The Emotionally Exhausted Woman

The Emotionally Exhausted Woman is a weekend healing retreat for women at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is led by psychotherapist and author Nancy Colier and is meant for women who have spent years being who everyone else expects them to be, and who are ready to ask what they actually want and need. The program is open to all who identify as women, and it blends psychology, meditation and yoga in a quiet residential setting in the Berkshires.

What to Expect

The retreat asks a few plain questions: where do you abandon yourself, and what would it mean to stop? Nancy Colier guides the weekend through teachings, meditation, journaling, and dialogue in pairs and small groups. The aim is to move from doing self-care to being self-caring, to reinhabit the body, and to bring your own voice back into your life. Participants leave with practical tools, behaviors and choices for living more truthfully, and with a renewed relationship with themselves.

The schedule runs from a Wednesday-style arrival rhythm into a full weekend, and it is steady rather than crowded.

- Opening day: Check-in begins at 2:00 pm. A Kripalu Yoga class runs from 4:45 to 6:00, dinner follows from 5:30 to 7:30, and the first program session meets from 7:30 to 9:00 in the evening.
- Full days: Kripalu Yoga from 6:30 to 7:45 am, then silent breakfast from 7:30 to 9:00. The morning program session runs from 9:00 to 11:30, lunch from 11:30 to 1:30, and a second session from 1:45 to 4:15. Another yoga class follows at 4:45, dinner at 5:30, and an evening session from 7:30 to 8:30 that includes a Q&A with Nancy.
- Closing day: Yoga and silent breakfast as usual, a final program session from 9:00 to 11:00, then lunch and departure.

Times can shift, and the schedule given at check-in has the details and room locations.

About Nancy Colier

Nancy Colier is a psychotherapist, interfaith minister, author and mindfulness teacher. Her books include The Power of Off: The Mindful Way to Stay Sane in a Virtual World and Inviting a Monkey to Tea: Befriending Your Mind and Discovering Lasting Contentment. She is a national speaker on wellbeing, mindfulness and technology, has been featured on Good Morning America and in The New York Times, and writes regularly for Psychology Today and Huffington Post. Her teaching is psychology-informed, accessible to beginners and still substantive for experienced practitioners.

Dr. Libby Kelly, who has taken the program, says Nancy "does a beautiful job guiding us back to the driver's seat of our internal worlds."

The Setting

Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a residential retreat center in Stockbridge, in western Massachusetts. Accommodations are intentionally simple, meant to help you unplug and feel grounded. You can choose a single-occupancy private room for solitude, or a shared room, from two beds up to community-style dorms, if you want connection with other guests. Rooms are ready by 4:00 pm, and a luggage room holds bags until then.

Three nutritious meals a day are served, with vegetarian and vegan options and other dietary needs accommodated on request. Breakfast is taken in silence. On the final day, room check-out is at 10:00 am, and you are welcome to stay on campus and take part in workshops until 2:00 pm.

Before You Go

The retreat welcomes all levels of experience with yoga and meditation, and daily classes are offered at varying intensities. The program is taught in English.

Tuition covers the program sessions with Nancy Colier, more than ten yoga classes over the stay, three meals a day, and access to the Kripalu grounds and facilities. Accommodation is a separate, required fee. Healing Arts sessions and items from the Kripalu Shop and Cafe are available for purchase separately.