Wild Softness — Women's Yoga Retreat

Wild Softness is a seven-day women's yoga retreat in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico, for women who have spent years holding everything together for others and want to put it down. It is led by Julie, a yoga teacher and coach, and Bianca, a registered psychotherapist and yoga teacher, and it is limited to fourteen women. The week is based at Barbarenas, a boutique villa in the hills above the Pacific coast.

What to Expect

The week moves through three phases: Land, Listen and Live. The four elements run through them as felt experience rather than metaphor: earth steadies, water softens, fire transforms, air liberates.

Land (days 1 to 3) is arrival into body, place and circle, with slow yoga, grounding, ceremony and real rest. Listen (days 4 and 5) is the middle of the week, where breathwork, temazcal, sound and fire work meet whatever rises once the noise quiets. Live (days 6 and 7) is integration and embodiment, with celebration, commitment and a thread back to each other after you leave.

Practices include:

- Daily yoga, moving from restorative to dynamic to integrative
- One deep breathwork session, placed when the group is ready
- A temazcal on the property
- Cacao, fire and moon ceremonies
- A sound bath on the week's quietest day
- Ecstatic dance with no choreography
- A full day on the Pacific Ocean
- A celebration built around International Women's Day, which falls inside the retreat
- An optional ice plunge, always opt-in

Every activation is paired with a downshift, and there is free time each day. Participation in everything is an invitation, not a requirement.

About Julie

Julie is the founder of Live In Truth, a certified holistic wellness and lifestyle coach, a mind-body practitioner and a yoga teacher. She created The Embodied Truth Method, a yoga-led, integrative coaching approach for women who have led at work, held their families together and shown up for everyone else. Her work combines coaching, yoga, nervous system support and embodied practice.

About Bianca

Bianca is a registered psychotherapist, yoga teacher and breathwork practitioner, and the founder of Affirmative Healing. She supports women through life transitions, anxiety, grief, relationship challenges and emotional healing, drawing on somatic, emotion-focused and EMDR-informed approaches. She trained in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in India, where she and Julie met, and she weaves movement, breathwork, meditation and yogic philosophy into her teaching. Her clinical background informs how she holds the room, though at this retreat she serves as facilitator, not therapist.

The Setting

Barbarenas sits in the hills of Puerto Escondido, wrapped in jungle and salt air, with hand-built rooms, an open-air pool and lounge, and the temazcal on site. The beach is a five-minute walk away. Rooms are shared (two or three women) or private.

Meals are prepared daily by a private chef from locally sourced ingredients. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included, with snacks and drinks through the day. Lunches and dinners are mainly plant-based, with eggs at breakfast. Dietary needs and allergies are accommodated.

Flights go into Puerto Escondido International Airport (PXM), and airport transfers to Barbarenas are arranged for you after booking.

Before You Go

Beginners are welcome, and no yoga or retreat experience is needed. The container is trauma-informed, and practices offer variations for different levels and abilities. The retreat is women-only and held in English, while local staff speak Spanish and English.

The price includes seven nights, all meals, non-alcoholic drinks, daily yoga, ceremonies, cultural experiences, the ocean excursion day, airport transfers, a pre-retreat one-to-one onboarding call and gratuity for venue staff. Flights, meals on the excursion day, alcohol, personal spending and extra transport during free time are not included. Emergency medical insurance is required, and trip cancellation insurance is strongly recommended.

Because the work can go deep, you are asked to arrive with your own support in place, such as a therapist, doctor or trusted practitioner. Pack flowing clothing, swimwear, layers for the evenings and comfortable movement wear.