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RETREATS / Inner Leadership

Inner Leadership

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DATES

  • 28 - 31 JAN 2027

THE INVITATION

The case for doing less

Inner ‌Leadership ‌is ‌a 4-day-retreat for people who want to create more meaning in their lives.
It’s an opportunity to begin the new year by diving into the depths of yourself beneath all the responsibilities, resolutions and expectations that life, and people, heap upon you. We’ll look at where your attention goes, what commitments are worth making and what you are carrying on only because you have always carried on.
Self-leadership, as we practice it, is less about motivation and more about judgement. It’s about what is and isn’t yours to control or influence or let go of. Here you will be given the opportunity to let go of the roles, the performance and the incessant “shoulds” and reconnect with what you really value. We bring Buddhist philosophy, breathwork and reflection, by the Doring River and under some of the darkest skies on earth, so you can drop your shoulders and really listen.
Here you don’t have to be Someone.
Here you don’t have to live up to anything.
Here you only have to show up and feel.

This is for you if

  • — You are good at what you do and quietly wondering what' the meaning behind it.
  • — You have played a role for so long you are no longer sure who is underneath it.
  • — Your life looks fine from the outside and feels thin on the inside.
  • — You are tired of chasing the next goal and want to focus on what actually matters to you
  • — You are at a crossroads.
  • — You want to begin the year from a different place, rather than other people's expectations
Woman with eyes closed floating in natural rock pool at Bliss and Stars Cederberg retreat, stone sculpture on edge beside her

THE PRACTICE

Meaninfgul conversations with self

The aim is to give you a deeper understanding of how your inner narrative shapes your life,
and of how you can actively start from a different place.

Bare feet resting on sofa arm on wooden terrace, open magazine and dried wildflowers on floor, warm evening light, Cederberg rock view through glass

pause

Find your ground

To pause is to stop at the edge of your own momentum and see where it has been taking you. So much of your life is carried forward by velocity: the habits, roles and ambitions that keep moving simply because they are already moving. The pause interrupts that force. Pause is the place where something can actually begin. Ground is what remains when the momentum falls away: the few things you would still stand for if no one were watching or keeping score. Standing there, at the threshold between the year you have lived and the one you have not yet chosen, you are no longer continuing. You are beginning.
Woman walking away down sandy Cederberg trail at sunset, back to camera, fynbos on either side, vast open sky, solo walk at Unmade women's retreat

not knowing

Cultivate the sense of curiosity

For most of your life you have probably been rewarded for having the answer. Not knowing asks us for something less familiar: staying with a question long enough for it to change you, instead of hurrying to close it. The Zen tradition calls this beginner’s mind. We practise it by noticing the urge to fix, plan or explain, and letting the question stay open a little longer. It starts with noticing the questions you keep asking out of habit, the ones that only ever lead back to the same answers, and leads to asking questions you have been avoiding. Curiosity is the opposite of control, and it is usually where the more honest answers about your work, your direction and your year are waiting.

THE APPROACH

What we do, if we had to name it

We get unmade breath by breath, moment by moment.

1

BARE Method

Twice a day the group works with BARE, a method developed from Somatic Experiencing, breathwork and the Buddhist tradition. Its four intertwined parts: Breath, the one bodily function you can control directly; Awareness, noticing what is happening in you without rushing to change it; Regulation, finding your way back to steadiness when it slips; and Embodiment, letting what you understand land in how you actually live. The aim is not a dramatic release but a body settled enough to hold a difficult questions without bracing against them.

2

Contemplation

We have reflection sessions each day. There’s a short teaching session, either on Buddhist ideas or on work and meaning, and then one question to write a piece of writing around. You then discuss your findings in pairs or as a group. The questions are designed to make you look at the patterns you’ve been living by – the goals you’ve inherited, the roles you’ve outlived, the work that no longer serves anything you believe in. You leave with one thing you’re going to do this year, and a short list of what you’re going to unstick.

3

Stargazing & Nature

Fire warms and it burns, it draws people close and it holds the dark back. Fire represents raw, untamed power, in which we will tap by making the fire together every night.

WHAT A DAY LOOKS LIKE

Awake in the wild

We could give you the timetable, but needing to know the shape of the day in advance is one of the things you came to put down. The looseness is deliberate, and harder to hold than a schedule. Daria has led enough of these to know when to press and when to leave you alone.
  • Somatic Flow | Breathwork
  • Morning Swim
  • Brunch
  • Afternoon snack
  • Reflection Session
  • Rest
  • Breathwork
  • Dinner
  • Conversation by Fire
  • Stargazing

MORNING

  • Somatic Flow | Breathwork
  • Morning Swim
  • Brunch

AFTERNOON

  • Afternoon snack
  • Reflection Session
  • Rest

EVENING

  • Breathwork
  • Dinner
  • Conversation by Fire
  • Stargazing

AT A GLANCE

We serve vegetarian / vegan food. Most of our produce comes from our gardens or from local farmers. The meals are served at the communal table. We do not serve coffee or alcohol, which is mostly about sleep. Mornings offer cacao, rooibos infusions.

Dietary requirements are accommodated. Tell us when you book.

DURATION

4 days

Thursday to Sunday

LOCATION

Cederberg

Western Cape

FOOD

Plant-based

No Coffee · No alcohol

Daria and Heine Rasmussen, founders of Bliss and Stars, in the Cederberg

YOUR GUIDE

Daria Rasmussen

FOUNDERS · MEDITATION TEACHER · BREATHWORK COACH · ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER

“There is a life in you that exists beneath everything you have learned to be. Before the usefulness. Before you learned to manage your softness and explain your strength. That life has not left you. It has been waiting, patient as old stone, faithful as land that knew you long before you knew yourself.”

Daria and Heine both spent years in the corporate world, leading teams and delivering results, until the question of what all that effort was for became impossible to ignore. Their path led from leadership towards inner leadership: from managing what others expect to asking what is true for you, and what your work is in service of. Bliss & Stars grew out of that question. They built it as a place for creating meaning, not for escaping from life. Their shared strength lies in creating spaces where people can both settle into calm and step forward with courage. With deep experience in inner leadership, breathwork, human development and the night sky, they guide you safely through four days in which you are both held, and held accountable for what is true for you.
READ MORE ABOUT DARIA & HEINE—

WHAT GUESTS SAY

"Thank you for giving me the space to be reminded of the importance of self-awareness, self-time, and the purpose of being exactly who I am. I could not have done this in a more serene environment. What Daria and Heine created is one of the wonders of the world."
Linda

WHAT DOES IT COST

Accommodation options

All prices include accommodation, all meals, all practices, and guided stargazing. No hidden charges. Never more than eight guests, often fewer.

tented chalet interior at bliss and stars

CANVAS AND TIMBER

Tented Chalets

Built from canvas and timber, which means the valley comes through the walls. Wind, water, first light. The simplest of the three, and the closest you can sleep to the land.

3 NIGHTS

Solo Large

Solo Small

R19,500

R14,500

Double

R29,400

Includes: Accommodation, all meals, practices and activities
view of chalets at bliss and stars, cederberg

WOOD AND GLASS

Chalets

Built from wood and glass, set between the rocks. Floor-to-ceiling windows put the valley in the room with you. The one most people picture when they imagine the place.

3 NIGHTS

Solo

R26,100

Double

R35,400

Includes: Accommodation, all meals, practices and activities
Aerial view of Weaver's Nest villa built from Cederberg rock at Bliss and Stars off-grid retreat

CEDERBERG ROCK

Villa

Built from Cederberg rock, set closest to the river. A separate bedroom, its own lounge, and a large outdoor space that is yours alone. The most private of the three.

3 NIGHTS

Solo

R28,200

Double

R40,800

Includes: Accommodation, all meals, practices and activities

Reserve your place

A 50% deposit confirms your place. You can pay upfront or in instalments. 

If you are not committed to making a reservation yet and have some questions, contact us here.