Writing as a Pathway to Healing, Connection, and Wholeness
Wednesday, August 4 - Tuesday, August 10, 2027
Bolinas, California
If you're ready to strengthen your capacity to meet life with presence, gratitude, and an open heart, join me on the wild Pacific coast of Northern California for an intimate retreat where you—and your words—will be cherished in a safe writing circle.
Is This Retreat for Me?
Writing in community, and being deeply witnessed, is a powerful tool for cultivating healing, resilience, and connection — whatever season of life you're in.
During our week together, you'll be guided on a creative journey that teaches you to meet change and uncertainty with greater steadiness. You'll walk away with new capacities for facing what's ahead, and the support of a vibrant, caring community of fellow writers.
This life-changing retreat is appropriate for writers at all levels. You don't need to consider yourself a writer to attend — if you're willing to use words as a tool for reflection and growth, you're welcome here.
People come to this retreat while navigating all kinds of life circumstances: entering a new life stage, aging, career change, empty nest, a caregiving role, grieving and loss, facing a health challenge, an estranged relationship, or simply an inner pull toward something new.
Whatever brought you here, you'll leave with fresh perspective on what you've lived and where you're headed — with a community that continues to hold it.
Wouldn't life feel better if . . .
- The stories you've been carrying had somewhere to go—out of your body and onto the page?
- You had new tools and techniques for getting to the deeper truth of what you really need to say?
- You could shape raw experience into something that holds beauty and meaning?
- You had a place to voice what's true for you, and were met with deep listening and compassion?
- You reconnected to your core values, creativity, and deeper sense of purpose?
- You could write your way toward a vision for your future?
This is only the start of what you'll experience at Writing as a Pathway.
During this memorable week on the wild Pacific coast, you will:
- Find deeper alignment with yourself through the practice of writing
- Strengthen inner resources that help you meet whatever life brings
- Discover ways to write through despair, cynicism, and numbness
- Move beyond old, tired stories that keep you stuck
- Draw on wisdom that's already inside you, waiting to be heard
- Cultivate joy, gratitude, and presence in daily life
- Relish quiet relaxation and stunning natural beauty
- Savor delicious, nurturing meals made with fresh ingredients and love
- Form lasting bonds with fellow writers who understand your journey
- Build a writing practice you can carry home and sustain long after the retreat ends
You'll leave this retreat with new capacities, new friends, and practical tools to carry what you've discovered into daily life.
About the Writing at this Retreat
The writing at the retreat will be rooted in writing practice: responding to carefully chosen, evocative prompts and sharing from the heart. Being witnessed in this way is a powerful catalyst for self-discovery.
Our focus won't be on the craft of writing, and feedback on your work will not be given. Rather, we'll use writing as a tool for exploration, healing, and transformation.
Laura will teach you everything you need to know to experience the power of true stories, shared and received.
You'll savor these skills and benefits long after the retreat ends.
Daily Rhythm
Our retreat will include ample time for communion, connection, solitude, rest, and rejuvenation.
During the course of our days, there will be meetings with the community as a whole, time to write in small groups, and if you so desire, on your own.
We will meet as a whole group each morning. After a delicious organic lunch, your afternoons will be free. Many of you may choose to write during this time, harnessing the inspiration and seeds you harvested in the morning.
You can also use this free time to hike, walk on the bluffs by the Pacific Ocean. You can also nap, exercise or share your writing with a new friend. You will also be part of a smaller pod of writers who will write together for an hour every day.
After a fantastic, delicious, organic dinner, we will reconvene as a whole group in the evening.
This extraordinary, life-changing retreat will last for seven days and six nights.
Writing as a Pathway to Healing, Connection, and Wholeness:
A Weeklong Writing Retreat
Wednesday, August 4 - Tuesday, August 10, 2027
Location
Commonweal Retreat Center in Bolinas, California
Our retreat will be held at the incomparable Commonweal Retreat Center in Bolinas, California, where I have taught for twenty years.
Come prepared to absorb the stark beauty of the wild California coastline at the height of Indian summer. It's a gorgeous, wild, beautiful haven.
The meals are fresh, organic and deeply satisfying. Accommodations are peaceful and quiet, conducive to creativity and deep rest.
Those of you have studied with me at Commonweal before, know what a perfect peaceful setting it is. For those of you who've never had the privilege of attending before, Commonweal is a gorgeous, secluded, magical healing sanctuary.
Arrival and Departure: We will convene at 5:00 P.M. on Wednesday, August 4 for dinner. You can arrive to register as early as 3:00 PM. We will end after lunch on Tuesday, August 10.
You will need to arrange your travel so you can be at the retreat for the entire time. (If you are flying into SFO, that means your plane should arrive no later than 1:30 Wednesday afternoon and leave no earlier than 5:00 on Tuesday afternoon.)
Size of the Group: There will only be 20 writers at the retreat. We will meet as a large group each day for a teaching session and in small writing groups, so there will be ample time for intimate sharing of your life and your words.
Food: The food will be organic, fantastic and plentiful. Everyone always talks about the food: what will be in the next meal and what was in the last one. Claire's meals are always healthy works of art, filled with love, and deeply nourishing.
Accommodations: We rent three houses on the Commonweal property. The main house has all the single occupancy rooms, all up a flight of stairs. Our big kitchen, group dining room and meeting room are on the ground floor; the second and third houses have their own kitchens, living rooms, and expansive porches. They're lovely and that's where the double-occupancy rooms are. All three buildings are close together: a 3-5 minute walk over through a grassy field to Kohler House or a walk through the woods to Bothin House. The ground in between is basically flat, but not totally even. There are no private bathrooms; all bathrooms are shared.
Many participants, who initially preferred a single, have reported to us that having a roommate was unexpectedly one of the very best parts of their week at Commonweal. The small houses with the double rooms are charming, cozy and welcoming with lots of private spots to sit, indoors and out.
Since accommodations are limited, we assign rooms on a first-come basis.
FAQs
Teachers and Guides
Writing Workshop Instructor:
Laura Davis is the author of seven non-fiction books, including The Courage to Heal, Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and I Thought We'd Never Speak Again. Laura's groundbreaking books have sold more than 1.8 million copies around the world. Laura has also worked as a columnist, talk show host, radio reporter, radio producer, blogger, editor, and speaker.
She is a two-time cancer survivor, the mother of three, the grandmother of four, and has buried both her parents. In other words, she is a well-seasoned human being.
Words have always been at the core of her work and her self-expression.
Laura has been mentoring and supporting writers for the past 30 years. It is truly the work of her heart:
"I love teaching. I love watching my students find their natural voice and their rhythm. I love it when they find their true stories and discover the courage to put them on the page. I feel like a midwife as my students birth their stories, and I feel honored to witness their bursts of creativity and pure life energy pouring out on the page. Our writing circles are safe places where skills are honed, tears and laughter are welcome, and each writer is seen, heard and deeply known."
Laura leads weekly online writing groups and in-person retreats in California, as well as retreats internationally. She has taken writers to Bali and Scotland, Tuscany, Greece, Vietnam, hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain and to Laos and Cambodia. She documents these trips to the delight of many readers in her intermittent travel blog, The Virtual Vacation.
Laura's book, The Burning Light of Two Stars: A Mother-Daughter Story, winner of the BookLife Prize for best memoir/autobiography of 2021, tells the story of her dramatic and tumultuous relationship with her mother from the time of Laura's birth until her mother's death. You will receive a copy of The Burning Light of Two Stars as a bonus gift as part of your registration.
Praise for Laura
"Laura is calm, welcoming, ordered, well-prepared, nimble, knowledgeable, funny, and warm."
—Elizabeth Becker, Oakland, CA
"Laura is a phenomenal leader. So generous and open. She always creates safety."
—Jude Chaikin, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
"Laura is a masterful and confident facilitator. She is competent, empathetic and well-organized. She is funny, open and supportive and knows how to create community while allowing for individuality. She practices what she preaches."
—Ellen Kaye Gehrke, Ramona, CA
"Laura's presence is one of powerful understanding and total compassion. I've never felt so seen or understood by someone, and it still gets me choked up thinking about it."
—Natasha Kealoha, Sacramento, CA
"Laura made me feel safe enough to do this hard work. She created a community of trust and love, listening and acceptance. She allowed for joy."
—Carolyn Lehman, Arcata, CA
"Laura brings her whole self to each session. She creates a sacred, safe space where we can bare our souls."
—Sandra, Pacific Grove, CA
"Laura's strong collaborative leadership skills, combined with respectful communication abilities, made this a safe place to be."
—Gail Webber, Mountain View, CA
"Because of Laura's loving presence, I arrived and started to work."
—Toni Taylor, Santa Cruz, CA
"Words can't really express all that Laura's presence accomplished. She is a safe, solid, steady guide."
—Judith Stewart, Palo Alto, CA
"Laura is the perfect leader. She brings her full heart and soul, and at the same time is watchful and protective of the schedule, the guidelines, the boundaries."
—Eli Jacobs, Israel
"I stumbled upon your website when I was searching for a way to somewhere I couldn't name...and some deep knowing part of me said, 'Yes. STOP. This is it! She's your guide.' Thank you God, for Laura Davis and the sense to follow through. This week has been a precious time for me, a path into the landscape of change. You are a gentle guide and I've loved every moment of my time with you."
—Kathy Sievert, Anchorage, AK
"Laura is an angel on earth and a guide for the lost.'
—Eliana Yoneda, Los Angeles, CA
"Thank you for changing my life. Thank you for being wholly present. I appreciate your wit, sharp but never biting. And I appreciate your seemingly endless patience."
—Jane Claire Purden, Westlake Village, CA
"Laura is amazing. Her clarity of purpose was evident from the start. Her boundaries with regard to the pacing of the day and the week were spot on. I so appreciate her as a write and as a master facilitator."
—Betsy Fletcher, Pisqah Forest, NC
My Esteemed Co-Facilitator
Evelyn Hall
Evelyn Hall is a social worker, master hypnotherapist, and minister. For the past 35 years, Evelyn has been guiding individuals and leading groups, helping people find healing in body, mind, and spirit. Evelyn specializes in transformative healing practices including somatic awareness, movement, meditation, healing through nature, and leading sacred ceremonies. She brings a depth to grief work by teaching clients to allow the natural healing process of grief to occur: addressing and transforming feelings and thoughts through body, mind and spirit. In this path, grief becomes the healing journey.
Praise for Evelyn
"Evelyn brought mysticism, magic, creativity and a romantic spirit to the retreat."
—Julie Sheehan, Livermore, CA
"Evelyn is a comforting presence. She is a healer and very real. She truly helped me. I love her."
—Bonnie Kirchbaum, Oceanside, CA
"Evelyn played a beautiful supportive and sensitive role to all of us in the group."
—Linda Comin, Oceanside, CA
"Evelyn's presence was a gift. Her calming presence, her blessing and the altar she tended. I appreciated everything she brought to the retreat. I wouldn't have had the same powerful experience without her."
—Margo Fowkes, Loomis, CA
"Evelyn was the keeper of the altar. She invited us into a larger holding of spirit, of presence of stillness."
—Gail Warner, southern California
"Evelyn is a joy to behold. The treasures and symbols she brought to the workshop added color and dimensions and depths to our days and nights."
—Diane Schwedner, Santa Cruz, CA
"Evelyn was very motherly and calming, truly understanding of my spiritual experience without judgement."
—Dwi Prasetyowati, San Francisco
"Evelyn's role in the retreat was essential. The place of ritual gave a container for the work of the writing and the journey of the feelings. Her care and warmth made her approachable and supportive."
—Martha Fauteux, Ontario, Canada
"Evelyn provided a sprinkling of fairy dust that lightened the hard work we did."
—Carolyn Lehman, Arcata, CA
"Evelyn was our support and spiritual guide."
—Chris, Ithaca, New York
"I love how Evelyn's perspective guided the group. Her gentle effortless way of being with us was wonderful. She was there for me in my moments of need."
—Lynne Benatovich, Sonoma, CA
"Evelyn was the wind beneath my wings. She always appeared by peoples' sides when she was most needed."
—Denise Carter, Aptos, CA
"Evelyn is pure joy and positive energy."
—Kendra Dorfman, Santa Cruz, CA
"What an incredible gift Evelyn's uplifting energy was throughout this retreat. Her zest for life was contagious."
—Sandra, Pacific Grove, CA
"Evelyn is a beautiful soul. She provided the 'heart,' the compassionate soul of the retreat."
—Claudette McLean, Alberta, Canada
Inclusions
What's included:
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- Room, board and three delicious meals a day.
- All instruction for a life-changing retreat.
- The services of your capable, compassionate leaders.
- An amazing community that will lead to deep connections and new friends.
- A copy of Laura's award-winning memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars
What's not included:
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- Transportation to and from Bolinas.
- Personal, medical, and travel insurance to protect your investment in the retreat.
- Tips for the kitchen and the cleaning staff.
Registration
Writing as a Pathway to Healing, Connection, and Wholeness
Wednesday, August 4 - Tuesday, August 10, 2027
Your Investment
Cost: $3,300 for a spot in a double-occupancy room; $4,300 for a standard single occupancy room.
Payment Schedule: A $1,000 deposit is due with your registration ($500 of this payment is nonrefundable). The remaining balance will be due on April 1, 2027.
Retreat Tuition Cancellations and Refunds Policy: $500 of your initial payment is nonrefundable and will be forfeited in all cases. After April 1, 2027, there will be no refunds. Exceptions to this cancellation policy cannot be made for any reason, including personal emergencies. Travel protection insurance will provide your only option for recouping your tuition investment.
Choose Your Rooms
1. DOUBLE ROOMS
Shared Double-Occupancy Room - $3,300 per bed
Room contains two twin beds. Pricing per person.
NOTE: If you sign up for a double occupancy room without having a roommate in mind, we will do our best to pair you with an appropriate roommate.
2. SINGLE ROOMS
Standard Single Room - $4,300
Private room. Pricing per person.