Retreat & Renew
7 Maine retreats to reignite creativity and connection
PHOTO COURTESY OF SALTWATER MOUNTAIN CO.
By Saisie Moore
After a heady, high-tempo Maine summer, it’s easy to fall into a kind of hibernation as the seasons turn. What if we embraced winter as an opportunity for a retreat? Not from the world at large, but into one of Maine’s thoughtfully designed retreat programs. Discover seven retreats designed to reignite our creativity and connection to the self in 2026.
Nurture Through Nature
Denmark, Maine
PHOTO: HITCHED WILLIE
On the doorstep of Pleasant Mountain, Nurture Through Nature eco-retreat offers a leafy sanctuary from modern life. Guests stay in a scattering of off-grid accommodations among the trees and streams of the pristine 33-acre property, officially recognized as Maine’s first Green-Certified retreat center. Established in 1999, the center hosts a diverse array of practices: “Yoga, Qi Gong, breathwork, forest bathing, meditation, and sauna, alongside creative workshops in collage, music, and herbal crafts, and other niche gatherings,” says Emily Blau, who succeeded founder Jen Deraspe as director in 2022. Plan a multi-day private stay or attend a public event, like a crystal bowl sound bath or one of the community sauna nights held in the wood-fired, circular sauna. Blau continues: “Our mission has always been to offer a sanctuary where people can slow down, reconnect with nature, and remember their own inner vitality.”
PHOTO: JUSTIN SMULSKI
Santosha at Hillholm Estate
Kingfield
COURTESY PHOTO
Find sanctuary surrounded by Gilded Age beauty at Santosha, a retreat center located at the historic Hillholm Estate in Carrabassett Valley. The 20-room retreat, which features modern touches such as a cedar barrel sauna and jacuzzi, adopts a uniquely selfdirected approach to wellness. Open from Thursday through Sunday, Holistic Retreats are open to attendees throughout the year, as well as special retreats designed around a unique theme. Arrival and departure times are flexible, and guests are welcome to spend their time as they please, sampling from three daily yoga and pranayama classes and two guided meditations. You can also join a “signature polar plunge in the Carrabassett River” or just indulge in a book in the library and one of four daily organic meals. The cherry on top? Dogs are welcome.
SAMPLE RETREATS
A New Year Retreat
December 27, 2025 – January 1, 2026
Free Your Mind: A Really Grateful Retreat
January 29 – February 1, 2026
COURTESY PHOTO
Writers’ Retreats with Jodi Paloni
Pemaquid
COURTESY PHOTO
The Maine coast provides an endless source of inspiration. This winter, Jodi Paloni coaxes writers through free-flowing generative writing practices during her signature “Gateless” writing retreats. Hosted at Bird and Tree Studio on the granite-lined Pemaquid Peninsula, Jodi’s workshops offer a multi-day writers’ residence designed to nurture inspiration and confidence through multiple salon sessions and creative support. Whether you’re mired in your memoir or struggling to pen poetry, Jodi’s literary retreats offer an outlet for expression.
SAMPLE RETREATS:
“Woo Your Pages” Writers Retreat
A Gateless Writing Retreat in Pemaquid
February 13–15, 2026
Spring Writing Retreat
May 29–31, 2026
Sewall House Yoga Retreat
Island Falls
PHOTO: CHRISTIAN DINH
Connections run deep at Sewall House in Island Falls, where owner Donna Davidge’s great-grandfather, William Sewall, first introduced Theodore Roosevelt to the wild beauty of the Maine wilderness in 1878. Today, Donna (also known as “Amrita,” a Sanskrit word meaning “immortality”), has taken up the mantle of hospitality at the family’s historic home. During the summer months, Sewall promises the gift of “simplicity in a complex world” to its guests, featuring daily yoga and meditation sessions, and time to explore the surrounding landscape that captured the imagination of Teddy himself.
SAMPLE RETREATS
Personal Yoga Retreat
Choose your own dates, late May–mid October
Aging Naturally Retreat
July 25–30, 2026
Medomak Retreat Center
Washington, Maine
COURTESY PHOTO
Anyone who still yearns for that immersive summer camp experience can rediscover its magic during a Medomak retreat in Washington. Throughout the summer, the center hosts three multi-day flagship retreats for guests of all levels to explore either fiber arts, the Feldenkrais Method (a mindfulness and movement therapy practice), or astronomy. Stargazers can experience some of the darkest skies in the Northeast with a veteran NASA astronaut. The schedule and setting provide space to indulge curiosity and explore their craft alongside like-minded participants.
The former boys’ camp on Washington Pond encompasses over 300 acres of Maine wilderness, where guests are encouraged to swim, hike and relax. The center itself combines a rustic, Shaker-style aesthetic with modern comforts, offering 30 pine-clad private cabins equipped with individual bathrooms and writing desks. Communal areas include an open-air pavilion, a hilltop yurt, and a historic timber-framed lodge complete with a vast stone fireplace for communal gathering.
SAMPLE RETREATS
Fiber Arts Retreat
July 27 – August 2, 2026, and August 3–9, 2026
MARS (Maine Astronomy Retreat & Symposium)
September 7–13, 2026
COURTESY PHOTO
Tops’l Farm
Waldoboro
The deep cold of Maine winter is the ideal time for a moment of stillness—or perhaps a Petite Pause, as hosted by Tops’l Farm. The Pause, a kind of seasonal breather for busy women, is one of several public and private events that take place on the expansive midcoast farm beside the Medomak River. Tops’l retreat guests unwind in a luxurious setting and enjoy a languid schedule of daily yoga and meditation paired with chef-prepared meals. Accommodations range from luxurious to rustic, depending on your inclination, from lodging at the large farmhouse, nearby cottage, or one of several A-frame cabins scattered throughout the woods. Past events range from communal “Raclette Nights” to a crafting weekend with celebrated artist Rachel Adams, to “Ditch the Wellness BS,” a weekend of communal connection for women in mid-life.
SAMPLE RETREATS:
PAUSE: Cold Joy
February 5–7, 2026
PAUSE: Seeds & Self
March 26–29, 2026
Saltwater Mountain Co
York
PHOTO: 16HOOPS.COM
Looking for a body and mind reset? You might find it during a coldwater immersion retreat with Saltwater Mountain Co. Founder Amy Hopkins began her coldwater journey in 2021 and soon gathered a following via social media, where the women’s health professional encouraged others to join the daily ritual as an antidote to the “collective grief of the pandemic.” Today, she hosts monthly Community Dips at York Harbor Beach from the autumn equinox through the summer solstice, as well as private weekend retreats or “mini” half-day retreats. Designed specifically for women, the retreat guides participants through the dipping process, exploring the myriad mental and physiological benefits of coldwater exposure, toward, as Hopskins describes it, “a sense of belonging and community. Even an awakening or ‘birth’ into a new version of oneself.”
PHOTO: 16HOOPS.COM
Rolling Meadows Retreat Center
Friendship
In search of deep introspection? Rolling Meadows Retreat Center in Midcoast Maine offers an array of yoga, meditation, and breathwork practices in an entirely silent setting. Founder Surya Chandra-Das describes this practice as a “social silence.” Attendees at one of his retreats across Maine and Vermont spend four to five days in deep, quiet contemplation structured around guided movement and meditation practices. “During a silent retreat, the habit of looking outside ourselves for fulfillment shifts to sensing ourselves from within,” says Chandra-Das, who began teaching yoga and meditation in 1988. Intimidated by the prospect of a multi-day retreat without talking? Rolling Meadows’ Maine retreats launch in June 2026, affording ample time to practice.
SAMPLE RETREATS:
Remembering Our True Nature
A meditation, breathwork, sacred movement & yoga silent retreat in Cushing. June 17-21, 2026
The Ease of Being
Rest in Your True Nature: a meditation, breathwork, sacred movement & yoga silent retreat in Brooks. July 1-5, 2025 & September 9-13, 2026
