Annual Sicily Retreat
Oral storytelling and Katonah Yoga®
a week of savoring the simple
A Retreat
to Sicily
July 11th-18th 2027
BOOK NOWA week of Katonah Yoga, myth, and embodied inquiry in Sicily
A week of structured practice, rest, and integration in a landscape shaped by layered history, mythology, and lived cultural memory.
This retreat is not a vacation, and it is not a teacher training. It is a dedicated space for people who want time away from their usual roles to reorganize how they inhabit their body, attention, and direction in life.
It is for people who are drawn to embodied, imaginative practice and story as a way to see themselves more clearly, not just feel better temporarily.
It is also for those who are interested in how myth, story, and place carry inherited ways of understanding life, connecting body, memory, and landscape, and offering a deeper orientation to how we live and relate.
It is for people who sense that something in their current rhythm or personal story is no longer sustainable, even if nothing “external” has fallen apart yet.
It is for people who want depth and clarity, that are after more than gimmicks but a real deepening.
In Sicily, daily Katonah Yoga® practice is combined with somatic dance sessions, rest, reflection, and guided engagement with place, story, and myth. The retreat moves between structured practice, embodied inquiry, and integration allowing insight to land in a lived way rather than remain conceptual.
What to expect?
- People often arrive feeling at a threshold where their usual ways of moving through life no longer feel coherent and leave with a clearer sense of direction in their body and choices.
- Many participants find that what felt abstract or internal begins to take a more embodied form, something they can actually sense and act from.
- There is often a shift from understanding things intellectually to experiencing them directly in the body and nervous system.
- People tend to leave with a quieter internal space and a clearer relationship to what is necessary and what is no longer theirs to carry.
- For many, the retreat creates a different relationship to time, less fragmentation, more continuity of attention and presence.
And a deeper connection to planet, ancestry, and sensorial self. You'll leave with practical, magical, pragmagical tools and practices to carry you at home.
YOU CAN BOOK A CALL WITH ME AND I'LL BE HERE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS
Villa Lumia
Villa Lumia is a modern luxury villa located near Marina Ragusa Sicily.
The villa is surrounded by ancient olive trees, boasts a sea view off in the distance, and is home to a stunning swimming pool for rest and relaxation. The property offers sleek modern amenities and is situated close to Marina Ragusa about an hour and a half from Catania.
The villas rooms all offer air conditioning for your comfort and the practice space will be kept comfortable during the summer heat.
Comfortable lounging spaces for socializing, reading, and relaxing are everywhere.
Join Selena in her ancestral homeland of Sicily to chase the sun and savor the sensual.
Summer in southern Sicily is a sun-drenched escape. The sea is warm and glorious. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells of Sicily. A full sensory tour to nourish and excite the whole of you.
Our home for the week is a modern lux villa near Marina Ragusa.
You will be treated with a very special practice experience twice a day (most days) including Katonah Yoga® somatic dance, and oral storytelling with my very unique blend of embodied storytelling and contemplative work that embraces the fullness of your humanity.
Outside of practice together we'll visit neighboring beaches and historical villages to deepen our sensory explorations.
This is a retreat into the simple pleasures of life, an invitation to reconnect with the ground beneath our feet, and the bounty of the earth that holds us.
You'll benefit from Selena's extensive knowledge of Italy and Sicily, a place she's worked as an archaeologist and researcher in her previous career.
Separate from your day to day, enter the liminal space of creativity, and re-emerge more deeply connected to yourself and the larger sphere that holds you.
During our week together Selena will weave expert oral storytelling with movement practice to nourish the whole of you. Explorations in embodied myth and folk tales will light the fire of your imagination.
In the first part of the day, we will practice vigorously to stoke our personal fires and to explore your sensations and personal terrain both formally and informally.
Embodied moving myth will add complexity and nourishment to your practices.
We'll practice in our common area with comfortable air conditioning to beat the July heat.
Pre-practice you'll be served fresh fruit, yogurt, and coffee and after a sweaty practice we will savor a big brunch. Every evening a dinner highlighting the best of seasonal and local cuisine with our private chef including a special cooking class.
In your evening sessions we'll gather for breath work, storytelling and personal contemplations.
If you are teacher your retreat week includes 10 hours bankable towards your Katonah Yoga® certification.
Guests should travel into Catania Sicily. Taxis and buses to our venue are easy to arrange. We will be assisting groups of guests in sharing car rentals for island explorations and with booking taxis to the venue.
Recordings of many of the stories will be given to you post retreat.
JOIN US
Shared Room
€2900
double occupancy
couples or shared bed email [email protected] for your rate
EARLYBIRD
• Early bird pricing until February 1st
• 6 x's morning practice
• 5x's evening practice
• 7 x's nights accommodation
•Tea, coffee, water, juice
•Morning light breakfast, Large Brunch + Dinner
•Cooking class
•Surprise excursion
Optional:
-Boat day weather dependent
-Wine tasting at local vineyard with dinner €75 euro per person
-Rental car for touring the area
Confirm your interest at booking in the notes
BOOK NOWSingle Room
€3600
Single occupancy
EARLYBIRD
• Early bird pricing until February 1st
• 6 x's morning practice
• 5x's evening practice
• 7 x's nights accommodation
•Tea, coffee, water, juice
•Morning light breakfast, Large Brunch + Dinner
•Cooking class
•Surprise excursion
Optional:
-Boat day weather dependent
-Wine tasting at local vineyard with dinner €75 euro per person
-Rental car for touring the area
Confirm your interest at booking in the notes
BOOK NOWJunior Suite
€4300
Single occupancy
couples email [email protected] for your rate
EARLYBIRD
• Early bird pricing until February 1st
• 6 x's morning practice
• 5x's evening practice
• 7 x's nights accommodation
•Tea, coffee, water, juice
•Morning light breakfast, Large Brunch + Dinner
•Cooking class
•Surprise excursion
Optional:
-Boat day weather dependent
-Wine tasting at local vineyard with dinner €75 euro per person
-Rental car for touring the area
Confirm your interest at booking in the notes
BOOK NOWWhat To Expect...
Nourishment
Savor three, farm-fresh meals filled with local fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and fresh fish. Vegetarian and vegan diets can be accommodated.
Each morning you'll be served fresh fruit, coffee, and tea before practice. After our vigorous session appropriate for all levels you'll enjoy a big brunch.
In the evening expect delightful curated dinners showcasing the best that Sicily has to offer.
Exploration
Twice-daily yoga practices incorporating somatic movement, breathwork, meditation, storytelling, and more. All levels are welcome. These practices will spark your curiosity and invite you into deeper relationship with you.
We'll explore folklore and mythology and weave the story into our embodiment work for a full spectrum experience of archetypes beyond our everyday.
Play
Swim, relax, visit a winery, walk the property, escape to medieval churches, wander the property and ancient nearby olive groves, savor the spa. .
Taste the dolce vita with this once in a lifetime experience.
Optional add on excursions like wine tastings, boat trips,and excursions to ancient villages will be made available a few months ahead of our retreat and on site. Renting a car with others is a great way to visit exclusive beaches and places within our area.
Retreat With Me
Sarah M.
Let me begin by saying, if I could give Selena and this trip fifty stars, I would in a heartbeat. I understand how cliche it is to say, “This trip changed my life!” But it truly did. Selena provided a safe space to reconnect with my body, mind, and spirit as emotions I couldn’t fully understand at the time bubbled to the surface. She left us with a simple statement, “Love your life,” that had profound impacts I haven’t fully grasped. While Greece was outstanding, the people incredible, the food fantastic, and the resort impeccable, the internal movement this created within me is something I will be forever indebted to. I will be returning in the future. Selena changed my life. If you’re considering going, even a tiny bit, hold tight to it and don’t let go. It’ll make you love your life again. I promise.
