A 4-Day New Year's Retreat: Breath, Body and Sound

This four-day breathwork and sound healing retreat is a residential training and retreat for anyone who wants to reset the nervous system and feel more at home in the body. It is led by Tracey J. Moon, LMBT, and Sharon Nash, MA, and held at Sanctuary Retreat Center in Faber, Virginia, in the foothills of the Shenandoah mountains. It is open to all, and it also serves massage therapists seeking continuing education.

What to Expect

The retreat runs from Thursday at 2 pm to Sunday at 3 pm. Breathwork is paired with hands-on work, meditative practices and shamanic sound healing. The teachers describe breathwork as a way to release tension and stress, regulate the nervous system and metabolize emotions with more skill. Sound healing rests on the idea that the body is in constant vibration, and that sound can help bring it back toward resonance, with relaxation, less tension and less anxiety as the hoped-for effects.

The schedule is spacious by design, with periods of integration and open time for woodland walks, a wellness service or rest. Participants have described the instructors' steady presence and support as a defining part of the experience. Techniques are meant to be restorative, freeing and enlivening, and are skills you can carry home or bring to your own clients.

About Tracey J. Moon

Tracey has more than 20 years of experience as a massage therapist and bodyworker. She trained at The Body Therapy Institute in North Carolina, later served on its faculty, and graduated from the Spirit of Learning bodyworker teacher-training program. She built the integrative massage program at Duke Integrative Medicine in its early phase. Her breathwork training began with Clarity Breathwork in Costa Rica and continued with Biodynamic Breath. She is a Certified Integrative Reflexologist and an international teacher of that modality. In 2018 she completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India, and her work draws on Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. She is known for a warm, down-to-earth presence and deep listening.

About Sharon Nash

Sharon holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Auburn University and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Duke University. She has taught since 1990, including as a secondary mathematics teacher in southern Africa, North Carolina and Guatemala, and as a teacher trainer and online educator. She has trained in Integral Education, Non-Violent Communication and Clarity Breathwork, and completed the same 200-hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh in 2018. Her facilitation is clear and direct, with playful energy, and she shares stories from her own spiritual path so participants know they are not alone. She keeps a daily intuitive practice of sound healing.

Tracey and Sharon co-facilitate retreats and workshops in the US and abroad on meditation, breathwork, sound healing and reflexology. They are Approved Providers of Continuing Education through the NCBTMB.

The Setting

Sanctuary Retreat Center, in Nelson County, was created as a place to return to wholeness, presence and peace. The grounds offer woodland trails, comfortable accommodations and plenty of places for solitude. Options range from shared and private lodge rooms to cabins and cottages, and commuter attendance is also possible. Rooms have full bathrooms shared with one other room. If you come alone and want a shared room, you will be paired with a same-gender roommate, or you can request a particular roommate when you register.

Three meals a day are included, beginning with Thursday dinner and ending with Sunday lunch. Guests can add a night to arrive on Wednesday, with meals included. Sanctuary does not provide airport shuttles. Shenandoah National Park and Charlottesville are close by for exploring before or after the retreat. On-site massage, bodywork, energy work and mental and emotional balancing sessions can be scheduled.

Before You Go

Accommodations, meals and the training are all included in the program fee, and a deposit holds your place. These residential retreats usually fill early. A welcome email with a packing list arrives within 24 to 48 hours of registering. Massage therapists receive 18 NCBTMB continuing education hours and a certificate of completion. The property is non-smoking and free of alcohol and recreational drugs.