Dates
February 7–13, 2027
Location
Verdesana by Imiloa
Elevation
5,000 ft cloud forest
Availability
Limited · couples only
Who comes to Costa Rica
They're in something quieter, and in some ways harder: a slow drift away from the love they know is still there. If any of these sound like you, read on. Couples of every kind come to us: straight, gay, and lesbian, married and not.
01
You've become loving roommates
You manage life well together. But the spark, the desire, the intimacy, the aliveness, has quietly slipped away. You miss each other while living in the same house.
02
You can't access the love in your body
You know you love your partner, but you can't feel it the way you once did. There's a wall you can't name and can't get through, no matter how much you talk about it.
03
There's a quiet, background doubt
You're not planning to leave. But the question surfaces: is this all there is? You long for something deeper and more alive, and you're not sure your relationship can hold it.
04
Therapy helped, but not enough
You've done the work. You understand your patterns and your wounds. But understanding hasn't created the transformation you're longing for. You need something that reaches deeper than words.
Seven days · sacred forest · hand-crafted cabins
A weekend is powerful. A week is transformational. Uninterrupted depth cuts past the daily mind and lets you rewire your partnership from the nervous system up.
Ceremony
Multiple Sacred Heart Ceremonies
The Art of Adoration Puja, the full giving and receiving ritual, in whichever role each of you chooses
The Deeper Connection Ceremony, for talking about what you have avoided talking about
Cacao Ceremony, recreating your sacred commitments to each other
Four Elements tantric breathwork and sensual touch
The work
Deep guided creation of your Story of Us
Moments of Connection practices you take home
Tools for the hard conversations, for resolving arguments, and for staying on the same team
Daily movement, meditation, and integration time
An intimate circle of fellow couples
Held for you
Your cabin at Verdesana for the full week
All gourmet plant-based meals, conscious comfort food
Ground transport from San José airport
Afternoons free for hot springs, spa, and forest trails
Michael & Penny
An artist's rendering of the two of us.
The shape of a day
The days have a rhythm rather than a timetable. Enough structure to go somewhere, enough space to let what happens actually land.
Morning
Movement and meditation
Breath and gentle movement to land in your body before anything is asked of you. Coffee first, if you'd rather.
Late morning
Ceremony in El Templo
The heart of the day. A small circle, one ceremony, and the practice that goes with it. No wi-fi reaches this building.
Afternoon
Unscheduled, on purpose
Wood-fired hot pools, the cold plunge, the river, a spa treatment, or a trail. Integration needs time that isn't booked.
Evening
Dinner, then the two of you
A long table, then an evening practice: touch, adoration, sometimes live music and fire. Then your own cabin.
The place
El Templo, your ceremonial home
Our ceremonies take place in Verdesana's yoga shala: 670 square feet surrounded by forest, opening onto a 270-square-foot deck with the sound of the river, beside a zen garden of large natural rocks. A mandala labyrinth sits alongside it for meditative walks. It is the one building on the property with no wi-fi, the only place the outside world genuinely cannot reach you.
Hand-crafted cabins
Sixteen bedrooms across twelve cabins, hand-crafted from cypress regenerated on the property. Queen beds with 850 thread count sheets, en suite baths, and private furnished decks looking onto garden, forest, or mountains at 5,000 feet. The premium cabin sits at the top of the property with a king bed, a fireplace, and a soaking tub with a view.
Getting there
Fly to San José (SJO). We handle the 90-minute drive into the mountains.
February weather
Cool cloud forest, roughly 60–77°F. Sun and rain in the same day. Bring layers.
The land
100 acres of regenerated forest, a river, a labyrinth, and over twenty species of hummingbird.
Where you'll sleep
Every couple has a cabin to themselves. Which one depends on when you register and what matters most to you. Tell us and we'll sort it when we speak.
What couples ask us first
We're a same-sex couple. Does the work assume masculine and feminine roles?
No. We work with all couples, including same-sex couples. In the Adoration Puja every couple picks a partner A and a partner B, and the roles trade. With a straight couple we sometimes suggest which of you might start where; with any couple, the choice is yours.
Can it really all change in seven days?
A weekend is powerful. A week is transformational. The immersion allows a rare, uninterrupted depth that cuts past the daily mind, and seven days is long enough to create a new permanent baseline rather than a good memory.
We've already done so much inner work.
Our deepest work is rarely accessed alone. This retreat is for couples who have explored therapy or deep spiritual practice and still find themselves triggering each other in the same loops. We bypass the stories to heal the root of the entanglement.
One of us is more ready than the other.
That's usual, not disqualifying. One person almost always carries the wanting at first. What matters is that both of you come willing to be surprised. Write to us about it. It’s one of the most common things couples raise with us.
Do we need to be religious for this?
No, and you don't need to call yourself spiritual either. We are completely non-denominational. We draw inspiration from many traditions, and the two of us are ordained in two of them, but nothing here asks you to believe anything. Our community includes atheists and people from a good many different faiths, and all of them belong. Nothing is ever asked of you that you haven't agreed to.
Some couples' stories
"A complete 180 degree shift. It's like being in a different relationship, living in a different reality. It really does feel like a true miracle. The most worthwhile investment we have ever made in our lives."
"Other retreats we did together. This retreat we did for each other. We kissed like we hadn't kissed in so long. When we left, we looked at each other and said: this is the best thing we have ever done for our marriage."
"I would pay a million dollars to have that experience again with Melissa. Anything we've tried, therapy, coaching, everything, paled in comparison. We connected more deeply that weekend than we ever have."
Your guides
Twenty years in, as COVID ended, we found ourselves fighting too much and feeling too far apart. We did the work, individually and as a couple. What we discovered surprised us: not only did we get back to where we'd been, we reclaimed the original excitement of falling in love. We were married a few months later, and twenty-five years in it is still getting better.
Michael is Rabbi Trachtman, an ordained rabbi with decades of pastoral experience with couples and families.
Penny is ordained in the Shamanic Breathwork tradition through Linda Star Wolf, and a licensed clinical psychologist with over 35 years of listening to people talk about the person they love. At the retreat she works as clergy: spiritual guidance, coaching, and counsel, not therapy.
Michael & Penny
Your investment
$4,995 per person
$9,990 per couple
The price includes six nights' accommodation, all gourmet meals, every ceremony and session, and ground transport from San José. Payment plans are available. Flights, spa treatments, laundry, gratuities, and personal purchases are not included.
Connect with us for a spotPractical questions
San José, Costa Rica. Juan Santamaría International, airport code SJO. Our ground transport leaves from the airport on arrival day, and the drive up to Verdesana takes about ninety minutes. We'll send exact timings once your place is confirmed.
Verdesana sits in cloud forest at 5,000 feet in Cartago Province, so it has its own microclimate, considerably cooler than most people expect of Costa Rica. Temperatures generally run 60–77°F, and February is one of the coolest months. Expect sun and rain in the same day. Bring layers, walking shoes, and a light rain jacket rather than beachwear.
Handcrafted from cypress regenerated on the property: sixteen bedrooms across twelve cabins. Queen beds with 850 thread count sheets, en suite bathrooms, and private furnished decks with garden, forest, or mountain views. Rooms come with a heater, extra blankets, a full bath series, essential oils and a diffuser, and North American power outlets. Some have a writer's desk. Room types vary, so tell us what matters to you and we'll sort it out when we speak.
In the cabins and communal spaces: El Alma the lounge, El Nido the workshop room, La Mesa the dining lodge. Deliberately not in El Templo, where the ceremonies happen. You can stay reachable if you need to be. We'd gently suggest you don't.
Included: six nights' accommodation, all meals, every ceremony and session, and ground transport from SJO. Not included: flights, spa treatments, laundry, gratuities, and anything personal.
Verdesana calls it conscious comfort food: primarily vegetarian, locally sourced, three meals a day at a long communal table with a hummingbird garden outside. There's a wellness bar for coffee, juices and smoothies. Dietary needs are handled; tell us yours when you register.
We strongly recommend it. A retreat is a real investment and February is a long way off, and insurance protects you if life intervenes. Ask us and we'll point you at a provider.
Many couples do, and it's a lovely idea, though we'd suggest keeping the retreat week as its own container and exploring Costa Rica either side of it. There are two waterfalls and miles of guided trails beyond the property if you want more of the forest. We're happy to recommend hotels near the airport for the night before.
Write to us and tell us where the two of you are. This work asks a lot and it isn’t right for every couple at every moment. We’d rather have that conversation with you than have you guess.
