Summer Retreat: Why Your Hormones Need Stillness, Not Speed

summer retreat with Yin Yoga retreat Cata sitting in meditation

Summer is often glorified as a time of sun-drenched adventures, long days of movement, and a surge of energy. Holidays, travel plans, beach days, festivals—the season can feel like a celebration of Yang energy: outward, expressive, and fast-paced.

But what happens when your body doesn’t match the energy of the season?

For many women—especially those navigating perimenopause, the menstrual cycle, or post-menopausal shifts—summer’s natural heat can amplify imbalances. Anxiety flares. Sleep becomes elusive. The body retains heat, irritability rises, and exhaustion creeps in beneath the surface of the sun.

What if your summer wasn’t about doing more, but about doing less—with intention?

What if your body, your hormones, and your spirit are asking for something softer, slower, and more nourishing?

Welcome to a different kind of summer retreat.

Stillness Is a Feminine Form of Power

While the world invites us to stay busy, Yin energy invites us to go inward. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, summer corresponds with the fire element—hot, expansive, joyful, but also quick to burn out when not balanced. It is a highly Yang season, and for women already navigating inner fluctuations, this extra fire can tip the scales toward overwhelm.

This is why Yin Yoga and conscious rest are essential during the summer months. Yin practices cool the nervous system, calm the mind, and support hormonal harmony by slowing everything down. Rather than pushing through the heat, we pause to listen to the body’s quieter cues: the need for rest, for reflection, for self-regulation.

A summer retreat focused on stillness doesn’t go against the season—it complements it. It offers the Yin to summer’s Yang, restoring the internal balance that allows joy to arise from a grounded place.

Quote: This summer what if you chose stillness instead

The Pause Within: A Summer Retreat Designed for Hormonal Balance

From 5–11 July 2025, The Pause Within offers exactly this: a sacred space to rest, renew, and reconnect with your body in a deeply feminine way.

Held at the stunning Palmas Lodge in Portugal, this week-long retreat is more than just a break from routine. It’s an immersive experience where your hormonal health, emotional wellbeing, and nervous system are gently supported.

Through a thoughtful blend of Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, women's circles, and holistic workshops, you’ll learn how to work with your natural rhythms rather than against them. Instead of rushing, we reclaim the sacred act of pausing.

What to Expect at This Summer Retreat

Imagine starting each day in a shaded shala with the morning breeze weaving through the trees. You move gently through breath-infused flows, easing tension from the body and inviting calm into the mind. As the practice unfolds, you melt into longer-held Yin postures, targeting the meridians that support hormonal balance—Heart, Kidney, and Liver.

Later, you gather in circle with other women—sharing stories, wisdom, and laughter that remind you you’re not alone in your experience.

Afternoons bring hands-on workshops in abdominal belly massage to support womb and gut health, or a fermentation session exploring the gut-hormone connection.

Between sessions, you rest under a tree, nap in your room, journal on the terrace, or simply let your bare feet feel the earth again.

And the food? Every meal is carefully prepared to be both nourishing and hormone-friendly, supporting your body’s healing from within.

This is a summer retreat unlike any other—one that doesn't ask you to be anything but who you are, exactly as you are.

Why Women Need This Now More Than Ever

Hormonal shifts—whether from the menstrual cycle, perimenopause, or menopause—affect every layer of a woman’s experience: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Yet so often, women are expected to keep going at full speed, ignoring the inner signs of depletion.

At The Pause Within, we offer a radical alternative: rest as a path to empowerment.

Through cycle awareness, Yin Yoga, and somatic stillness, we guide you back to your own wisdom. You’ll learn how to adapt your movement, lifestyle, and self-care to honour your unique rhythms. You’ll leave not just rested—but with tools that support you long after summer ends.

Summer retreat teacher Cata leading a Yin Yoga class

Meet Cata: A Guide into the Power of Yin

Your lead teacher, Catarina Marques Silva, brings a gentle, grounded presence to the retreat experience. Her path began two decades ago when chronic back pain brought her to the Iyengar method. Over time, her journey unfolded across continents—from studying Hatha and Ayurveda in Kerala, to diving into Yoga Nidra in Amsterdam, to deepening her knowledge of Yin Yoga and Meridian Theory in Bali.

Cata’s work is rooted in functional movement, yoga anatomy, and an intuitive understanding of how stillness heals. She teaches from a place of softness, presence, and embodied wisdom. Her goal? To help you feel at home in your body—safe, seen, and whole.