Women's Wellness Retreat
“Return to Self”
Venue: Amertha Bali Villas, Bali, Indonesia
Dates: March 26 – April 2, 2027 (8 days)
Program type: Fully residential
Faculty
· Ellen Watson · Ari Widya · Novie Amalo · Jiamin Chen · Cathy Li ·
This program is taught in English. Indonesian translation is available.
Mandarin and Japanese translation may be arranged in advance for an additional fee.Note: Our professional translators provide seamless live translation. Rarely are our students adversely affected by translation.
Program Overview
By Water, Away From Everything Else…
North-west Bali holds this retreat by a calm coast, where a quiet village moves at its own pace and water stays still enough to hear. Mornings open right by that shoreline, air carrying salt and quiet instead of noise. Every part of this place, water, air, pace, supports one thing: your system slowing down.
Most days pass as ordinary, but they wear on you. Tight shoulders. Shallow breath. A mind still running your list at midnight. A woman who got very good at pushing through all of it.
This retreat gives that pattern eight days to loosen, here by water, with women who recognize exactly what you're carrying.
Built for women who manage a lot : families, careers, other people's needs, and who learned to put their own needs last. Here, days reverse that order. Mornings open through movement and senses: sound, scent, breath, before anything else asks something of you. Afternoons hold bodywork, reflective circle time, and expressive movement. Evenings stay open and unscheduled, on purpose.
Rest works like a skill, built through repetition rather than paid off in one sitting. That's what this week practices with you.
Touch is the centers for this ‘rebuilding’. Spend years managing, deciding, holding things together, and your body grows quiet to its own signals; tension, fatigue, even hunger and calm. Slow, attentive touch ranks among most reliable ways to bring those signals back online. Guided touch practice runs through your week, taught with boundaries first, always unhurried, asking only that you notice what you feel as it happens.
There are something about our venue in Amertha and Taman Sari, that are hard to put into words; so we let Indra show you instead. Watch these two short videos and get a real feel for the space before you arrive.
The Setting
Why This Retreat
When you look composed and feel worn down inside. High-functioning stress and burnout hide easily behind a good track record. Small-group sessions and one-on-one time make room to talk honestly about what's actually going on.
When your boundaries have blurred. We practice noticing, in the moment, when you say yes before you've actually decided you want to. That's a skill we train, not just a topic we discuss.
When privacy matters to you. A small group meets at a private venue. Photography stays minimal and consensual, with no expectation of posting.
When you're always the one holding things together. Unscheduled rest time sits inside the daily schedule, not left over after everything else. You arrive already entitled to it.
When you're questioning what you're working toward. Dedicated time opens for thinking through purpose and long-term direction, with room to sit in the question past the end of the week.
When your body feels depleted. Daily guided touch and bodywork sessions target genuine physical recovery — the kind that outlasts a good photo.
When you feel disconnected from your body. Daily movement, sound, scent, and touch practice work to restore physical sensation, going beyond simply managing the body from the outside.
When you want results that last past the trip home. Every major topic closes with something concrete you can use in your regular week, carried past Bali.
The Day of Touch
One full day of the retreat holds no other agenda. You spend it giving and receiving Touching Essence™, guided by Ellen Watson, moving between the two roles as the day continues.
The practice asks one thing: pay attention to whatever you feel, whether that's ease, discomfort, sadness, relief, or nothing much at all.
For many women, this becomes the first time in years that touch arrives without a role attached; caretaking, parenting, or intimacy with expectations. It's contact, given and received with attention. That's the hands-on version of what the whole retreat teaches: learning to notice your body again.
Vibrance™ Expressive Arts
Time opens for conscious dance, part of the retreat's Vibrance™ practice.
This runs as a guided movement practice, not a dance class ; music, breath, and free movement give access to feelings and energy that talking or stillness alone reach less easily. The group moves through the natural elements : earth, water, fire, air, grounding the body and working through built-up tension.
Every pace and fitness level fits here. You move at your own rhythm, with no audience and no mirrors.
What You'll Practice
A living, sustainable rest practice, carried home and repeated
Nervous system regulation tools built for an ordinary Tuesday, not just retreat week
Boundary-setting felt in the body first, with the words following after
Foundational guided touch practice, as both skill and self-awareness practice
The physiology of burnout: hormonal health, sleep architecture, nervous system load
A full Day of Touch, dedicated to giving and receiving without agenda
A clearer sense of what purpose and legacy mean to you, apart from what was handed to you
A written plan for protecting rest and boundaries once you're home
Who This Retreat Is For
Women in leadership, caregiving, or high-responsibility roles who quietly stopped asking what they need
Women feeling the physical edges of chronic stress: fatigue, hormonal shifts, a body gone quiet
Women who appear steady from the outside and feel depleted within
Anyone ready to build rest and boundaries as living skills
Every experience level welcome — prior bodywork, meditation, or retreat background isn't required
Proposed Schedule
This gives you a sense of your week's rhythm. Sessions and timing may adjust closer to the date, so your days stay built around what works best for your group.
Day 1 · Friday, March 26
Arrival & check-in
5:00pm — Welcome Circle
6:00pm — Group dinner at sunsetDay 2 · Saturday, March 27
7:00–9:00am — Grounding movement & ritual cleansing
11:00am–1:00pm — Somatic yoga & integration circle
4:00–6:00pm — Restorative yoga & sound closingDay 3 · Sunday, March 28
7:00–9:00am — Sensory awareness & a boundary-setting ritual
11:00am–1:00pm — Guided touch practice, boundaries taught first
4:00–6:00pm — Compassion meditation & women's circleDay 4 · Monday, March 29
7:00–9:00am — Gentle movement & meditation
11:00am–1:00pm — Scent meditation, walking meditation & drawing
4:00–6:00pm — Guided touch practice & sound healing
Day 5 · Tuesday, March 30 — Free Day
Optional self-care workshop availableDay 6 · Wednesday, March 31
7:00–9:00am — Rhythmic movement & conscious dance
11:00am–1:00pm — Conscious dance continues
4:00–6:00pm — Elemental scent ritual & reflective writingDay 7 · Thursday, April 1
7:00–9:00am — Peak conscious dance experience
11:00am–1:00pm — Sound integration & gentle landing
4:00–6:00pm — Creative sharing & take-home closing ritualDay 8 · Friday, April 2
Closing morning practice
Farewell Circle
Departure
Meet your Faculty
-
Ellen Watson
Ellen celebrates over three decades on staff and faculty at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where she studies, practices, and teaches meditative movement.
She teaches 5Rhythms®, Holotropic Breathwork, SpiritDanceSoulSong®, Vibrance™, and Touching Essence™, work built through decades close to the source of each practice. From 1984 to 2003, she developed and led Esalen's Movement Arts Program.
In 1996 she founded MovingVentures, carrying workshops, retreats, and training across Bali, China, and beyond. Vibrance™ grew from her belief that music, mantra, breath, dance, and asana move together as one practice.
-
Jiamin Chen
Rooted in slow bodywork, aromatherapy, and holistic sound healing, Jiamin guides others on a gentle journey back to themselves.
She believes healing begins with presence, weaving botanical aromas together with grounding sound vibrations to open space for deep rest, inner balance, and renewal. Her sessions invite participants to slow down, awaken their senses, and release tension held in the body.
Each practice offers a way back to what feels true and steady, a reconnection with one's own nature that stays long after the session ends.
-
Cathy Li
Cathy's path began in Hong Kong's corporate world, where she rose to director in headhunting before stepping away in 2025 for a year of travel and volunteering across the globe, a pilgrimage that led her back to the wisdom of body and mind.
She now teaches Yin Yoga and practices Esalen massage, weaving in mindfulness meditation and Tibetan contemplative wisdom, infused with her own collection of herbal incense.
As a vegan, she holds Ahimsa and Metta close, treating every being with equality, tenderness, and respect, qualities that carry into her touch and teaching.
-
Ari Widya
A Balinese woman raised close to rich culture, art, tradition, and spirituality, Ari carries these roots the way a tree carries its ground, quiet and steady.
Singing has always lived near her heart, a way she finds comfort, expresses what she feels, and returns to herself, imperfect and present rather than performed.
Through years of work and volunteering alongside women, mothers, and children, she learned the quiet power of simply showing up for one another. Ari shares Bali through music, gentle tradition, and story, creating space for women to slow down and feel at home in themselves.
-
Novie Amalo
Born in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Novie has held a deep connection to music since childhood — shaped by her father, a former drummer, and her grandmother, a Sasando musician and church choir leader.
Guided by her grandmother, Novie began Cha Cha and Waltz lessons at age eight, planting an early appreciation for movement and rhythm.
She believes deeply in the transformative power of music and dance as tools for healing, connection, and emotional expression, and brings traditional Indonesian songs from across the archipelago into her teaching.
Why Bali?
The atmosphere and culture of Bali fit our intention toward a path of healing in a way few other locations can match. In Balinese, the word for 'foreigner' translates as 'guest'; reflecting the warmth, openness, and beauty woven into every aspect of Balinese life. As guests during this time, we will visit local temples and ceremonies at full moon and Balinese holy days.
You will have at least 1.5 days free each week; time to practice, snorkel, visit the spa, rest, or swim. We encourage students to stay for days or weeks after the program ends to absorb this magical island: its tropical beauty, its grace, its world-class diving, and the extraordinary quality of stillness that Bali uniquely holds.
Venue
Our home for this program is Amertha Bali Villas, located in the quiet northwest corner of Bali, far from the busy tourist areas of Seminyak and Kuta.
Here, the pace of life slows. The horizon opens to the turquoise waters of the Bali Sea, with the distant outline of Java’s volcanoes visible at sunrise. This is a more traditional side of Bali, unhurried, spacious, and deeply connected to nature.
Pemuteran is known for its exceptional diving and snorkelling, with vibrant marine life just offshore. Nearby, the West Bali National Park offers protected jungle, wildlife, and coral reef ecosystems, while the surrounding village life provides a genuine experience of local Balinese culture.
Classes are held in the Wantilan; a large, open-sided wooden pavilion filled with natural light, birdsong, and ocean breezes. The space is carefully prepared for the training, with silk hangings and a full range of equipment including massage tables, yoga mats, music, and movement props to support both learning and creative exploration.
Housing
Amertha Bali Villas
Beachfront resort set in lush tropical gardens on the shores of Pemuteran Bay.
Each villa has its shared pool, surrounded by koi ponds, outdoor terraces, and the sounds of the sea.
The Amertha property is grounded in the Balinese concept of Tri Hitas Karana, the harmonious relationship between Human and God, Human and Nature, and Human and Society; a philosophy that aligns deeply with the spirit of Esalen® Massage.
Taman Sari Bali Resort & Spa
Part of the same bay and operated within the same local hospitality network, Taman Sari offers a relaxed, garden-style setting with traditional Balinese architecture.
It provides a comfortable and welcoming environment while remaining closely connected to the main program location.
Participants staying here join all daily activities at Amertha, with a short walk along the beachfront as part of the daily rhythm.
We offer two accommodation options for this program, both located along the same beachfront in Pemuteran and connected by a short 5-minute walk on the beach.
Our main training activities are held at Amertha Bali Villas, where all classes take place. Participants staying at either property are fully part of the same program and community, with access to both locations throughout the training.
For those seeking greater privacy and comfort, Amertha offers spacious private villas with their own pools in a quiet beachfront setting. For those preferring a more flexible budget option, Taman Sari Bali Resort & Spa offers comfortable bungalow-style rooms and shared options just a short walk along the beach.
Food
Each day begins with a mid-morning brunch, freshly prepared and nourishing, served at the venue during the morning nutrition break. Fruit and light snacks are provided in the afternoon to keep you energised between sessions.
Five dinners per week are included. Saturday and Sunday dinners are on your own, giving you freedom to explore the local warungs and cafes along the beachfront, many within easy walking distance.
Once a week the group gathers for a shared dinner together, a valued part of our community life.
Vegetarian and vegan options are readily available, and dietary requirements can be accommodated with advance notice.
Pemuteran is approximately 3.5 hours from Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS), Bali. We are happy to help arrange ground transportation and suggest where to spend your first night.
We recommend sharing the journey with other students who have similar arrival times, we will help coordinate this. Passport must be valid for at least 6 months from entry date.
A 30-day Visa on Arrival is available at the airport. We strongly recommend a 60-day e-Visa for flexibility. Contact our travel agent Ike for smooth, stress-free arrival.
We require that you purchase travel insurance for your journey to Bali. For more information please view Travel Info.
Getting to Pemuteran
Transportation
We are happy to help arrange ground transportation from the airport to Ubud or Seminyak, and assist you in deciding where to spend your first night or nights. The drive from the airport is quite interesting, with varied terrain, and is best enjoyed during daylight hours.
Please note that we do not include or organize flights; however, our Bali travel document offers helpful suggestions on airlines we recommend.
You may also share the cost with others who have the same flight or a similar pick-up time and are heading in the same direction, making the trip even more convenient and economical.
Our professional drivers will take excellent care of you throughout your journey. Each member of our driver team has extensive experience and a deep familiarity with the terrain along the route, ensuring a safe, smooth, and comfortable trip as you travel through Bali’s diverse landscapes. Let our experienced drivers handle the road so you can simply relax and enjoy the ride.
Past Participants Experience
Enrollment, Pricing & How to Apply
What’s Included
175-hour Esalen® Massage Practitioner Training
Faculty instruction and table assistance throughout
Accommodation for the full program
Daily mid-morning brunch, afternoon fruit and snacks, and 5 dinners per week (Saturday and Sunday dinners not included)
Full use of Taman Sari and Amertha property
Training manual and all class materials
What’s Not Included
International flights to Bali
Airport transfers (we assist with coordination)
Visa fees (if applicable)
Translator's fee (if using Mandarin, Indonesian, or Japanese translation)
Travel insurance (required)
EMBA certificate fee (USD $150, paid directly to EMBA on completion)
How to Apply
Click here to complete the application form and apply
Upon acceptance, you formally register
Choose your room type (this determines your price)
Download Enrollment Agreement here, sign, and send it back to us via email at contact@movingventures.org
Submit payment (deposit or full amount) with your registration
We confirm, reserve your room, and send periodic updates
Pricing & Payments
-
Deposit ($1,000)
If you would like to reserve your space and pay the remaining balance up to 60 days before the start of this program.
-
Taman Sari - Shared Studio Room ($6,550)
Twin Bed, air-conditioned garden cottages with open-sky showers and a terrace overlooking tropical lawns. Steps from the beach and Biorock reef. Simple, serene, and full of character.
-
Taman Sari - Private Studio Room ($7,050)
Your own air-conditioned cottage with open-sky garden shower, private terrace and views across the lawn to the sea. A peaceful retreat close to the reef and Biorock project.
-
Taman Sari - Shared Bungalow ($7,050)
Twin Bed, renovated bungalow with beachside access, open-air garden bathroom, and views of the sea. Individually styled with Balinese accents — a step up in space and atmosphere.
-
Taman Sari - Private Bungalow ($7,550)
A renovated beachside bungalow with a private open-air garden bath, Balinese carved interiors, and near-direct access to the beach. Ideal for couples or those wanting extra comfort.
-
Amertha - Shared Master Suite ($8,050)
Twin bed, set within a private villa compound on Pemuteran Bay, this suite features a daybed, rainfall shower, private balcony and access to your own pool. Shared with one other student.
-
Amertha - Private Master Suite ($9,950)
An entire master suite within a private beachfront villa, shared pool, lush garden, rainfall shower, daybed, and panoramic views of Pemuteran Bay and hills.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions? Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime.
-
No prior training is required. The program is open to all levels, from complete beginners to experienced practitioners. All participants are invited to bring a beginner's mind.
-
The curriculum, teaching standards, and EMBA certification are aligned with those offered at Esalen Institute. Both programs are rooted in the same lineage and uphold the same depth, integrity, and quality of Esalen Massage training.
The main difference lies in the setting and overall investment. Training at Esalen takes place on its iconic Big Sur campus, known for its dramatic Pacific coastline, natural hot springs, and long-established community. This immersive environment is truly unique and is reflected in the overall cost of attending. For example, even shorter workshop stays at Esalen can reach several thousand dollars including accommodation and meals .
Our Bali program offers the same curriculum within a 28-day residential retreat in Pemuteran, surrounded by ocean, nature, and Balinese cultural life. While the learning experience remains consistent, the overall cost of participating in Bali is generally more accessible; especially when considering travel, accommodation, and daily living expenses.
For participants coming from Asia and nearby regions, Bali also offers a shorter travel distance and greater ease of access, making it a practical and inviting alternative without compromising the quality of the training.
Ultimately, both locations offer something meaningful and distinct; the essence of the work remains the same, while the environment and level of financial investment may guide your personal choice.
-
Yes. The certificate is issued by the Esalen Massage & Bodywork Association (EMBA) and grants permission to use the Esalen® trademark globally. It is recognised at retreat centres, spas, and wellness facilities worldwide. This program is also an NCBTMB-approved CE provider.
-
Your fee covers tuition, accommodation for the full 28 days. Daily mid-morning brunch, afternoon fruit and snacks, and 5 dinners per week (Saturday and Sunday dinners not included), full use of the Amertha and Taman Sari property (including pools and recreational area), training materials.
-
This program is taught in English. Indonesian translation is available. Mandarin and Japanese translation may be arranged in advance for an additional fee.
-
At least 1.5 days per week are free from scheduled classes. Evenings are also unscheduled. This is time to snorkel, visit the spa, rest, or explore. We encourage students to stay on after the program to absorb Bali at their own pace.