I’ve reviewed many women’s wellness retreats over the years – from the best yoga retreats and pilates-focused escapes to luxury spa breaks and holistic healing immersions – but none have moved me, shifted me, or stayed with me like this one. The Naturing Women’s Yoga Retreat by SomaRising, held at Molino del Rey in the Andalusian mountains, offered something far deeper than a typical yoga retreat. It was a soul space. A place where trauma, identity, and masking could be met with compassion – and where I found the safety and connection needed to unmask, soften, and begin to heal on a level I hadn’t before. As a neurodivergent woman who has spent a lifetime masking to navigate the world, this soul-shifting retreat created the conditions I didn’t know I needed to begin truly coming home to myself.

A Cave-Side Sanctuary in the Andalusian Mountains

The retreat location, Molino del Rey, is literally built into the limestone cliffs of the Andalusian mountains – not just nestled in nature, but truly part of it. Natural caves have been thoughtfully transformed into sacred spaces for meditation, reflection, and stillness. The central waterfall echoes across the grounds, while winding stone paths lead you through olive trees, wild herbs, and pockets of quiet that overlook the sweeping Andalusian landscape.

The first time I stepped into the main cave space, I felt it. A subtle, grounding energy, like a weight had settled over me. Not a claustrophobic or oppressive weight, but a deeply soothing one – like a reassuring hold from someone strong or a weighted blanket draped over your nervous system. This was the nature’s quiet, wordless invitation to let go.

Each morning began in silence. We were encouraged not to speak until after yoga – something that initially felt unfamiliar, even uncomfortable for me. Usually, the first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone and scroll mindlessly. So letting go of those habits and meeting the day without noise took effort. But after just a few days, something shifted. It started to feel good – even liberating – to walk barefoot down the stone path to yoga in stillness, just listening to the birds and being present with my thoughts. No notifications, no need to speak, no pressure to be anything other than quietly awake to my surroundings.

Yoga took place in the shala carved into the rock face. We moved gently with no pressure for performance – a far cry from the Pilates and yoga classes I’m used to in London, which are often crammed into a tight schedule around work, noisy studios, and a commercial culture of doing rather than being. Here, it wasn’t so much about the perfect form or pushing through, it was about arriving in your body. The morning yoga classes were a daily descent into calm.

Between practices, there was plenty of breathing room – time to rest, reflect, or simply sit in stillness. Some days I wandered through the gardens with a book or lay by the pool, topless under the sun. At first, I was hesitant about baring all – but by the final day, my bikini top had been left behind along with the social conditioning that told me women should keep their chests covered. I felt nothing but free. There was something quietly powerful about being surrounded by other women, unfiltered and unashamed, sharing space in their natural state. Other times, I explored nearby towns and villages with new soul sisters, took part in creative workshops like flower crown-making, mindful stone painting, had massage treatments, or joined group sessions on recognising patterns and learned behaviours. Reiki was also available for those who felt called to it. I never felt pressured to ‘do it all’ – some days I joined every offering, and other days I followed my own rhythm. Both choices felt equally valid and equally welcome.

We gathered throughout the day for plant-based meals that felt as grounding as the retreat itself – slow-cooked dahls, vibrant curries, fresh salads, roasted root vegetables, warm breads, fresh juices, herbal teas, and nourishing desserts that tasted indulgent and not typically ‘vegan’. As someone who usually eats meat, I was curious – maybe even sceptical – about a fully plant-based menu. But I was blown away. Every dish was infused with so much flavour, and the simple act of sitting together, eating, and connecting as a sisterhood around a communal table became its own quiet daily ritual of healing too.

The Sisters Behind the SomaRising Retreat

At the heart of the SomaRising retreat are sisters Julie and Michelle Kent – two women whose personal healing journeys became the foundation of the transformative spaces they now hold for others. These retreats are not built from theory alone – they are born from lived experience, profound inner work, and a shared calling to create spaces where women, especially neurodivergent and highly sensitive souls, can finally feel safe enough to come home to themselves.

And that’s what made this women’s retreat feel so different from others I’ve experienced before. Their retreats aren’t built on surface-level wellness trends or polished for commercial gain – they’re rooted in lived experience, nervous system repair, and a deep, shared belief in the body’s ability to heal. You could feel that this work isn’t being done for branding or business, but as part of a higher calling – something personal, purposeful, and profoundly relatable.

Julie Kent’s journey began as a deeply sensitive child who saw the world through the lens of love – and couldn’t understand why people did ‘bad things’. That curiosity led her to explore the roots of pain and disconnection, and eventually, her own body became the teacher. In 2011, she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, chronic bronchitis and Hashimoto’s disease. Her symptoms were severe and progressive – nerve pain, full-body rashes, weakness in her hands, breathlessness, and nervous system dysregulation that left her barely functioning. By 2013, she needed wheelchair access for walking distances. Her doctors suspected multiple sclerosis. Depression and PTSD also became part of her daily landscape. But even through the darkness, Julie felt a calling to go inward.

She began exploring somatic therapies, yoga, energy healing, and breathwork – not from textbooks, but from her own body. As she surrendered into sensation, into love, and into stillness, her symptoms began to shift. Slowly, she came back to herself – not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually. What she discovered wasn’t just relief from illness, but a new way of living – one rooted in presence, compassion, and intuition. That intuitive process, she later learned, aligned with somatic practices being used in trauma healing around the world. She now brings those same modalities into her facilitation – from Compassionate Inquiry (developed by Gabor Maté) and evolutionary shamanism to chakra yoga, restorative practices, pranic healing and breath-led trauma repair.

Her younger sister Michelle has a story that is equally powerful – and deeply personal. In 2020, what began as mild eczema spiralled into a full-blown autoimmune crisis that left her body raw, cracked, inflamed, and in constant pain. She was barely sleeping, emotionally drained, and physically deteriorating. Doctors warned her she would need lifelong immunosuppressant medication, and that her condition was genetic and unfixable. But something in her resisted. When all other options had been exhausted, she turned to her sister for help – and the inner work began.

Under Julie’s guidance, Michelle began a year-long healing journey through internal somatic work. She turned toward her pain instead of away from it. She surrendered into the emotional traumas stored in her body and began to rewire the safety she felt in her own system. Slowly, her symptoms began to ease. But more than that, her world began to transform. By the end of her healing process, not only was her body well, but the chronic anxiety had lifted. Her mind felt quiet, her social confidence returned, and her creativity began to flow again. She no longer felt ruled by coping mechanisms or patterns of self-destruction. Instead, she felt joyful, centred, and free for the first time in her life. Having experienced such a profound transformation, Michelle knew she had to share this work with others. She now brings her own intuitive wisdom into each retreat space – drawing on her training in Reiki, somatic parts work, mindbody coaching, Kundalini energy healing, and trauma-informed facilitation.

Together, Julie and Michelle have followed a calling – not to create just another wellness retreat, but to build something beautiful, honest, and deeply needed. Because they’re so open about their own experiences, and because they lead from a place of lived truth, it’s very easy to let your guard down around them. Their approach is warm, grounded, and deeply relatable. As a result, they’ve created something that is far more than a retreat – it’s a return to wholeness. Their blend of expertise and embodied compassion brings a level of emotional safety I’ve rarely experienced. There’s no ego here. No performance. Just two women who have walked through fire – and now light the way for others.

Both sisters are neurodivergent and openly advocate for greater awareness and inclusion around neurodiversity – especially for women like me, who are diagnosed but still find themselves still masking to get through everyday life. Their understanding and lived empathy created a space where I could truly be myself, unmask, and show up exactly as I was. And that allowed me to open up more than I ever have in any other retreat setting.

The Transformational Power of a Women-Only Retreat

There’s something undeniably powerful about a women-only retreat – a space where women of all ages and backgrounds come together and connect beyond the surface. Conversations move quickly from small talk to soul talk. Spanning generations – from women in their thirties to those in their sixties – we found shared experiences in simply being women – in heartbreak, self-doubt, and the way we were conditioned as girls. We connected not through comparison, but through compassion. In a society that often pits women against one another, this retreat reminded me that femininity can be a bridge, not a barrier. Sitting poolside and swapping stories with women my mother’s age, I realised just how meaningless age really is when souls are aligned. At the heart of it all, we were women – each on a different path, but all trying to heal.

Being surrounded by women in this way allowed me to soften and to lean into my feminine energy – something I often suppress in day-to-day life, where I’m conditioned to operate in my masculine just to cope, to achieve, and to survive. In a world that often values doing over being, logic over intuition, and control over flow, it felt like a homecoming to return to softness. I didn’t have to push, plan, or perform. Instead, I could rest, receive, and reconnect with a part of myself that’s so often buried beneath the pressure to keep it all together.

One of the most powerful moments came on our final night. We gathered in a circle and each woman wrote down words for every other woman – words that reflected what they truly saw in her. When the stack of notes was placed in front of me, I felt a wave of emotion rise in my chest. Resilient. Intelligent. Beautiful. Strong. Powerful. Inspiring. These were not the words I would have chosen for myself – but they were how these women saw me. Women I had only just met, but who had witnessed me in my rawest form. I still carry those words with me. I return to them when I forget who I am.

As an AuDHD woman, I’m used to masking. I’ve spent most of my life performing neurotypicality – suppressing my overwhelm, holding back my true responses, blending in when I was crumbling inside – only to later have a meltdown in private. I didn’t expect to unmask so fully at this retreat. There wasn’t a specific workshop on neurodivergence. No lectures about autism, ADHD, or masking. And yet, without effort or instruction, the many masks I wear – the ones I’ve crafted so perfectly over decades for different people and different situations – began to fall away. Knowing I was surrounded by women who had spent their whole lives doing the same – masking, performing, adapting – and who were now openly and unapologetically embracing their neurodivergence, leaning fully into their so-called ‘weird’, gave me permission to do the same. Their authenticity made space for mine. And in that space, the masks didn’t just slip, they dropped off entirely.

Because the truth is, I wear a lot of masks – and it’s exhausting. Friends and family members know me, but not all of me. For years, I was dismissed, misdiagnosed, and misunderstood – labelled with anxiety disorders, mood swings, even manic depression. Deep down, I knew there was something more to it. After a long period of self-diagnosis and deep reflection, I was finally formally diagnosed as autistic and ADHD. The diagnosis didn’t confine me – it set me free. It was validating. It made my whole life make sense. And in many ways, having that clarity before arriving at this retreat felt like a sign – that I was finally ready to be witnessed as my true self.

Living with both autism and ADHD can feel like constantly managing two systems in conflict. I’m an introverted extrovert. I like things a certain way, within the comfort of my own structure – but at the same time, I’m disorganised, scattered, and constantly chasing time. I hate authority and control, and I feel a deep, visceral sense of injustice when something doesn’t feel right. I can hyperfocus on things that light me up, losing hours in flow, yet completely disengage from things that don’t interest me at all. I’ll eat the same meal every day for months because it brings me comfort and routine – until one day I can’t bear the thought of eating that food ever again. It’s a constant tug-of-war in my brain – every single day. And still, I show up, I smile, I perform.

Like many neurodivergent girls, I learned early on how to fit in, how to stay under the radar, and how to be accepted. I masked so well that I often fooled everyone around me – and sometimes even myself. And now, because I’ve spent so long hiding who I really am, I hear things like, “but you don’t look autistic”. Those words land harder than people realise, even when they’re not meant to hurt. They remind me that I’ve masked so well, for so long, that people don’t see what I’m actually carrying or managing day to day. And at this retreat, for the first time in a long time (maybe ever), I didn’t feel the need to explain myself and I was safe being my authentic self. Because when you’re surrounded by women who see you, hold you, and make no demands of you, you finally feel safe enough to stop pretending. I didn’t need to explain myself. I didn’t need to justify my silence, my sensitivity, or my scattered mind. I was just allowed to be.

Of course, since returning home to everyday life, the masks have crept back on – as they tend to do. But now, I’m so much more aware of them. I notice them. I feel them. And now, the masks slip off more easily than they ever did before this transformative retreat. I feel closer to my authentic self – not constantly, but enough to notice the shift. That awareness is healing in itself. Because once you’ve experienced what it feels like to live without the masks, you stop needing them – and, eventually, stop caring whether others expect you to wear them at all.

To the women who held me, saw me, and reflected me back to myself on this transformative retreat – thank you. And to the part of me that unmasked and felt safe for the very first time, I haven’t forgotten you. I’m learning to nurture my vulnerable inner child – the part of me who has carried so much and suffered quietly through years of learned behaviours and self-protection. That version of me reminded me who I am beneath the noise, beneath the masks, beneath the layers I’ve worn to survive in a world that teaches women to suppress our anger and raw emotion. And even though life still tries to pull me back into old patterns, I carry the feeling of that freedom – the peace, authenticity, and belonging I felt during this retreat. I carry with me the version of myself that felt calm, accepted, connected, and whole. I will continue to try – gently and consistently – to nurture that inner child. To choose softness over survival. And to return, again and again, to the most honest version of myself.

If you’ve longed for a space where you can unmask, rest, and be deeply held, this is it. If you’ve felt like the world wasn’t built for your softness, your sensitivity, or your nervous system – this is a reminder from that there are places where you belong. You can explore upcoming SomaRising retreats in both Europe and Jersey by visiting somarising.co.uk.