Fierce Compassion: Womenʹs Retreat

Tender compassion allows us to meet pain with care. Fierce compassion helps us protect what matters, hold healthy boundaries, speak honestly, and stand up for ourselves and others. Both take intention and practice, especially in a culture that often encourages women to place their own needs last. The Fierce Compassion Women’s Retreat offers time to step away from the responsibilities and expectations of daily life. Through mindfulness and compassion practices, reflection, gentle movement, and time in the natural beauty of Sacred Waters, we will explore what it means to meet ourselves and our lives with greater care, clarity, and courage. This year, the retreat concludes at noon on Mother’s Day. Come with your mother or daughter and share an experience that goes deeper than a traditional gift. Give the retreat to a mother you love. Or give it to yourself as a weekend with no one to care for, no schedule to manage, and no role you need to perform. You do not need to be a mother to claim this time for yourself. With our noon ending on Sunday, there is still time for those who wish to gather with family later in the day. This retreat is held primarily in silence, and device-free. This environment offers a rare and precious opportunity to turn inward and meet what we find there in fresh ways. The Sacred Waters Center (formerly Harmony Hill) is dedicated to healing. Nestled on 12 acres on the south side of Hood Canal with breathtaking Olympic mountain views, this tranquil retreat is the perfect setting to discover the richness of the present moment. Your registration includes nutritious meals, lodging, and teachings. And note that there are no retreat chores required for this one – we’ll practice the art of receiving care from the Sacred Waters staff. Rooms are shared (two single beds per room) or single occupancy (for a fee) with a mix of shared and private baths. A limited number of ADA-accessible rooms are available. Some of the lodging requires using stairs. Camping availability is primarily tent camping with limited room for small camping trailers (no RV hookups available). May 7 - 9, 2027 Friday, 4:00 pm - Sunday, 12:30 pm PT Karen Schwisow & Carolyn McCarthy Sacred Waters (South Puget Sound) Friday April 30th, 2026 at 11:55pm Gentle Yoga Sitting Meditation Walking Meditation Stunning Scenery Delicious, Organic Meals Private or Shared Quarters *All who identify as women are welcome. [email protected] | 360-830-6439 x4 Karen Schwisow is the Executive Director of Mindfulness Northwest. A certified MBSR teacher through the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical Center, she has been teaching yoga and meditation in hospitals, clinics, and community organizations since 2005. She co-created and directs Mindfulness Northwest's MBSR Teacher Training Program and has been training mindfulness and yoga teachers since 2012. Karen has been in the room with a lot of people navigating hard things. She teaches with warmth, humor, and an honest reckoning with how hard and how beautiful ordinary life can be. People come to her classes looking for calm and leave with something more useful: a different relationship with whatever is actually happening. [email protected] | 360-830-6439 x6 Carolyn teaches in the hopes of moving us, individually and collectively, toward healing, wholeness, and love. With a degree in Latin American Studies and Women's Studies, she uses mindfulness to support the work of social justice, turning toward the difficult within and without. Carolyn is a certified teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Zest, warmth, and wit enliven her teaching. Core practices: sitting meditation, time outside, solo living room dance parties. Visit her online at www.carolynmcc.com. All are welcome! We are honored to support each participant in their meditation practice regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, race, color, gender, gender identity, sexual identity, age, physical ability, political affiliation, or religion. Our retreats are suitable for beginning through experienced practitioners. We are committed to offering support for any accessibility needs you have as we are able. Please contact us with any questions or requests related to accessibility prior to registering for a course. IS RETREAT RIGHT FOR YOU? Meditation retreats are not right for everyone. If you have a history of trauma or acute psychological issues consider checking with a mental health professional to decide if intensive retreat practice would be supportive. If you have questions or concerns about whether a retreat is right for you, please contact us at [email protected]. The intention of silence on retreat is to settle deeply into your own experience and to not interact with others, allowing everyone space to have the retreat they need to have — including you! PERSONAL AND INTERPERSONAL SAFETY Participants are expected to be sens