The Sanctuary

Most women on this retreat haven't either. It's three days in a beautiful house with good food, good company, and space to breathe. The sessions are grounded and practical — nothing will make you feel uncomfortable or put on the spot. You don't need to know anything about yoga, meditation, or astrology to get a lot from this weekend.

Not in the way you're probably imagining. There's no belief system, no group sharing of feelings, no moment where you're asked to do something that makes you feel awkward. That said, we want to be straight with you: Alexe works with astrology and moon cycles, and these are genuinely central to her sessions. She uses your birth chart as a practical tool — it tells her, and you, something specific about how you're built: when you naturally have more capacity, where you tend to burn through it, and what kind of rest actually works for you rather than just slowing you down. You don't need to have any prior interest in this. Most women who arrive sceptical find it more grounded than they expected — because being given something specific to you, rather than generic advice that applies to everyone, turns out to be genuinely useful.

That's exactly who this retreat is for. You don't need to arrive calm or already switched off. The weekend is paced specifically so that your body settles even if your head is still busy. You're not asked to hand over your phone. Most women find they check it less and less as the weekend goes on — not because they're told to, but because they stop needing to.

Yes. It would be strange if you didn't. Most women arrive feeling exactly this — that they should be using the time for something else, that they don't quite deserve it, that it's a lot of money to spend on themselves. By Saturday morning, most of them aren't thinking about it anymore. The guilt tends to dissolve once you're actually there.

If you are a woman who is tired in a way that sleep doesn't fix, who keeps meaning to slow down but never quite manages it, who is capable and high-functioning on the outside but running on empty underneath — then yes. You don't need to be at breaking point. You don't need to be in crisis. You just need to be honest with yourself that you need more than a normal weekend away.

Yes. The retreat is for women who are carrying a lot — and that doesn't stop when your children grow up. If anything, the 50s can bring their own particular weight: a career at full stretch, ageing parents, a relationship that needs attention, and a sense that you've been last on the list for longer than you can remember. The retreat is for any woman who recognises herself in the description on this page, whatever age her children are.

Fair question, and we'd rather you asked it here than arrived and felt surprised. Alexe uses your birth chart as a personalised map — it tells her, and you, something specific about how you tend to operate: where you over-extend, what kind of rest actually works for you, and what you're likely to need more of over the next six months. She's not making predictions. She's using a framework that's been around for thousands of years to give you something that generic advice can't: guidance that's actually specific to you. If you arrive unconvinced and leave with a single useful insight, that's enough.