November 13–15, 2026 · Grapevine, Texas
A weekend of grounding, stillness & strength
A three-day fall retreat for women and men with Sandra Vanatko at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens — somatic movement, meditation, and nervous system practices that help you build a felt, embodied groundedness within your own body, so you can meet this season — and whatever life brings next — steady, not shaken.
Friday & Saturday · 9:00am–4:30pm · Sunday · 9:00am–3:30pm
Grapevine Botanical Gardens at the Bessie Mitchell House
Attend as a day guest or stay nearby and make it a full weekend away
The invitation
You know what’s coming. The holidays, with all their beauty and all their asking — the gatherings, the giving, the pace that pulls you further from yourself each week. Every year it takes something. And every year, some quiet part of you wishes you had gathered your strength before it began.
This is that gathering. Three days in the golden quiet of November, among the old oaks of the Grapevine Botanical Gardens, learning what those trees already know: what stays standing does so because of what’s underground. Through somatic movement, meditation, breath, and rest, you’ll build a real, felt anchor within your own body.
You’ll leave with your feet under you, your breath low and slow, and an actual resource you can return to — not just an idea of one. Not just getting through the holidays, but meeting them, and everything after, from a place of real ground.
A Different Kind of Retreat
You already understand what it means to feel grounded. But understanding is not the same as feeling it. A challenging diagnosis. A hard relationship rupture. A loss, a breakup, a divorce. A job that ends, or a job that changes everything. Life shifting into something new and uncertain. These are the moments that actually reveal whether groundedness lives in your body — or only in your head.
This retreat is about closing that gap. Not learning another concept about presence, but building an actual, felt resource inside your own body — one you can access regardless of what’s happening around you. A deep sense of self-trust. A calm that isn’t dependent on the circumstances staying manageable. The knowing that you always have somewhere to anchor, because you’ve practiced finding it, again and again, in your own body.
The holidays are simply where this shows up first. But what you’re building this weekend is bigger than any one season — it’s the capacity to stay in yourself through diagnosis, loss, uncertainty, change, and everything else life eventually asks of you.
Community love
“I don’t know what I expected, but I know that it far exceeded any possible expectation. It was calming, and lightning, and just the right amount of movement.”
“The weekend retreat is what I have been seeking for a very LONG time. It is what my body and spirit needed.”
“I learned things I’ve never heard before — the whole concept of non-meditation blew my mind! I’ve also always done one thing at a time: yoga class, breathwork, meditation. It was very cool to experience them in a continuum.”
“There were quite a few ‘ah-ha’ moments for me, but the discussions about intentionally being present really hit home.”
The shape of the weekend
Friday
Arriving
Real practice begins the moment you arrive. We build a safe container together, then move into yoga, breath, and movement designed to help you land — fully, in your body. This isn’t a warm-up day. This is where you start building your anchor.
Saturday
Going Deeper
By Saturday, something has already shifted. You know the rhythm of the days now. You’ve met the people beside you. That familiarity becomes its own kind of ground — and it’s what lets the practice go deeper. This is the fullest day: more time in movement, breath, and stillness, held by a group that’s no longer made up of strangers.
Sunday
Integration
By the time the weekend closes, you’re not just carrying a memory of feeling grounded — you’re carrying an anchor you can return to. Three days of practice add up to a felt, embodied resource, and the actual capacity to find your way back to it, on your own, whenever life asks you to. You leave more connected, more clear, and genuinely confident that you can meet whatever’s ahead with presence instead of bracing for it.
This retreat is for you if you feel overextended by the pace of life, caregiving, or ongoing responsibilities; if your body has been asking for slower, more supportive practices; if you feel tired, scattered, or out of sync with yourself as the year winds down; if you want to release tension — physical or emotional — and reconnect with how you actually feel; if you long for meaningful time in community with others who value presence; if you’re drawn to the idea of feeling rooted and grounded not just as a concept, but as a lived, felt experience in your own body; or if you’re a yoga teacher, therapist, or healing professional who holds space for others and could use space held for you.
Whether you’re brand new to this work or have years of experience, the weekend is designed to meet you where you are. You don’t need a movement background or any meditation experience — just a willingness to slow down and be with yourself in a new way.
Friday & Saturday
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM · Morning Practice & Meditation
12:00 – 1:30 PM · Lunch Break
1:30 – 4:30 PM · Afternoon Practice, Inquiry & Integration
Sunday
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM · Morning Practice & Reflection
12:00 – 1:30 PM · Picnic Lunch
1:30 – 3:30 PM · Integration, Closing Circle & Meditation
Each session weaves together somatic movement and yoga to release tension and reconnect with your body’s natural intelligence, guided meditations for grounding and presence, mindful inquiry to meet yourself with curiosity and care, rest and time in nature, and the quiet strength of practicing in community.
All retreat sessions — 17 hours of expert guidance in somatic movement, embodied meditation, breathwork, and mindful inquiry — plus tea and light refreshments throughout the weekend, time to wander the gardens between sessions, and access to a private GroupMe community for connection, ride-sharing, and coordination before and during the retreat.
Lodging and meals are not included; a full Stay & Explore Guide with nearby hotels, cafés, and restaurants is provided below and sent with your confirmation.
You can attend as a day guest, returning home each evening — many local guests do. Or you can stay nearby and let the whole weekend become the retreat: unhurried evenings in Historic Downtown Grapevine, dinner with new friends, time to journal and rest between days.
If you’re able, staying is warmly recommended. Changing your rhythm for three full days lets the practice keep working in the in-between hours — and those hours are often where the deepest settling happens.
This retreat is for men and women who wants to feel more grounded — full stop. Maybe that’s showing up because life has handed you something hard lately: a diagnosis, a relationship rupture, a loss, a job ending or changing, a season that feels new and uncertain. Or maybe things are simply full, the way they always are this time of year, and you’re ready to feel steadier in your own body rather than just think about what that would mean. It’s for you if you’re tired of understanding groundedness conceptually and ready to actually feel it. It’s for you if you long for meaningful time in community with others who value presence. And it’s for you if you’re a yoga teacher, therapist, or healing professional who holds space for others and could use space held for you.
Whether you’re brand new to this work or have years of experience, the weekend is designed to meet you where you are. You don’t need a movement background or any meditation experience — just a willingness to slow down and be with yourself in a new way.
Friday & Saturday
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM · Morning Practice & Meditation
12:00 – 1:30 PM · Lunch Break
1:30 – 4:30 PM · Afternoon Practice, Inquiry & Integration
Sunday
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM · Morning Practice & Reflection
12:00 – 1:30 PM · Picnic Lunch
1:30 – 3:30 PM · Integration, Closing Circle & Meditation
Each session weaves together somatic movement and yoga to release tension and reconnect with your body’s natural intelligence, guided meditations for grounding and presence, mindful inquiry to meet yourself with curiosity and care, rest and time in nature, and the quiet strength of practicing in community.
All retreat sessions — 17 hours of expert guidance in somatic movement, embodied meditation, breathwork, and mindful inquiry — plus tea and light refreshments throughout the weekend, picnic lunch Sunday, time to wander the gardens between sessions, and access to a private GroupMe community for connection, ride-sharing, and coordination before and during the retreat.
Lodging and meals are not included; a full Stay & Explore Guide with nearby hotels, cafés, and restaurants is provided below and sent with your confirmation.
You can attend as a day guest, returning home each evening — many local guests do. Or you can stay nearby and let the whole weekend become the retreat: unhurried evenings in Historic Downtown Grapevine, dinner with new friends, time to journal and rest between days.
If you’re able, staying is warmly recommended. Changing your rhythm for three full days lets the practice keep working in the in-between hours — and those hours are often where the deepest settling happens.
The setting
The Grapevine Botanical Gardens at the Bessie Mitchell House is one of North Texas’s most quietly enchanting places — winding paths, koi ponds, and oak-shaded benches tucked just minutes from Historic Downtown Grapevine. In November, the gardens turn golden: soft autumn light through changing leaves, cool mornings that make the practice room feel like shelter, and that particular late-fall stillness that seems to slow everything down on its own.
Between sessions you’ll have time to walk the paths, journal under the oaks, or simply sit with tea and watch the light move. The setting isn’t a backdrop for this retreat — it’s part of the teaching. We’ll be practicing rootedness in the company of trees that have been practicing it for a hundred years.
Make it a weekend away
Out-of-town guests are warmly welcome — this retreat is remarkably easy to say yes to. DFW International Airport is just ten minutes from the gardens, and Grapevine makes a genuinely charming weekend home.
Stay steps from Main Street
The boutique Hotel Vin sits right in Historic Downtown Grapevine, and The Westin Dallas Southlake offers a quieter, more contemporary option just ten minutes away — both a short drive from the gardens, with comfortable choices nearby for every budget.
Evenings worth lingering over
Historic Downtown Grapevine offers charming patios and beloved local restaurants; Southlake Town Square adds elegant dining ten minutes away. Dinner with new retreat friends is half the magic.
Slow mornings, golden light
Coffee shops and cafés a short walk from the gardens for coffee, tea, and pastries, sunset strolls on the garden paths, and lakeside stillness at nearby Lake Grapevine — the in-between hours are part of the retreat.
Want the full rundown of nearby hotels, cafés, and restaurants? View the Stay & Explore Guide
Registration
Early bird registration opens August 11 and runs through Labor Day, September 7. The waitlist receives first access. Space is limited by the intimacy of the venue.
Early Bird · Aug 11 – Labor Day
Waitlist Gets First Access
Pay in full: $699 at registration
Or two payments: $349.50 at registration, $349.50 due October 10
Regular · From September 8
As space allows
Pay in full: $849 at registration
Or two payments: $424.50 at registration, $424.50 due October 10
Note:- if someone registers after October 10, payment is due in full
How to register
1
Choose your rate
Register during the early bird window for $699, or at the regular rate of $849 once early bird closes. Pay in full or reserve with a two-payment plan, split evenly for you.
2
Complete your registration
Reserve your spot online, then send payment by credit card, cash, check, Zelle, or Venmo. Please note: a 3% processing fee is added if paying by credit card. If you’ve chosen the payment plan, your second payment is due October 10.
3
Get settled in
You’ll receive a confirmation with the Stay & Explore Guide and an invitation to the private GroupMe, where you can coordinate lodging, rides, and say hello before the retreat begins.
Payment & Policies
We accept credit card (a 3% processing fee applies), as well as cash, check, Zelle, or Venmo (@sandra-vanatko) — no additional fee for these. All payments are non-refundable but may be transferred to another participant if you’re unable to attend. For peace of mind, we recommend retreat or travel insurance to protect your investment in case of illness or unforeseen circumstances — providers past participants have used include Travel Guard by AIG and Allianz Travel Insurance. A GroupMe link is shared with registered guests for community connection, lodging coordination, and updates.
Your guide
Sandra is a certified yoga therapist, somatic practitioner, and meditation teacher who has spent nearly twenty years guiding students through trauma-informed, body-based practices that bridge spirituality and the nervous system. Her teaching blends depth with warmth — a grounded path to steadiness through the body, the heart, and everyday life.
She leads retreats and trainings internationally from her home base in Fort Worth, Texas, and returns to the Grapevine Botanical Gardens each season she can — it remains one of her favorite places to practice in North Texas.
November 13–15, 2026 · Grapevine, Texas
If you’ve been living the gap between understanding groundedness and actually feeling it — join the waitlist and be the first to know when registration opens.
