In Relation
A retreat for women who are ready to get intentional with their healing.
This October 6-13.
In Relation is a 8-day, 7 night retreat held on sacred land in Ubud, Bali — created for women who are emotionally burnt out, caught in painful relationship patterns, or feeling disconnected from their bodies and boundaries.
Led by seasoned, trauma-informed therapist Samantha Forbes, this immersive experience blends structured group therapy, traditional Balinese purification rituals, and body-based practices designed to regulate the nervous system and reconnect you to yourself.
You’ll be supported to:
Understand and shift long-held relational habits
Release tension stored in the body and re-establish internal safety
Release grief, tension, and old ways of surviving
Restore your emotional balance and energetic boundaries
Build a sustainable toolkit for connection, clarity, and self-respect
Renew your internal relationship with self, so you can reemerge — clear, grounded, and connected.
This is not a quick fix or a passive experience — it’s a structured pause. A chance to do the work, in a sacred setting, with the guidance and care you’ve always deserved.
Who Is It For?
Women seeking insight into the ‘why’ behind their relationship dynamics
Women who’ve done therapy and are still carrying the weight of past patterns
Women seeking ways to reconnect to feelings of safety in the body
Women who are looking for deep emotional repair, and are ready to embrace Balinese mysticism
Women ready to be witnessed, supported, and to cultivate change, gently
This retreat is open to women over the age of 18.
If you're considering bringing a younger participant (aged 16+), such as a daughter or niece, this may be possible if attending together. Please contact us directly to discuss, as we’ll confirm suitability on a case-by-case basis.
There’s no upper age limit — if you’re healthy, insured, and ready for the journey, you’re welcome.
Please note: the retreat venue is located on a ridge and, while a travelator assists with the incline, there are still steps throughout the property. Those with mobility concerns should contact us to assess suitability.
What Will Shift
This retreat isn’t about fixing you.
It’s about giving you space, tools, and support to shift what isn’t working. You’ll leave more resourced, more centred, and more able to relate from a place that’s grounded — not survival-driven.
Through structured therapy, body-based tools, and ritual, you’ll begin to:
Understand and soften the patterns that keep you stuck in relationships
Regulate your nervous system so you can respond — not react
Release the emotional charge of grief, hurt, and unresolved attachment
Rebuild self-trust, self-expression, and clear personal boundaries
Feel safe in your own body again — and supported by something bigger than you
Take home a toolkit for continued emotional clarity and grounded connection
Meet Your Therapist
With nearly three decades of counselling experience, Sam Forbes brings depth, clarity, and fierce compassion to her work. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work, but credits her greatest learnings to the thousands of people she’s supported through some of life’s hardest chapters.
Sam specialises in trauma therapy and relationship counselling—often working at the point where personal history, structural injustice, and interpersonal pain intersect. Her practice is rooted in social justice and deeply affirming of all identities and life choices. She is queer, sex-positive, and affirming of LGBTIQ+, polyamorous, swinger, BDSM and sex worker communities.
Over the years, Sam has supported people living with racism, disability, mental health struggles (including psychosis and hormonal shifts), substance use, and experiences of abuse. Her commitment to safety and non-judgement is unwavering. She has worked extensively across the fields of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault prevention.
Sam believes there is nothing we can’t work through with the right care, time, and support. Her presence at Healing Holidays retreats brings not just professional expertise, but profound humanity.
The Healing Framework
In Relation brings together the best of two worlds:
Modern, evidence-based therapy and time-honoured Balinese healing — in one clinically grounded, culturally respectful program.
Led by an experienced trauma therapist and supported by trusted local ceremonial practitioners, this retreat is designed to meet you on every level: emotional, physical, spiritual, and relational.
It’s also a full pause from the mental load.
All meals, logistics, laundry, and transport are handled — so you don’t have to manage anyone else, or make constant decisions. You just show up.
This retreat has an optional digital detox, giving your nervous system a real chance to recalibrate. No performing, no pretending — just space to feel what’s true and move toward what’s next.
🌀 Group Therapy Program
Facilitated by Samantha Forbes — a registered clinical social worker and therapist with over 28 years of experience in trauma recovery, relationship therapy, and group facilitation.
Sam brings a professional, trauma-informed, and inclusive approach to every session. Her work is grounded in psychological training, ethical care, and deep respect for each person’s story.
The group therapy program runs across 4 of the 8 retreat days, offering structured therapeutic support with time for integration.
You’ll explore:
Relationship patterns and protective strategies
Emotional safety, boundaries, and expression
Grief, loss, and self-repair
Attachment and inner child work
Rebuilding self-trust and nervous system awareness
Group sessions are confidential, consent-led, and held with care. You’ll never be pushed to share beyond your readiness — but you’ll be supported every step of the way.
🔮 Tri Desna Healing Experience
Usually booked out months in advance! We have limited availability for this Balinese healing session that includes:
Card reading with Balinese Priestess for intuitive insight and spiritual guidance
Vocal release for emotional clearing and trauma release
Balinese blessing for inner clarity and cultural connection
Tridatu protection bracelet — a sacred weaving of red, white and black threads symbolising divine protection, balance, and spiritual alignment
Sarong (traditional cloth wrap) to wear into the sacred spaces, yours to keep and take home
Professional photography to capture this sacred turning point (optional)
🙏 Private Healing with a Mangku (Balinese Priest)
This private blessing ceremony is facilitated by our Balinese family and offers a rare invitation into the living heart of local culture. After being gently dressed in full traditional attire—kebaya, sarong, and sash—you’ll be guided to their local Mangku, a respected priest and healer.
Before the ritual, Iluh, the family matriarch, prepares your personal canang offering to present in ceremony. What follows is a still, sacred experience of prayer, holy water, and energetic cleansing. An intimate cultural exchange—held with trust, reverence, and deep spiritual intent. Pleased be advised, it is not allowed to attend this ceremony whilst menstruating but personal photography is allowed.
💧Melukat
Experience an ancient Balinese ritual of purification using holy water, offering full-body energetic and spiritual cleansing in a sacred temple setting. Iluh & Ketut, our lovely Balinese hosts, will make sure you are properly attired in the traditional Kebaya worn by women entering holy spaces. Pleased be advised, it is not allowed to attend this ceremony whilst menstruating but personal photography is allowed.
📿 Custom Gift for Protection & Connection
Designed in Ubud and handmade by a local artisan — a meaningful wearable object to support your integration long after you leave.
🥗 Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Provided Daily
Delicious, nourishing, meals throughout your stay. Yes, we can cater to all dietary requirements. Yes, you can explore a number of vibrant cafes within walking distance or short scooter ride around the villa.
📴 Digital Detox (Optional, but Recommended)
You are invited — not required — to participate in a digital detox.
If you choose to opt in, we’ll securely hold your phone and support you through a full nervous system reset. This option is strongly recommended, and includes a daily 1-hour connection window so you can check in with friends and family if needed.
In a world that rewards availability, being unreachable — even briefly — has become a rare kind of luxury. This is your chance to truly step away, slow down, and return to yourself.
If you choose to stay connected, we simply ask that you keep phone use private and respectful:
🚫 No phones during group sessions or shared meals
✅ Phones are welcome in your private room, and during the two rest days, where you're free to take photos, vlog, or reconnect as needed.
This is about presence, not perfection. We trust you to honour the space — and the people in it.
🧺 Laundry + No Life Admin
All your laundry and logistics handled for you — so you can fully exhale.
🚐 Local Transport
Includes airport pickup/drop-off and all transfers to ceremonies and healing locations.
🌿 Private Villas on the Sacred Sayan Ridge
Your retreat takes place in a spectacular rice field near the Sayan ridge — a landscape known for its spiritual potency and creative power. We have secured the entire premises, with individual villas for each guest. All villas come with a pool, free wifi, small kitchen with tea and coffee facilities, fridge, safe, hair dryer, bath and shower and sprawling king beds.
Optional Extras (Available at Additional Cost)
You have built-in R&R days which are opportunity to explore or receive additional support through optional experiences like:
1:1 Therapy Sessions ($150 - $250) – Private sessions with a qualified trauma therapist to support emotional processing, clarity, and personal insight during your retreat journey.
Pyramids of Chi Sound Healing ($51) – A powerful vibrational immersion inside custom-built pyramids using gongs, bowls, and frequencies to reset the nervous system and support deep release.
Balinese Culinary Tour ($95) – A guided exploration of Ubud’s vibrant food scene, from warungs to high-end dining, offering a delicious introduction to Balinese flavours, stories, and traditions.
Colonic Cleanse ($96) - A gentle internal detox at a trusted local wellness centre, supporting gut health, energy flow, and emotional release through safe, professional hydrotherapy.
Spa Services ($25-95) – Traditional Balinese scrubs, facials, and hair rituals using herbal oils and natural ingredients to soothe the body and restore your glow.
Pricing
This is a fully inclusive, carefully curated 8-day experience — covering everything from therapy and healing rituals to daily movement, stunning accommodation, meals and top tier professional counselling and event management.
Pricing starts from $5444 AUD for early bird rates and flexible payment plans can be offered on application.
If you’ve made it this far, chances are this retreat speaks to you.
Register your interest by dropping your name and details below — no pressure, no spam. You’ll get first access when bookings open, including early bird pricing before public release.
Spots are limited, and this list hears everything first.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
7nights / 8 days single occupancy accommodation in Ubud, the spiritual heart of Bali
Intimate group experience for deeper connection
Group therapy program with qualified Australian therapist Sam Forbes for professional support and peace of mind
Be dressed in the traditional Balinese Kebaya and experience a sacred embodiment ritual and private spiritual cleansing with a Balinese Mangku (priest and healer)
Attend a sacred holy spring water temple to receive Melukat, spiritual purification.
Visit Tri Desna Healing for an incredible release and blessing
Custom protection gift made by a local silversmith artisan
Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, local transport (including airport transfers) and laundry service so you can shift out of ‘doing’ into ‘receiving’.
Optional digital detox (phone-free support offered)
Built-in rest days for integration and optional extras
Financial contribution to the beautiful Balinese family that will host us and provides the cultural bridge to these ancient rituals
For full booking terms and conditions please click here.
WHAT’S EXCLUDED
Flights to and from Bali
Visa fees
Travel insurance (required)
Optional extras (e.g. Additional therapy sessions, additional healings, culinary excursions, massage and spa treatments)