Women of Wisdom Yoga Retreat – Workshop Leader Bios and Workshop Descriptions
Rather than thinking of this retreat as a schedule of classes, think of it as a collection of experiences—opportunities to explore different ways of connecting with yourself, your body, nature, creativity, and one another.
Herbalism & Plant Medicine & Cacao Ceremony — with GabyLu – Week 1 and 2
Explore the healing plants of the region and the wisdom of working with nature as medicine. GabyLu will guide us in creating a plant-infused honey—a little bit of the sweetness of our time together to take home with you. The experience will also include cacao and live music from Ixchel, creating a beautiful meeting of plant wisdom, ritual, sound, and community.
The Wild Apothecary — with GabyLu – Week 1 and 2
Discover simple plant-based practices for caring for your skin and hair using natural ingredients. This hands-on workshop brings traditional plant knowledge into everyday life and gives you practical ideas you can continue using when you return home.
Moon Wisdom Ceremony — led by GabyLu with live music by Ixchel – Week 1 and 2
Gather beneath the Mexican sky for an evening of reflection, intention, ritual, and connection. GabyLu will guide this special ceremony, inspired by feminine wisdom and our relationship with nature’s rhythms, accompanied by live music from Ixchel.
Gabylu Alcantra Gabriela is a mother, healer, and carrier of the ancient feminine rituals of her home country of Mexico. She has done deep study with the grandmothers of her community for many years and applies practices for the womb, of working with plants, and of keeping sacred rituals with the rhythms of the land to her own life and also for her family and community.
Restorative Sound Bath — with Ixchel – Week 1 and 2
Allow yourself to receive. Through voice, vibration, and a variety of instruments, Ixchel will create an immersive sound journey designed to invite deep rest, inward listening, and relaxation.
Ixchel Cuevas is a singer, dancer, and performer from the Mexican Caribbean. She shares her healing abilities through shamanic/Spanish medicine songs. She actively participates in medicine circles and ceremonies, guiding others through transformative sound healing journeys with a diverse array of instruments. Her artistry aims to inspire, heal, and elevate the spirit through the power of sound and movement. Ixchel will provide music during several of the ceremonies and the Sound Bath.
Voice Activation & Cacao — with Maja – Week 2
Explore the voice as a pathway to self-inquiry, healing, and authentic expression.
With cacao, sound, and guided vocal exploration, Maja will invite you to become curious about your own voice—not about how it sounds, but about what happens when you give yourself permission to use it.
Maja Vucenovic is a cultivator of integral well-being and guardian of Casa Arkaana, a sustainable wellness sanctuary. Her path, rooted in anthropology and the humanities, spans 25 years of study and practice dedicated to exploring consciousness and self-enquiry. A student of biodecodification, ethnobotany,
and somatic healing, in addition to being trained as a doula. Maja also holds teacher trainings in Hatha, Iyengar, Vinyasa, prenatal, and trauma-informed yoga. Motherhood is her greatest source of learning, inspiration, and growth. Deeply immersed in earth-based traditions and ancestral wisdom, she learns from nature, plants and elders through ancient cosmovisions, technologies, and healing arts. Through her service, Maja sows seeds of consciousness expansion; supporting others in reconnecting with their purpose and authenticity whilst holding a vision of co-creating a more harmonious world.
AquaQi Flow — with Dhyana Sophia – Week 2
A guided group experience in the warm Caribbean water combining breath, gentle movement, floating, somatic awareness, and relaxation.
Supported by the water and one another, this practice offers a different way to soften, release, and reconnect with your body.
Dhyana Sophia has 15+ years curating retreats and transformational experiences across México, Costa Rica and three continents. Bridging luxury hospitality, embodied wellness and sacred ceremony.
Blissful Breathing – Cyn – Week 1
Intentional breathing meets slow, mindful movement in this calming practice designed to create more space in the body and quiet in the mind.
You’ll explore breath and movement as simple tools for shifting your energy and returning to a greater sense of ease—tools you can continue using long after the retreat ends.
Somatic Healing Techniques — Week 1
Learn to bring conscious attention to sensations such as breath, muscle tension, heartbeat, and temperature as a way of becoming more aware of what your body is communicating. Cyn will share practical somatic techniques for settling the nervous system and reconnecting with a sense of calm and presence.
Cyn Mathis is retired from a fun but exhausting corporate career and now focuses on being a good mom, sister, friend, and Mimi (grandma). Over the years, she has become a registered Yoga Instructor (200 RYT), certified Yoga Tune-Up Teacher, Certified Somatic Mind-Body Healing Practitioner, Functional Body-Movement practitioner as well as a certified Career Coach … all in a quest to find clarity through change and use innate wisdom and energy to live life fully. Cyn geeks out about anatomy, so be prepared for some alignment-based awareness and movement!
Womb Wisdom Ceremony — with Maria Akal – Week 1
A women’s circle devoted to reconnecting with the wisdom, creativity, and cyclical nature of the feminine body. Through ceremony, reflection, and shared experience, Maria Akal will create a space for women to listen inward and honor the wisdom held within the body.
Maria Akal is a midwife, mother, and healer from Mexico. She lives in Tulum with her family and supports the women of her community with birth, ceremony, yoga, herbalism, and ritual. She is a powerful advocate, educator, and space holder for women’s health and empowerment. Her joy shines from her like the sun, and her ceremonies evoke a sense of deep connection and remembrance. She is passionate about bringing women together to experience the power of prayer and ritual as an innate part of the sacred power we hold.
Meditation with a Mala — with Maria – Week 1 and 2
Learn a beautifully simple meditation practice using a mala—a strand of 108 beads traditionally used to help focus the mind during meditation. No meditation experience is necessary. You’ll learn how to use the beads with breath, repetition, and intention, and leave with a practice you can easily return to at home.
Your Yoga and Meditation Guide
Maria Santoferraro, joy spreader, E-RYT 500 yoga teacher, storyteller, and always a practicing yoga student, currently resides in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. After spending over 25 years as a stressed-out corporate executive, she needed a detox from an unhealthy Blackberry addiction, lack of sleep, and an aching back caused by scoliosis. She sought out a healthier lifestyle and is grateful to have found her physical and spiritual release through the practice of yoga. Today, she is living a balanced and blissful life, leading international yoga retreats, and providing inspiration on her We’re All Just Here to Help Substack page. Her playful, heart-opening teaching combines meditation, breath, alignment, and asana in slow-flowing hatha yoga classes that incorporate inspirational class themes, music, chanting, laughter, and the spiritual teachings of yoga to create a peaceful environment where students can quiet their minds, let go of fear and stress, and experience a deep sense of healing, relaxation, and joy.