Retreats & Festivals Guide
What Is an Embodiment Retreat? :
A Beginners Guide
New to embodiment retreats? Learn how somatic healing, movement, breath and community create powerful, grounded transformation for beginners.
Embodiment Retreats: A Beginner’s Guide
An embodiment retreat is an invitation to come home to your body, not as an idea, but as a lived experience. It is a space where movement, breath, ritual, creativity and community become pathways into presence, healing, and inner freedom. For many beginners, it’s the first time life slows down enough for the body to speak and be heard.
Embodiment retreats have been rising in popularity for good reason: in a world that pulls us up into our heads, these retreats invite us back down, into our feet, our breath, our heart, our animal intelligence, our relational truth.
Welcome to this beginner’s guide to embodiment, written by the Ecstatic Dance London & URUBU School of Transformational Arts, whose philosophy is rooted in somatic intelligence, community, ritual arts, and body-based psychology.
Our work is shaped by a deep lineage, from Bioenergetic Alchemy to Ecstatic Dance Temple, Shaking Medicine and Creative Flow; grounded in humanistic and transpersonal psychology, and held within a non-hierarchical, mycelial community field.
What Is an Embodiment Retreat?
An embodiment retreat is a transformational gathering centred on body-based practices: movement, breath, ritual, emotional process, shaking, creative flow, meditation, stillness, and conscious community.
Unlike traditional wellness retreats, embodiment retreats aren’t about escape, detox, or perfecting anything. They’re an experiential journey into feeling, sensing, expressing, and relating from a grounded and authentic place.
At its heart, embodiment is simple:
The body is the doorway.
Presence is the method.
Creativity is the medicine.
Relationship is the container.
An embodiment retreat brings these principles alive through immersive, experiential sessions that help people regulate their nervous systems, reconnect with aliveness, and rediscover their inner wisdom.
How Ecstatic Dance London defines an embodiment retreat
For us, embodiment retreats weave together:
- Somatic healing rooted in Bioenergetic Alchemy™: breath, grounding, emotional unwinding, body-psychotherapeutic understanding.
- Movement medicine through Ecstatic Dance Temple™ and trance-based practices: dance as prayer, movement as meditation.
- Shaking Medicine®: neurogenic tremoring as a natural mechanism for stress release.
- Creative ritual arts: voice, imagination, symbol, ceremony.
- Relational and tantric presence: boundaries, attunement, consent, co-regulation, intimacy rooted in safety.
- Humanistic psychology: authenticity, empathy, agency, choice, non-hierarchical learning.
All of this unfolds within a community field that is held with gentleness, humour, depth, and integrity. The retreats are not a performance or a test, it’s a remembering.
The Somatic Roots of Embodiment Retreats
Movement, Breath, Ritual & Shaking as Medicine
Embodiment retreats draw from multiple somatic traditions, but URUBU’s approach has a uniquely rich lineage:
Bioenergetic Alchemy™
Rooted in body psychotherapy (the work of Reich, Lowen, Postural Integration and contemporary somatic psychology) this stream supports:
- grounding into the body
- releasing chronic tension patterns
- emotional integration
- nervous system regulation
- deepening breath and contact
This somatic root allows people to unwind old armouring and enter the retreat with more spaciousness, stability, and sensitivity.
Ecstatic Dance Temple™
A ceremonial dance practice informed by Gurdjieff Sacred Movements, Osho Active Meditations, and Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms. It’s not “club dancing,” nor is it performative. It’s a journey into:
- trance-based presence
- embodied prayer
- emotional release
- surrender and expression
- inner silence through movement
Here, music becomes medicine, and community becomes the container.
Shaking Medicine®
A neurogenic tremoring practice grounded in mammalian biology and somatic healing traditions. It supports:
- discharge of stored stress
- down-regulation of survival responses
- returning to natural spontaneity
- restoring resilience and aliveness
It’s an accessible pathway for beginners, often creating profound shifts in a short time.
Ritual Arts & Creative Flow
Retreats include generative trance, creative expression, symbolic ritual, and imaginative inquiry, drawn from the Creative Flow Dojo and transpersonal psychology.
Together, these roots form the somatic ecosystem that makes embodiment retreats transformational rather than simply relaxing.
Why People Attend: Benefits for Beginners
People come to embodiment retreats for many reasons: some clear, some intuitive, some unknown until the body begins to open.
Common experiences include:
1. Nervous System Regulation
Many participants report feeling “reset,” softer, more grounded.
Somatic practices allow the body to move out of fight/flight/freeze and into ease, connection, and presence.
2. Emotional Release & Integration
Without forcing, the body naturally unwinds old emotional charge. Tears, laughter, shaking, or deep rest emerge spontaneously and safely.
3. Increased Presence
Through movement and breath, participants reconnect with bodily sensations that have been dulled or ignored, allowing life to be felt again.
4. Relational Maturity
Our retreats’ values emphasise boundaries, co-regulation, listening, consent, and attunement. This creates a training ground for healthier relationships.
5. Creative Freedom
Through dance, voice, ritual, play and symbolic expression, people rediscover joy, imagination, and creative agency.
6. Connection & Community
Many speak of feeling seen for the first time, not because they shared their biography, but because they showed up embodied.
7. Spiritual Connection (Non-Dogmatic)
Embodiment naturally opens access to meaning, intuition, and transpersonal states, without belief systems or guru models.
These benefits arise not from performing techniques, but from entering a field where the body can finally lead.
What Actually Happens at an Embodiment Retreat?
Every retreat is unique, but the general flow often includes:
Movement Sessions
From slow somatic unwinding to full-bodied ecstatic dance journeys.
Participants reconnect with rhythm, breath, impulse, and emotional expression.
Shaking Medicine & Grounding Practices
Gentle tremor induction helps release tension, regulate the nervous system, and restore natural vibrancy.
Breathwork & Somatic Inquiry
Breath is used as a bridge to emotional depth, clarity, and expanded states of consciousness.
Creative & Ritual Arts
Symbolic movement, voice, trance-journeying, archetypal exploration, fire rituals, or silent integration spaces.
Relational Practice
Eye-gazing, consent games, boundary exercises, paired somatic tuning, heart-centred communication; always trauma-informed, always optional.
Stillness & Integration
Rest, meditation, nature time, journaling, or simply lying on the earth, letting the body digest the experience.
Community Time
Shared meals, informal conversation, gentle presence with others; community becomes medicine.
A Sensory Glimpse
A beginner might feel the earth beneath their feet, the warmth of breath in the chest, the trembling of old armour dissolving, the joy of unselfconscious dance, the quiet safety of being held by a group moving as one.
This combination of movement, breath, shaking, ritual, and relationship is what distinguishes embodiment retreats from traditional wellness holidays.
Is an Embodiment Retreat Suitable for You?
Yes — especially if you’re new.
Beginners are often the ones who experience the deepest shifts, because the work is fresh and surprising.
No experience needed
You don’t need to be “fit,” flexible, or confident in dance.
There is no choreography, no performance, no expectation to be anything other than yourself.
Trauma-Informed & Choice-Based
URUBU’s approach honours nervous system pacing. You go at your own rhythm. You choose how deep, how expressive, how still. Consent is woven into every session.
Gentle, Safe & Held
Retreats prioritise psychological and somatic safety — boundaries, attunement and ethical facilitation are central to URUBU’s lineage.
If you feel called — even without knowing why — an embodiment retreat may be exactly what your body has been waiting for.
How Ecstatic Dance London Approaches Embodiment Retreats
Our retreats are shaped by a unique constellation of roots and values:
1. Humanistic Psychology as Foundation
The person comes before the technique.
Facilitators lead with empathy, presence, and authenticity — not hierarchy. Participants are invited into agency, choice, and self-reflection.
2. Somatic Intelligence at the Centre
Every practice — dance, shaking, breath, touch, trance — is grounded in an understanding of the nervous system and body-based psychology.
3. Ritual Arts & Trance-Based Practices
Ceremony, archetype, symbol, music, and creative flow transform the space into a living field of meaning-making.
4. Non-Hierarchical Learning
Ecstatic Dance London functions like a mycelial network, not a corporate structure. Participants learn from facilitators, peers, the collective field, and their own bodies.
5. Ethical Facilitation & Relationship as Container
Boundaries, consent, power-awareness, and relational maturity form the backbone of all URUBU offerings. This creates spaces that feel profoundly safe and genuinely transformative.
6. Community as Medicine
We heal in relationships, through co-regulation, shared presence, creativity, and communal ritual.
We envision a world where transformation is supported by a conscious community.
How to Prepare for Your First Embodiment Retreat
Preparation is simple, you don’t need to train or study.
A few invitations:
Come with curiosity
You don’t need to know what will happen. The unknown is part of the magic.
Wear comfortable, expressive clothes
Yoga clothes, flowing fabrics, warm layers; anything that lets you move and feel free.
Bring a journal
Many people receive insights or emotional clarity that’s helpful to record.
Hydrate & rest beforehand
Your body will do deep work, give it nourishment and gentleness.
Arrive with an open heart
Not forced openness, just a willingness to meet yourself as you are.
Expect nothing, welcome everything
Embodiment retreats unfold uniquely for each person. Trust your own pace.
A Simple Comparison: Embodiment Retreat vs. Wellness Retreat
| Embodiment Retreat | Wellness Retreat |
|---|---|
| Body-led, experiential, somatic | Programme-led, activity-based |
| Focus on presence, expression, integration | Focus on relaxation, fitness, detox |
| Emotional depth welcomed | Emotional neutrality preferred |
| Community + shared transformation | Individual sessions or passive classes |
| Movement as ritual, trance & creativity | Movement as exercise or discipline |
| Trauma-informed, choice-based | Fitness/wellbeing outcome-oriented |
Both have value, they simply serve different needs.
A Gentle Call to Join Us
If your body feels a quiet yes, a soft pull, a curiosity, a longing, you are welcome.
Our embodiment retreats are crafted as spaces of safety, depth, creativity, and communal transformation. No performance. No pressure. Just the slow return to yourself, held in a field of presence and possibility.
You can:
- Explore upcoming retreats
- Join us at our next dance event!
- Join a full day immersion in movement, ritual and somatic healing in London
- Sign up for updates about future transformational retreats and trainings
You don’t have to know the “why.”
Simply start with the next breath, and follow what it softens inside you.
FAQ: Embodiment Retreats for Beginners
1. Do I need dance or movement experience?
Not at all. Embodiment retreats are for every body — all shapes, ages, and abilities. There is no choreography and nothing to “get right.”
2. Is an embodiment retreat safe for trauma survivors?
Ecstatic Dance London approach is trauma-informed and paced. You always choose your level of engagement. Practices are designed to support nervous system regulation, not overwhelm.
3. Will there be talking, or is it silent?
Both. Some sessions are movement-based with minimal talking. Others include guided inquiry, relational practice, or group sharing. Silence and integration are woven throughout.
4. What should I wear?
Wear clothes that let you breathe and move: yoga wear, flowing fabrics, warm layers. Comfort and freedom are the priority.
5. Will I have to share personal things?
No. Nothing is required. Sharing is always optional. Transformation happens through the body, not through storytelling.
6. Can I come alone?
Absolutely. Many people come solo and leave feeling deeply connected.
7. What should I bring?
Water, a journal, comfortable clothes, maybe a small talisman for ritual if that feels good. Most importantly: bring yourself exactly as you are.