Winter Wellness Weekend for Women

Winter Wellness Weekend for Women

Venue: Stoep: sleep•studio•spaza | Napier, Western Cape

Dates: 22-24 August 2025

Step into a soulful winter weekend retreat at the beautiful Stoep: sleep•studio•spaza in the tranquil village of Napier, Western Cape.

This retreat is designed for women to rest, reflect and rediscover – through the senses.

Whether you're looking to reconnect with your body, explore buried stories, or simply breathe more freely, this retreat is a lovingly held space for your journey.

The Mediums of Transformation

Movement: NIA Dance Technique – Reconnect with Body Wisdom

NIA is a joyful fusion of dance, martial arts, and mindfulness that awakens your body’s natural intelligence. Through free yet structured movement, NIA invites you to express, release, and transform. As we move with intention, we unearth the silent beliefs stored in our bodies — beliefs like “I am not enough” or “I must be in control.” NIA gently brings these patterns to the surface, replacing them with embodied affirmations of worth, power, and joy.

Creativity: Botanical Printing on Paper – Reveal the Hidden Imprints

Botanical printing is a slow and intuitive process of imprinting leaves, flowers, and other natural materials onto paper. As we press and unfold, we witness the surprise of what is revealed — often unexpected, often beautiful, and sometimes imperfect. This process mirrors our inner work: allowing the unseen parts of ourselves to come to light, embracing what emerges, and learning to see beauty in the raw and real.

The Sixth Sense: Yoga for Inner Awareness

Experience the ancient wisdom of yoga through slow, mindful practice. We’ll begin with a brief exploration of yoga’s key principles — what we do and why — drawing inspiration from Patanjali’s eight limbs. The practice starts with a gentle flow to warm up, followed by meditative postures, breathwork, guided meditation and the stillness of savasana. Grounded in our five senses, we open the doorway to our ‘sixth sense’ of interoception — deepening body awareness, inner listening and connection to the wisdom within.

TRE® – Shake It Off: Release, Restore, Rebalance

TRE® (Tension Release Exercises) is a gentle, body-based practice that reawakens your innate ability to shake off deep-seated physical and emotional tension and restore balance. Guided by a certified TRE® provider, you’ll explore simple, precise stretches that may naturally invite gentle shaking, yawning, laughing, crying, belching or even purring. You are always in control and can slow down, pause or stop whenever you wish. By getting curious about your body, you’ll ease stress, calm your nervous system, and rediscover your natural equilibrium.

Taste: Making Rotis – Integrating with the Wisdom of the Hands

In this final activity, we bring together the movement, touch, scent, and creativity we've explored throughout the weekend. As we knead, shape and cook rotis, we enter into a rhythmic meditation that grounds and integrates our experience. It shifts from metaphor to material: transformation made tangible, shared and eaten!

What to Expect:

• Nourishing meals and cozy accommodation in a nurturing guesthouse

• Group circles and solo reflection time

• A curated journey through moving, making, breathing, stretching, tasting

• Connection with like-hearted women in a supportive space

• Firelight, warm tea and time to just be

Who is this for?

Women of all ages and backgrounds who are ready to gently explore the beliefs that have shaped them – and to reconnect with a deeper truth of who they are.

No experience is needed in dance, yoga, meditation, breathwork, art or cooking – just a willingness to be curious and open!

Come as you are. Leave a little lighter.

This winter, come home to yourself.

Limited Spaces Available

Investment:

Single en suite accommodation: R4790

Shared accommodation en suite (limited availability): R4490

Full wellness weekend activities, no accommodation: R3590

Weekend activities include

• All meals and refreshments - 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, snacks, tea/coffee/water

• 2x NIA sessions

• 1x creativity/art workshop (with take-home botanical printing on paper)

• 1x yoga and breathwork workshop

• 1x roti-making integration workshop

• An individual TRE® session with a certified TRE® provider

• Welcome and closing circles

• Debriefing, reflection and integration practices throughout the weekend (group and pairs discussions, dialogue walks, journaling, meditation, breathwork)

If you have any questions, please contact Sam at +27 83 735 4535

About the Facilitators

Samantha (Sam) Stern is a facilitator, trainer and coach with over twenty-five years of experience in organisational development, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), team effectiveness, leadership development and psychosocial wellness. As the founder of Journeys to Remember, Sam designs and facilitates transformative learning experiences that provide opportunities to reflect, reconnect and rediscover – for individuals, teams and organisations. Her approach to transformation focuses on bringing both individuals and systems back into greater wholeness – or re-membering!

Sam grew up in the UK and lived, studied and worked in the USA before moving to South Africa in 1998. Since then, her work has taken her across the African continent, and to parts of Europe and North America. Sam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science, with a major in Psychology, and a Master’s degree in International Affairs. She is a certified Facilitator and Assessor of learning programmes and she has trained in a range of approaches for facilitating adult learning, managing change and working with complex systems.

A Nia dance technique white belt and snorkelling enthusiast, Sam relishes the sense of peace and freedom that comes from being in rhythm and flow! Sam is also a woman in midlife and the proud mum of a young adult who teaches her more about herself each day.

Born and raised in Cape Town, Deidré Baatjes brings over 20 years of international experience across corporate and NGO sectors, combining a pragmatic approach with deep expertise in mindfulness, yoga, and trauma-sensitive practices. Trained in Hridaya Hatha and Kundalini Yoga, with over 700 hours of meditation and yoga teacher training and transformative silent meditation retreats in Latin America, she guides individuals to reconnect with their body, mind and inner wisdom.

A certified TRE® Practitioner, Deidré helps people release deep-seated physical and emotional tension, calm the nervous system, and cultivate resilience. Her therapeutic toolkit also includes Therapeutic Coaching™, EFT® Tapping, and trauma-informed facilitation, allowing her to support clients in navigating stress, overcoming obstacles and building emotional balance.

Beyond her private practice, Deidré is committed to community impact. As chairperson of the award-winning Earthchild Project NPC, she offers strategic guidance that contributes to empowering children and teachers in underserved South African communities, fostering confidence, resilience and well-being at grassroots through mindful, practical and heart-centred programmes.

Originally from Johannesburg, Ashley Heron moved to Napier in the Overberg in October, 2022, not to escape the city but to embrace a new lifestyle. She established STOEP, a quirky bed & breakfast, along with an art studio and spaza deli. Each guest room is uniquely designed with charm and character.

A Fine Art graduate from Rhodes University (majoring in oil painting), Ashley now focuses on lino printmaking and mixed media. She runs art workshops in her studio, sharing printmaking techniques and encouraging everyone’s creative potential.

Passionate about community, Ashley works to help build a thriving, inclusive village collective. On Saturdays, she’s at the Napier market with her homemade pates, dips, fudge, ginger beer, cordials, and hand-printed merchandise—including tote bags, dish covers, T-shirts, and zippy bags.

Life in Napier is full and vibrant. A former owner of a cultural centre, jazz venue, and eatery in Johannesburg, Ashley is no stranger to busy days. She’s a mother of two young adults and shares her home with two cats, two dogs, and a steady stream of B&B guests.

Having embraced this chapter as “the second half” of her life, Ashley relishes her independence and the richness of country life.

About Stoep: sleep * studio * spaza

Stoep is a quirky bed and breakfast with four en suite bedrooms, each uniquely decorated with local art, bold colours, and Basotho blankets. Strongly influenced by South African culture, the house offers a true home away from home.

The communal lounge, dining, and kitchen area opens onto a sheltered back patio, leading up to a terraced garden with a gorgeous deep swimming pool. The property boasts plenty of private spots to enjoy a coffee, tea, or glass of wine while taking in the peaceful village vistas.

Situated on Napier’s main road, Stoep’s greatest charm is its large front stoep—perfect for watching the daily workings of village life. Sitting above the street, it offers a peaceful perch where guests can relax, almost invisible to passersby.

Napier is just a two-hour drive from Cape Town and close to Africa’s southernmost tip at Agulhas. It’s ideally located for exploring the region, and a short stroll out of the village brings you to farm roads winding through brilliant yellow canola fields.

(Overflow accommodation can be provided a stone's throw away at the Restio Guesthouse.)