The Joy-Led® Soul-Oh! Retreat Salon
Curate and embark on a solo retreat, led by your highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self, and fan the radical blooming of your creative power, alongside an enlivening community of women doing the same
A new Joy-Led® offering for women leaders, creatives and changemakers
Salon begins: 29th September
Solo retreat week: 7th-14th November
Salon completes: 8th December
8 places only
I’m writing this to you from the side of my pool. My private pool. No one else is here. The sun is warming my sun-cream-slathered skin. A Spanish family’s lunchtime conversation is drifting from the house next door. Mountains to my right, ahead the sea. White crests of waves are just about visible.
When I say ‘my pool,’ what I really mean is that it belongs to José, the Airbnb owner, who lives in the apartment above. But it is mine for this week. No husband, no son, no soon-to-return-from-university daughter texting me for money to fund her final week of term. No friends. No clients. No Zoom calls. No email. No social media. No one else’s needs but mine.
I return to this practice again and again. It has returned more to me in liberation, relational transformation, and sheer capacity to understand and bring forward the work I am here to do – than any other practice I can name.
Because each Soul-Oh! Retreat, whether on a hillside in Devon, a cliffside in Cornwall, or here underneath the Mediterranean sun, was designed by my highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self. She knew exactly what I needed for the next phase of my becoming. And then I stepped into it.
And now I feel inspired to invite you to join me.
Not literally. Oh no! I love you - but no. But alongside me, as you create and offer yourself your very own Joy-Led Soul-Oh! Retreat in the location, setting and format that calls to your soul.
The first time I did this for a whole week, I thought I was going away to complete my book manuscript. But somewhere between the morning dancing with no time limit, and the twice-daily coastal walks, another Claire appeared. One who had a different relationship with time, with creating, with being alone. Every retreat since has been a chance to spend time in her company again, and invite her to play ever more fully in my life and work.
I adore group retreats. I have been transformed by them.
But in recent years, what my soul has craved isn't another beautifully curated experience designed by someone else.
It wants to be alone. That’s it. And I don’t mean just for a few hours.
My soul loves people, but it aches for more space. No interruptions. No schedule. No washing to be hung. No dishwasher unloading. No meetings. No interruption of the glorious creative flow.
Perhaps yours does too.
And perhaps you, too, long to become the woman your highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self already knows you to be.
The woman who drifts for hours on a lilo in the pool, her meditation playlist on.
The woman who writes poetry in her pyjamas, then cooks a delicious, nutritious breakfast, then takes long walks wrapped up in her coat, wearing her favourite perfume, with sandwiches packed for a day-long adventure with no map.
This part of us holds our highest creative potential.
She wants to lead.
And if we pay attention and follow her weird and wonderful instructions, she will take us to places in our lives and worl our clever, linear minds could never have planned.
Which leads me to something else. A Soul-Oh! retreat is not a get-shit-done week.
Not at all. Unless your highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self is saying loud and clear: you need to get shit done. Now.
Rather than dutifully writing 1,500 words a day before rewarding yourself with a coastal walk and a Cornish cream-tea, a Soul-Oh! Retreat might be about living like a writer who lives on a hillside overlooking a valley, who wakes and writes, eats breakfast, walks, writes some more, realises she’s still in her pyjamas, has a long bath, then writes again. Because write write write is what she wants to do.
Rather than going away to finally get your website rewritten, you might spend the week communing with your website. Tinkering. Crafting. Reading old journals packed with fragments of wondrous ideas. Following the muse. Deepening your own understanding of the genius of your work, and letting the words that express it rise through you.
Rather than going away to figure out your 2027 plan, you might spend the week listening. Opening. Making yourself available. Knitting, if that’s what turns you on. Or reading poetry. Writing it. Being a woman who is comfortable with silence, and not-knowing. Trusting the process. Allowing what could be calling to you now to arrive in its own time.
A Soul-Oh! Retreat is an embodiment practice.
We experience ourselves in a whole new way. We surprise ourselves.
We are creating a portal. Which means, yes, a few rules may get broken.
Like the rule that says if you go away alone, you had better come back with something tangible to show for yourself.
No.
A Soul-Oh! Retreat is a woman saying – no, not just saying – showing by how she chooses to live:
I am allowed to want what I want.
I am allowed to be unavailable.
I am allowed to follow the weird instructions of my soul.
I am allowed to devote time, money, energy and reverent attention to the blooming of my own creative power.
Now imagine doing this alongside seven other women.
Eight women choosing themselves changes the field.
Joining this Salon could be for you if…
You are a leader, changemaker, way-shower, creative-adventurer, coach, facilitator, artist – or some impossible-to-categorise woman with a body of work in her that refuses to be labelled.
You are hungry to embody more of your wild, true self. Your highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self. Not just write about her. Not just talk about her on another coaching call. Not just glimpse her in your journal and then return to the laundry. You are ready. It is time.
You envy women who unapologetically claim time for themselves, and tell yourself, ‘I couldn’t possibly do that.’ Or perhaps you have done it, and know the deliciousness of it. The silence. The first meal alone. The first morning waking up with nobody needing a single thing from you. And you want more.
You love your family, partner, friends, clients, community and work – and still, sometimes, being the holder-of-all-the-things starts to feel like a too-tight dress you can’t breathe in.
You know there is work, art, new expressions of your leadership, or some still-unnamed calling wanting to come to you now – and you suspect it will not be accessed by trying harder inside the structures you already live within.
The thought of spending a week alone feels terrifying and delicious in equal measure. You crave solitude, but you do not want to feel alone in the claiming of it. You'd love to know there are seven other women, somewhere in the world, making the same gloriously unapologetic choice.
You would welcome structure – but not the deadening kind. You want support, prompts, witnessing, practical guidance and loving momentum, without being forced into someone else’s retreat fantasy, productivity plan, spiritual performance, or beige little box of self-improvement.
You are not attached to a guaranteed outcome. You are willing to let this practice surprise you. You suspect your highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self has something up her sleeve.
And, if you're honest, that terrifies you a little.
Which, in my experience, is often how we know we're getting warmer.
The Logistics
The Joy-Led Soul-Oh! Retreat Salon is designed as a spacious, richly supported creative container – part soul-led planning space, part group coaching salon, part delicious permission slip from the woman in you who already knows exactly what she needs.
Over our time together, you’ll be supported to curate your own solo retreat, go on it, and begin integrating what it opens before our time together completes.
I will not be handing you a retreat itinerary and telling you to follow it.
I will be inviting you to listen deeply to your own highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self – and allowing her design the experience that will most nourish, awaken and liberate you now.
You’ll be held inside a circle of women doing the same brave, beautiful, audacious thing: consciously creating conditions in which their own creative power can bloom.
There will be no more than 8 participants in the Salon.
Here’s what your journey will look like:
Seven spacious, two-hour calls: designed to move you from the first delicious ‘what if I actually did this?’ to a Soul-Oh! Retreat that is booked, shaped, claimed and ready to be lived. We’ll gather before your retreat to dream, design and prepare; pause while you go on retreat; then return for two integration calls to honour what has been revealed.
One-to-one co-creation session with me: a 75-minute private call to support your retreat creation, deepen your discernment, meet any resistance, and help you claim the version of this experience you are truly longing for. This can be used at any point that best serves your process, with the exception of retreat week itself.
A treasure map, not a timetable: I’ll share the principles, prompts, practices and practical frames I use to create my own solo retreats – not as a blueprint to copy, but as a way to help you tune into the specific shape, rhythm and flavour of the retreat your soul is asking for.
Deep experiential exploration: Each call will include guided reflection, intuitive inquiry, creative prompts and space to listen beneath the noise of ‘shoulds’, logistics and other people’s needs. You’ll be supported to hear what your body, soul, creativity and future self are asking for.
Progressive, soul-led creation: Each session will intuitively build on the last, guiding you from longing and possibility into practical decisions – where you’ll go, what conditions you need, what you’ll take, what you’ll leave behind, what you’ll give yourself permission to receive, and how you’ll protect the sanctity of the experience.
An inspiring. courageous circle: Expect a blend of spaciousness, warmth, truth, mischief, inspiration and loving accountability. This is a space for women who know that claiming time, space, pleasure and solitude for themselves can feel both wildly liberating and surprisingly edgy.
An online group space: a private space for sharing insights, questions, nudges, practical wins, edges, packing-list revelations, wild ideas, and ‘oh my God I’ve actually booked it!’ moments.
A buddy system for extra encouragement: You’ll be paired with another woman in the Salon for optional support, witnessing and encouragement as you move from desire into action.
Soul-Oh! invitations between calls: Light, purposeful invitations to help you deepen your relationship with your retreat, your creative power, your resistance, your desire and the woman you are becoming.
Retreat week itself: This is the sacred pause in the middle of our container. You’ll go on the retreat you have created for yourself, in the location that calls to you. A cottage by the sea, a hotel room in a city, a borrowed cabin, a house-sit, an Airbnb with a hot tub, a friend’s home you have borrowed. The retreat will be yours.
During this week, we will hold our shared online space differently. Before you go, we’ll design how you want to relate to the group while you are away, so the space supports the sanctity of your retreat rather than pulling you out of it.
The invitation will be to stay devoted to your own experience.
Support will be available if and when you need it from me, and you may take nourishment from what others choose to share. But your solitude, your focus, your listening, your unfolding – these remain the centre of the practice.
Integration support: After retreat week, we’ll come together twice - once soon after, and once a month later. We’ll honour what happened, notice what’s been activated, and explore how the woman you met on retreat wants to live, lead, create and choose, now.
Recordings available: All group calls will be recorded for your personal use if you need to miss a session – but this is intended as a live, relational experience, where attending in real time will give you the fullest benefit.
More specifically, over the course of our work together you will:
Uncover the deeper longing beneath your desire for a solo retreat – whether that is rest, renewal, creative awakening, sensual aliveness, decision-making, grief-tending, identity-shedding, devotion to your work, or simply the radical experience of belonging entirely to yourself for a while.
Listen to your highest, wisest, minxiest, sovereign self and tune in more deeply to how she speaks – through desire, resistance, envy, irritation, body wisdom, fantasy, grief, joy, dreams, sudden knowing, and the weird nudges you cannot explain.
Choose the shape and setting of your retreat in a way that honours your life, your responsibilities, your resources and your desires – without collapsing into over-giving, over-explaining or self-abandonment.
Create a retreat rhythm that balances spaciousness, with structure – with room for rest, pleasure, movement, creativity, silence, nourishment, exploration, ritual, writing, wandering, doing absolutely nothing, or whatever else your soul prescribes.
Identify what needs to be protected before, during and after your retreat – including boundaries with family, clients, work, devices, social media, domestic responsibilities and the part of you that is tempted to turn the whole thing into a productivity sprint or a story to share on Instagram.
Lovingly meet the resistance that will inevitably arise: The guilt, the logistics, the money stuff, the ‘who do I think I am?’, the fear of disappointing others, the terror of silence, and the old identities that still measure your worth by what you do, deliver, solve, produce, provide, and make possible for everyone else.
Design simple rituals, practices and touchstones to help you cross the threshold into retreat and return with intention – so this becomes more than a few days away, and instead becomes an embodied experience of self-trust, sovereignty and creative power.
Deepen and reclaim your relationship with solitude as a source of nourishment, revelation and leadership – not as isolation, avoidance or escape, but as a potent space where your own inner authority becomes louder than external demands.
Be witnessed by a circle of like-souled women as you claim something that may feel audacious, tender, necessary, ridiculous, holy, indulgent, practical and utterly overdue all at once.
Gather the wisdom, insights and creative sparks that emerge during your retreat without rushing to turn them into a plan, product, post or performance.
Begin integrating what you discover into your life, leadership, creative work, relationships and choices – so the retreat does not become a beautiful bubble you leave behind, but a slip ‘n’ slide into a more alive and sovereign way of being.
You’ll create the conditions for inspiration to become inevitable.
You’ll embody what it is to belong to yourself.
Oh yes! And you’ll leave with the principles, prompts and practices you need to repeat this again and again – alone, or alongside the women you meet in the Salon – so Soul-Oh! Retreating can become a transformative, cost-effective, life-giving practice you return to for years. A portal you can reopen whenever your soul whispers: do that again.
The investment
If this feels like a full-body yes…
Here’s how to join us:
✨ First, sign up via this subscription link.
✨Then, email support@clairemackinnon.com with your choice of monthly home circle – A, B or C. The dates and times to help you choose are here. We keep this updated with the number of places available in each circle. If you feel drawn to a particular circle, you might want to step in sooner rather than later.
✨Within a day or two you’ll receive a welcome email confirming your place from Sharon, my assistant and the Collective’s community manager – bringing her radiant support as this community comes to life!
And your place in the circle is yours!
Thank you for being here. As I imagine all the glorious ways the creative power of this collective will continue to flow into the world, I feel deeply inspired.
It is a joy and honour to steward its continued expansion.
With love, and in creative power,
Claire ✨
P.S. If you have any questions at all, do reach out at support@clairemackinnon.com
P.P.S. To close, here are the words of some of the women who’ve been part of this from the beginning:
“When I write here, I am often surprised by the vigor, the clarity, the urgency of my voice and my creative vision. Afterwards, I notice I have a new sense of centeredness in myself: My truth, my voice, my vision. I'm better able to discern what I want and don't...And I'm able to invite others into magical, connected, rich experiences like this one.
My capacity is greater, and my intuition takes a front seat.
When I listen to other women's words, I feel recognition, affirmation, power, drama, care, fire, wildness, loss, joy, the whole spectrum of all of life right here precious in our hands. I know that we are united, unstoppable, healers, truth-speakers, and wise women. The world needs us.
The world needs this. It is holy and sacred and rare. The circle is here to light a new path forward. In the midst of all the disconnection and insanity, the circle teaches us to speak, to listen, to find and hold with reverence the deep truth of our being, that we are interconnected.”
“What often surprises me is what actually lands on the page. It's like a release valve for things I didn't know I needed to express or could not have otherwise found the words.
Afterwards, what remains is a sense that I've been safely held by the broad, strong, and divinely feminine arms of the collective group. I carry that along with me for days. It’s one of the very few places I show up as myself and feel both seen and heard.
Since joining the circle, my sense of myself as a creative being has been excavated from the depths.
I believe The Circle is here to bring us closer to our real selves, to build our sense of belonging to ourselves and to a bigger community of women. It feels like one of those untold things that pass down through the generations of women that we've just somehow lost connection with.”
“As we stand together, hand in hand, we may feel like just one circle in a world of increasing darkness, but our circle is known. Its power is held and felt. And the only thing that's asked of us is to allow ourselves to be lit up and radiate that light to others.”
About Claire
Claire Mackinnon is a transformational coach, creative catalyst, and women’s leadership guide devoted to supporting women to step into their creative power – so they can bring forward the change only they can make.
Her work is rooted in the Joy-Led™ approach to creativity, leadership and business – a body of work that supports women leaders and business owners to bring forward their ideas and offerings in ways that feel alive, aligned and deeply generative.
An ICF PCC-certified coach with more than 2,000 hours of international coaching and facilitation experience, she has supported hundreds of leaders across industries including technology, retail, professional services, and education – as well as an ever-growing community of mission-led women entrepreneurs.
Claire is the founder of The Joy-Led™ Creativity Collective, and The Joy-Led™ Business Creation Collective, an intimate, circle-based community supporting women business owners to bring their work forward from a place of inner alignment and full-body aliveness.
She writes on Substack about her own journey of creative reclamation, and is currently completing her debut memoir, Finding Aphrodite: One Woman’s Dance from Shame to Aliveness, through which she hopes to spark a wider cultural conversation about women’s creative power – and the urgent need for leadership rooted in aliveness, truth, and joy.
You can join Claire’s email community here to be kept up to date about her offerings and community events.