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Learn to feel the truth of your wholeness and follow your authentic life purpose so that your actions emerge from the core of your being.

This retreat supports you in regulating yourself and others so that you can reliably enter a creative flow state in which joy, connection and grace can express themselves naturally. We work with elements from the Taoist tradition, Qigong, Zen meditation, Voice Dialogue and mindful sharing.
Retreat Learning Goals

  • Deepen your connection to your authentic choices from the wholeness, responsibility and freedom
  • Shed the stories of should, shame, duty and obligation that are stopping you from living your most fulfilling life
  • Learn to create a felt-sense of safety within yourself, your own body and with others
  • Explore the edges, limits, and intrigues of your relational-self and enrich your personal connections
  • Achieve a more embodied and empowered sense of your voice when it comes to healthy limits that serve your boundaries
  • Learn how to keep your centre as individual and maintain your own peace while in the presence of challenge or conflict
  • Increase how deeply you experience your life-force energy
  • Reconnect, with radical acceptance, the love and awe you can have for your body
8 Day Program Overview

The retreat is open to individuals, couples, or friends.

We will be together for a total of 7 nights and 8 days of compassionately connected life celebration, enquiry and personal growth. We will arrive on July 18th and share dinner together and then start with retreat programming on July 19th. On July 25th we will share breakfast together and depart by noon.

Programming is subject to change as the needs and desire of the participants emerge. Everything listed and covered in our program is an invitation into connection and growth, nothing is expected or required.

This retreat is designed to include the opportunity for consensual touch, when desired, so please be aware and check in with yourself about your comfortability with this before you enrol.

Participation can look many different ways, including observation, to suit the individuals desire.

Day 1 - Grounding in Being

Waking Up the Body Daily Practice - Gigong
Zen Meditation - Discovering your Power & Fullness
Resource Mapping & Embodiment Practice Foundations
Mapping Your Desires with Body Poem
Guided Somatic Journeys
________

Day 2 - Safety and Surrender

Deep Dive into The Wheel of Consent
Limits, Boundaries and Body Sovereignty
Co-creating Safety and Moving into Receptivity
_________

Day 3 - Transformation Through Truth

The Embodiment & Pleasure Triangle
Mapping and Cultivating Our Life Force
Belief, Story and The Power of Integration
Voice Dialogue and mindful sharing

__________

Day 4 - The Dance of Being

Group Improv Theatre Game On Your Life Journey
Taoist Energy Practices & Healing Love Practices
Nourishing Connection Through Relational Touch
Experience the Gift of Active Receiving Touch

___________

Day 5 - Integration Day

A day, mostly free of structure, for harvesting experience and integration. An opportunity be social or in stillness, honouring what serves you most.
___________

Day 6 - Feel and Follow

Feel and Follow Touch Exploration
Exploring Conscious Connection Rituals
We will Explore a Choice of Community Embodiment Practices
To Include Animal Game / The Connection Game
___________

Day 7 - Taoist Alchemy & Manifestation Magic

Uncovering & Understanding Your Core Erotic Theme
Nourishing Connection Through Relational Touch
Experience the Gift of Active Receiving Touch
Breath, Movement, Sound and Touch

___________

Day 8 - Embodied Integration

Reflective Practice
Bridging Back Into Life
Appreciation Island Practice
Closing Integration Ritual
___________

This Retreat Is For You if You...
  • Have enjoyed Marcel and/or Julian's facilitation in a retreat or professional context and now want to explore the combination of meditation and bodywork
  • Feel the call to cultivating like minded community with other growth oriented individuals
  • Acknowledge the importance of uniting personal power, purpose and pleasure for growth and change
  • Are a bodyworker or coach who longs to deepen your own personal development and take your work to the next level
  • Have overcome challenges in your personal or professional life and realise the importance of softly coming back to yourself, self-regulating and filling your own cup
  • Are inspired to explore and expand your body sense literacy, fluency and fluidity
  • Are curious to learn and harness the benefits to meditation and alchemy within a western somatic and physiology focused framework.
  • Want to ground and feel further at home in your body
The retreat is open to individuals, couples, or freiends.
Daily Retreat Schedule
Please find below a general schedule of how each day will flow
08:30 – 09:30
08:30 – 09:30
Tea, coffee, and breakfast
09:30 – 11:00
09:30 – 11:00
Morning Session 1
11:00 - 11:30
11:00 - 11:30
Break
11:30 – 13:00
11:30 – 13:00
Morning Session 2
13.00 - 14.30
13.00 - 14.30
Lunch break
14.30 – 16.00
14.30 – 16.00
Afternoon Session 1
16.00 – 16.30
16.00 – 16.30
Break
16.30 – 18.00
16.30 – 18.00
Afternoon Session 2
19.00 – Sleep
19.00 – Sleep
Dinner & Community Time
Details & Prices for the Retreat
In order to make this experience as accessible as possible to folks from all different places around the world and different economic contexts, we are operating the ticketing for this event on sliding scale pricing. While we will not ask you for proof of finances to justify your purchasing of any ticket level, we ask that you please take a moment to reflect on your economic situation and choose the ticketing level that best matches what you can afford. In particular, by choosing the Sponsor Level ticket you are helping us to make this event accessible for folks who come from countries with significantly weaker currencies and/or are currently experiencing financial hardship. Your support with purchasing the Sponsor ticket level helps to equitably redistribute the cost of the workshop and we thank you very deeply in advance if you choose to contribute on this level.
We are offering tickets at three pricing levels:

Reduced Price Ticket: €1,600 (For people whose currency value is significantly lower than the EUR or USD and/or those who frequently struggle to meet basic needs or are facing temporary financial crisis. 10 tickets are available at this tier. Please honestly reflect on whether or not you need the discount in order to participate before selecting this option so that these tickets can go to those who need them.)

Standard Price Ticket: €1,800 (For people whose currency value is similar to the EUR or USD and/or those who are able to meet basic needs and have some discretionary income.)

Redistribution/Sponsor Price Ticket: €2,200 (For people whose currency value is similar to the EUR or USD and/or those who are easily able to meet their basic needs and have significant discretionary income. Buying one of these tickets helps to support our tiered pricing model and increase access for those with less financial means.)

Couples: We are offering couples tickets at the same three ticket pricing levels with a 10% discount. The three tiers of couples price tickets are €2,880, €3,240 and €3,960.

We will be offering an early bird discount to folks who sign up and pay their tuition in full before April 15th, 2026. The early bird discount is €160 off the cost of tuition for whichever ticket price you choose. After April 15th prices will go to the standard rate. Couples who sign up together will receive a 10% discount (this is in lieu of the early bird discount and is applicable at any time). Don’t wait to get your early bird ticket as there are only a few tickets available at each ticket level!

Not ready to pay your tuition in full but still want to reserve your spot? Send in a €775 deposit and we’ll hold a spot in the program for you! You can then pay the rest of your tuition anytime before April 15th, 2026. All retreat payments must be paid in full before the retreat starts in order to be eligible to participate.

Please note that all payments are non-refundable. If you have paid in full and are unable to make it, you will be able to apply part of your tuition paid as a credit to a future workshop.

How to Register For The Retreat
Fill Out Intake Form
Please take a few minutes to fill out the intake form, so we can get to know you and your goals.
CLICK HERE
Pay Tuition or Deposit
Visit our payments page. Choose to pay your deposit or full retreat fee to secure your place.
CLICK HERE
Enrollment Confirmation
Once we have received your intake form and payment we will contact you to confirm your spot in the program
Travel & Arrival Plans
Extra Nights:

Extra nights are available for 1 day before and after the in-person training.
Check-In: 16h / Check-Out: 11h
* Prices per night 90€

LOCATION:

Casa das Aguas Calmas
Caminho da Arroteia 66 (GNR 104 red)
8100-097 Boliqueime
Algarve
Portugal

GETTING THERE:

By Car

From the highway exit Boliqueime: After the exit, turn right towards Loulé. After approx. 350m, turn left at the petrol station. Follow the road with a sharp right-hand bend to Alfontes (approx. 2.5km. Turn left at the village square. Follow the road for approx. 1.6 km to Tenoca. Turn right there in the village square (at the carob factory “Chorondo” and after 30 m turn right again in the direction of “Arroteia”. Follow this small road with various bends for 1 km until you reach the red house number 104.

From Aldi/ Boliqueime: At the large traffic circle in the direction of Boliqueime (between Lidl and Aldi, after approx. 300 m turn right, where there are many signposts, in the direction of Tenoca approx. 3.5 km. In Tenoca on the village square straight ahead and after 30m turn right towards “Arroteia”, follow the little road with some bends for 1370m until you reach the red house number 104.

By Airplane:
The nearest airport is Faro Airport (28km). From the airport, you can take a taxi or uber to our training venue. The venue can organize a pick-up service from and to the airport for 30 euros per trip. Let us know if you require this.

Your Retreat Team

  • Marcel Steiner

    Retreat Leader & Mentor

    Ever since I can remember, I have experienced myself as one who was lured by the mystery of life. I loved to go into the forest, even alone, in search of …?

    Squirrels were the epitome of mystery for me back then. My hope was to be able to touch one one day. To me, the squirrel stands for the lovely, the playful, the light, the connection between heaven and earth and the mysterious, which can only be approached in silence and attentiveness.

  • Julian Marcus

    Retreat Leader & Relational Bodywork Educator

    I am passionate about the body wisdom and in the meeting point of talk and touch. I love to explore the communication needed to create embodied consent and intimacy through people’s felt sense with deep co-regulated connection to self and their partner.

    I draw from my experience now for over two decades as practitioner supervisor, mentor, consultant, bodyworker and somatic sex educator. I combine this experience and knowledge along with my love of Taoist and embodiment practices to create nervous system and trauma informed retreats that support deep trust and relational safety.

Have questions about this retreat?


Feel free to contact Julian directly at:


julian@relationalbodywork.org