Put down the laundry and listen up.
Life can get quite monotonous. The never ending demands, the endless to-do lists, the catering to everyone's needs.
We got so good at tending to responsibilities that we forgot to tend to ourselves.
Pleasure became something we'd get to later.
When the house was clean. When work slowed down. When the kids were older. When life felt less busy.
But what if joy isn't something to postpone?
What if joy isn't the reward for getting everything done?
Why Now?
We've noticed something.
Women have become incredibly good at healing.
We've gone to therapy.
Read the books.
Listened to the podcasts.
Learned about trauma.
Regulated our nervous systems.
Processed our childhoods.
And thank the goddess we have.
But we forgot something just as important.
How to play.
How to laugh until we snort.
How to make something simply because it's beautiful.
How to stay up talking with women until midnight.
How to delight in being alive.
The world doesn't need more exhausted women carrying everyone else.
It needs women who feel ALIVE.
Women who remember beauty.
Women who create.
Women who gather.
Women who celebrate.
There is something profoundly healing about spending a weekend NOT trying to fix ourselves but are simply reminding each other what it feels like to PLAY.
In a culture that often glorifies exhaustion, choosing joy isn't an escape from reality.
It's a way of remembering what's worth living for.
I'm Ready to Come Alive
Joy as Medicine
is a three day, two night experience for women at the Harmony Mountain House in New Jersey.
But this isn't just another women's retreat.
Yes, we'll move our bodies. We'll create. We'll gather in circle. We'll eat beautiful food. We'll laugh, rest, dance and spend time in nature. But what we're really creating is something that's become surprisingly rare.
A place where women don't have to perform.
A place where no one is trying to optimize themselves. A place where you can stop striving... and simply enjoy being alive.
So what makes this different?
We make play sacred.
Not because play is childish. Because it's revolutionary. Play reminds us who we were before productivity became our personality and responsibility became our identity. There is nothing to prove. Nothing to earn. No finish line to cross. Only life to experience.
Joy as an act of rebellion.
Against hustle culture. Against exhaustion as a badge of honor. Against the belief that we must constantly prove our worth. Against the idea that fun has to be earned.
We celebrate life.
Healing has its place. So does celebration. This weekend is devoted to beauty. To delicious meals shared around a table. To stories around the fire. To wonder. To friendship. To remembering that simply being alive is something worth celebrating.
Maybe the most radical thing a woman can do today is enjoy her life.
Not someday. Not after the to-do list is finished. Not once everyone else's needs have been met.
Now.
This retreat isn't about escaping your life. It's about remembering you're allowed to enjoy it.
What's included?
- Beautiful accommodations at Harmony Mountain House (camping, glamping, shared and private options)
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Wholesome, nourishing and local plant based meals
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Daily yoga + breathwork sessions
- Creative workshops and crafts
- Playful women's circles
- Picnic dinner under the summer sky
- DJ Slumber Party Dance Celebration!!!
- Access to nature, the grounds and garden
- Optional downtime for rest and solitude
- Free use of the hot tub and sauna
- Post-retreat integration circle
- New friendships, laughter and unforgettable memories
For so many women, the word pleasure has been reduced to something indulgent, selfish or something purely sexual.
But that's not what we mean.
We're talking about the pleasure of being fully alive.
The first sip of coffee before anyone else is awake. Bare feet in the grass. A meal so delicious you slow down to savor it. Making something beautiful with your hands. Laughing so hard your cheeks hurt. Floating in the lake. A hug that lingers. A conversation that makes you lose track of time.
These aren't luxuries. They're reminders.
Reminders that we're more than our responsibilities.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped asking a simple question:
What feels good?
This retreat is an invitation to ask that question again.
To remember that pleasure isn't selfish. It's nourishment.
It's how we reconnect with our creativity, our relationships and ourselves.
Your body remembers how to play. This weekend is simply an invitation to trust it again.
I WANT MORE OF THIS
Why Harmony Mountain House?
This retreat marks the final gathering at Harmony Mountain House before this beautiful place closes its current chapter.
For years, these walls have held ceremonies, conversations, creativity, healing, and countless moments of transformation.
Before saying goodbye, we're choosing to celebrate.
To fill the house one last time with laughter echoing through the halls, dance parties beneath the stars, long dinners, deep conversations, and unforgettable memories.
To leave this place the way we hope to leave one another...with full hearts.
Because what better way to honor everything this space has given us than through joy?
Whether you're happiest sleeping beneath the stars, cozying up in a whimsical yurt, or retreating to your own private room, there's a space for you here.
Choose the experience that feels most like you.
Camping
Sleep under the stars, wake with the birds, and reconnect with the rhythms of nature. Bring your own tent or hammock and enjoy full access to all of the retreat amenities.
Glamping
A little magic, a little comfort. Nestled in beautifully decorated yurts, glamping offers the perfect blend of outdoor adventure and cozy retreat.
Shared Room
Perfect for women who love community. Share a thoughtfully designed room, late-night conversations, and maybe even leave with a lifelong friend.
Private Room
Your own peaceful sanctuary to rest, reflect, and recharge between all the joy and connection.
Shared Spaces You'll Love
No matter where you sleep, the heart of the retreat is found in the spaces we'll share together.
A 1,000-square-foot movement studio. An infrared sauna and hot tub. Bonfires beneath the stars. Trails winding through the woods. Cozy living rooms made for cups of tea and heartfelt conversations.
Beautiful kitchens and long communal tables where meals become memories. Hammocks for afternoon naps. Shelves filled with books, herbs, tarot and oracle decks, and little treasures waiting to be discovered.
This place invites you to slow down and make yourself at home.
Meet the Women
Behind the Magic
Hi, I'm Amanda.
I'm devoted to creating spaces where women can exhale, reconnect, and remember what it feels like to be fully alive. As a ceremonialist and circle facilitator, I founded the Red Rose Temple, a sacred gathering place in the Pocono Mountains centered on beauty, sisterhood, ritual, and community. For over a decade, I've held space for women through circles, ceremonies, births, and life's many transitions.
I'm also a doula, supporting women in sovereign pregnancy and birth, the founder of Spark Nature, a forest school for children, and a homebirth mama of three. Whether I'm guiding a women's circle, welcoming a baby into the world, or watching children build forts in the forest, my work is rooted in the same belief:
We heal when we remember our connection to ourselves, to one another, and to the natural world.
Hey, I'm Brandi.
I'm an artist, ritualist, and creator who believes that creativity has the power to reconnect us with ourselves.
As the founder of Spitfire Labs and the visionary behind Flower Moon Festival, I've spent years creating spaces where women can gather with honesty, courage, and curiosity. Whether through art, ceremony, or shared experience, I'm passionate about helping women reclaim their voice, trust their intuition, and remember the parts of themselves that have been waiting to come back to life.
Last year, Amanda and I facilitated Rage Release Rebirth, a retreat devoted to honoring women's rage. It was powerful, raw, and deeply healing. This year, something unexpected called us in a new direction. Joy.
Because I believe healing doesn't only happen in our hardest moments. Sometimes it happens while we're laughing around a fire, making art with our hands, dancing under the stars, or sharing a meal with women who remind us who we are.
I can't wait to welcome you into the circle.
Why We're Creating This Together
For the past three years, we've been gathering women at the Red Rose Temple to celebrate the Wheel of the Year and create spaces rooted in beauty, ritual, authenticity, and sisterhood.
Together, we've held women through grief and celebration, rage and tenderness, endings and beginnings. We've witnessed tears, belly laughter, deep friendships, and the quiet magic that unfolds when women gather with intention.
We're very different and that's exactly what makes this work.
Amanda is devoted to creating the container. She dreams up the flow of the weekend, holds the structure, guides the ceremonies and weaves together an experience where every woman feels seen, supported and held.
Brandi brings the beauty. She has an extraordinary gift for transforming ordinary spaces into something magical through art, flowers, thoughtful details, and creative expression. She reminds us that beauty isn't extra, it's essential.
But our differences go deeper than that.
Brandi has always invited Amanda to venture a little deeper, to embrace the shadow, trust the unknown, and remember that healing sometimes asks us to descend before we rise.
Amanda has always invited Brandi back toward the light, to celebrate, to smile, to delight in the blessings of being alive, and to remember that joy is always available to us.
Earth and Air. Light and Shadow. Grief and Gratitude.
Together, we hold both.
The depth and the delight. The structure and the spontaneity. The ritual and the celebration. The tears and the laughter.
Joy as Medicine was born somewhere in the middle of those two worlds.
It's the retreat we've been longing to create and the one we can't wait to share with you.
Joy as Medicine
A Weekend to Remember
Please note: This is a sample itinerary. Like life itself, we'll leave room for spontaneity, rest, and magic.
Friday | Arrive & Exhale
3:00 PM | Welcome Home
Arrive, settle into your space, sip tea, snack on delicious bites, and meet the women you'll be sharing the weekend with.
4:00 PM | Shake, Stretch & Flow
We'll gently arrive in our bodies through playful movement, breath, and laughter.
6:00 PM | Nourishing Dinner
Our first meal together around a beautiful table.
7:00 PM | Opening Ceremony
We'll gather in circle, set intentions, connect as a community, and officially begin our weekend together.
Saturday | Play, Pleasure & Presence
8:00 AM | Tea & Light Bites
Slow morning. No rushing.
9:00 AM | Awakening Through Movement
Gentle movement to wake the body and welcome the day.
11:00 AM | Brunch
Fresh, nourishing food shared around the table.
1:00 PM | Permission to Play Women's Circle
We'll explore what it means to reclaim joy, delight, and the parts of ourselves that still know how to play.
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM | Free Time
Nap in a hammock. Read a book. Soak in the hot tub. Take a walk in the woods. Chat over tea. Create. Rest. There is nothing you have to do.
4:30 PM | Creative Play
A beautiful hands-on art experience where the process matters more than the outcome.
6:00 PM | Luxe Picnic Dinner
A magical evening meal shared outdoors.
7:00 PM | Cacao & Cuddles
Cozy blankets, warm cacao, meaningful connection, and slowing all the way down.
8:00 PM | Pajama Dance Party
Because grown women deserve slumber parties too.
Sunday | Carrying the Joy Home
9:00 AM | Tea & Light Bites
One last slow morning together.
10:00 AM | Rest & Receive
A gentle movement practice to integrate the weekend and savor all that's unfolded.
12:00 PM | Farewell Brunch
One more beautiful meal together.
1:00 PM | Closing Circle
We'll gather one final time to reflect, celebrate, and carry a little more joy home with us.
Ready to Join Us?
Choose the accommodation that feels right for you and reserve your spot below.
You can pay in full or choose a two- or three-payment plan.
If PayPal isn't your preferred payment method, just reach out. We're happy to arrange payment through Stripe or Venmo.
This retreat is intentionally intimate, with space for just 21 women.
If your heart is saying yes, trust it.
We'd love to welcome you into the circle.
Choose Your Experience
FAQ
What is your refund policy?
How many women are coming?
What is the food situation?
Can I pick the room I want?
What is NOT included?
Intrigued but want to know more?
Schedule a *free* 15-minute call to have your questions answered!
Let's Chat!This is your invitation...
come alive again.
See you there, sis!
