time. Choosing a reality you’ve never stepped into asks a lot of courage, especially when everything you learned pulls you back toward the old one.
You may be moving from the field of shrinking, where you kept one foot outside your own life, to the field of possibilities, where your intuition finally has a body to land in. There, following what feels true in your body means following your soul, and being fully here starts to feel steady.
Oracle Woman is here to walk beside you as you create the reality you’ve always wanted. Not someone else’s version of it. Yours.
Your intuition is how your soul speaks to you. And your body is how you say yes to being here. Every human carries these abilities, and for every one of us, they open fully once we come back into the body.
You’re not coming to learn how to become the Oracle.
You’re coming to remember that you already are.
And the first step back to her is coming back into your body, so it can show you what your soul has been saying all along.
Your return begins with 7 days in Peru's Sacred Valley
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01 · Your Oracle Woman journey
The Sacred Valley of Peru asks nothing of you.
You're being carried.
You wake to the Andes outside your window, with no schedule waiting. The air smells like jasmine. Hummingbirds move through the morning. Your body has time to arrive. Then the days open: breathwork, energy work or bodywork if you want it. Meals prepared for you. Walks through the valley. Afternoons with nowhere to be. Evenings by the fire or dancing.
You move at your body’s pace, never at a program’s.
A body allowed to rest and be honest for seven days does not empty. It fills.
Connect with the energy of the condor
Create your embodiment plan
02 · IS THIS for YOU?
This retreat is for you if
- You have felt things deeply your whole life and kept much of it to yourself.
- Your extrasensory abilities- what you feel, sense, see or hear- have sometimes made life on Earth painful or left you feeling disconnected from it.
- You want to understand how your intuition speaks through your body, so you can trust it and let it guide your choices.
- You want to activate your vital energy, feel more alive and remain connected to yourself around others.
- Something in your life has shifted, and you want to reclaim your movement, your voice and what you truly want.
- You want depth, rest, pleasure and discovery, with time afterward to integrate the experience into your life.
The only practice prerequisite
You already have a basic meditation practice, can remain alone with yourself in silence for at least five minutes, and can picture a simple image or scene in your mind. These capacities matter because the practices ask you to slow down enough to receive messages and participate in guided visualization. No previous somatic or energetic training is required.
This retreat is not for you if
- You are in an acute crisis and need daily support.
- You want someone else to tell you what to do or interpret your experience.
You must be 21 or older and able to participate in English. Oracle Woman is a personal retreat, not a professional certification.
Are you a mother wondering how we can help make this retreat possible? Click here.
03 · What will I learn and bring into my life?
Embody your soul’s guidance. Live a human life that feels true, alive and fully yours.
At Oracle Woman, guided practices invite you to explore your intuition through your body, with time to let each experience settle. You will move between learning energetic foundations and experiencing how intuition can be received, embodied and brought into your human reality.
We are not here to take you further away from the human experience. Intuition and embodiment meet in the body, so what you receive can become part of the pleasure and reality of your life.
This includes training, but no professional certification. This is not theory meant to remain in a notebook.
Sense — Learn your body’s language
Through bodywork, breathwork and vital energy activation, learn to recognize sensation, contraction, expansion, pleasure and movement. Amplify the life within you, deepen your embodiment and remain in your own energy without being overtaken by what belongs to others.
Know — Recognize your own guidance
Explore intuitive energy practices, learn how your inner pendulum communicates through your body, and bring discernment to the soul transmissions, messages and impressions you receive. Develop trust in your own guidance.
Express — Give what you feel a way to move
Reclaim your free movement and your voice through breath, sound and dance. Give your desires, needs and boundaries a way to move out of your thoughts and into your day-to-day reality.
Remain — Bring the practice into your life
Stay rooted in your body and the Earth as you bring your guidance into your choices and daily life. Through the seven-week integration period and four group calls, embody what opened in Peru so it becomes a lived reality, not one more thing in your notebook.
What makes this retreat different
Your body becomes your instrument of guidance.
Your body is the most direct vehicle through which your intuition/soul communicates with you. Through its signals, sensations, emotions, and energetic responses, you learn to recognize what aligns with you, what doesn't, and what brings you fully alive.
A once-in-a-lifetime experience of Peru.
Experience the Sacred Valley through Machu Picchu, Maras-Moray, Andean ceremonies, nature, local traditions, and time on the land. Peru is not simply the setting for the retreat. Discovering it is an essential part of the journey.
A retreat where you have fun and enjoy your life.
Oracle Woman is not seven days of constant self-work. There is space for pleasure, laughter, dancing, rest, connection, beauty and genuine fun. Feeling alive doesn't happen after the work. It is part of the experience itself.
Feel safe, supported and energized.
Most women who experience Oracle Woman tell us they leave feeling energized, not drained. The rhythm creates space for meaningful practices, ceremonies and excursions, while still allowing time for rest, pleasure and integration. Vanessa, a clinical nurse, is also part of the team and brings an informed layer of care throughout your stay.
Nothing in you needs fixing.
Oracle Woman doesn't begin with the belief that you are broken or need another version of yourself to feel whole. The resources are already within you. You learn how to recognize them, access them and trust them.
The experience continues into your real life.
Seven immersive days in Peru are followed by seven weeks of integration and mentorship at home. After a full week of rest, four group calls support you as you develop a practice that belongs to you and bring what you experienced into your relationships, boundaries, choices and everyday life.
Tharrie T.
Peru retreat 2025
Peru let me put down a weight I had carried my whole life. Something larger than me. I am lighter now, even on the hard days. Making peace with my ancestors, honouring what they gave me, and living in line with what makes me come alive. The fog lifted. I can see clearly.
Mélina gave me a safe space, through a presence of infinite gentleness. I reconnected with gifts I thought were sealed inside me forever. She taught me how to come back to myself. Simply to myself. To my intuition. To my truth.
Shanny B.
Peru retreat 2025, and private sessions
I kept saying I needed clear answers. A yes or a no. Someone to show me my perfect path.
She simply brought me back inside, to where all my answers already were. My answers, for my perfectly imperfect path. My soul's answers. She held a safe space with a disarming calm, and asked the questions that land.
It isn't about searching further or working harder. Just about coming back to your own source.
Annie Leclaire
Peru retreat 2025, workshop and private session
I came ready to release my emotions hard, to scream out everything that no longer needed to be there. What I found instead is that my body holds all the answers. You just have to ask.
I tried asking my body directly, and it's surprising how well it works. Since then there has been a real awakening of curiosity in me. Coming back to yourself means a lot more when it goes through the body and not only through the head.
The body is a remarkable instrument, and Mélina helps you understand it. If I had to sum it up in one line: an awakening of awareness, held with kindness.
Vanessa Massicotte
Private sessions. Now a facilitator on this retreat.
Before this, I was carrying too much. Emotions right at the surface, stress, doubt taking up all the room.
My body took over. I released more than I thought I was holding. Anger, sadness, joy, in every form: screaming, crying, laughing, dancing. I let go without trying to control it, trusting whatever wanted to come out.
My thoughts are much clearer. I am at peace with myself and genuinely aligned with what I feel inside.
Jody Thériault
Vital energy activation
I was skeptical, but curious enough to try. It took about half an hour before I felt anything. And when it came, it was wild. There was discomfort, and then a real release.
Today I feel calm. Very calm. It is a thousand times worth letting yourself into the experience, even when you aren't convinced.
Sarah Graham
One to one coaching, six months
She helped me hear my intuition again, and catch the emotions hiding behind my old reflexes of performing and self-criticism.
I move forward with more confidence now.
The team
You will not be doing this alone
Facilitator and Founder of Oracle Woman
Mélina Russell
Somatic and Energetic Mentor
Mélina teaches the somatic and energetic foundations of Oracle Woman. Her trauma-aware approach is grounded in an understanding of the nervous system and its regulation and brings together Holosomatic Bodywork®, breathwork, vital energy activation, movement, Reiki, and intuitive exploration. Her work is informed by her training in Spinal Energetic, and she is currently studying Qi Cleansing. She helps women recognize their body’s signals, understand their energy, and develop a practice and inner guidance they can trust as their own.
All her life, Mélina’s soul spoke to her through intuition. She could feel a room before anyone said a word, sense when something no longer belonged to her, and recognize the desires and truths asking to be lived. The knowing was rarely the problem. Trusting it enough to change her life was. For years, she followed what was expected of her and made choices from “I need to” instead of “I feel called toward.” Her body eventually made it impossible to keep turning away: a burnout, a herniated disc, partial paralysis, depression, and grief became powerful stops along her path. None of these experiences define her. They were moments when her body repeated, more loudly, what her soul had already been trying to tell her. Those experiences led Mélina to study the somatic, energy work, the nervous system, channelling, and traditions that have long understood the body as an instrument of guidance. She learned to recognize what a body is holding, understand how energy moves, and give emotions a way to be expressed and released through the body. A turning point came when Mélina finally felt—not only understood—that nothing was wrong with her. She stopped searching for someone else to give her the right answer and began learning how to recognize, trust, and live by her own inner guidance. Oracle Woman was born from that journey. Mélina created the experience she once needed: a space for intuitive women who have always felt more than they could explain to reconnect with their bodies, understand their energy, reclaim their movement and voice, and bring what their souls have been telling them into their choices and everyday lives. She is not here to become another oracle for women to follow. She is here to help each woman trust the oracle already within her and create a life that feels true, alive, and fully her own.Read my background
Oracle Woman Facilitator
Vanessa Massicotte
Clinical Nurse
With a Bachelor of Nursing from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and experience in clinical simulation at Université Laval, Vanessa brings an informed layer of care alongside a gentle, steady presence. She supports women as they explore the practices, put words to what they notice, and learn to respect their own comfort, boundaries, and pace. Her attentive listening helps each woman remain connected to herself without feeling that she needs to explain, perform, or move through the experience alone.
The invisible is not something Vanessa went looking for. It has always been part of her life. She feels energy the way other people feel temperature, and for years, she treated that sensitivity as a personal quirk rather than something worth trusting. What Vanessa does best is listen—not the kind of listening where someone waits for her turn to speak, but the kind that allows another woman to arrive exactly as she is. Her life taught her one part of this, and her work as a nurse taught her another. Together, they allow her to stay present with a woman and help keep the ground steady beneath her. Vanessa has also experienced vital energy activation and body-based work from the other side of the table. Through those experiences, emotions and parts of her life she had carried without fully naming began to move. The work brought her greater clarity, support, and direction during a time when she deeply needed them. For many years, Vanessa made herself smaller so she would be loved. She believed her desires were too big, her needs were too much, and the life she truly wanted might not be available to her. Learning to choose herself helped her reconnect with her intuition, her sensitivity, and the messages she had once learned to dismiss. Vanessa does not accompany women from a place of having everything figured out. She meets them with humanity, gentleness, and the understanding that transformation does not need to be forced. At Oracle Woman, she helps create a space where softness becomes safe, the body’s pace is respected, and each woman can begin trusting what she already knows.Read my background
04 · YOUR STAY IN PERU
What’s included in your retreat
You don’t have to plan where you are going, how you will get there, or what you will eat. You arrive. Your shoulders drop. And Peru opens around you.
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7 days and 6 nights at Samadhi Sacred Valley, surrounded by the Andes, with mountain views from the moment you wake up.
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Every meal is cooked on site with fresh ingredients from the valley, and we'll meet your dietary needs.
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Machu Picchu, Maras and Moray, including your entries, train tickets, guided visits and transportation.
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Andean ceremonies on the land, including a despacho, temazcal and paqarina held by the family who has cared for this place for generations.
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Breathwork, Holosomatic Bodywork and vital energy activation, with practices you can continue using on your own when you return home.
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Energy work, movement, voice, meditation and silence, always offered as an invitation and experienced at your own pace.
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Time that belongs to you. Slow mornings, afternoons with nothing to accomplish, walks through the valley and evenings by the fire.
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A small group of women, with room for deep conversations, spontaneous laughter, quiet moments and connections that may continue long after Peru.
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An afternoon of painting and personal photographs of your experience, only if you want them.
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We arrange every detail, including scheduled group airport transfers in Cusco and all transportation during the retreat.
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A masterclass before departure: a live session to walk you through the journey, answer your questions and help you arrive feeling prepared.
And it continues after Peru
Seven weeks of integration at home and four 90-minute group calls, so your soul transformation sticks in your day-to-day reality. The first week home is yours to rest. Nothing is asked of you.
What you arrange
Flights, travel insurance, passport and entry authorization, medication, personal expenses, tips and any extra nights.
Good to know
No alcohol and no plant medicine of any kind. Take 7 days to let your body clear.
For the mothers
Leaving for 7 days
Last year in Peru, there were sixteen of us. Fourteen were mothers.
Two were not. Every one of the others had the same conversation before leaving. With a partner, with an ex, with their own mother, sometimes with a child who didn't understand why. None of them found it simple. None of them came back saying she should have stayed.
The hard part isn't the logistics
You already know how to organize seven days. You have been organizing everyone's life for years, usually without anyone noticing. What catches is the sentence you have to say out loud. “I'm leaving for seven days, and it's for me.” Not for a training, not for a contract. For me. And it's normal for that to tighten a little as you say it. For many women, it's the first time.
What I take care of
The airport transfer, the accommodation, all the meals, the activities, the train tickets, the entries and every piece of logistics on the ground. You get a packing list, a masterclass before departure, and you can write to me any time between now and January.
What stays on your side: the family calendar and the conversation.
If you want us to look together at how it could work in your house, bring it to the call. It isn't off topic. It is usually the real question.
05 · Rooms
Choose the room that feels right for you.
The Shared Chakra Cabanas include an ensuite bathroom, mountain views and space for your belongings. Each cabana is shared by two or three women, and every participant has her own bed.
$3,900 USD · Single bed · Triple occupancy
$4,300 USD · Queen bed · Triple occupancy
$5,000 USD · Queen bed · Double occupancy
Prices are per person. There is no Early Bird price and no current discount. A $1,000 USD deposit begins your booking and counts toward the total.
After your consent and health form has been approved, our team contacts you to confirm your room and payment option. See the payment details below.
HOW TO JOIN
Two ways to begin.
1 · Book now · $1,000 USD deposit
Reserve your place with the $1,000 USD deposit. You will receive your consent and health form by email. Complete and return it so our team can review it.
2 · Book a free call
Speak with our team, ask your questions and decide whether the retreat is right for you. If you choose to join, you will pay the $1,000 USD deposit and receive the same consent and health form by email.
What happens after your deposit
- Complete the consent and health form sent to you by email.
- Our team reviews it. If the retreat is not appropriate for you, your booking is not confirmed and everything you paid is refunded, including the deposit.
- Once approved, our team contacts you by email or telephone to confirm your place, help you choose your room and arrange your payment option.
- We share the recommended flights, routes, arrival timing and the practical details you need before you book travel.
Travel with support
Many women come on their own. Confirmed participants are invited to a private WhatsApp group, where women leaving from the same city or arriving at similar times may choose to connect. A live pre-trip masterclass covers packing, arrival and the final practical details, and you may continue to email our team with questions.
Wait for written approval and our travel guidance before buying flights. Travel insurance with medical and cancellation coverage is required.
Passport: it must be valid for at least six months after your arrival in Peru. For arrival on January 9, 2027, it should be valid until at least July 9, 2027.
ROOMS & PAYMENT OPTIONS
Choose the room and payment rhythm that work for you.
Prices are per person in USD. There is no Early Bird price and no current discount. A non-refundable $1,000 USD deposit begins your booking and counts toward the total.
Single bed
Triple occupancy
$3,900 USD
Direct payment:
$1,000 deposit, then one payment of $2,900; or two payments of $1,450.
Queen bed
Triple occupancy
$4,300 USD
Direct payment:
$1,000 deposit, then one payment of $3,300; or two payments of $1,650.
Queen bed
Double occupancy
$5,000 USD
Direct payment:
$1,000 deposit, then one payment of $4,000; or two payments of $2,000.
More time to pay
Direct payments to Oracle Woman carry no surcharge or interest, and your exact schedule is confirmed with you in writing. Klarna or Afterpay may offer 6-, 12- or 24-month plans depending on eligibility, credit approval, country and the provider’s current terms. Availability is not guaranteed. If a third-party option is unavailable, contact us and we will review the direct options with you.
CANCELLATION, REFUNDS & TRANSFERS
If your plans change
Your $1,000 USD deposit is non-refundable if you cancel, cannot travel or choose not to attend.
| More than 90 days before departure | 100% of the balance already paid is refunded |
| Between 60 and 90 days | 50% of the balance already paid is refunded |
| 60 days or less before departure | No refund of amounts paid |
You may find another woman and transfer or privately sell your place to her. Arranging the transfer and payment between you is your responsibility. The replacement must meet the retreat conditions, be approved by our team and complete the consent and health form. Any non-recoverable name-change or personalized-ticket cost is borne by you or the replacement participant.
Cancellation requests must be made in writing by email. Comprehensive travel insurance is required.
If Oracle Woman cancels
If Oracle Woman cancels the retreat entirely, you may choose either to transfer every amount paid to another Oracle Woman retreat taking place within the following calendar year, or receive a full refund of every amount paid, including the deposit.
Oracle Woman is not responsible for incidental personal expenses such as visas, vaccinations, non-refundable flights, rail tickets or separately booked accommodation.
BEFORE YOU CLOSE THIS PAGE
Nothing here is urgent. But something in you has been waiting a while.
You already know how the next year goes if nothing moves. That isn’t a warning, it’s arithmetic.
THE YEAR THAT REPEATS
You check with someone else before you check with yourself. You say yes, feel your body drop, and go through with it anyway. You promise yourself January will be different, the way you promised yourself last January.
THE YEAR THAT DOESN’T REPEAT
You feel the answer in your body before the conversation is over. You decide without a second opinion, and it holds. Pleasure shows up on an ordinary Tuesday and you are actually there for it.
Neither column is a personality. Both are simply what a woman feeds, day after day, usually without noticing. You are allowed to feed the other one.
Oracle Woman does not replace medical, psychological or psychiatric care. No results are guaranteed.
Your questions, answered
The retreat and the practices
What can I practise during the retreat?
You learn energetic foundations and explore intuitive perception through meditation, silence, your inner pendulum, breathwork, Holosomatic Bodywork®, vital energy activation, movement and voice. The intention is to recognize your own guidance, receive it through your body and bring it into your choices and everyday life. You can ask questions and try again with guidance; there is no sensation or performance to produce.
It includes personal practice and guided exploration with another participant, including sensing with your hands and describing what you notice. You respect the other person’s own experience and interpretation. This does not qualify you to practise this work on anyone else or award a professional qualification. We discuss your background and intended use on the call.
What if I feel nothing, or strong emotions come up?
You do not need to produce a particular sensation or an intense experience. You begin with what you notice, even when it is subtle, and you can ask for guidance.
If something feels overwhelming, you can pause, step out and speak privately with the team. Tell us what you need; you do not have to push through a practice or explain your experience to the group.
Do I have to take part in every practice?
No. You can pass in a sharing circle, pause a practice or step out of a session. Touch requires your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Bodywork is clothed and non-sexual.
Participation in practices is a choice. The separate consent to private bodywork recording is a condition of joining the programme; the recording question below explains this and the full-refund option.
Will any of it still be there in six months?
No lasting result can be guaranteed. The retreat gives you practices to continue at home, so what you experience in Peru can become part of your choices, relationships and everyday life.
That is the entire reason for the 7 weeks of embodiment after Peru. The first is a full week of rest, no calls and nothing to do. The four integration calls are then spread across those seven weeks, and the last one lands far enough out that we can see what actually stayed. It is also why they aren't sold separately.
Your experience in Peru
What language is the retreat held in?
The retreat is held in English. You need to understand the guidance and be able to communicate your needs and questions in English.
If English is your second language and a word escapes you, ask me. Nobody here is graded on their accent. What matters is that you understand what is being asked, and that you can say what you have to say.
I'd be coming on my own. Am I going to feel out of place?
Almost everyone comes on her own. Mélina and a member of the team will meet you at the airport and travel with the group down to the valley. Every woman has spoken with Mélina before joining; there is no clique already formed. Time alone is protected, and you do not have to speak in a circle or perform closeness with the group.
The women in the group come from different lives and stages. You can belong without sharing more than you wish.
How many of us will there be?
The group is deliberately small, and that is what lets each woman actually be seen.
We take a maximum of 17 women. Depending on bookings we are sometimes fewer, and that is fine. I would rather a smaller circle than a full one.
With you there is a team of three: two facilitators, Mélina Russell and Vanessa Massicotte, and Léane Cloutier, who is our photographer and videographer. That is 20 people in total on site at most.
What does a typical day look like?
A day at Samadhi
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| Before 9 a.m. | Your morning is yours. Sleep in, write or take a walk. |
| 9–10 a.m. | Breakfast is served. You can come when you’re ready. |
| 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | First session |
| 1–2 p.m. | Lunch |
| 2–4:30 p.m. | Free time to rest, wander or return to your cabin |
| 4:30–6 p.m. | Second session |
| 6:30 p.m. | Dinner. Evenings stay slow; some end around the fire. |
Excursion days follow a different rhythm. You receive the next day's plan each evening and can talk with the team about what your body needs.
What kind of physical shape does this take?
Moderate. Machu Picchu involves approximately 2½ to 3 hours of walking on uneven ground and stairs at altitude. Travel there is by train and bus, not a multi-day hike. The programme also includes seated and lying practices, free movement and dance, with room for your own pace. Every outing is optional and nobody is counting attendance.
What is the altitude actually like?
Altitude affects people differently. The Sacred Valley is lower than Cusco, but altitude illness can still occur.
Cusco, where you land, is around 3,400 m (11,150 ft). The group transfer takes you down to Samadhi in the Sacred Valley. A lower sleeping altitude does not remove the need to prepare.
Speak with a travel-health professional before departure about your itinerary and altitude preparation. Tell the team promptly if you feel unwell; do not assume symptoms are simply part of adjusting. Read the CDC guidance on altitude.
Coca leaf infusion is traditionally offered here, but it is optional and is not an established treatment for altitude illness. Speak with your healthcare professional about altitude preparation, and tell the team if you feel unwell. The food section explains coca tea and drug testing.
If you are considering arriving early, discuss where to stay and your altitude plan with your healthcare professional. Tell us about any relevant health condition through the private health review before written participation approval.
Are there any plant medicines?
There are no plant-medicine ceremonies in this programme. The ceremonies we share, despacho, temazcal and paqarina, are traditional Andean rituals where nothing is ingested. The work here goes through the breath and through the body, in full clarity.
The only thing you will be offered is coca leaf infusion, a traditional Andean drink rather than a remedy or a ceremony. There is more about it in the food section, with a practical note for women whose work involves drug testing.
What if I have my period during the temazcal?
You can take part. There is no restriction, and nothing to declare to anyone.
Participation is optional and depends on your health and how you feel that day. Discuss concerns about heat with your healthcare professional before travel, and tell the team if you need to pause or leave.
If you would rather sit it out entirely, that is perfectly fine. The afternoon that follows is free, and you lose nothing by resting instead.
I'm in therapy, or I take medication for anxiety or depression. Can I come?
Several women who come have a therapist, and some take medication. Participation depends on individual health review; neither the call nor a payment replaces that review. You do not have to disclose this to the group.
What I do ask is that you tell me, on the call or on the health form. So that I can assess suitability with you, understand your needs and agree in advance on support if a session brings up something difficult.
If you are in an acute phase right now, this isn't the right container and I will tell you plainly. A retreat opens things, and in an acute phase you need someone who can hold you daily, not a group in the Andes.
If you are in ongoing therapy for something you are actively working on, tell your therapist you are going. Discuss whether the timing and practices are appropriate for you before you book. Do not change medication for the retreat without your prescriber's advice.
Will photos or videos of me end up on social media?
Only if you want them to.
Léane Cloutier travels with the group as photographer and videographer, because part of what you take home is being able to see yourself in it. She works to your consent, not mine. Before departure, every woman gives her answer, and that list belongs to Léane. A woman who says no is not photographed, not filmed, and not left in the background of a shot.
Some women want the images. Others want them for themselves and nowhere else. Others want none at all, and that is an ordinary answer here, not a difficult one.
You can change your mind at any point, during the seven days or once you are home. If your answer is no, nothing of you goes anywhere public. Not on my Instagram, not in an ad. If you say yes in January and change your mind in March, write to me and we remove it from the channels we control. You don't owe me a reason and I won't ask for one.
Separately, bodywork sessions are filmed for safety, yours and mine. Those recordings are private, accessed by Mélina for safety, insurance or legal purposes, and never used as promotional material. There is a full explanation in the health and safety section above.
Nothing shared in a circle or a session becomes promotional material.
Is anything recorded during the bodywork?
Yes. I record the bodywork sessions myself, and this one is not optional. It is required by my insurance, and it protects both of us. This work opens strong emotion, and sometimes what releases is old and physical. The recording is a safety record, nothing else.
It is never published or used in marketing. It is stored encrypted, with access restricted to Mélina, for seven years before deletion. It may be consulted for a concern, complaint, insurance requirement or legal obligation. Léane never films these sessions.
If you would rather your bodywork not be recorded, tell me on the call. It means this retreat is not the right fit, and everything you have paid comes back to you in full, deposit included.
If your question is not here, write to me. You do not need to book a call to ask a question.
The stay, in full
Living Peru, and everything you need to organise it.
Living Peru: ceremonies, excursions and time on the land
Experiences that belong to Peru
The Sacred Valley is not a backdrop. A large part of what happens here belongs to the land and to the people who have kept it.
The despacho, on the first day
An offering to Pachamama, the earth. Coca leaves, seeds, flowers and grains are placed one by one into a bundle, each element set down with an intention, then given to the fire.
It is led by the shaman of the family who owns the land, on their land, in their tradition. It is not a show for guests and it is not something I teach. It asks permission for what we are about to do, and it opens the seven days.
The temazcal
A dome, volcanic stones heated in a fire outside, water and herbs poured over them, and near total darkness. It happens in several doors, and the heat rises each time.
The local shaman leads it, in her tradition. My role is to prepare your body beforehand and to hold what comes after, which is usually where things move.
You are never trapped. You can step out between doors, and no one comments.
The paqarina
A water ritual at the spring. The water is cold and the ritual is short. It closes what the heat opened.
Machu Picchu
Train from Ollantaytambo, about 90 minutes along the river. Two and a half to three hours of walking at the top, with an accredited Peruvian guide and with Maurice, who owns the center and has walked this site all his life.
No trek, no four day trail. You arrive rested and you come back the same day.
Travel light that day. The train allows one bag of 8 kg (17 lb). You bring water, a layer, sunscreen and your passport. Everything else stays in your cabin at Samadhi, and there are free lockers at the Ollantaytambo station if that turns out to be useful.
Maras and Moray
Up on the plateau. Moray is a set of concentric terraces the Incas used to test crops at different temperatures, one ring at a time. Maras is thousands of salt pools, worked by the same families for centuries and still harvested by hand.
The markets
Pisac on Sunday. The weaving cooperatives in Chinchero, where the women still dye with plants and will show you how it is done. San Pedro in Cusco, where people actually do their grocery shopping.
An afternoon of painting
One afternoon. No technique, no expected result, nothing to hang afterward. Color is another way out for something that stays stuck inside.
The night sky
With almost no light pollution, you can see what the Andean tradition reads as dark constellations. Not the stars themselves, the shapes between them.
Evenings are slow. No one asks you to have understood something before you go to bed.
Where you will sleep: cabins, comfort and room assignments
Your cabin in the Sacred Valley
Samadhi Sacred Valley, a family run place an hour from Cusco. The whole property is ours for 7 days.
A small group, never more than 17 women. Seven cabins, one of which is ours. Each cabin is shared by three women (triple occupancy), with one double bed and two single beds. You each have your own bed, ample space and plenty of storage for your belongings, a private bathroom, daily housekeeping, and your luggage carried in on arrival.
Before a spot is confirmed, we talk. I want to answer whatever stayed with you since you found this page: the questions, the hesitations. Then we get to the practical side.
This group is chosen. Everyone in it arrived through the same conversation.
Who you will share with
I place the cabins myself, based on what you tell me during the call and on a short form you fill in before departure. Sleep, early riser or night owl, how much quiet you need, whether you want the double bed or a single.
You know who you are with before you leave, never on arrival. If an arrangement concerns you, tell me so we can review the available options.
If sharing a room is a clear no
Then this is not the right retreat, and I would rather you know that now than find out in January. Every cabin here is shared by three women (triple occupancy), whether you choose the double bed or a single bed. There is no private option for this date.
For some women, a room of their own is what makes deep work possible. That is a real need, not a preference, and it calls for a retreat built around it.
Bookings close January 5, 2027, four days before the retreat begins.
The food, dietary needs, water and drinks
The food
The kitchen at Samadhi is essentially vegetarian, and the food is exceptional. You eat very well here.
Everything is cooked on site, three times a day, with produce from their own organic gardens and from the valley. Chicken and fish are offered on the side for the women who want them. Nothing lands on your plate without you choosing it.
If you are vegan, or working with something more specific, we look at it together before you leave. Allergies and preferences are noted and respected, so you never have to explain yourself at the table.
Coca leaf tea
Coca leaf tea is available at the centre. It is optional, and ordinary tea is available too.
It is the daily infusion of these valleys, going back centuries. It is traditionally offered to visitors at altitude. Strong evidence that it prevents or treats altitude illness is lacking; discuss its suitability with your healthcare professional.
What to know about coca leaf tea
The question comes up, so let us be clear. The coca leaf is a plant that Andean people have chewed and brewed for thousands of years, the way other cultures drink tea. It is served in homes, hotels and offices across the region, to grandmothers and schoolchildren alike.
Coca leaf tea and purified cocaine are different preparations, but the leaf contains cocaine alkaloids. Its traditional use does not make it suitable for everyone.
A practical note, because it matters for some of you. Drinking coca tea can produce a positive result on a urine drug screen, with detection times that vary. If your work involves random testing or a safety critical role, skip the coca and tell me. There is regular tea, and no one at the table will ask why. Read the CDC guidance on coca leaf and drug testing.
About alcohol
None is served, at any meal, on any day.
The retreat is alcohol-free. Please plan not to drink during the seven days.
The water
You do not drink tap water in Peru, and here you will not have to. Purified drinking water is available on site all day, and the kitchen prepares everything with it. That last point is what usually catches travelers out, and it is why eating in one place for seven days is far gentler than a week of restaurants.
The weather in January and what to bring
The weather in January
January is the green season in the Sacred Valley, and the valley is overflowing with life.
What to expect in the valley
Samadhi sits in Huycho, in Urubamba, deep in the Sacred Valley. The days there are noticeably milder than in Cusco, the city you fly into.
January falls within the rainy season in the Peruvian Andes. Expect changeable weather, rain and cooler evenings. Sunny mornings or a specific temperature cannot be guaranteed.
Why this month is worth it
Everything is green. The river is full, the terraces are planted, and the hills have a color they do not have in the dry season.
What to bring for it
Layers rather than one warm coat. A light rain jacket you can put on and take off without thinking. Shoes that hold on wet stone.
If the weather changes the plan
Rain can disrupt roads and rail services, and the itinerary may need to change. We will keep you informed. Check that your travel insurance covers disruption. Read current travel and weather advice for Peru.
Getting there: flights, transfers, passport and extra nights
Getting there
You land in Cusco, at Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ). The transfer from the airport to Samadhi Sacred Valley is included.
Your arrival window
Plan to land on January 9 before noon, Cusco time, ideally between 7 and 10 a.m. The included group transfer leaves Cusco airport at 12:30 p.m., and check-in at Samadhi Sacred Valley is at 2:00 p.m.
Our closing creates space to name what you will carry home and begin shaping the practices into an embodiment plan for daily life. On departure morning, enjoy breakfast from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. and have your bags ready by 7:45 a.m. The included group transfer leaves Samadhi at 8:00 a.m. and is expected to arrive at Cusco Airport between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. Please book a flight departing Cusco no earlier than 1:00 p.m. and confirm your return flight timing with Mélina before booking. Seven weeks of integration and four live group calls follow the retreat.
Where we meet you
Cusco airport is small, which makes this simple. After collecting your bags, meet the team inside at the arrivals exit, with an Oracle Woman sign. If you are already in Cusco, join us just outside arrivals before 12:30 p.m.
There is no one to find, no taxi to negotiate, nothing to untangle in Spanish. Names, numbers and exact details go out with your welcome kit before you leave.
Your passport
Check it now rather than in December. Peru requires your passport to be valid for at least six months past your arrival date, and that is the detail that catches people out.
Entry rules depend on your nationality and travel document. Check current passport and visa requirements with the Peruvian authorities before booking. Carry proof of return or onward travel and your accommodation details. Canadian travellers: current entry guidance.
Bring the passport itself on the Machu Picchu day. It is checked on the train and again at the entrance, and the name on your ticket has to match exactly, so send me your name precisely as it appears on the document.
Arriving early, or staying on
Plenty of women do, and I would rather you know now than after.
Arriving a day or two early in Cusco or the valley takes some of the heaviness out of a long travel day and lets you actually land before we begin. Staying on is the other option. Cusco itself, Lake Titicaca, the Amazon, or simply two quiet days before you go back into your life.
You book and pay for those nights yourself, and I am happy to suggest where to stay. Give me your real dates when you book. The included group transfer is on January 9; separate transfers and extra nights are at your expense. If you miss the group departure, a separate transfer is approximately $40–60 USD for the 90-minute journey.
Cash and tipping
Bring Peruvian soles for the markets, where card payment works unevenly. There are ATMs at Cusco airport and in Urubamba, and US dollars are widely accepted as long as the bills are clean and untorn.
Tips for the staff, the ceremony carriers and the guides are customary and warmly received. A suggested amount is in your welcome kit, so you are not guessing on the last morning or quietly comparing with the woman next to you.
Before you go
All the logistics and your welcome kit are sent once your spot is confirmed.
Your health, safety, consent and privacy
Your health and safety
Seven days of heat, ceremony and deep body work, far from home. Here is exactly how it is held.
The medical side, on site
I hold a current first aid certification. Vanessa Massicotte is present for all seven days. Meet the full team above.
This is not a hospital and I will not pretend otherwise. What it means is that when your body does something you did not expect, you are not deciding alone, in a country you do not know, in a language you do not speak.
If it ever did
If medical care is needed, we will seek local medical assistance. The retreat team does not replace medical care, and access or response times cannot be guaranteed.
Travel insurance is required for the whole trip, including emergency medical care, evacuation and repatriation, cancellation and interruption. Check cover for your itinerary and activities with your insurer; clinics may require payment at the time of care.
What I need to know before you leave
After reserving, you complete the health review before final participation approval. Heart or lung conditions, blood pressure, pregnancy, epilepsy, diabetes, recent surgery, anything you take daily, anything that has ever gone wrong for you in heat.
I review this personally to assess whether participation is suitable and whether you need advice from your own doctor. Payment or receipt of the form is not approval. If participation is unsuitable, all amounts paid are refunded, including the deposit. The temazcal is the element that asks the most of a body, so that is the one I look at closely with you.
Your medication travels with you, in its original packaging, in more than the trip requires. Same for your EpiPen if you carry one. That part stays yours, as on any trip.
Consent, touch and your free will
Every practice here is optional. You can decline one before it starts, or stop it partway through, and no one comments, not then and not after. Your free will is complete and it is never up for negotiation.
You stay clothed for the entire retreat. There is no nudity at any point, in any session or ceremony. Nothing here asks you to undress.
Bodywork involves touch, and touch is asked for before it happens. You can withdraw that consent at any second, without giving a reason. The touch is never sexual and never involves the breasts or genitals. No, stop and not there are complete answers.
Why bodywork sessions are filmed
They are, and you have the right to know that now, not once you are there.
Bodywork is one woman putting her hands on another woman's body. If something is questioned afterward, it becomes one version against another and neither can prove anything. A recording provides a record that can be consulted if a concern arises. It protects you if you were uncomfortable with something that happened, and it protects the practitioner from a groundless accusation. It exists so that neither of you has to rely on memory.
These private recordings are not used in marketing or shared with the group. They are stored encrypted, with access restricted to Mélina, and retained for seven years before deletion. They may be consulted for a concern, complaint, insurance requirement or legal obligation. Recording is required for participation; if you decline it, everything paid is refunded, including the deposit. The four Zoom integration calls are recorded separately for group replays.
The photographer and videographer
Part of what you take home is being able to see yourself there, so a professional photographer and videographer travels with the group.
She works to your consent, not mine, and she never enters a bodywork session. How your choice is recorded is spelled out in the questions and answers, further down.
Vaccines
Vaccination and malaria advice depend on your itinerary, medical history and current guidance. A travel clinic can review the Sacred Valley stay and any extra travel you plan before or after it.
Ask about routine vaccinations, hepatitis A and any yellow fever or malaria precautions relevant to your route. Book that appointment a few months ahead, not two weeks before. Current travel-health guidance for Peru.
What stays between us
What is said in a circle stays in that circle. No one repeats another woman's story, during the retreat or after, and that is a condition of being here, not a wish.
Nothing you say in a session becomes marketing material. If a photo of you is going to be shared publicly, I ask you first, every time, and a no is received without any awkwardness.
Is Peru safe
The scheduled airport transfers and programme outings are organised with the group. The centre is family run and fenced. During free time or independent travel, you remain responsible for your own plans and normal travel precautions.
If someone at home is worried about you going, this is the paragraph to show them.
The quiet promise underneath all of it
You are not asked to be brave with your own body here. If something hurts or frightens you, or you need to stop, you say so and it stops.
Nothing in these seven days asks you to override yourself. That would be the opposite of the work.
Leaving home, family life and staying in touch
The honest part
How to leave for 7 days without the kids
Leaving for 7 days without the kids can be a lot.
Especially when you have already made choices that shook up your personal life.
And it is normal for it to stir something.
Notice that you are not asking permission. You are announcing a decision and handling it well afterward. Those are two different postures, and the second one lands differently.
The part that is harder to say
For some women, the real fear is not a badly organized week.
It is seven days where no one needs anything, and finding out they liked it. And then wondering what that says about them.
It says you were carrying a load, and your body noticed the moment it was set down. Relief measures a weight, it is not a verdict on your love. The women who feel it are usually the ones who have held the most for the longest.
What actually happens on the flight home is that most women want to see their people. Not out of duty. They just want to.
. . .
What there actually is to put in place
Write out the ordinary week. School runs, meals, appointments already booked, who does bedtime. On paper there is almost always less to manage than there is at 11 p.m. in your head.
Give the whole picture to one person rather than splitting it between four. Splitting creates coordination, and you are the one who will do it.
Leave one emergency page: my number, the number for the center, the address and your flight details.
Tell the kids early, in simple words, with the return date somewhere they can see it. Ten clear days is far easier for a child than a vague absence.
And yes, you can reach them
There is wifi at Samadhi and no one takes your phone. Call home as often as you need to.
What most women notice around the third day is that they check less, without having decided to.
The only hard part
The only thing you will really have to do is own the decision to choose yourself.
Everything else is a scheduling problem, and you have solved worse before lunch.
Let’s talk
Have a question?
Email us at [email protected] or fill out the form here.
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We’ll respond to your question by email. Please do not include medical details here.
Prefer to talk with Mélina?
Book a free discovery call to ask your questions and explore whether Oracle Woman is right for you. There is no obligation to join. If the calendar does not load, open the booking page here.
NOTICE: Oracle Woman is a somatic and energetic experience. It does not replace medical, psychological or psychiatric care, and it is neither a diagnosis nor a treatment. Mélina Russell is not a doctor and not a psychologist. No results are guaranteed. What is described on this page comes from what has been observed and reported by participants of previous retreats and programs. Every woman goes through her own process. If you are under the care of a health professional, talk to them about taking part before you book.
