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This is where you leave the field that taught you to shrink and enter a field of aliveness and inner peace.
You feel more than you can explain.
You receive sensations, desires, messages, and inner movements, but you don't always know what belongs to your intuition, your energy, your fear, or the expectations you have carried for years.
Your soul has never stopped communicating. But you learned to look outside yourself before trusting what you receive.
From the outside, your life may look like it works. You answer every message. You keep everyone going. Inside, part of you is still waiting.
You can feel the life you want. Your desires are not missing. They are waiting to become choices.
Oracle Woman gives you the space, practices and support to recognize how your soul communicates through your body, understand your energy, trust what you receive and let it shape real choices.
We support you in deepening your ability to read your soul’s guidance through your body, recognize what is and isn’t aligned for you, and turn that guidance and your desires into real choices and a life you actually live.
This is not one more insight that stays in your notes. During retreat in Peru, you experience it. During the seven weeks that follow, you are supported in living it.
Your return begins in Peru's Sacred Valley
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01 · 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 5 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.
02 · 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 is a personal retreat, not a professional certification.
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 7-week integration period and 4 group calls, embody what opened in Peru through choices, boundaries and a practice you can continue at home.
03 · Your Oracle Woman journey
The Sacred Valley of Peru asks you for nothing.
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 7 days does not empty. It fills.
Connect with the energy of K’uychi, the rainbow.
Turn your soul’s guidance and desires into reality.
How is this immersive retreat different?
Your body becomes your instrument of guidance.
Your body is the most direct way your soul speaks. Its sensations and emotions show you what aligns with you, what doesn’t, and what brings you fully alive.
You hold the sky and the Earth at the same time
We were taught to figure everything out on our own. When you say yes to your soul, your intuition becomes an inner compass you can lean on, in coherence with something greater than you. It opens a living library, from your soul’s memory to the Earth’s, and you choose what to take from it. Everyone carries this capacity. Listening is a choice.
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 7 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.
7 immersive days in Peru are followed by 7 weeks of integration and mentorship at home. After a full week of rest, 4 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
1:1 coaching, 6 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
I teach the somatic and energetic foundations of Oracle Woman. My trauma-aware approach is grounded in education about the nervous system and its regulation. I bring together bodywork, breathwork, vital energy activation, movement, Reiki and intuitive exploration to help you recognize your body’s signals, understand your energy and develop guidance you can trust as your own.
I completed training as a Certified Holosomatic® Bodywork Facilitator through InnerCamp, a CMA-registered training school, CPD-accredited course provider and IBF member school. I have also completed training as a Vital Energy Activation Facilitator and Spinal Energetic Practitioner. I am currently completing training in Qi Cleansing.Read my background
Oracle Woman Facilitator
Vanessa Massicotte
Clinical Nurse
I hold a Bachelor of Nursing from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and have experience in clinical simulation at Université Laval. I bring that background and a gentle, steady presence to our time together. I support you as you explore the practices, put words to what you notice, and respect your own comfort, boundaries and pace. You do not have to explain, perform or move through the experience alone.
The invisible is not something I went looking for. It has always been part of my life. I feel energy the way other people feel temperature. For years, I treated that sensitivity as a personal quirk rather than something worth trusting. Listening is at the heart of how I accompany you. My life and my work as a nurse have taught me to stay present and make room for you to arrive exactly as you are. I have also experienced vital energy activation and body-based work as a participant. Emotions and parts of my life I had carried without fully naming began to move. Those experiences brought me clarity, support and direction when I deeply needed them. For many years, I made myself smaller so I would be loved. I believed my desires were too big and my needs were too much. Learning to choose myself helped me reconnect with my intuition, my sensitivity and the messages I had learned to dismiss. I do not come to you with everything figured out. I meet you with humanity and gentleness. At Oracle Woman, I help create a space where your pace is respected and you can begin trusting what you already know.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 16 women, supported by 2 facilitators throughout the retreat. A photographer-videographer will also be present to document the experience, always with your consent.
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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
7 weeks of integration at home and 4 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
Alcohol is not permitted during the retreat, even if it is available at the venue. This creates space to feel what is present, settle the body in other ways and recognize your guidance clearly.
Coca leaf tea is available on site and is always optional. It is traditionally offered for altitude comfort, and coca leaves are also used in the despacho ceremony. There is no ayahuasca or other psychoactive plant medicine.
For the mothers
Leaving for 7 days
The hard part is not organizing 7 days. It is saying, “I am leaving for 7 days, and it is for me.”
That sentence can bring up guilt, questions and conversations with a partner, an ex, your own mother or a child who does not fully understand. None of that means you should not go. It means this choice matters.
The part only you can choose
You have been organizing everyone’s life for years, usually without anyone noticing. A week for you can feel unfamiliar because it may be one of the first times the reason is simply: for me.
What I take care of
The airport transfer, accommodation, meals, activities, train tickets, entries and every piece of logistics on the ground. You receive a packing list, a masterclass before departure, and you can write to me any time between now and January.
What stays on your side is the family calendar and the conversation.
If you want us to look together at how it could work in your home, bring it to the call. It is not off topic. It is usually the real question.
05 · Rooms
Choose the room that feels right for you.
The 6 Shared Chakra Cabanas include an ensuite bathroom, mountain views and space for your belongings. Each cabana is shared by 2 or 3 women, and every participant has her own bed. Private rooms are not available at the venue.
$3,900 USD · Single bed · Triple occupancy · 8 available
$4,300 USD · Queen bed · Triple occupancy · 4 available
$5,000 USD · Queen bed · Double occupancy · 4 available
Room choices are first come, first served and remain subject to availability.
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
2 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 6 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.
Compare your direct payment options below. All amounts are per person in USD.
Single bed
Triple occupancy
$3,900 USD
Direct payment:
$1,000 deposit, then 1 payment of $2,900; or 2 payments of $1,450.
Queen bed
Triple occupancy
$4,300 USD
Direct payment:
$1,000 deposit, then 1 payment of $3,300; or 2 payments of $1,650.
Queen bed
Double occupancy
$5,000 USD
Direct payment:
$1,000 deposit, then 1 payment of $4,000; or 2 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 counts toward the total and is non-refundable if you cancel, cannot travel or choose not to attend. If our team does not approve your participation after reviewing your consent and health form, every amount paid is refunded, including the deposit.
| More than 90 days before departure | 100% of the balance already paid is refunded |
| More than 60 and up to 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 6 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 4 integration calls are then spread across those 7 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. Each participant’s health review is considered before written approval; 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 welcome a maximum of 16 participants. Depending on bookings we may be fewer, and that is fine. I would rather a smaller circle than a full one.
With you there is a team of 3: 2 facilitators, Mélina Russell and Vanessa Massicotte, and Léane Cloutier, who is our photographer and videographer. That is 19 people in our retreat group at most.
What does a typical day look like?
A day at Samadhi
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| Before 9 a.m. | Your morning is yours. You are invited to remain in silence for personal introspection: 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 is no ayahuasca or other psychoactive plant medicine in this programme. The ceremonies we share — despacho, temazcal and paqarina — are traditional Andean rituals experienced in full clarity.
Coca leaf tea is available on site and is always optional. It is traditionally offered for altitude comfort, and coca leaves are also used in the despacho ceremony. There is more about coca tea in the food section, including a practical note for women whose work involves drug testing.
Alcohol is not permitted during the retreat, even if it is available at the venue. This creates space to feel what is present, settle the body in other ways and recognize your guidance clearly.
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 7 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 7 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 7 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. 2.5 to 3 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 4 day trail. You arrive rested and you come back the same day.
Travel light that day. The train allows 1 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
1 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.
Shared rooms, personal space and room assignments
What sharing a room looks like
Samadhi Sacred Valley, a family run place an hour from Cusco. Samadhi is a spacious family-run place in the Sacred Valley, with room for both connection and time alone.
Our group includes 16 participants, supported by 2 facilitators. The 6 luxury cabanas are shared by 2 or 3 women. Every participant has her own bed, space for her belongings, an ensuite bathroom and daily housekeeping. Private rooms are not available at the venue.
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
Room choices are first come, first served and remain subject to availability. Before departure, I place the rooms with care using what you share on a short form: your sleep habits, how much quiet you need and your preferences.
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.
Shared rooms, rest and personal space
It is completely understandable to feel resistance to sharing a room. The shared format can create gentle connection and support, but you are never expected to socialize all the time. There is plenty of time that belongs only to you throughout the retreat.
Quiet hours begin at 11:00 p.m. so everyone can sleep. In the mornings, you are invited to remain in silence for personal introspection before the day begins.
Bookings close January 5, 2027, 4 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, 3 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 7 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 7 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. 7 weeks of integration and 4 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 6 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 2 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
7 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 7 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 7 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 4 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 2 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 7 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 7 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 4. Splitting creates coordination, and you are the one who will do it.
Leave 1 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. 7 clear days is easier for a child to understand 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.
We’ll reply by email first. You do not need to book a call to ask a question.
Please include your country and time zone, or your city and region, so any follow-up respects your local time. Your phone number is optional.
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.
