The Retreat That Changed Everything - and Why We're Gathering Again

Fourteen years ago, just a few months after I moved to Dancing Rabbit and met a new friend named Kassandra Brown, she invited me to attend a women’s retreat with her. I said yes, not really knowing what to expect. 

I had no idea then how much that experience–and that friendship–would shape my life.

Danielle’s mom, Kassandra, and Danielle at a Dancing Rabbit community dinner, 2023.

During that retreat, I watched Kassandra step into a trust-fall exercise and speak a deep truth from her heart: her desire to build a family-like web broader than the nuclear family model. I remember witnessing her courage as she surrendered that longing to the circle, letting herself be seen and supported.

When it was my turn, I found myself exploring something tender and vulnerable–the parts of me I had been repressing out of a desire to belong, to be liked, to be accepted at Dancing Rabbit. As I connected with those hidden parts and claimed my willingness to live more authentically, Kassandra was there. She cheered me on and supported me in following through with my commitment when we returned home. 

Danielle’s special objects altar during the 2012 women’s retreat she attended with Kassandra.

One evening, we were guided through a special ritual that started in complete silence. No talking–just presence. We entered a room where the queen within each of us was acknowledged, witnessed, and welcomed. The evening culminated in a song that reverberates through my heart to this day. Later that night, I remember walking under the moon, returning to my room to journal, and feeling changed in a way I couldn’t yet fully name.

That retreat happened in 2012.

Walking back from the 2012 women’s retreat under a full moon.

What I didn’t know then was that 14 years later, Kassandra and I would still be close friends–and that we would decide to co-lead the 2026 women’s retreat together. I also didn’t know that her daughter, Jasmine–who was just seven years old when I met her–would attend the women’s retreat I led at Dancing Rabbit in 2024. To me, this is a living example of what women’s community makes possible: relationships that deepen over time, span generations, and create a social fabric far richer and more resilient than the norm in this cultural day and age.

Kassandra’s daughter, Jasmine, attending the Women’s Retreat at Dancing Rabbit in 2024.

This is the spirit we’ll be bringing into the Women’s Retreat at Dancing Rabbit, May 22–25, 2026. 

And this is what makes this retreat different:

Many retreats create a beautiful, temporary opening–but don’t offer clear ways to carry that aliveness home, which is why the glow so often fades once real life returns.

We’re not just creating a powerful weekend. Kassandra and I will be teaching three essential keys to sustaining the authenticity, aliveness, and personal transformation that emerge during this retreat, so that what opens here continues to shape how you live your life long after you return home.

These three keys are what turn a meaningful experience into a true turning point. When practiced, they support lasting change; the kind where life genuinely doesn’t go back to how it was before.

Through movement, ritual, nature, reflection, and circle, Kassandra and I will guide you into deeper connection with your body, your truth, and the kind of belonging that doesn’t require you to shrink or perform.

Jasmine supporting another woman during one of the powerful retreat activations.

If you’re longing not just to feel alive, but to stay alive to yourself, we would love to welcome you.

✨ Learn more and reserve your spot here. 

With warmth and deep respect,
Danielle

P.S. Moments like this don’t come around often; a chance to step out of your patterns, be deeply witnessed, and return home changed in ways that last. If you’ve been waiting for a sign, this is it. Click here to learn more and claim your spot for May 22–25, 2026.