{"id":1030,"date":"2025-05-06T14:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homestac.com\/?p=1030"},"modified":"2025-05-08T12:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T12:10:16","slug":"these-latina-retreats-offer-rest-joy-community-without-guilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homestac.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/06\/these-latina-retreats-offer-rest-joy-community-without-guilt\/","title":{"rendered":"These Latina Retreats Offer Rest, Joy & Community Without Guilt"},"content":{"rendered":"
In a world where Latinas are increasingly seeking spaces of healing, joy, and cultural reconnection<\/a>, a new kind of self-care is taking root. From the highlands of Guatemala to the sacred valleys of Peru, Latina-led wellness retreats<\/a> are redefining rest <\/a>and sisterhood through travel that nurtures both the self and community.<\/p>\n Studies have shown that wellness<\/a>, health, and overall connectedness<\/a> can improve upon attending a retreat. And the number of retreats offered is growing, thanks to a Global Wellness Tourism Industry that\u2019s expected to hit 1.35 trillion dollars<\/a> in the U.S. by 2028. And Latinas? We are partaking \u2014 we\u2019re carving out spaces for intentional rest, away from the noise of hustle culture<\/a> and toward a more rooted kind of wellness, one that honors culture, ancestry, and community.<\/p>\n For Mexican-Cuban American Anina Monteforte<\/a>, founder and CEO of sustainable travel company The World Within Us Travels<\/em><\/a>, her retreats were born from lived experience. Starting to travel extensively in 2015, she knew she wanted to create a space where people could foster their love of travel in group settings. And in 2019, her dream company began.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe work exclusively with women to empower women in the tourism industry, and partner with sustainable, community-focused hotels,\u201d she says. What began as immersive group trips evolved to include retreats \u2014\u00a0and, after reading the book \u201cSelf-Care for Latinas\u201d<\/a> by Refinery29 Somos deputy director Raquel Reichard, she set out to work with Reichard to create an intentional, Latina-focused retreat. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize the power that an all-Latina retreat could have. The way we connected and understood each other \u2014 it was unlike anything I had ever experienced,\u201d she says of the retreat that took place in Guatemala in 2024.<\/p>\n Monteforte and Reichard\u2019s \u201cSelf-Care for Latinas\u201d retreats are more than body movement and journaling (though those are included). They\u2019re also about honoring ancestral practices and cultures \u2014 partnering with local guides and healers to host ceremonies like cacao blessings, fire rituals, and, in the case of the upcoming October retreat in Peru, an Incan despacho. \u201cOur trips are more than wellness \u2014 we also add elements of cultural immersion, which I believe is necessary <\/em>and also a part of learning the destination,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sentiment shared by Black Panamanian Dash Harris<\/a>, founder of AfroLatinx Travel<\/a>, which leads educational and community-building trips that highlight Black history, legacy, spirituality, politics, and contemporary life in Latin America and the Caribbean. While her company doesn\u2019t host retreats in the traditional sense, Harris sees how travel often becomes a form of healing and reclamation. <\/p>\n \u201cFor some, it does end up being a retreat into oneself and what they are seeking,\u201d says Harris. \u201cFor some, it is to gain more information around their own familial or ancestral lineages, some may want a like-minded community to travel with as all of our participants are serious about learning, and others may simply want to visit a country and learn through the lenses of African history and Black contemporaries.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Her trips focus on confronting and learning from the realities of anti-Blackness, history, and African diasporic presence in Latin America, all while building solidarity across borders. \u201cDescendants of the African Diaspora should be connecting directly with one another, away from distorted dominant narratives,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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