Voice Medicine Retreat
January 10 - 16, 2025
Join a transformative 5-day retreat led by Hayley Saraswati, Letizia Xiuh, and Shahaf Schvarzman, presenting the unparalleled power of your voice as medicine. Dive into a deep blend of voice work, yin & restorative yoga, ritual, and ceremony, all to unearth authenticity, expression, and connection. In the protective embrace of our retreat community, you’ll traverse self-care, intimacy, vulnerability, and the profound depths of music and singing. This is more than just a retreat – it’s a journey to unchartered territories of consciousness, rich with inspiration and connection.
This unique retreat is not just about self-discovery. It’s about transformation and healing. We provide a nurturing environment that fosters change, helps in shedding old beliefs, and paves the way for new insights. Whether you’re bathed in bliss or navigating inner purification, we will support and guide you. As you return to your Self, you will carry away unforgettable memories, soulful music, and integrative exercises to elevate your everyday life and connection to your own voice as a healing tool.
The retreat welcomes both women and men, regardless of their musical background. Whether you’re eager to unveil the beauty of your voice, see vocal exercises as healing rituals, or are a therapist looking to broaden your horizons, this retreat has something for you. Activities range from Vocal Discovery and Sound Baths to Song Circles, all set amidst the serenity of a private cove on the shores of Lake Atitlán. What sets this retreat apart is its unique blend of music, self-discovery, and connection to the earth. It’s about liberating your voice, and in turn, your power, all while forging deep connections with your heart and soul. Embrace a journey that will transform fears, ignite love, compassion, and joy, and introduce you to the awe-inspiring beauty of Lake Atitlán. Come, be a part of this magical expedition that promises inspiration and a renewed direction for your life.
Highlights of the Retreat;
- Voice Activation; exercises to open your voice and establish a personal vocal practice
- Voice exploration through emotion
- Getting started in Harmony; how to find harmonies to accompany the main melody
- Improvised Song & Sound techniques
- Vocal Toning & Tuning
- Song writing & composition
- Circle singing workshops
- Song sharing; learn over 20 new medicine songs & chants
- Forest Path Chanting Concert
- 4 nights/ 5 days shared accommodation at the lakefront Casa Colibri
- Casa Floresta Lake Temple
- Optional Add-on; Ayahuasca Ceremony Jan 17th and 18th With Letizia Xiuh and Shahaf Schvarzman
Flow of the Days
8:00 – 9:00 am Vocal Practice
9:00 – 9.30 am Smoothie & Tea Break
9.30 – 11:00 am Morning Workshop
11:00 – 1:00 pm Brunch
1:00 – 3:00 pm Afternoon Workshop 1
3:00 – 3:30 pm Snack
3:30 – 5:00 pm Afternoon Workshop 2
5:30 – 6:30 pm Dinner
6:30 – 8:00 pm Evening Activity
Your Retreat Facilitators
Hayley Saraswati
Hayley Saraswatī embodies the essence of the creative Mother, balancing loving softness with a graceful strength. Her powerful presence inspires and empowers others to step into their full potential, through vibrant authenticity and awakening to the expansive joy of the heart.
Since creating The Yoga Forest, the Conscious Living Retreat Center she founded in 2009, Saraswatī has wholeheartedly offered herself through the path of devotion; offering kirtan, sound ceremonies, voice workshops and singing circles, Forest Path medicine retreats and Sound Ceremony Trainings for the past decade and a half. Her dedication to creating and holding a safe space allows the veils to fall away, inspiring spontaneous expression and the authentic embodiment of the Truth – all is Love.
Weaving together her passion for ceremony, beauty and natural design, she has since designed and created Kula Maya Boutique Hotel & Spa, and the recently built Casa Floresta family home and Ceremonial Center.
Hayley Saraswatī is also one of seven co-founding members of the Kula Collective, an organization weaving together diverse holistic experiences and educational yoga offerings through combined passions and a collective intention of global awakening.
Letizia Xiuh
Born in Venezuela, Letizia Xiuh has been living and sharing her medicine magic in the Sacred Valley of Peru for almost a decade.
A Medicine Woman by blood, she holds 5th generation native medicine lineage from the North of Peru and since training as an Ayahuasquera has sat in and held over a thousand Ayahuasca ceremonies.
Letizia also holds powerful and transformative Sweat Lodges that are guided by the elements, Medicine cross teachings and her own studies and experiences of the Red Road.
Her commitment to the medicine path, is guided by grace and has led her to sit with elders and masters from a vast array of tribes and traditions – giving her an unparalleled depth of insight and wisdom. She has completed a first commitment learning from Grandmothers of the Mexican Moon Dance and keeps learning with elders who hold Peyote Medicine from the Wixarika-Huichol tribe.
Guided by the Medicine Cross and nature based spirituality, including the 7 Directions teaching in how she lives and serves, Letizia holds a heartfelt mission to heal all our relations. A talented musician and beautiful songstress, she offers ancestral sound healing and song as part of all her offerings. She offers a safe and nurturing sacred space as she guides you to journey into the depths of your being to find your own capacity to heal and connect to your highest potential and purpose.
Shahaf Shvarzman
Shahaf is a musician, medicine woman and a tattoo artist who love to connect with spirit in all forms of art. She has been living in Peru for the past 7 years and recently moved to Costa Rica, working with the medicine for 10 years. As part of her commitment to medicine path, she works with the Amazonian tribes of Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil learning their traditions an music.
With the Shipibo tribe, she has studying with master plants such as bobinzana, noyarao, chiricsanago through dietas and jungle living. From the Brazilian tribe huni Kuin, katukina, nukini and the Santu daime community learning the ways of nixipa, daime, rapé, sananga and kambo.
She is supporting and holding ceremonies of abuelita and wachuma, with love en respect for all of the traditions and cultures.
She is also committed to the path of the moon dance and the pipe prayers.
Guiding circles of voice opening as a tool of expansion, connection and expression,
understanding the power of your voice as a tool connect with divinity. Music is one of her biggest passion, she’s studying and collecting music from different cultures around the world.
Her original music is shared online and can be found on Spotify.
Shahaf offers her hand poke tattoos as a ritual of transformation and integration for significant moments in her clients life in a ceremonial and sacred space.
Pricing
Pricing for 6 nights:
USD$1195 Shared Accommodation at Casa Colibri (next door)
USD$1595 Private Accommodation at Casitas Aurora* (next door)
USD$795 Offsite**
With extra 3 night Add-on (2 Aya Ceremonies with Letizia Xiuh & Shahaf Schvarzmann)
$1795 Shared Accommodation (9 nights total accommodation)
$2295 Private Accommodation (9 nights total accommodation)
$1145 Offsite (Temple sleeping)