The Wild Heart Retreat
A One of a Kind Somatic Storytelling & Culturally Immersive Tour of Tuscany
September 19th-26th 2026
The Wild Heart Retreat blends cultural exploration with intentional inner work, creating a space where joy, meaning-making, and transformation belong together.
This is conscious travel at its most alive:
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intimate and unhurried
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sensual and reflective
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rooted in story, place, and presence
You'll wander picturesque towns, savor meals prepared by a private local chef, explore world-class wineries, gather for somatic storytelling sessions, and immerse yourself in ancient traditions that still breathe through the Tuscan hills.
This is Tuscany as an insider — not rushed, not performative, not checklist-based.
This is Tuscany as relationship.
Come Away with Us
A Retreat Experience Like None Other
The Wild Heart is more than a tour and more than a retreat. It lives at the intersection of cultural immersion and personal transformation — part Tuscany journey, part somatic storytelling retreat. This experience is designed not only to explore self and story, but to delight the senses and reawaken joy.
Beyond our sessions together, you’ll immerse yourself in the living history, traditions, and gastronomy of Tuscany. You’ll taste world-class wines, savor exquisite meals, and explore the region alongside expert guides who bring the land’s stories vividly to life.
You’ll experience Tuscany as if you were visiting dear friends — lingering over recipes passed down through generations, learning methods of production practiced for centuries, and savoring the intimacy of place that only locals know.
This is not sightseeing. It’s full sensory participation.
Your week weaves together somatic storytelling sessions with Michael and Selena, culinary and wine explorations, and cultural excursions — with truffle hunting, music, movement, ancient art, and evenings filled with story and laughter.
Why The Wild Heart
At some point, many of us realize we’ve outgrown the story we’ve been living.
We’re no longer who we were — but we haven’t yet named who we’re becoming.
That in-between can feel tender, disorienting, and quietly alive.
The Wild Heart Retreat exists for that space.
Here, story is not something you analyze — it’s something you inhabit.
Transformation doesn’t come from force — it emerges through presence, pleasure, and meaning.
Because having fun is a spiritual act.
Because beauty wakes us up.
Because story lives in the body.
Storytelling Immersion
At the heart of this retreat is story — personal story, mythic story, cultural story.
Michael and Selena will guide daily somatic storytelling sessions designed to help you:
reconnect with the story you’ve been living
gently loosen what no longer fits
isten for the story that’s trying to emerge
explore identity through myth, memory, and imagination
embody insight rather than intellectualize it
Evenings will often draw us together around The Veglia, an ancient Tuscan storytelling tradition — gathering by fire with wine, song, myth, and spoken story. A practice found across cultures, but with a distinctly Tuscan soul.
This is storytelling as it was meant to be: communal, alive, and heart-opening.
Savor the Tastes of Tuscany
From dining with our private chef at our Tuscan villa, to the gorgeous cheeses of Pienza, truffle hunting and olive oil tasting this tour offers an unforgettable culinary experience.
Your tour also includes cooking classes so you can take a taste of Tuscany home.
Together we’ll explore authentic Tuscan cuisine and foods from around Italy. You will harvest our prized truffles, make traditional pastas, sample olive oils, savor meals with our private chef, and enjoy the best that Tuscany has to offer.
Indulge the Senses
Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells of Tuscan life. A full sensory tour to nourish and excite the whole of you.
Art, history, architecture, and culinary adventures are only the beginning of this sensory exploration. From music to food this tour will awaken the senses in ways you cannot imagine. Every element of this tour is curated to delight the senses.
The Wines of Tuscany
Tuscan wines are among the most renowned in the world — and we will experience them as they are meant to be enjoyed: slowly, relationally, and in place.
Our journey includes visits to traditional wineries, tastings guided by experts who love their craft, and meals where wine is not an accessory but a story.
READY TO JOIN US?
This is an Intimate travel experience and space is limited.
Take me to tuscany
Tuscany September 19th-26th
Ancient Cities explore with expert guides Cortona, Siena, Montepulciano and other hilltop towns.
Luxury Accommodations luxury accommodations in a newly renovated private villa nestled on the border of Umbria and Tuscany
The Insider's Italy savor one-of-a-kind experiences. Selena has spent 22 years cultivating relationships with wineries, guides, and local experts to deliver an incomparable encounter.
Sensory Indulgences every piece of your retreat week is designed to touch the totality of your sensory experience. From picturesque views and intentional engagement with land and emplacement to gastronomic adventures you're invited to more deeply attune with the sensational and the sensual.
Art & History Expert guided tours of historical centers, the kind of tours that make you fall in love, that cajole the past into the present
Tradition local cultural experiences, the veglia (Tuscan storytelling), and so much more
Renewal savor the late summer sun. September boasts warm weather and cool evenings. You'll have heaps of time to enjoy your stunning private pool and luxury villa. Our villa is situated on the border of Umbria and Tuscany offering views of vineyards, Montepulciano, and rolling picturesque hills.
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.
Sarah Martin
My trip with Selena was EXCEPTIONAL. I have traveled to Italy many times and this was by FAR my most precious trip. Every detail was so special. I made lifelong connections and the food and excursions unforgettable
Janet
Michael is a rare gift of a facilitator, and my retreat was one of the most worthwhile experiences I have ever had.
Julie
Travel Inclusions
- Welcome Aperitivo Experience
- Transportation to and from Florence in Mercedes van to our villa
- Accommodations in a luxury Tuscan Villa
- A bespoke welcome gift to remember your journey
- Truffle Hunting experience
- A truly unique cooking class
- Exquisite cuisine throughout your stay
- Wine tastings with one of the regions top wine experts
- Exceptional tours with guides in love with their subject matter.
- Guided storytelling and embodiment sessions with Selena & Michael
- Professional Photos to commemorate your experience
"This world is but a canvas to our imagination." -Henry David Thoreau
SEE THE ITINERARY →
Take Me to tuscany...Your Itinerary
The exact schedule will be given to each guest in a welcome travel guide.
September 19th
❖ Pick up from Florence airport at 13:00 & travel to our villa (approx 1.5 hours)
❖ Welcome Aperitivo
❖ Welcome Dinner + 1st Veglia
September 20th
❖ Morning Session with Selena & Michael
❖ Rest and enjoy the villa & pool
❖ Evening session with Selena & Michael
❖ Dinner + Veglia (fireside story and song)
September 21st
❖ Morning Session with Selena & Michael
❖ Historical tour of Cortona, exclusive coffee & olive oil mill experience + free time.
❖ Dinner + Veglia
September 22nd
❖ Morning session with Michael & Selena
❖ Cooking Class & Lunch
❖ Dinner + Veglia
September 23rd
❖ Private transport to an exclusive winery
❖ Wine tasting & winery lunch
❖ Historical tour of Montepulciano
❖ Return to villa for rest & dinner
September 24th
❖ Private tour of Siena & the cathedral
❖ Private concert experience
❖ Dinner + Veglia
September 25th
❖ Morning session with Michael & Selena
❖ Free time to restore and rest
❖ Evening session with Michael & Selena
❖ Farewell dinner + final veglia ceremony
September 26th
❖ There will be one morning departure to Florence. If you intend to depart early the taxi will be at your expense but we can arrange it for you. We recommend evening flights or that you intend to fly out of Florence the 27th. Selena can assist with hotel bookings.
"My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness.”
-Michelangelo Buonarroti
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Experience Tuscany Like an Insider
This curated tour is the kind of immersion into the heart of Tuscany that travelers can only dream of. We are here to usher you into the dolce vita of Italy, to let you be immersed in the sights, sounds, art, language, and history of Italy in fully supported way that allows you to simply soak it all in.
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Memories to Last a Lifetime
Your trip includes photo coverage by Selena. Selena is a portrait and landscape photographer and will be offering portrait sessions as well as coverage of your entire experience. After your trip, you will receive access to professional images of your experience to help you memorialize this trip of a lifetime.
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A Personal Renaissance
Gaze at art, read poetry, engage the senses, stir the imagination. Return to the sensory and the sensual, slow down and engage with the land, the history, the food and wine of Tuscany, and awaken your awe with us.
"I got saved by the beauty of the world" Mary Oliver
Let's fall in love
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.
Sarah
“I was legitimately scared to go to Selena’s retreat. I’m not a yogi. I had never traveled outside the US before. I needed to do something for myself. I needed something grounding but outside of my comfort zone. That’s exactly what I found with this retreat.
Peach
Your Accommodations
Our home for the week is an all new luxury villa that perfectly blends ancient Tuscan architecture with color and modern art to awaken your senses.
You will be treated to stunning views of the rolling hills of Tuscany and Umbria, a landscape displaying a harmony of wild nature and the gentle hand of its stewards.
Your stay unfolds as a journey in which all the senses are immersed in an experience of lightness and great beauty.
Our villa boasts views of rolling vineyards, the ancient city of Montepulciano, and beyond.
Gorgeous outdoor dining areas, a private swimming pool, fire pit, and lux accommodations await.
Shared living spaces for rest and relaxation are abundant.
Additional Delights...
1. EMBODIMENT & SOMATIC PRACTICE
For guests who wish to engage fully through the body, Selena will offer thoughtfully curated practices including meditation, breathwork, somatic dance, and gentle yoga. These sessions are designed to deepen sensory awareness, support nervous system regulation, and help you arrive more fully in the present moment. Selena will also guide and DJ a special evening dance session.
2. Exclusive Encounters
These are not tours you book on viator, these are exclusive experiences with Selena's friends, colleagues, and teachers. You'll be treated to encounters that are not accessible to tourists.
3. Storytelling and Myth
Story is the connective tissue of this journey.
In the evenings, Michael and Selena — highly-experienced storytellers — will invite us to gather with a glass of wine and stoke the fire of imagination through curated oral storytelling. These stories draw from myth, folktale, and lived experience, offering mirrors for your own inner landscape.
This is storytelling as it has always been practiced: communal, embodied, and alive.
4. ART, HISTORY, & PLACE
Our cultural explorations are guided by Tatjana Gorina, a licensed expert who has lived in Tuscany for over 20 years.
Tatjana is a gifted storyteller who brings art, history, and architecture vividly to life — not as static facts, but as living narratives.
Through her lens, the land speaks — and its stories meet your own.
A trip of a lifetime...
Your Host
Selena Garefino
Her love of Italy and connection to the land of her grandparents shines through in her passion for the history and storytelling traditions of Italy. She is a lover of food and wine, a home cook, and self proclaimed wine expert presently completing her sommelier education
Selena has guided tours and planned bespoke trips to Italy for 13 years.
She is a storyteller, comparative mythologist, writer, teacher, retreat leader, tour guide, and coach who has spent years guiding people through personal evolution — not just through words, but through the body, through breath, and through deep listening.
She’s an internationally renowned teacher of yoga and meditation, leading global retreats that blend cultural immersion with practices that cultivate clarity, creativity, and inner harmony. Her work is about helping people return to themselves — to find balance, spaciousness, and renewed purpose.
But Selena’s work doesn’t stop on the mat. As a leadership coach and mentor, she works with individuals to unlock their potential, reconnect with their authentic voice, and embrace a life of intentional living. She brings a robust academic foundation — with an MPH from Boston University in International Public Health, a Master’s in Sociocultural Anthropology, and fellowships from Cornell and the Fulbright program.
She’s also trained in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Integrative Hypnosis, and Internal Family Systems coaching — all of which inform her deeply integrative approach to personal growth and narrative transformation.
Your Host
Michael McRay
Michael is Nashville-based facilitator, experiential life coach, and story-practitioner. He’s the author of multiple books, including his 2025 release The Wild Way: Navigating the Space Between the Old Story and the New, and I Am Not Your Enemy, which won the 2020 Best Book Award in Social Change from the American Book Fest. His writing has received praise from internationally acclaimed authors, like Ishmael Beah, Pádraig Ó Tuama, Raja Shehadeh, and National Book Award winner Colum McCann.
Michael’s work in storytelling has focused on everything from organizational storytelling, to storytelling for advocacy and social change, to narrative-driven strategy, to storytelling for empathy and connection, to storytelling for entertainment and community cohesion.
During his graduate studies in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, he lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland and fell in love with the transformative power of telling our personal stories. Since 2013, he has produced and hosted Tenx9 Nashville, a monthly community storytelling event that has elevated more than 1,200 local stories on stage.
His list of credentials is long—with certifications and training in experiential coaching, mediation, public narrative, integrated somatic trauma healing, conflict coaching, and more. And yet, beyond all these lines on a resumé, Michael’s greatest credential is his own human experience of turning his pain into purpose. Out of a story of self-loathing, self-harm, and attempted suicide, Michael has spent a decade healing, digging deeply into what’s buried in his own past so that he can live with radiant contentment.
Michael speaks across the United States on the themes of story, curiosity, and conflict, and was a featured speaker at TEDx Nashville in 2022.
Michael lives in Nashville, TN, pursuing his purpose: to use the power of story to make meaning, heal harm, and repair relationships.
Artistry in Every Room
Each room is its own unique piece of artistry carefully designed by the villa owners. Each has its own personality. You may select the room that speaks to you. There are 3 rooms featuring twin beds for guests wishing to share a room. The larger suites may be booked by couples or friends that wish to share a bed.
Shared Rates for Suites + Shared Beds Available
Have Additional Questions?
We're here to make your experience as seamless as possible. Selena is an expert travel designer and here to assist you with questions about your journey to Italy.
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