Women's Retreat

This month, six young women did something none of us
had ever done before: came together to spend a retreat
weekend exploring and sharing our thoughts and
feelings on young adulthood and womanhood. The
inspiration to carve time out of our busy lives for a
women’s retreat came to me when I was on the Moishe
House retreat at Zaca Lake remembering the powerful
potential of retreat space for deep reflection and
connection between participants. Thus the first-ever
weekend-long Moishe House program was born! The six
core members of the MHSF women’s group, interested in
leadership and planning, came together to spend a
weekend on the Russian River in a small house nestled
in a beautiful Redwood grove.

I asked Jane Zones, medical sociologist and
early women’s health advocate, to join us for the day
on Saturday to facilitate discussion. Jane is a leader
in the Re-Evaluation Counseling community, and I had
had the chance to participate in discussion she had
facilitated before, to outstanding success. Before the
retreat, I asked the ladies to fill out a short survey
to help guide my programs for the retreat, and Jane’s
discussion points, which responded to the desires of
the participants. After driving up caravan-style and
making a delicious Shabbat dinner, sharing our
blessings from the week, and playing some silly and
thoughtful ice-breakers Friday night, we spent the day
of Saturday sharing our thoughts, feelings, fears,
challenges, and hopes with Jane facilitating. The
exercise undoubtedly shed light for each of us and
brought us together in a deeply meaningful way. It was
special for all of us to spend time with Jane, who is
a mother and grandmother, since we are all living here
in the Bay Area away from home and the communities of
women we may more traditionally rely upon for advice
or support.

We relaxed Saturday night in the hot tub, and
stayed up late talking and laughing. Sunday morning we
packed up and did a closing game that I had planned
before the retreat began. Each of us brought a book
that was especially meaningful or influential in our
lives to give as a gift. Over the course of the
weekend, we each chose a receiver for our books, and
presented them to each other with special wishes and
thoughts for that person – it was a great way to close
the meaningful weekend we had enjoyed together.

Then we piled into cars again, stopping on the way
back to the city for a quick lunch and wine-tasting in
the Russian River valley.

The six of us are meeting this week for dinner
to re-connect and talk about taking some of the ideas
we had over the retreat and making them a reality for
our group. The retreat was an exceptional opportunity
for each of us, and for our community here in San
Francisco to foster leadership and bonding between
young women.