Midlife Crisis? Book A Radical Renaissance (RRR) Retreat

Embrace midlife and embark on a journey of self-discovery: walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in the south of France and reconnect with your authentic self.

Are you navigating the uncharted territory of midlife, feeling like your body, mind, and spirit are all speaking different languages?

MIDLIFE CAN BE A Joyful TRANSITION, A NOT-TO-BE-Missed OPPORTUNITY, A new beginning, A SECOND SPRING, A CALLING.

Midlife does not have to be a crisis; it can be a renaissance.

Walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela has provided answers to midlife questions for the last 800+ years. Today, people from all and no religious persuasions walk the Camino to reconnect with themselves, with others and with nature – and you can too.

A warm welcome awaits you, on the first Saturday of each month, for a 7-day Radical Renaissance Retreat, in an authentic 200-year-old French farmhouse near the Camino de Santiago de Compostella amidst the Saint Mont, Armagnac and Madiran vineyards in the sun-blessed southwest of France!

Hundreds of thousands of women from all walks of life make their way to Santiago de Compostela via one of the pilgrims’ routes each year. For most, it is the perfect antidote to a midlife crisis. It is an enchanting and enlightening experience. Few return home unchanged.

Everything will be taken care of for you. You do not have to fret about where you will sleep each night – you will sleep in the same comfortable bed each night. You don’t need to lug around a heavy backpack with all your belongings every day – you will be taken to the start of the walk each morning and will be picked up at the end of each afternoon. On your return after a hard day’s walking a hot/cold shower awaits as well as a healthy, home-grown and homemade meal – all YOU have to do is concentrate on experiencing everything that walking the Camino has to offer.

Maybe at this moment in time, you feel an urgent need to get away from everything and everyone to find a place where you can quietly think all this over.

Feeling stressed/anxious/irritable/depressed is absolutely normal during midlife and is perfectly understandable. It is easier to take stock, to reflect and to evaluate your current situation somewhere peaceful, with support from other women who understand what you are going through, who have the same questions as you have and who have to cope with the same physical changes as you do.

To help women avoid a midlife crisis, I created the Radical Renaissance Retreats to offer a sanctuary to women struggling with the challenges and changes of midlife, to give them time away from the stress and demands of their daily lives so that they can think about who they want to be and where they want to go in the second part of their lives.

Midlife is the perfect time to:

• Take time out to take stock
• Look back at what you have achieved so far
• Look forward at what you want to achieve in the second part of your life
• Reconnect with who you really are, with what is most important to you
• Get rid of anything and anyone that no longer serve a purpose in your life
• Find yourself a trustworthy mentor/role model 
• Re-create yourself and redefine your goals

Walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela gives us the opportunity to take time out to re-explore who we are and what we want. Some of us may find that we are way off course, others may only need to make a few adjustments and yet others may barely notice that they are going through a midlife transition.

Finding Natural Balance in a Time of Change

Relief from Hormonal Upheaval
The gentle, rhythmic walking along ancient Camino paths naturally regulates body temperature and promotes hormonal balance, offering welcome relief from hot flashes and sleep disruptions that may have become unwelcome companions. Many participants report their first truly restful nights in months following days on the trail.

A Metabolism Reset That Works
Our carefully planned daily routes provide the perfect metabolic reset—stimulating your body’s natural fat-burning mechanisms without harsh gym workouts that feel increasingly ineffective at this stage of life. The Camino works with your changing body, not against it.

Rediscover Your Body’s Strength
Experience your body as strong, capable, and purposeful as it carries you across beautiful landscapes, shifting focus from appearance to the incredible journey your body enables. “I stopped criticising my body and started thanking it,” shared Maria, a recent participant.

Mental and Emotional Renewal

Clear the Fog
Former participants consistently report that the combination of gentle exercise, mindfulness practices, and reduced digital stimulation clears the mental fog that often clouds midlife thinking. Decisions that seemed impossible become clear with each step forward.

Break out of the Sandwich
These seven days are exclusively yours—a guilt-free pause from the constant caregiving that often defines the ‘sandwich generation’ years. Return with renewed energy for those who need you, having finally put yourself first.

Perspective on Relationships
Whether walking in contemplative silence or engaging in guided conversations with like-minded women, gain fresh perspective on your relationships and your evolving needs within them. The Camino has a remarkable way of illuminating what truly matters.

A Holistic Approach to Your Next Chapter

Career Clarity
The Camino’s ancient paths offer the perfect distance from workplace pressures, creating space to reimagine your professional identity and purpose away from daily demands. Many women return with newfound confidence to pursue delayed dreams or set healthy boundaries.

The Camino’s combination of moderate physical activity, fresh air, wholesome regional cuisine, and reduced stress creates the ideal environment for your body’s natural healing processes. Your body will thank you for this investment in wellness

This ancient pilgrimage route has helped countless women reconnect with their essential selves beneath the layers of roles and responsibilities that often define midlife. When was the last time you remembered who you are beyond what you do for others?

Who should attend?

This Radical Renaissance Retreat is for women of all shapes and sizes, all religious persuasions (or not) and all sexual orientations who feel overwhelmed by the demands of midlife, whether you are pre-, proper- or post-menopausal.

This seemingly endless life transition of yours? It’s temporary. You’ll get through it. My generous, intuitive, patient, powerful, warmhearted horses and I will help you. So will walking part of the magical miracle-working Camino de Santiago de Compostela in the sun-drenched southwest of France.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I didn’t know how wound up I’d become until I arrived and felt the land hold me. The rhythm of the walking, the quiet companionship, and the horses—oh, the horses—gave me more healing than five years of therapy ever did. I went home softer, clearer, and braver. I booked next year’s retreat before I even unpacked. — Amira K., 47, Egypt/UK, Human Rights Lawyer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ve never felt so heard without having to say a word. As a solo Black woman traveller, I always do a mental safety check before booking anything this remote. But from the first email, I felt respected and welcomed. The retreat felt like coming home to myself. — Tasha R., 41, Black American, Wellness Coach

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This retreat changed the trajectory of my second act. After losing my husband, I couldn’t breathe properly for over a year. This retreat gave me space to grieve without being pitied, and tools to rebuild without rushing. I met kindred spirits, bathed in a wild pool, and wrote in my journal like I hadn’t in decades. I remembered who I was before the sorrow. And I fell in love with my future again. — Catherine D., 55, Canada, Widow and Writer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I only came because my daughter insisted. It had been decades since I had walked for pleasure, not purpose. At first, I worried I’d be the oldest one. It didn’t matter. Everyone carried their own weight—and their own heartbreak. We held each other gently.
This retreat is a balm for the tired soul. — Rajni P., 62, India, Retired Teacher

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I was stuck in an endless loop of work-kids-worry-repeat. I signed up on a whim after a glass of wine and a bad date. It turned out to be the best yes I’ve given myself. I laughed like I hadn’t in years. I slept. I danced barefoot by moonlight. I felt… alive. — Elise M., 44, France, Divorced Mother of Two

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’d just left the NHS after 25 years and felt empty. This retreat gave me permission to fall apart in the forest and stitch myself back together by starlight. I will never forget the feeling of a horse breathing with me, or the laughter over shared wine and olives. Every midlife woman needs this. — Sheila N., 50, UK, Former ICU Nurse

This Life Transition retreat will take you from

UNCERTAIN TO UNSTOPPABLE

POWERLESS TO PURPOSEFUL

DOUBTFUL TO DETERMINED

INSECURE TO INVINCIBLE

At the end of this transformational retreat, you will feel:

Physically: Vibrantly alive, bursting with energy, fully rested, profoundly relaxed, rejuvenated, refreshed with all your batteries fully recharged

Mentally: Grounded and centred, free from the uncertainty and insecurity a life transition generates, confident in your ability to manage stress during this life transition, motivated to embrace the changes you’re facing, and clear on how to tackle challenges and find solutions to your problems.

Spiritually: Calm, peaceful and serene, inspired and uplifted, with a renewed sense of purpose, a clear idea of who you are now and what matters most to you as you boldly move forward into your sensational next chapter.

If you feel overworked, overwhelmed, misunderstood, exhausted, and close to burnout because you are struggling to get through a divorce, start a new business, change careers, cope with an empty nest, move and start a new life elsewhere, accept a difficult diagnosis, get over the loss of a loved one, look after ageing parents or settle into retirement, you may be wondering how a 7-day retreat is going to help you develop effective coping strategies to use that can be incorporated seamlessly into your personal and professional life so that you can get through this life transition (and any future transitions) and live a long, happy, healthy and fulfilling life, full of purpose and meaning – in alignment with your unique talents, values and ideals.

I have a plan.

Highlights of the Her Radical Renaissance retreats

• Walk part of the often life-changing Camino de Santiago de Compostela to gain clarity about your future while practising walking meditation to help you focus your mind – no more than 10 easy km a day.
• Connect with my Friesian and Falabella horses, who are mindfulness masters, during equine-guided mindfulness and meditation sessions to benefit from their intuitive and authentic wisdom. If you have always been fascinated by horses, and longed to connect with them on a deeper level but have always been intimidated by their size, this will be an unforgettable experience. We work with the horses from the ground, the horses are not ridden during the retreat.
• Visit a French fresh food market, the best in the region, with its kaleidoscope of sights, sounds and smells awakening and seducing your senses while you do the 5 senses mindfulness exercise
• Enjoy the very best food that Gascony has to offer – mindfully: Paella with an African twist, Tagine à la Française, Ratatouille aux 7 Epices served al fresco…your taste buds will think they are in seventh heaven. Mindfully tasting some of the Gascony region’s exceptional wines, another feast for your senses.
• Stay in an authentic half-timbered 200-year-old French farmhouse, on the edge of an ancient forest, surrounded by the peaceful sounds of nature, in the heart of the Armagnac and Cotes de Gascogne wine region in the south-west of France. In your cool, light and airy room, you’ll be able to sleep deeply, undisturbed, for as long as you need to wake up feeling fully rested, refreshed and rearing to get going!
• Spend time in a nurturing “blue space” while wild swimming in a crystal clear lake in the middle of a centuries-old and decidedly magical oak wood. Or you can relax in a deck chair on the shore – same benefit.
• Experience forest bathing (also called shinrin-yoku or “taking in the forest atmosphere”) – an opportunity to immerse yourself in and reconnect with nature in an invigorating “green space.”
• Discover the laid-back French way of life: the French live happy and healthy lives well into their nineties because they cope with stress by focusing on être (being) instead of faire (doing) or avoir (having) as represented by the Slow Food and Slow and Sustainable Travel movements.
• End your days by stargazing and communing with the universe by doing Yoga Nidra last thing at night (there is barely any light pollution here) to remind you of the infinite possibilities and innumerable opportunities that await you.
• Indulg in a Champagne brunch on your last day – because you’ll have a lot to celebrate and celebrating victories – big or small – make your life meaningful!

Every activity has been carefully chosen to empower you not just to survive this life transition, but to thrive while you are going through it, and make the most of the resources naturally available in the exceptionally glorious and gorgeous Gascony region.

Enough free time is available for resting, relaxing and recharging your batteries. If you prefer to skip an activity, you are more than welcome, all arranged activities are optional. The program is not set in stone and might be adjusted according to the weather etc.

Where is this little farm and how do you get here?

Maison Meraki is about 2 hours drive south-east of Bordeaux, and 2 hours south-west of Toulouse, between two small towns: Eauze and Nogaro.

The easiest and most effortless way to get here is to rent a car at Bordeaux, Toulouse, Biarritz, Pau or Lourdes airport. It’s much cheaper now than it was pre-COVID. It is highway nearly all the way here, and the roadsigns are clear, even if you don’t speak a single word of French. If you prefer to use public transport, the best option is to fly to Toulouse, take the train to Auch, and visit the impressive cathedral with its exceptional hand-carved choir. When you have had a scrumptious lunch at one of the sidewalk bistros on the square in front of the cathedral, you take the bus to Nogaro, where you’ll be picked up and transferred to the retreat.

The most entertaining and cheapest way to get here is by getting a lift from the carpooling website, BlaBlaCar(dot)fr, which is available in English. Direct transfers by taxi are available either from the airport or from the train stations, but are expensive and need to be booked well in advance.

When can you come on a transformational HRR Retreat?

We’d love to welcome you to our little part of paradise here in the sun-blessed southwest of France on the first Saturday of every month from March to December. The retreat starts at 14h on Saturdays and ends at 12h on Fridays.

Fringe Benefits

• Pre-retreat chat with retreat host.
• an intense and insight-giving pre-retreat email course to prepare you for your retreat
• a 40-page e-guide “Make Your Next Retreat Your Best Retreat Ever” that you can use to enrich your retreat experience
• a copy of one of Dr Montagu’s 200-page e-books: Embracing Change in 10 Minutes a Day
• detailed instructions on how to keep a travel diary, so that you can benefit from what you learned for years after your retreat ended
• an online coaching session a week after the end of the retreat, to help you integrate what you have discovered during the retreat into everyday life, once you are back home.
• A Certificate of Completion that mentions the kilometres walked on the Camino
• Access to a private WhatsApp group for those who register for the retreat so that everyone can get to know each other and coordinate travel plans pre-arrival.
• a 10% discount on your next retreat (valid for 12 months) – this discount is only available to Her Radical Renaissance retreat graduates

How much does a HRR retreat cost?

At the end of this retreat, you’ll feel intensely alive, profoundly rested, serenely contented, positively radiant, irrepressibly energetic, bien dans votre peau…  and at least ten years younger. The new you grabs every second of every minute of every hour of the day and squeeze every last ounce of meaning out of it.

Prepare to be a different person by the time you have to tear yourself away from this profoundly restful and peaceful haven to return home.

The HRR retreat is a once-in-a-lifetime transformational retreat. This life-changing 7-day 6-night retreat includes accommodation, meals, transport, activities, coaching and coaching materials and costs 1799€ for a single bedroom and 3399€ for 2 people in a double bedroom. Similar accommodation for 6 nights in this region would cost 740€ already. To ensure participants get the attention they need, no more than four participants attend each retreat. Payment Plans are available. Please read the Terms and Conditions before booking. Full payment is due 30 days before the retreat starts

Think of asking your employer to pay for this transformational stress management retreat, you can motivate your application by mentioning that, according to Forbes, approximately 70% of people experienced burnout in the last year. Work-related consequences include job dissatisfaction, decreased productivity, poor performance, professional mistakes, absenteeism, quiet quitting and resignations resulting in a high turnover rate. Although conditions at work may also need improvement, a retreat focused on stress management, led by a medical doctor; can contribute significantly to preventing burnout in employees.

Are you ready for an unforgettable retreat that will leave you feeling vibrantly alive, full of joie de vivre, deliciously indulged and profoundly relaxed from the top of your head to the tips of your toes? There are only 10 of these transformational retreats per year and only 3-4 guests per retreat- Contact me at welcome2gascony@gmail.com to inquire about availability and to pay a 450€ deposit to secure your spot.

Imagine how different your life will be in a year’s time if you decide to change your life by attending this retreat.

Subscribe to my Retreat Mailing List to be the first to know about any last-minute or early-bird special offers on my retreats.

©MMontagu