EMERGENCE
A Private Retreat at Avalon
For the threshold between who you
have been and who you are becoming.
3 Days · 2 Nights · Santa Barbara, California
Are you navigating a major life transition?
Seeking support to transform and emerge into a new cycle that aligns with your true self?
This is your call to rise with grace, beauty, and power.
There are moments when the life we have known can no longer hold who we are becoming.
An identity begins to loosen.
An old story reaches its ending.
The familiar way forward disappears.
And underneath it all, something quieter is waiting to be heard.
What is emerging now?
Emergence is a private three-day retreat held in the living sanctuary of Avalon,a place to step outside the momentum of ordinary life and listen deeply to what is asking to be released, remembered, created and lived.
This is not a workshop.
There is no group to keep pace with, no prescribed curriculum and no version of yourself you are expected to become.
We begin with you.
With the threshold you are standing at.
With the questions that are alive.
And with the intelligence that begins to reveal itself when there is enough beauty, nature, spaciousness, creativity and presence to truly listen.
WHAT HAPPENS HERE
Each Emergence retreat is created uniquely for the person who arrives.
Our days may weave together conversation, silence, movement, archetypal exploration, creative expression, time on the land, ritual, laughter, ocean, fire, rest,and the unexpected magic that becomes possible when we stop trying to force an answer.
There is spaciousness here.
Space for the mind to soften.
Space for the body to speak.
Space for creativity to return.
Space to encounter yourself beyond the story of who you have been.
And space for what is emerging to find its own shape.
There may be paint on your hands.
There may be bare feet on the Earth.
There may be tears, laughter, silence or a completely unexpected encounter with an archetypal ally.
There may also be long stretches in which nothing needs to happen at all.
This is not about becoming someone new.
It is about creating enough space to hear what is already stirring within you.
THE LAND IS PART OF THE RETREAT
Avalon is more than the place where Emergence happens.
The land is part of the experience.
Nestled in the foothills of Santa Barbara, Avalon has been tended for many years as a sanctuary for transformation, beauty, creativity and remembering.
The Grandmother Oak.
The creek.
The gardens.
The fire.
The nearby ocean.
The wildness and the stillness.
Here nature becomes mirror, companion and sometimes teacher.
The pace changes.
The senses awaken.
Something inside begins to exhale.
You do not need to arrive knowing what needs to happen.
You only need to arrive willing to listen.
ROOT + WINGS
There is a reason we retreat from ordinary life.
But it is not to stay outside of it.
We step away long enough to remember something essential—and then carry that remembering back into our relationships, our creativity, our choices and our everyday lives.
Emergence is not an escape into the realms of magic.
It is an opportunity to encounter what feels true and bring it home.
To discover both:
the roots to embody what you know
and the wings to follow what is calling.
I have spent much of my life accompanying people through thresholds of transformation.
And I, too, am standing in a new chapter.
I am no longer interested in being the one who has the answers, the mentor who knows the path or the initiator leading someone toward a predetermined destination.
What calls me now is simpler and, perhaps, deeper.
To listen.
To create the conditions where what is true can reveal itself.
To bring decades of experience with archetypes, embodiment, creativity, consciousness, ritual, play and the mystery of the natural world into relationship with the person sitting before me.
And then to follow what becomes alive.
My years as a Priestess of the 13 Moon Mystery School, my relationship with archetypal consciousness, movement, creativity, Continuum, ecstatic practice, hospice, ritual and the living Earth have all become threads in the tapestry.
But there is no formula.
There is presence.
There is listening.
There is play.
There is mystery.
And there is trust in what emerges.
THOSE WHO HAVE WALKED THROUGH AVALON
Every person who comes to Avalon leaves with their own story.
These are reflections from some of those who have walked this land and crossed thresholds here.
A Reflection from Greyson
“The second I met this real-life Dr. Seuss(ette) at Avalon, my entire life changed—for the better.
Because of Sarah uMa, I learned how to laugh again. I learned how to dance with my shadow rather than deny it. I learned that beauty lives within our cells and radiates from within once we discover we are beyond skin deep.
I discovered the powerful medicine held within archetypes, and that magic and a deeply grounded life do not have to exist in separate worlds.
Eventually, I realized I had found home within myself. I was ready to leave the realms of pure magic and bring them back with me into ‘the real world.’
It took me a while to get my feet back on the ground, but because of you, Uma, I have both roots & wings.
A thousand thank-yous will never be enough.”
— Greyson Kirby
OTHER VOICES
“Life changing midwife for your soul! Sweetly tender, fiercely acute, raucously playful, vibrational powerhouse of love and light – Sarah uMA is the real deal.”
“I had the distinct honor and privilege of a week-long 1:1 pilgrimage with Sarah uMA at her magical Avalon. The adventure was nothing short of a miracle. Through ritual and play, she wove a spell of remembering that enticed my small self to surrender (no small feat if you, like me, have been kicking and screaming for control your entire life!)
In open-eyed meditation, we journeyed together deep into the space of archetype. We laughed, we played, we nourished and nurtured ourselves. I’m not going to lie – I was also terrified. I cried, I trembled, I fought. All while uMA the wise woman/faery/initiator held a container of sacred space – creating exactly what I needed for my soul’s gentle awakening.
I fell into bliss – a rapturous state of oneness and open-hearted trust – that I have never experienced before. And still tap into today. It has become my new compass – directing the course of (as the Dalai Lama says) my “precious human life”. My divine feminine has returned. My divine masculine is falling in love! And divine inspiration guides my life. “And I’m not gonna waste it – no!”
- Cara, Fortune 500 Director, Leadership Coach & Consultant
For my 50th birthday I decided I wanted to do something special to honor it, and I also knew I wanted to be met and held by an elder and a wise woman as I crossed this threshold.
I had also recently been through a huge life change which included selling my business and my house, and I was getting ready to make the move back to England after living in the States for 25 years. I had gone through menopause too and I could feel this was a significant moment in my life.
So I choose to gift myself a private retreat with Sarah Uma, at her house on her land. And I am so glad I did.
Sarah Uma created such an intentional and sacred space of ceremony and ritual over four incredible days. Each day we entered into another magical portal, which culminated in a very powerful ceremony of becoming.
From the moment I arrived, I felt so held and cared for. Everything was curated for my personal journey with special gifts she had made just for me. She cooked meals for me, gave me practices, held me when I cried, and initiated me to step more fully into my power and into play. It felt so incredibly special and sacred and was exactly what my heart was longing for.
It is a rare gift to be so fully met and held in sacred space, and Sarah Uma did that for me. Time stood still out on her land and I left having walked through a magical portal and into the new life that was waiting for me.
If you are thinking about doing this for yourself, say yes, you won’t regret it. It’s a gift on a deep soul level.
Charlotte Sophia
“Sarah created a space where I felt safe, cared for and able to surrender control.
There was nutritious food, art, play, outdoor delights and experiences that felt beautifully curated for me.
Through the retreat I rediscovered creativity, experienced the archetypes in a completely different way and touched a sense of bliss and oneness that has continued to be a compass in my life.”
— Gemma
YOUR RETREAT MAY INCLUDE
Archetypal exploration · Creative expression · Movement and embodiment · Time in nature · Ritual · Deep listening · Art making · Ocean · Fire · Silence · Play · Nourishing meals · Spaciousness · Rest
But Emergence is not a menu of experiences.
We follow what is alive.
THE SHAPE OF YOUR EMERGENCE
3 Days · 2 Nights at Avalon
Your retreat begins before you arrive.
We meet for a private conversation beforehand to listen together for the threshold you are standing at and what is calling you toward Avalon.
Then you enter three spacious days held within the sanctuary.
Each day has a gentle rhythm rather than a rigid schedule.
There is time for morning practice and movement, nourishing meals, deep conversation and exploration, creativity, nature and rest.
There is also unstructured space.
Your evenings are yours—to integrate, rest, write, dream, sit beneath the stars or simply be.
After you return home, we meet once more for an integration conversation—an opportunity to listen for what has continued to unfold and how what emerged at Avalon wants to take root in your life.
IS EMERGENCE CALLING YOU?
You may be standing at the end of a chapter without knowing what comes next.
You may sense that an identity you have lived inside for years no longer fits.
You may have done years of inner work and still feel something asking to move beyond understanding and into embodiment.
You may simply know:
Something wants to change.
Something wants to be created.
Something wants to live.
You don't need to know exactly what it is.
That is part of the mystery.
COME TO THE THRESHOLD
Come to Avalon to listen for what is emerging.
Come to remember the wisdom of your body, imagination and creative spirit.
Come to sit beneath the trees, make something with your hands, listen to the land, encounter the unexpected and give yourself enough spaciousness to hear the still small voice within.
And then—
bring it home.
With roots deep enough to embody what you have discovered.
And wings strong enough to follow where it leads.
There are moments when the life we have known can no longer hold who we are becoming.
An identity begins to loosen.
An old story reaches its ending.
The familiar way forward disappears.
And underneath it all, something quieter is waiting to be heard.
What is emerging now?
Emergence is a private three-day retreat held in the living sanctuary of Avalon,a place to step outside the momentum of ordinary life and listen deeply to what is asking to be released, remembered, created and lived.
This is not a workshop.
There is no group to keep pace with, no prescribed curriculum and no version of yourself you are expected to become.
We begin with you.
With the threshold you are standing at.
With the questions that are alive.
And with the intelligence that begins to reveal itself when there is enough beauty, nature, spaciousness, creativity and presence to truly listen.
THE EXCHANGE
Emergence is an intimate, individually created experience.
Your retreat includes:
Three days and two nights at Avalon
A private pre-retreat conversation
Your individually created Emergence experience
Meals and materials during the retreat
A private post-retreat integration conversation
Exchange: $3,333
Because this experience takes place within my private home and sanctuary and because each retreat is created for one person, registration does not begin with a booking button.
It begins with a conversation.
A MUTUAL YES
Emergence is not for everyone.
And that is intentional.
The first step is a conversation where we can meet one another, listen to what is calling you and feel together whether this experience—and this particular moment—is right for both of us.
There is nothing to convince.
Nothing to sell.
Only a question:
Is there a mutual yes?
If there is, we begin.
EMERGENCE
A Private Retreat at Avalon
Fill out the form below to request a conversation.