Let's Go!

Retreats are an amazing way to take a pause from the stresses of life and focus on what really matters. Picturesque settings, time to relax, excursions, daily classes to move your body and refocus your mind, and new friends. What's not to love?

You didn't dream this up, not to do it.

The Creative Channel

Domaine Madrona

October 27 - November 1, 2026

Join us in the French Pyrénées for a week to write the project you've been dreaming of. Put down the chaos of daily life and step into a rhythm where your project— whatever it might be— a novel, the website copy for your business, the memoir you've been dying to write comes to life with daily structured writing spaces, dedicated Pilates movement classes to open you up to creativity. Plus lots of downtime to explore the Mediterranean pine forest in the foothills of the Pyrénées or the organic olive oil farm next door, or to simply be still.

Who is The Creative Channel For?

You’re already tuned in. You’re aware when the idea lands in you - maybe delivered by your guides, your ancestors, a childhood dream, or just some sneaking suspicion you have something to get out into the world within you.

You’re led to start a Substack, an innovative program, try your hand at fiction, turn your recent life experience into poetry, edit your relative’s manuscript or develop some bits for funny reels. There's something dying to get out and it has the potential to shift your life.

The idea of actually doing it is simultaneously scary and energizing. Your experience shows you that when you let these ideas rest too long they have a way of turning stale. A year or two later you see someone else made it instead. The idea you tabled found a new more attentive home.

It’s incredibly easy for scarcity to be the filter that decides what you do each day. “Not enough time or energy” means the paid work, laundry, the voice notes, the bill paying, workout, healthy meal, the clean up after said meal, being a good father, daughter, partner and friend come first. Exhausted yet?

That little idea that came to you as a subtle shimmer suffocates under all that busyness.

The CREATIVE CHANNEL retreat provides a home for it to be born.

5 days to surrender the expectations that govern your routines. The roles you play, the priorities you juggle, the urgency you feel underneath it all.

It’s for the traveler who wants to return with momentum, not just a tan.

Now is the time to begin the thing you can’t quite start in the midst of daily life.

The muse is already getting excited to have her time with you.

Tucked into the edge of the Pyrénées mountains, a short distance from the quaint medieval village of Castelnou, is Domaine Madrona. This haven is a dedicated space for renewal and flow. We are nestled in the grove of Querubi, a family-run regenerative organic olive farm using a minimal-intervention philosophy inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka: no tilling, no synthetic fertilizers, no pesticides. We arrive soon after the harvest and will have our own private tasting of the fresh liquid gold....

The Place

Regenerate

The Rooms

Wake up to a slice of heaven

Eight bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, which can be single or shared, each with a distinctive design and headboard. One four bed dormitory for budget travellers. Get in touch early to reserve the room that catches your eye. Stunning common spaces including writing nooks, a forest-facing outdoor deck, a platform in the woods and a large pool.

What to Know

Investment:

Private room with en-suite bathroom: $3,600 USD (early bird, deposit by Aug 15) / $3,800 after

Shared room (two beds, ideal for friends/partners): $3,200 USD early bird / $3,400 after per person.

Dormitory Option: Quad room (four beds, shared bath, ideal for a group of friends traveling together)

$2800 USD (early bird, deposit by August 15th)

$3200 USD (after August 15th)

$3200 USD (after August

Included:

5 nights, all meals on full days + breakfast/lunch on village-dinner evenings, the complete program (co-working sessions, movement, journaling workshops, intuition practices), olive grove tour, winery tour and tasting.

Getting there:

Arrival point: Perpignan train station. Direct trains from Barcelona (~1.5 hrs) and Paris; Perpignan also has a small airport.

Nearest airports: Perpignan (closest), Girona, Carcassonne, Montpellier, Barcelona, Toulouse — all connect to Perpignan by train.

Venue transfer: ~30 minutes from Perpignan. Contact your hosts with arrival times; Domaine Madrona will help arrange shared shuttles (paid directly, split between passengers).

The region:

Pyrénées-Orientales — French Catalonia. Catalan, French, and Spanish cultures overlap here, and the land carries centuries of pilgrimage and refuge. Within easy reach: Castelnou’s medieval streets and castle (3km); Thuir’s Saturday market (15 min); Collioure,the pastel harbour town that drew Matisse, Picasso, and Chagall (under an hour); the Mediterranean beaches; and Canigou, the sacred mountain of the Catalans, on the horizon. For an art-and-creativity retreat, you are working in a landscape that has been feeding painters and pilgrims for a very long time.

Climate:

In late October, this is one of the sunniest corners of France, and late October is the bridge season — golden light, harvest in the groves, days often warm enough for a t-shirt and a swim, evenings cool enough to light the fire. Pack for both; you’ll use both. It’s the in-between time in every sense, which is rather the point.

What's a typical day?

A typical day will begin with a morning movement practice on the beautiful mountain-facing deck. This will be followed by breakfast and coffee. After we'll settle in for a dedicated morning writing session. We'll break a bit before lunch, take some solo time, and then reconvene for lunch. After lunch, we will take a trip to medieval Castanou to discover its castle and market. If time allows, we'll have a second creativity and writing session before dinner. After dinner, we'll lounge by the fire.

Do I Need?...

Do I need to be a writer?

No — bring any project your soul keeps nudging you toward: a

book, a business, a body of work, a decision.

Do I need Pilates experience?

No. Classes are designed for all levels, and all movement is optional and adaptable, and it varies

daily (Pilates, hiking, e-bikes)

What’s the weather?

T-shirt by day, fire by night. Pack layers, a light jacket and a swimsuit.

Special Dietary needs?

The chef tailors the menu to the group — vegetarian, vegan, and omnivore all catered. Just let us know dietary restrictions ahead of time.

What’s not included?

Flights, transfers, dinners out in the village, and optional extras

(cooking class, massages, e-bike hire).

Kari is an American based in Paris, France. With more than ten years of teaching Pilates and other movement modalities, she believes in movement as a conduit for creativity and a vital piece to our generative energy. She is also a writer.

Kari has completed two 1,000-hour teacher training programs and is experienced in both contemporary and classical Pilates. She creates dynamic, energizing mat classes for retreats to move the body and clear the vessel for creativity to come through!

Want to know more? Drop us a line!

Natalie is the founder of Soul Detective, an intuitive guidance practice built on one idea: life is always leaving clues toward the person you’re meant to become. Since 2020, she has worked with hundreds of clients — beginning with tarot and astrology, and evolving deliberately away from esoteric tools so that people could access their own guidance directly, through frameworks she developed herself. That body of work spans a two-and-a-half-year online membership and an archive of thirty-eight original workshops. She has hosted the Nosara Writing Society — a free weekly writing circle, in person and online — every Saturday for over two years, and this is the third retreat she has led.

The Creative Channel was born at a book-writing retreat she attended in the south of France: she came home knowing she wanted to give her community that same experience — with more structure, and the things she wished had been done better, done better.

Meet the Creative Channel
Co-Hosts Kari & Natalie

2028

Happiness Retreat

Gordes, France

Join us for a week of calm in the UNESCO Heritage town of Gordes, a perfectly preserved Medieval town perched on the hills of the Luberon Valley. Let the magic of rural France peel away layers of stress and conditioning to reveal a softer, more peaceful you. Our Happiness Retreat offers daily movement, meditation, journaling workshops, bike rides, visits to traditional markets, and amazing home-cooked French meals by our superstar chef. We build in time for exploring the castles, towns and traditions that make France so captivating. Take a deep breath and reset your body, mind and step into the year with a new perspective!

About Kari & Shelley

Kari is an American Pilates instructor living in France. Kari has completed two 1,000-hour teacher training programs and is experienced in both contemporary and classical Pilates. She has ten years of teaching experience and creates dynamic, fun and challenging mat classes for her retreats!

Shelley is a Yoga teacher and studio owner of Go Yoga in Orangeville, Canada. Shelley holds multiple certifications in yoga and meditation. She teaches accessible flow classes that have created a cult following.