No Labyrinth Required: On the Joy of Hosting Retreats atHome
If you’d told me five years ago that I would be regularly hosting retreats in my house, I probably would have asked you when I was moving.
I live in a semi-detached house on a typical British street with a fairly small garden. I have no outbuildings or grand living rooms, no labyrinth in the garden, no dedicated craft space or yoga studio, nor any other special features I had assumed a house needed to have in order to be considered a retreat venue.
As it turns out, my home is the perfect size for hosting the small afternoon retreats that I love to offer. I enjoy creating calm, soothing spaces and my home is cosy and quiet, with open fireplaces and a walled flower garden. It can comfortably host six to eight retreat guests with room for everyone to spread out. We also have a dog who embodies welcome and who knows exactly how to model rest.
I describe the retreats I host at home as soulful and seasonal because they flow from my own encounters with the sacred through the gift of the turning seasons. If nature is a cathedral, the seasons preach transformation. Their circular process of life - death - life points us to the wider gospel story of life, death, and resurrection and encourages us to notice and embrace the cycle of transformation as it appears in our own lives.
“More recent retreats have also featured massages, chair yoga, and collaborative art, but the foundation remains the same: I share my home to offer a calm space where people can step away from the busyness of life and get quiet enough to notice what is really happening within them. ”
Each retreat has a theme based on the season and a simple structure that includes a balance of open time and gentle, guided practice. I invite guests to make themselves at home and naps are encouraged. Halfway through we pause for afternoon tea and we close together with a simple form of embodied practice. More recent retreats have also featured massages, chair yoga, and collaborative art, but the foundation remains the same: I share my home to offer a calm space where people can step away from the busyness of life and get quiet enough to notice what is really happening within them. Together we ponder the invitation of the season and enjoy connecting as our authentic selves, without the need for small talk.
I’ve attended and facilitated other types of retreat, but the intimacy and comfort of these at-home retreats seems to soften the transition into rest and their frequency offers a sustainable rhythm of retreating through the year. I also notice that hosting at home allows me to show up most authentically as myself. Partly that’s because I feel relaxed at home but it’s also because my spirituality is deeply entwined with my ordinary, domestic life. I love to be at home and it feels deeply fitting and soul-settling to invite others into sacred encounter with the natural world in the context of the space where that naturally flows for me. The surprise has been discovering how much more richly I encounter the peace and rest of the Divine in my home thanks to the times of retreat I’ve shared in it with my guests.
“Big can be wonderful but small can be exquisite. There is an expansiveness in the limitations of these simple, seasonal retreats and I choose to see their smallness not as a problem to be solved but the essence of their gift, both to my guests and to myself. ”
I've wondered about expanding these retreats, but I don’t feel drawn to do so, at least not in the sense of increasing their size or frequency. If I hosted in a different venue or increased the frequency I could offer the experience to more people but I’m not convinced that bigger is better. Big can be wonderful but small can be exquisite. There is an expansiveness in the limitations of these simple, seasonal retreats and I choose to see their smallness not as a problem to be solved but the essence of their gift, both to my guests and to myself. What a relief to realise that blessings flow when, instead of trying to conform to internalised expectations, I trust in the enoughness of what I have and centre my offerings in what truly brings me joy.
It makes me wonder how many spiritual directors are holding back from hosting retreats because they are telling themselves a false narrative about what a retreat “should” be.
How many are avoiding it because the traditional model doesn’t work for them, either as retreatants or hosts?
What might happen if they broadened (or simplified) their understanding of what itmeans to retreat and where retreats can happen?
I wonder...
What nourishes your soul or helps you to find soul rest? How do you or could you share that with others?
What kind of retreat would you be excited to host? What kind of retreat would feel natural and easy to host?
What “shoulds” about retreats and retreating are you carrying? What possibilities open up if you let these go?
If my story resonates with you and you’re curious about hosting a retreat in your own space, I have created a how-to guide to help you get started. This 5 page guide is available for free on my website.
Jen Goodyer
Jen Goodyer is a spiritual director and writer based in Bedford, UK. You can find out more about
her and her work at www.jennifergoodyer.com or on instagram.