Eleven women gathered in the high desert of New Mexico with a simple question: What is trying to emerge within me?
For five days, we stepped away from our routines, responsibilities, and the constant noise of everyday life to listen for the answer.
Our home for the retreat was the extraordinary Synergia Ranch, a 111-acre ecological oasis nestled among piñon and juniper trees just outside Santa Fe. What was once overgrazed desert has been lovingly restored over decades into a thriving landscape filled with orchards, gardens, adobe buildings, wildlife, and gathering spaces designed to inspire creativity, connection, and reflection. From the moment we arrived, it felt as though the land itself was inviting us to slow down.
Each morning began with movement, yoga, and mindful practices designed to help us settle into our bodies before stepping into the creative process. Throughout the retreat, we explored creativity not as artistic talent or performance, but as a relationship—with curiosity, intuition, possibility, and ourselves. We painted our shadows beneath the New Mexico sun, creating visual representations of parts of ourselves often unseen. We experimented with cyanotypes, allowing sunlight and natural objects to leave their impressions behind. We collaborated on a group art project that reminded us how individual contributions create something larger when woven together.
One highlight was a watercolor workshop led by local Santa Fe artist Cynthia Young. Cynthia encouraged us to release perfectionism and embrace play, reminding us that creativity thrives when we allow ourselves to explore rather than control. We wandered the galleries of Canyon Road, soaking in the inspiration of artists who have spent lifetimes translating their inner worlds into color, texture, and form. Around every corner was another invitation to wonder.
One morning we visited Ojo Santa Fe Spa Resort, where mineral pools, warm water, and quiet reflection gave our nervous systems space to settle. We experienced the calming effects of Acudetox and aromatherapy, and one evening surrendered to the vibrations of a deeply restorative sound bath. The retreat was also a culinary experience. Chef Cheryl nourished us with beautiful meals that felt like an extension of the land itself—fresh, vibrant, and prepared with care. Gathering around the table became one of the many ways we connected, laughed, processed, and celebrated together.
And then there was the desert.
The desert is not always gentle.
There were bugs. There were snakes. There were moments when the heat challenged us and the unfamiliar reminded us that we were guests in a wild landscape.
Yet somehow those challenges became part of the lesson. The desert asked us to stay present. To adapt. To remain curious. To respect what we could not control. And in return, it offered breathtaking sunsets, expansive skies, unexpected beauty, and a reminder that growth rarely happens in perfect conditions.
By the end of our time together, no one left with a finished masterpiece. What they left with was something far more valuable. A deeper connection to themselves. A renewed sense of possibility. A reminder that creativity is not something we do—it is something we are.
As we watched the final sunset paint the desert sky, we realized the retreat had never been about making art.
It was about creating space for what was already trying to emerge.
And for eleven women in the New Mexico desert, something beautiful did.
