Portugal Retreat (1).jpeg — We can’t wait to welcome you to

**PORTUGAL**

Our Retreat Hosts…

Both born in Jamaica, Anna and I have lived and traveled extensively throughout the world. We met in fact, on a Goddess retreat held in Jamaica over a decade ago, while I was working in Haiti, in response to the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country. Anna fondly recounts the story of me arriving at the retreat, heading purposely to the river where along with the other women on the retreat, she was swimming. Without a care in the world, I stripped down to my underwear and jumped in to join the frolic with these women whom I’d never met. Destiny would later reconnect us in a city we both love, New York. Our shared passions are many; art, all things beautiful, writing, music and mostly though the plight of the human condition especially in Jamaica. ‘When Nadine asked me to co-create a transformational retreat with her, I knew too, like Golden Web, that the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts. The intention of Golden Web as well as the retreat is all about the alchemy of connectivity and the resulting transformation. We are all interconnected and all can influence each other for the better. This is our first retreat and first collaboration and it promises to be magical,’ says Anna. Mother Earth loves us unconditionally. Her trees embrace us, reminding us that we’re never alone. On this retreat, each guest will be invited to plant their roots by planting a tree. And from here, we’ll grow, spreading our branches and our leaves with LOVE.

Anna

I am an artist with paintings in the National Gallery of Jamaica, El Museo del Barrio, and the Jewish Museum in New York, as well as private collections worldwide. I wrote and illustrated a book published by Alfred A. Knopf and am working on another. I had the leading role in the film, Man Without A World, by Eleanor Antin. I also built a successful business, designing and creating fine jewelry. The intention of my material work has always been soul connection and upliftment. I wanted to create a place where that soul connection and upliftment could occur in direct contact for greater impact. So I set the intention like everything else I’ve done, clarifying my vision over the years.

For well over a decade, I have been dreaming of creating a transformational place where people can shift from mainstream life and return to the fundamentals of living in nature on a beautiful farm that produces the food we eat, living in harmony with each other. The place as I envisioned it would encourage connection with thoughtful conversations about who we are and what we have and want in this life in a nurturing, peaceful environment, surrounded by a supportive community. I wanted this place to assist in realizing one’s true self, one’s purpose.

I wanted to inspire all to act and not just dream, to ignite their own courage to realize their purpose. I honed the concept for Golden Web with a woman whom I met randomly on a farm in the middle of Portugal. She and I had known each other for a day before committing to co-create this magical place. We were brought together for a higher purpose, just as Nadine McNeil and I.

2019 Nadine Final Images-23 (1).jpg — Nadine

Her mission as a yoga teacher, speaker, wisdom mentor and humanitarian is to ignite infinite possibility in people around the world and share yoga with diverse underserved communities.

Prior to her deep dive into yoga in 2008, Nadine travelled the world in service of the UN, UNICEF, Global Volunteer Network and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for nearly two decades. These and other experiences rooted Nadine’s continued devotion to activism.

Inspired by her firsthand encounters with both the resilience of the human spirit and also its suffering, Nadine’s talks, workshops, yoga sessions, Women’s Circles and retreats are continually described as powerful, moving and insightful.

As her Women’s Circles continue to gain global traction, women from across the world who have sat with her in Circle, have returned to their communities to offer this necessary and important work. Her mantra for this work is: when one of us suffers we all suffer. Yet when one of us heals, we all heal.

Nadine McNeil is the founder of the BadAsana Series ©: Yoga with Weights. This Yoga Alliance [CE] certified program is one that integrates 1 to 3 kgs weights intelligently within a hatha-vinyasa flow practice. The purpose of this synergistic practice to support the body in building physical strength, endurance and stamina, while respecting and adhering to the main tenets of yoga, primarily through breath and alignment awareness.

When she’s not traveling, Nadine may be found living and teaching in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia at the Yoga Barn, the largest yoga and wellness facility in South East Asia.

About the retreat:

At the Golden Web signature retreat, everyone participating is a thread in the collective, each strand essential, independent yet supported by the others. We will begin each day with yoga flow, followed by Sacred Circle, journaling and art where each will explore visual expression as a means to allow energy to flow as a meditative and messaging medium, utilizing paint on paper. No painting experience necessary! After brunch and free time, we reconvene in the afternoon for further transformational sessions closing each evening with restorative yoga followed by a healthy, hearty vegetarian dinner. Everyone will also receive a reading by a healer and medium, Denise, who has been practicing for three decades. She will only reveal what it is you need to know at this point in your life. Our goal is to assist you with a deeper understanding of why you are here, a clearer path to follow, and an expanded tribe who will cheer you on.

Golden Web

Imagine an enchanted, nature-filled farm in Portugal's eastern Algarve that has woven together a *multitude of accommodations from exotic tipis to glamorous tents to luxurious suites to an open-plan loft where all meet in farm-style kitchen dining to share of the days' work of yoga, creativity, beach walks, bike rides, transformative treatments and form threads of connection in this conscious community of guests and hosts alike. All this only a few minutes from a calm white-sand beach on the edge of a traditional fishing village filled with pure-food restaurants. We are 30 minutes from the Faro Airport.