Mind The Mom

I keep going back to these mornings.

It’s here that the day begins, not with a list of things to sort out, but with the body. And for a lot of the women in that room, it’s the first time in a long while they let themselves do it. To breathe deeply, come back into the body, let the mind settle. To be vulnerable, to share something, to really listen.

I’ve watched this happen at every retreat and it still gets me. The moment a woman stops glancing at the door out of habit, when it lands that no one in this room is about to need her for anything. That’s the part I could never plan for.

Yoga is part of every morning, and it matters, but more than anything it is a way back into the body. A way back to the woman inside the mother. That reconnection happens through the cacao ceremonies too, the voice activation, the breathwork, the meditation, the circles, the sharing. There is so much happening in that room that I struggle to put it into words. Maybe these images carry a little of it for me.

Our next edition is at the end of October. I know that still feels far away. But your future self will thank you for holding this space for herself before the year is out. 🤍

People often ask me what a Mind the Mom Retreat is actually like.

Honestly, every one is different. The women change, the kids change, the days unfold however they unfold. But something about how it feels stays the same.

Mums get to slow down without leaving their children behind. That’s really the whole idea. Not a break from your kids, just a break from carrying everything on your own for a few days.

When I started this, I wasn’t picturing yoga mats and pretty views. I was thinking about what I needed during those first hard years in Portugal, and how hard it is to find that anywhere.

If you’ve just found us, welcome. 🤍

Chelcia came all the way from Canada to spend a week with us in the Algarve.

When I found out, I remember feeling that particular mix of emotions that doesn’t translate easily into words. Something between gratitude and a quiet sense of responsibility. Someone had crossed the Atlantic to be here. That is not something I take lightly.

What I didn’t know yet was the kind of woman Chelcia would turn out to be. From the very first day, there was a warmth in her that made me feel at ease. She noticed things. She said thank you in the way people do when they actually mean it, not just as a reflex but as a recognition. She saw the details, the thought behind them, the care that went into every small decision. I won’t pretend that always happens, even in a space designed entirely around care. So when it does, I feel it deeply.

And then there was Noa. That smile. Genuinely, she smiled at everyone, all week. Children carry their mothers’ energy in ways they don’t even realise, and Noa reflected exactly what Chelcia had brought with her: ease, openness, presence.

When I asked Chelcia whether the trip had been worth it, she said something I’ve heard in some form at almost every single retreat I’ve run:

“This was the rest I didn’t know I needed.”
We never quite know how much we need to stop until we actually do.

thank you for trusting us with your week, your daughter, and yourself. It was a genuine pleasure to have you here. 🤍

These photos arrived this week and they brought me straight back to that week, the one we lived together at the start of this month.

I keep trying to find the right word for it and I think it’s awe. That’s the closest I can get. There’s a kind of depth and a kind of bigness to what happens there that’s hard to name properly.

One of the mothers used the expression soul searching to describe her week, and I think that’s exactly it.

When a woman finally has time, real time, to stop, to disconnect from everything she normally carries, something opens. She can hear herself again. And from that, so many moments of connection happen almost on their own. With her children, really seeing them, playing with them without her mind somewhere else. With herself, finding things she’d put aside without even noticing. And with the other mothers too, that recognition that happens when someone says something true out loud and you realise you’ve felt the exact same thing.

Going through these photos now, I can see all of it. I can see the awe.

The next edition of this same week will be in October, same place, same kind of magic waiting to happen.

The Woman Within, this October in Lagos, Algarve 🤍

This video means a lot to me.🤍

is the founder of , a platform that looks at motherhood without simplifying it.
Through her writing, she speaks honestly about the realities women face, the inequalities that still exist, and the strength and transformation that motherhood can bring. She is someone who spends a great deal of her life seeing mothers, really seeing them.

What moved me most that week was watching her be on the other side of that. Letting herself be seen, be cared for, be held. Day by day, layer by layer, she allowed it. There is something quietly beautiful and brave in that, especially for women who are so used to being the ones who hold everything together.

I feel so grateful she trusted me with that week.

Here are her words. ✨

Ten retreats in.

And I’ll be honest, this one was hard to fill. There were moments I questioned whether to cancel. Whether to step back. Whether this was still the right thing to do.

And then, slowly, the group came together. And from the very first day I knew: these women were exactly who were meant to be here.

What happened this week is difficult to put into words. Eight mothers, different lives, different stories, and yet so much in common. They shared, they laughed, they cried. They sat in circle together. And something very old and very human happened in that space.

I think the word community has lost a lot of its meaning. We use it to describe follower counts and group chats. But what I witnessed this week, the empathy, the stories exchanged, the moments of genuine recognition between strangers who became something closer, that is something else entirely.

Every time I face the challenges of filling these retreats, every time I doubt myself, the moment I step into the space with the mothers, I remember why I created this five years ago. Because it is the experience I wish I had had. And every group teaches me something new.

I am going home with my heart full. Grateful for each mother who trusted me and my team with her week. Grateful for my team, who made it all possible. Grateful that I didn’t give up.

Retreat ten. And it could not have been more beautiful. 🤍

Thank you .alma

Rest is not always peaceful at first.

The moment you stop doing, you finally hear what has been sitting underneath it all. How much you have been carrying. How long you have been quietly running on empty.

This is why it is easier to stay busy. Not because you love the pace, but because slowing down asks you to feel it.

If you have ever tried to rest and felt restless or unsettled instead, you were not doing it wrong.

That is usually where the retreat begins. Not with rest. But with the permission to finally stop.

The real question is whether you give yourself permission.

Our next retreat is 25–30 October, in the Algarve. Intentionally small, by design. Everything else in the link in bio.

By 9am, he’s already with the team. You’ve had breakfast together. You’ve already been mum, and then you just let go. ✨

No list running in the background. No one calling your name every four minutes.

That’s what this week looks like. 🤍

Bookings for our autumn retreat are now open.
DM me for more info.

Maureen came to our Spring retreat last year with her two daughters all the way from the USA 🤍

At first, she wasn’t sure about the cacao ceremony. And honestly, that’s more common than people think.

Many of the mothers who come to our retreats arrive a little unsure about the circles, the ceremonies, or anything that feels different from everyday life.

As mothers, we spend so much time doing, organising, caring and holding everything together that sometimes simply slowing down and receiving care can feel unfamiliar.

But when we allow ourselves to be open, beautiful things can happen.

That was Maureen’s experience ✨

If this has been on your mind for a while, our next retreat is coming soon. Details in bio.

Moments from our last retreat.
There’s something that happens when a small group of mothers comes together like this. Hard to explain. But the women who were there know.

We meet again on May 31.
Only one spot left and it could be yours.🤍

Send me a message if you’d like to know more.