Riviera Maya · Mexico

Crossing the
Ancestral Threshold

An experiential ancestral healing & wisdom retreat for therapists and healers.

March 14–20, 20277 days · 6 nightsOZEN Retreat Center

Explore the retreat Ask Des a question ↗

✦ Free Zoom Info Session · Nov 9 — Register now →

Cobá photograph: Dennis G. Jarvis / Wikimedia Commons

The journey

From lived experience to ancestral wisdom and beyond.

We begin with the experiences that shape our lives today. Through HypnoJourneys, conscious breathwork, meditation, chanting, and group process, we make space to encounter inherited patterns and explore what may be ready to heal.

The retreat unfolds as a single deepening process. We begin with the life experiences shaping us today, then gently turn toward family lineages, inherited patterns, and the wisdom of those who came before us. Guided inner work, breathwork, and sharing allow insights to be felt and integrated, not simply understood.

As the journey widens into deep time and a sense of interconnectedness, sacred places, ceremony, chanting, and quiet reflection offer room to release what no longer serves and carry forward what nourishes us. The group holds each step with care, curiosity, and respect for each person’s experience.

OZEN Retreat Center — a colorful jungle setting for reflection, shared practice, and connection.

Free live Zoom gathering · Monday, November 9, 2026

Discover Crossing the Ancestral Threshold.

Join Jennifer, Francesca, and Lori for a welcoming information session about our March 14–20, 2027 retreat in the Riviera Maya.

5:00–6:00 PM Pacific · 8:00–9:00 PM Eastern

Enjoy a mini ancestral healing meditation, explore the retreat’s daily rhythm, sacred excursions and ceremonies, learn about continuing education opportunities, and bring your questions for a live Q&A.

A special retreat discount will be offered to attendees who join us live.

Limited enrollmentReserve your place on the journey.

Call Des: 1-800-326-4418 Email Des

A thoughtful progression

A journey held in community.

01 / BIOGRAPHY

Explore and release your story

Explore present concerns, formative experiences, and patterns that may be ready for healing and release.

02 / ANCESTRY

Remember and reclaim

Explore inherited patterns, release what no longer serves, and reclaim ancestral strengths, wisdom, and belonging.

03 / INTEGRATION

Bring it home

Move through deep time and connection, then bring your discoveries into daily life.

Maya ceremonial dancers in colorful traditional regalia

Sacred ceremony

Living traditions, approached with deep respect.

Maya-led ceremonial experiences invite us to slow down, listen, and enter more deeply into relationship with place, ancestry, and community.

Ceremony, music, reflection, and shared experience become part of the retreat’s unfolding arc, opening space for release, renewal, and reconnection.

Place & practice

Rooted in respect for place.

At OZEN, time for reflection and group practice is woven together with visits to Cobá and the ancient Maya waterways of Muyil, a cenote experience, and Maya-led ceremonies.

We meet living traditions with cultural humility. These encounters invite us to reflect more deeply on our own ancestry and the wisdom we carry.

Your retreat includes

Private room and private bathroom at OZEN
All meals are included in the retreat price. Meals at OZEN are vegetarian; the two included excursion lunches offer vegetarian and non-vegetarian options
Airport transfers and transport for planned excursions
Archaeological experiences at Cobá and Muyil
Maya-led cacao and temazcal ceremonies
Group processes, meditation, chanting, and breathwork
Live Kirtan
One preparation Zoom meeting — February 24, 2027, 5:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Eastern (1½ hours)
One integration Zoom meeting — March 31, 2027, 5:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Eastern (1½ hours)
Optional CEU meeting (for participants who want CEUs) — February 27, 2027, 8:00 AM–1:30 PM Pacific / 11:00 AM–4:30 PM Eastern, for 5 CEU hours

Flights are not included in the retreat price and must be booked individually by each participant.

Open-air meditation hall at OZEN Retreat Center — OZEN Retreat Center — space for meditation, chanting, group practice, and connection.

The Rhythm of the Week

Each day unfolds as part of a larger journey. Mornings may begin with meditation, chanting, or guided inner work, followed by experiential group processes, HypnoJourneys, conscious breathwork, and time for reflection and integration.

Throughout the week, our inner journey is woven together with journeys into Maya archaeological history and living culture—exploring Cobá, the ancient Maya waterways and canals of Muyil, and the clear waters of a cenote. Maya-led cacao and temazcal ceremonies invite another way of encountering place, tradition, and connection.

Between these experiences, we gather around nourishing vegetarian meals, fresh tropical fruits and natural juices, with opportunities to swim, connect, reflect, and enjoy the beauty of OZEN and the surrounding landscape. Evenings may bring ceremony, kirtan, chanting, sharing, or integration as one experience opens the doorway to the next.

Pool at OZEN Retreat Center — Time to rest, swim, and enjoy the tropical setting at OZEN Retreat Center.

Questions or ready to join us?Connect with Des to claim your space.

Call Des: 1-800-326-4418 Email Des

Stories from the Yucatán

Landscapes of memory and connection.

Explore the places, histories, and living traditions that give this journey its deeper meaning.

Photograph accompanying Honoring Ancestral Lineage & Sacred Ecology

Maya codex fragment · Museo de América, Spain

STORY 01

Honoring Ancestral Lineage & Sacred Ecology

Our connection to those who came before us

Ancient peoples developed relationships with their ancestors including their ancestral line and with their nature family – AKA sacred ecology, The Maya people saw the importance of honoring, healing and learning from these relationships. We gather together to contact subtle archetypal energies at ancient sacred ruins and nature sites connect with and heal relationships with ancestors and with nature. We engage in the deep experiences of indigenous practices, meditation, Hypno-Journeys and breathwork. As we come into harmony in relationships with ancestors and with the natural world, we reclaim our intuition and our strengths.

Photograph accompanying Why We Are Going to the Yucatán

Photo: dronepicr · Creative Commons

STORY 02

Why We Are Going to the Yucatán

A place where past and present meet

There are places in the world where the past feels especially close—where ancient wisdom, sacred landscapes, and living traditions invite us to reconnect with something deeper within ourselves. The Yucatán Peninsula is one of those places. Here, ancient Maya temples rise from tropical forests, sacred cenotes open pathways into the earth, and Indigenous traditions continue to flourish alongside the modern world. The Yucatán offers a liminal space—a threshold between past and present, the familiar and the unknown, inviting us to explore our own ancestral roots. For the Maya, the natural and spiritual worlds are deeply interconnected, reflecting a sacred relationship between humanity, nature, community, and the cosmos. Immersing ourselves in this extraordinary landscape offers an opportunity to reflect on our own connections to the earth, our ancestors, and the wisdom and resilience passed down through generations. Through visits to ancient sites, sacred waterways, traditional ceremonies, meditation, and experiential healing practices, we will explore the patterns we have inherited and the possibilities for personal transformation. Our journey invites us to step outside our everyday lives, deepen our awareness, and rediscover a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves. Over the coming weeks, we will share more about the remarkable places, traditions, and experiences that await us on this retreat. Join us as we cross the ancestral threshold together.

Photograph accompanying Cobá: Walking the Ancient Paths

Photo: Николай Максимович · CC BY 3.0

STORY 03

Cobá: Walking the Ancient Paths

Among the stones and the living jungle

Rise before the heat and enter Cobá, the ancient Maya city rising from the jungle of the Yucatán, where white stone causeways called sacbeob once carried pilgrims through the trees for over a thousand years. Travel the old roads by bicycle or settle into a bike taxi and let the jungle drift past, then look toward Nohoch Mul, one of the peninsula’s tallest pyramids, and imagine the canopy stretch endlessly beneath you, green and breathing, as howler monkeys call across the mist. Here, among the lakes and the carved stones that honor kings, lineages, and the turning of sacred calendars, the ancestors do not feel distant. They feel like the wind moving through the ceiba trees, the hush before the birds begin. Walk the ancient paths with your intention held close and let the stones remind you that you come from people who looked to the sky, listened to the earth, and endured. You return changed, rooted and quiet, carrying a little of that ancient stillness home.

Photograph accompanying Step Into Sacred Waters

Photo: Marco Murakami

STORY 04

Step Into Sacred Waters

Choo-Ha Cenote, near Cobá

Beneath the Yucatán jungle lies a hidden world of clear water and ancient limestone. These are the cenotes: natural pools formed as water slowly dissolved the rock, opening caves below. The Chicxulub impact helped shape the geology associated with the Yucatán’s ring of cenotes. For the Maya, cenotes have long been wellsprings of life and sacred passageways into the earth, linked to the underworld, renewal, and creation. On our journey, we descend into Choo-Ha, a cavern cenote beyond the crater's ring. Here, luminous waters and delicate stalactites invite you to slow down, awaken your senses, and enter the wonder of this extraordinary landscape. Join us as we cross the ancestral threshold together.

Your guides

Walking beside you.

Three Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy teachers facilitate the retreat.

Colorful mosaic pathway through the tropical forest at the retreat center

Jennifer Morris, LCSW-C

Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy Teacher, Advanced Hypnotherapist, Certified EMDR Therapist & Breathwork Teacher

Jennifer brings more than 35 years of experience supporting personal growth, connection, and transformation. Since 2003, she has taught The Wellness Institute’s six-day Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy training. She also leads Wellness supervision groups and experiential retreats and is an AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist and Sex Therapy Supervisor.

Her undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology and archaeological fieldwork in Virginia, including at Monticello, bring a distinctive perspective to exploring human stories and connections between past and present.

Drawing on hypnotherapy, EMDR, breathwork, and decades of group facilitation, Jennifer creates a compassionate space for exploration. She invites participants to approach inherited patterns with curiosity, reconnect with ancestral strengths, and experience the support of a Heart-Centered community.

Francesca Richardson, MSW, PhD, ACHT

Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy Teacher, Psychoanalyst, Advanced Hypnotherapist, Certified EMDR, Accelerated Resolution Therapy & Breathwork Teacher

Francesca has worked with clients and students for over 35 years, helping them move towards their goals. She has taught with The Wellness Institute since 2019 and leads Wellness supervision groups and experiential retreats.

Her undergraduate degree in art, doctoral work in transpersonal studies, research in eco-spirituality, and visits to sacred sites in 25 countries offer a special perspective on ancient people, their rituals and beliefs, and their relevance today.

Francesca believes in the power of loving group space and intention to invite the highest sources of healing. She recalls transformational experiences with energies at sacred sites and looks forward to sharing these experiences with others.

Lori Austein, JD

Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapist, Transpersonal Life Coach & Wellness Institute Teacher

With 27 years of experience facilitating groups, Lori Austein brings warmth and depth to inner work. A Wellness Institute community member since 2010, she has taught the Advanced Internship and PTI-L since 2020. She offers hypnotherapy, breathwork, and psychoeducation groups at residential mental health centers, and co-directs Circles of Resilience, which trains people in circle facilitation. As Bereavement Coordinator for Cowichan Hospice, she guided grieving people in discovering how communication can continue across the veil and bring healing.

Known for her compassion, clarity, and authenticity, Lori creates a safe space to release old stories and reclaim worthiness. She will guide you toward resilience, meaning, and joy as you connect with your roots.

March 14–20, 2027

Make space for the journey.

Join us in the Riviera Maya for seven days of experiential learning, reflection, and connection.

Payment options: ACH bank transfer, Wise, check, or credit card.

Limited enrollment

Reserve your place or learn more

Contact Des at The Wellness Institute: Des@wellness-institute.org or 1-800-326-4418.

Early Bird$2,995

Through November 14, 2026

Standard$3,245

Beginning November 15, 2026

Prices are per person.

Crossing theAncestral Threshold