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Coming Home to OurSelves: A Healing Retreat in Italy
with Kay Gardner
June 13-20, 2027 (Sunday to Sunday)

Make your $500 deposit and register here today!

Description:

Step onto ancient Tuscan soil and into a deeper remembering. Beneath wide Italian skies, among cypress trees and sun-warmed stone, you’ll gather in a landscape shaped by centuries of devotion, artistry, and ancestral life.

Guided by the profound teachings of Kay Gardner, former Lead IFS Trainer, you’ll enter the living stream of ancestral healing and embodied knowing — where energy, story, and soul intertwine. Morning light spilling into stone courtyards, the scent of olive groves, shared meals at long wooden tables, and evening conversations under the stars will become part of the sacred container that holds your work as you find your way back home to your true Self.

In Tuscany, life moves with a different rhythm — one of pausing, savoring, and lingering long enough for something deeper to emerge. This retreat honors that pace. There will be space to slow down, to let insight unfold naturally, to allow meaning to land in the body rather than rush toward resolution.

Through this direct, experiential immersion into spiritual and energetic systems, you’ll explore how intention, grounded presence, and connection to lineage — both personal and collective — can deepen your own healing and expand the subtlety and spaciousness of your therapeutic practice.

Expect moments of joy and surprise woven into ceremony, sacred relationship with the land, communal reflection, storytelling, and gentle space to soften toward what you’ve inherited — and what you are ready to transform.

Optional excursions will invite you even further into the spirit of the region — wandering the cobblestone streets of a medieval hill town and soaking in natural healing hot springs where mineral waters rise from deep within the earth.

Come home to your true Self. Come home to your lineage. Come home to the wisdom carried in the land beneath your feet.

About Our Facilitator: Kay Gardner

Kay Gardner, MS, was a Senior Lead Trainer in Internal Family Systems (IFS) for over 25 years, and has been part of the model since its earliest days, helping shape its development from the beginning. With more than 40 years in private practice and decades of teaching therapists around the world, Kay is widely respected for her rare ability to bring together deep clinical wisdom, bodybased healing, and spiritual practice. She was instrumental in helping integrate Hakomi Body-Centered Psychotherapy into IFS and was one of the first to bring the concept of legacy burdens and ancestral healing into the IFS community.

Known for her warmth, presence, and deeply transformative teaching, Kay helps people move beyond insight and into true embodied healing. Her work explores the relationship between Self-energy, spirituality, energetic patterns, shadow work, and inherited family and cultural burdens—supporting people in finding their way home to their truest Self. She also brings over 40 years of yoga and meditation practice to her teaching, creating spaces that feel both grounding and expansive.

Kay is also preparing to release her upcoming book on Spirituality and IFS, a reflection of the work she has spent decades teaching: helping therapists and healing professionals understand IFS not only as a clinical model, but as a path of spiritual awakening, embodiment, and inner liberation.

Her retreats are known for being powerful, intimate, and unforgettable—offering participants the opportunity to heal legacy burdens, deepen their connection to Self, and return home to the wisdom already living within them.

A word from our facilitator:

“This workshop will be held with the intention of helping folks find their way home to their higher Self. Through working with legacy and cultural burdens, energetic patterns, using exercises such as the U- turn, working with the body and shadow work, we can begin to release what keeps us from being home to our true Self. We will then find ways to strengthen and develop spiritual practices and techniques to help us stabilize and stay home within our bodies and within the state of energy we call the higher Self.”

- Kay Gardner

Make your $500 deposit and register here today!

Your package might also include:

A Balanced Experience: Time before and after lunch for self-care, optional massage, nature hikes, relaxing by the pool, and space to simply rest, reflect, and restore. Enjoy a “siesta” in the middle of each day.

Drum Circle: Gather in community through rhythm, movement, and shared energy during an evening drum circle experience. This playful and grounding practice invites connection, expression, and a deeper sense of presence with yourself and the group.

Breathwork: Participate in a breathwork session led by a certified facilitator, offering a powerful opportunity to access inner body wisdom, release stored emotion, and support nervous system regulation and emotional integration - all opening the window to deeper states of Self Energy.

Trip to Pitigliano (a Medieval Village): Wander the cobblestone streets of the stunning hilltop village of Pitigliano, rich with history, beauty, and old-world charm. This unforgettable excursion offers time to explore, reflect, and experience the magic of Tuscany beyond the retreat center.

Hot Springs: Soak in natural thermal hot springs where mineral-rich waters rise from deep within the earth. This restorative experience offers deep relaxation, nervous system reset, and a chance to receive the healing gifts of the land itself.

Dinner at a Local Tuscan Restaurant: Share an authentic Tuscan meal together at a local restaurant, enjoying regional cuisine, meaningful conversation, and the simple pleasure of slowing down around a beautiful table.

Nature Walk: Walk among olive groves, rolling hills, and quiet Tuscan pathways as you reconnect with the grounding wisdom of the natural world. These moments of gentle movement and reflection become part of the healing experience itself.

All Meals Are Made With Love:

Asha's meals are prepared with love - and
 with your health in mind:

  • Our kitchen is vegan at its core, with vegetarian options available on request. The cheeses and eggs we offer are sourced locally from farms with high animal welfare standards.
  • We bring decades of combined experience in gut health and naturopathic wellness to every meal — the food here is intelligent and gut-friendly, designed to nourish and energise without heaviness.
  • We cater thoughtfully for special dietary needs including raw, religious, gluten-free, and allergen-free options.
  • Meals are whole-food and plant-based, light enough to support inner work and meditation, yet hearty enough to sustain movement and reflection.

Sample Menu

Breakfast is served daily in the same format, with a different variation of porridge each day. Only the porridge changes; the rest of the elements remain the same.

Sample breakfast

Millet porridge and overnight oats, or classic oatmeal and chia pudding •Selection of fresh fruit •Bread and butter •Cheese •Eggs •Yogurt •Peanut butter •Jam

Sample Menu – 2 Days

Day 1- Lunch 

  • Brown rice with lemon dressing 
  • Marinated tofu 
  • Roasted vegetables 
  • Mixed salad leaves 
  • Coleslaw 
  • Tahini dressing

Dinner

  • Spelt salad 
  • Lentil and Vegetable balls
  • Tomato sauce 
  • Mixed salad leaves 
  • Cucumber and fennel salad

Day 2 - Lunch

  • Pasta with lemon and spinach 
  • Parmesan cheese 
  • Seasonal roasted vegetables 
  • Mixed salad leaves 
  • Tomato and arugula salad 
  • Balsamic dressing

Dinner

  • Roasted eggplant with parsley and cherry tomato sauce 
  • Vegetable fritters 
  • Yogurt sauce 
  • Vegan sauce
  • Mixed salad leaves
  • Grated carrot salad 
  • Taleggio cheese

Sample Schedule

8am - 9 am: Breakfast
 9am - 12pm: Morning Session
 12pm - 3pm: Lunch & Free Time 
3pm - 6pm: Afternoon Session (or excursion) 
6pm - 7pm: Dinner 
8pm - 9pm: Evening Activity (Breathwork, Drumming, etc.)

Make your $500 deposit and register here today!

Throughout the week, you will get the opportunity to:

Learn directly from Kay Gardner, who was a Senior Lead Trainer in Internal Family Systems (IFS) for over 25 years and whose work brings depth, wisdom, spirituality and lived experience to the retreat space.

Gather alongside therapists, healers, and helping professionals from around the world who share a commitment to Internal Family Systems, personal growth, spirituality and meaningful inner work.

Explore your internal world through a rich variety of experiential practices, including IFS teachings, partner and small group processes, movement, embodiment, and sound-based healing experiences.

Experience a guided Conscious Connected Breathwork session with a certified facilitator, designed to help you access deeper layers of body wisdom, emotional release, and integration.

Bring awareness to generational patterns, inherited beliefs, and protective strategies carried through your family line—creating space for healing, release, and new possibilities.

Strengthen your relationship with Self-energy while gaining practical insights and therapeutic tools that can enrich both your personal life and your clinical work.

Enjoy thoughtfully curated local experiences woven into the retreat journey, including a drum circle, healing hot springs, visits to nearby villages, shared meals at local restaurants, sound healing, and other memorable moments of connection and discovery.

Be held by the beauty of the natural Tuscan landscape—a setting that invites nervous system restoration, quiet reflection, and genuine connection with others.

Step outside the pace of everyday life and into a slower rhythm with time for rest, spaciousness, movement, nourishing meals, and meaningful conversation.

What People Are Saying About Our Retreats:

“Kay was beyond amazing! Kay’s progression of the day, her trust in experiential process, grounded and joyful presence.”

“Kay Gardner is a true gem! I thoroughly enjoyed the way she facilitated the group. Warmth, embodied presence, sense of humor, all around wonderful facilitator and the list goes on!!”

“Kay is super warm, intuitive, nurturing, wise and an amazing facilitator.”

“Jaclyn is an excellent retreat organizer. Every small detail is anticipated and attended to immediately.”

“Absolutely beautiful, mind blowing experience. I feel lucky to have been a part of it.”

“Amazing retreat experience, it was beyond any of my expectations and I was able to accomplish some very profound deeply healing work during my retreat. Thank you for this powerful weekend!

Make your $500 deposit and register here today!

Rates:

Singles from $3589

Twins from $2829

Triples from $2569

Glamping from $2679

Campervan from $2449 (must supply your own Campervan/RV)

Rates are per person for the week, and include all meals, workshop fees and accommodations from dinner on Sunday, June 13 through breakfast on Sunday, June 20, 2027.

Accommodation Options:

Single Ensuite (2 available) 1 Single Bed $3589

Twin Non-Ensuite (2 available) 2 Single Beds $2829

Twin Ensuite (8 available) 2 Single Beds $2919

Triple Ensuite (2 available) 3 Single Beds $2569

Private Cottage (1 Double Bed, 1 Double Sofa-Bed) $4919

Glamping Single (5 available) $2829

Glamping Twin (3 available) $2679

Campervan (8 spots available) $2449 (must supply your own Campervan/RV)

Registration Options:

Make your $500 deposit and register here today! 

Once we receive your deposit, we will reach out with an accommodation form for you to complete your reservation. 

We recognize that paying the remainder due all at once can be a bit of a challenge for some participants. Please ask sioux@mcaft.com about our 6 month payment plan - so you can spread your remaining payment out over the course of 6 months, starting January 2027.

IFS Institute CE’s:
Mindful Child & Family Therapy will be requesting IFS-I CEs for this retreat, and we will update the status on IFS-I CE’s here.

Transportation:
ASHA is located at Loc. Le Piane, 58034 Castell'Azzara GR, Italy

All retreat participants will be responsible for their own transportation to & from the retreat center. We will put together some resources to help facilitate carpooling among yourselves. 

The drive from Rome Airport to the Retreat Centre is approximately 2 hours one-way. The drive from Florence Airport to the Retreat Centre is approximately 2 hours one-way. The drive from ChiusiChianciano Terme Railway Station is approximately 1 hour by car or taxi.

Retreat Disclaimer: 
Please note that this is not a formal training course, and is not intended as a didactic training on how to apply this information in your work with other people. Retreats are designed to enhance your life, support your personal growth and promote well-being. That being said, engaging in experiential activities and getting more familiar with your own internal system is a wonderful way to learn the IFS model and continue to deepen your proficiency with it professionally.

Cancellation Policy:
Any and all deposits and/or payments for the workshop portion of our retreats / courses are non-refundable and non-transferable. Please note that there will be no refunds for any reason for the workshop portion, including illness. 

Lodging payments are refundable according to the guidelines of each particular retreat center. For this particular retreat center (ASHA), you will receive a refund less a 3.5% Processing Fee for a lodging cancellation made 90 days prior to your arrival.

No refund or credit for lodging will be offered for cancellations made within 90 days of the start of the program, including illness, no-shows, late arrivals or early departures.

Travel Insurance 
ASHA Retreat Center mandates that all participants must secure travel insurance for this retreat. In case of last minute illness or emergencies, travel insurance is the best way to ensure your investment in this retreat.