The Courage to Bloom
A Spring Retreat on Heartache, Renewal & Self-Nurturance
April 29 - May 3, 2026 | Catskills, New York
When heartache is the teacher, blooming takes courage.
You've been holding it together. Managing the disappointments, the losses, the quiet grief that comes from navigating a world that wasn't built to hold you gently. You've learned to keep moving—because stopping feels too vulnerable, too risky, too much like giving up.
But heartache doesn't heal in motion. It heals in tending.
This retreat is for women who are ready to stop performing resilience and start practicing something softer. It's for those carrying grief that doesn't fit neat categories—the loss of a relationship, yes, but also the loss of a version of yourself, a dream deferred, a friendship that faded, the exhaustion of constantly fighting to belong.
Spring in the Catskills offers us a powerful metaphor: after the dormancy of winter, life returns. Not because it forced itself back, but because it rested, it waited, it trusted the cycle. And when the time came, it bloomed—not despite the cold it endured, but because of the nourishment it received while underground.
This retreat asks you…
What would it mean to tend to your heartache with the same devotion you give everything else?
What becomes possible when you learn to befriend your grief and fear instead of avoiding them?
What is your heart ready to be open to on the other side of this pain?
What Makes This Retreat Different?
This isn't a weekend of distraction or bypassing. It's not about "getting over it" or "moving on" quickly. This retreat creates space to honor what's broken while cultivating the conditions for renewal.
Over four days in the spring beauty of the Catskills, you'll explore themes of heartache, self-nurturance, and the courage it takes to desire again—whether that's love, joy, ambition, or simply believing something good is still possible for you.
You'll practice what it means to mother yourself: to offer the tender care, fierce protection, and unconditional presence you may not have received but deeply deserve. You'll learn frameworks for holding grief without being consumed by it, for staying open even when heartbreak has taught you to close down.
And you'll do it in community with women who understand that healing isn't linear, that strength isn't the absence of vulnerability, and that blooming after heartache is one of the most courageous things we can do.
In this retreat you will
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Explore the landscape of heartache
Name what you've been carrying: disappointment, loss, grief, loneliness, and learn to hold it with compassion instead of judgment.
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Learn to nurture yourself with tenderness and radical care
Discover what it means to mother yourself: cultivating the gentle presence and unconditional acceptance that you deserve.
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Reclaim your capacity to desire
Grief can make us shut down. This retreat helps you find the courage to want again… love, joy, connection, possibility. On the other side of heartache is desire.
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Build sustainable practices for tending your heart
Leave with tangible tools for processing heartache, setting boundaries, and cultivating renewal in daily life.
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Connect with women who see you fully
Experience the healing power of being witnessed by women who value your wholeness, not just your strength.
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Rest in beauty and spaciousness
The Catskills in spring, with blossoming trees, riverside walks, and outdoor fires, offer the perfect backdrop for renewal. Nature teaches how to bloom again.
A few of the themes we will explore…
Heartache as Teacher
What have your losses taught you? How do we honor pain without letting it define us?
Mothering Ourselves
What does it mean to nurture yourself with the care you give others? How do we heal mother wounds while becoming our own good mother?
The Courage of Grief
Grief is not weakness. It's evidence of love. We'll explore how to grieve fully while staying open to what's next.
Renewal & Rebirth
Spring reminds us that life returns—not through force, but through rest and tending. What needs to die so something new can bloom?
Desire After Heartbreak
How do we find the courage to want again? To believe we deserve love, joy, and gentleness even after disappointment?
What’s Included
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Five days & four nights
accommodations in a private, luxurious farmhouse nestled along the Hudson River
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Mind-body practices
guided meditations, sound healing, creative and somatic practices
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All meals & beverages
curated by our private chef, crafted to nourish your body and delight your senses
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![Compassion Collective Retreat for Black Women healing conversations in upstate NY]()
Curated group sessions
self-compassion, aligned ambition, self-devotion and communal care
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Thoughtful surprises
welcome gift and evening rituals to enhance your retreat experience
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![Compassion Collective Retreat supports women's greif in Catskill NY]()
Personalized care
opportunities for 1:1 check-ins with Esther and other retreat participants to support your experience
Your Investment
Private Room - $6,300
Your own beautifully appointed bedroom for maximum privacy and spaciousness for deep rest.
Double Room- $4,500
Share a room with one other retreat participant. Perfect for those who appreciate connection and want a more accessible price point.
Bring Your Bestie- $8,100
Two registrations + one shared room. Bring a friend and save while deepening your experience together.
Early Bird Pricing
Save 15% when you register by December 31, 2025.
Private Room: $5,355
Shared Room: $3,825
Bring Your Bestie: $6,885
Payment Options
Pay in Full - Complete your payment today and receive 10% off your retreat investment.
Pay in 2 Installments - Spread your investment over equal monthly installments. The number of installments available depends on when you register:
Register by Nov 30, 2025: 6 monthly payments
Register by Dec 31, 2025: 5 monthly payments
Register by Jan 31, 2026: 4 monthly payments
Register by Feb 28, 2026: 3 monthly payments
Register by Mar 31, 2026: 2 payments (April 1 & April 15)
Final payment due April 15, 2026 regardless of payment plan selected.
Registration closes April 15, 2026.
All registration deposits and payments are non-refundable.
Please read our Terms & Conditions for more information.
Your Next Steps
Submit your registration and payment today.
Get immediate access to retreat info and resources like curated playlists, packing guide, and more.
Get excited because you are about to embark on a luxuriously healing journey with the Compassion Collective 🤎
There’s a quiet knowing within you—a soft voice that’s been whispering,
“You need this.”
The Setting
Nestled in the Catskills mountains of upstate New York, our retreat house offers the perfect balance of luxury and nature. Expansive indoor and outdoor spaces invite both gathering and solitude. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame views of woods awakening to spring. A hot tub under the stars. Fire pit for evening conversations. Riverside walks when you need to move. Quiet corners when you need to be still.
Spring in the Catskills is breathtaking, trees budding, wildflowers emerging, the world remembering how to bloom. It's the ideal backdrop for your own renewal.
Location: Greene County, New York
(approximately 2.5 hours from NYC)
Meet Your Host
Esther has spent over two decades supporting high-achieving Black women in therapy and coaching. She’s a grounded strategist, a fiercely loving friend, and the creator of Compassion Collective—designed to meet you beyond the page of a journal or a Zoom screen. Her lived experience as a therapist and founder ensures this retreat is both deeply safe and powerfully transformative.
What Other Women Are Saying
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"A Compassion Collective retreat is like the exhale on a Jill Scott song- restorative, supportive, energizing."
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"What differentiates this retreat is the continued support even after the retreat- I love knowing I have this collective of women in my life."
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'My experience in one word? Peaceful. The villa and meditations allowed my busy body to be still and find pleasure in the quiet solitude."
FAQs
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If you’re a high-achieving woman ready to reclaim pleasure, community, and self-compassion, this is your space. You don’t need to be into woo woo, or to have ever been on a retreat before… you don’t even need to be 100% sure that you’re ready.You just need the courage to show up as you are.
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Oh my gosh, girl — SAME. And I promise you, Compassion Collective is not that. We don’t do performance here. We do presence. Most of the photos we have are from the first night or the last day, because the rest of the time, we’re busy being on retreat.
We’re laughing. We’re crying. We’re dancing in the villa’s living room to a playlist I made just for you. We’re sitting in silence. We’re having real conversations. This isn’t a retreat designed for a reel. It’s a retreat designed for your real life.
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As a reminder, airfare and airport transfers are not included.
Book flights into Cancún or Tulum. We’ll send you recommended arrival windows and trusted local transfer options, so you arrive with ease and depart without worry.
If you’d like to work with a Black-woman owned travel agency to manage air travel and ground transportation, just ask. We’ve got a partner on call.
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We honor that as a leader, at work and at home, sometimes you need to check in. If something truly urgent arises, you have a private villa suite with reliable Wi-Fi for a quick email or call.
Just remember that some of the magic of retreat is allowing yourself to be fully unplugged; so we encourage minimal outside distractions.
Are You Ready to Bloom?
Space is limited to 6-8 women to preserve the intimacy that makes transformation possible.
If you've been carrying heartache alone, this is your invitation to be held. To rest. To remember that blooming after breaking is not just possible—it's your birthright.
Have questions? Schedule a call.