Thursday – Sunday, August 6th – 9th, 2026
ELEVATE: A Transformational Yoga & Wellness Experience at Menla
Raise Your Consciousness. Rewrite Your Patterns.
Yoga • Alexander Technique • Spa • Sound Bath • Bonfire
Catskills, NY ~ Menla Retreat Center
Our ninth retreat — and our fourth return to the sacred grounds of Menla

If you’ve been feeling the pull to slow down, reconnect, and do something deeply nourishing for yourself, this retreat is for you.
Designed for those who give a lot and think deeply, ELEVATE offers intentional time in nature, thoughtful movement, and guided practices that meet you exactly where you are—and help you rise from there.
This isn’t about escaping your life. It’s about returning to it more grounded, connected, and fully yourself.

✨ Save $300 when you book before January 15, 2026
Spots are very limited, and this early booking window is the best time to commit—both financially and energetically.
To receive the VIP discount code, email info@hereandnowyoga.com and ask to be added to the VIP Retreat List.
If you’re reading this and feeling a quiet “yes,” trust it.
This is your moment to choose yourself—clearly, calmly, and now.

Set in the ancient forests of the Catskills, ELEVATE is a 4-day immersive retreat designed to uplift the body, clear the mind, and expand the spirit. Hosted at the renowned Menla Retreat & Dewa Spa, this experience unfolds at Panther Mountain—the site of the oldest known meteorite impact on Earth, dating back over 375 million years.
This rare landscape is both scientifically and energetically unique, featuring a documented negative gravity anomaly and long regarded as a central vortex of intersecting ley lines. The land itself offers a powerful container for healing, clarity, and transformation.
Through yoga, meditation, nature immersion, and healing arts, ELEVATE invites you to rise into deeper alignment, awareness, and connection—supported by intentional practice and ancient earth energy.
For our community, ELEVATE is more than an annual Catskills retreat — it’s a tradition. 2026 marks our ninth retreat and our fourth return to Menla, a place we’ve chosen again and again for its peaceful energy, nourishing food, healing spa, and transformative mountain setting.
We can’t wait to share it with you.

YOUR TEACHERS & GUIDES

Lead Teacher: Michelle Ingkavet Cavanagh
Yoga instructor with 16+ years of yoga teaching experience and 30+ years as a professional wellness practitioner across fitness, martial arts, and dance. Michelle’s grounded, intuitive teaching blends mindful movement, strength, fluidity, humor and accessible challenge to meet every person exactly where you are.

Guest Teacher: Jane Apostol
A master educator of the Alexander Technique with 30+ years in the movement and bodywork fields. Jane guides students into alignment, ease, and embodied awareness—helping unwind old patterns and creating space for new freedom in movement and breath.

Sound Healing Guide: Jennifer Muir
A gifted sound bath practitioner offering deeply restorative sessions using crystal bowls, chimes, and frequency-based sound healing to soothe the nervous system and open the heart. Jennifer is a returning favorite whose sound baths have become a cornerstone of our Catskills retreats and studio offerings.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

4 days / 3 nights Deluxe Accommodations (Queen or Shared Double) with Private Bath
Each thoughtfully appointed room features either a queen (private room) or double bed (shared room) both options with private bath, offering a peaceful, restorative space to unwind between practices. (Note: Deluxe Queen rooms may accommodate a second guest (spouse, family member, or friend). The additional guest may either participate in the retreat or stay as a non-participating roommate. Please be sure to select the appropriate room option at checkout to reflect your choice.
Yoga (2x/day)
Morning energizing flows + afternoon grounding practices, suitable for beginners yet rich with depth for advanced practitioners.
Meditation & Breathwork
Daily guided practices to support clarity, calm, and inner spaciousness.
Alexander Technique Workshops & One-on-One Lessons
Embodied learning that brings ease, balance, and deeper awareness into posture and daily movement.
Sound Bath Healing
Vibrational sound sessions for emotional release, nervous system reset, and deep relaxation.
Gourmet Vegetarian Meals
Three fresh, locally sourced meals each day — Menla’s renowned kitchen crafting nourishing cuisine that supports wellness from the inside out.
Dewa Spa Access
Optional Tibetan therapies, massage, bodywork, and steam room offerings (additional cost).
Optional Private Yoga or Alexander Technique Sessions
Deepen your practice with personalized one-on-one Yoga or Alexander Technique sessions tailored to your needs and goals (additional fee).
Immersion in Nature
• Private nature trails
• Fresh mountain air
• Quiet forest landscapes
• Swimming and sun
• Outdoor space for reflection or solitude
Personal Growth & Inner Work
• Sound circles
• Guided Meditation (Yoga Nidra)
• One-on-One Alexander Technique lessons
• Journaling
• Unguided time for rest and reflection

With over 70 years of combined wisdom between your facilitators and the sacred land of Menla supporting your process, you’ll return home more grounded, more open, and more you.

ITINERARY
(subject to change)

DAY 1 — Thursday, August 6 — Arrival & Welcome
12:00pm (optional) – Pre-Retreat LUNCH at Phoenicia Diner
For early arrivals, join fellow participants for a casual local meal before check-in
3:00–4:30pm – Arrival & CHECK-IN at Menla
Settle into your room, explore the grounds, and breathe in the fresh mountain air
4:30–5:00pm – Welcome Circle
Meet your teachers and fellow participants, set intentions, and arrive fully into the retreat space
5:00–5:50pm – Gentle Grounding YOGA with Michelle Ingkavet Cavanagh
A gentle yoga session to release travel tension and center the body and mind
6:00–7:00pm – DINNER
Gourmet, locally sourced vegetarian meal
Evening – Free Time: Quiet reflection, nature walk, spa treatments, badminton or billiards

⸻

DAY 2 — Friday, August 7 — Healing & Connection
7:00–7:50am – Morning Motivation Flow YOGA with Michelle
8:00–9:00am – BREAKFAST
9:30–10:45am – Alexander Technique Workshop with Jane Apostol
11:00am–12:15pm – One-on-One 15-min Alexander Technique Lessons (3 time slots) with Jane
12:30–1:30pm – LUNCH
1:45–3:15pm – One-on-One 15-min Alexander Technique Lessons (7 time slots) with Jane
1:30–3:30pm – Free Time: Swimming, Nature Trails, Journaling, or Spa Treatments
4:00–5:30pm – YOGA from the Heart / Guided Meditation (Yoga Nidra) with Michelle
6:00–7:00pm – DINNER
7:30–8:30pm – Evening Sound Bath with Jennifer Muir
A deeply restorative session to release tension and relax the nervous system

⸻

DAY 3 — Saturday, August 8 — Deepening & Transformation
7:00–7:50am – Good Morning YOGA Flow & Sound Meditation with Michelle
8:00–9:00am – BREAKFAST
10:00am–12:30pm – Free Time: Swimming, Nature Trails, Journaling, or Spa Treatments
11:30am-12:15pm – Optional Silent Nature Walk
12:30–1:30pm – LUNCH
2:00–3:15pm – YOGA: Breaking Boundaries in the Catskills — leveling up your YOGA practice
3:15—4:30pm – Free Time: Swimming, Nature Trails, Journaling, or Spa Treatments
4:30–5:45pm – Gentle YOGA / Alexander Technique Practice with Jane & Michelle
6:00–7:00pm – DINNER
7:30pm onward – Bonfire Gathering
Connect with fellow participants, share reflections, and enjoy the Catskills evening under the stars

⸻

DAY 4 — Sunday, August 9 — Closing & Departure
7:00–7:50am – Slow Morning YOGA
8:00–9:00am – BREAKFAST
9:30–10:30am – Closing Meditation Circle
Share reflections, gratitude, and honor your retreat experience.
11:00am – Check-Out / Free Time: Swimming, Nature Trails, Journaling, or Spa Treatments
Guests are welcome to stay on the grounds until 2:00pm, enjoy the peaceful surroundings, participate in 12:30pm LUNCH (included), and take advantage of optional Dewa Spa treatments before departing. 

Accommodations: Deluxe Queens & Deluxe Doubles with Private Baths
Spaces are limited—reserve your spot at Menla today and step into your transformative retreat experience.

Menla is conveniently located:
• Two hours north of the GW Bridge in NYC by car. (Plenty of free parking at the retreat center. We will also offer carpools from the Queens, NYC/Long Island border.)
• Three hours by bus from NYC on Adirondack Trailways to Phoenicia, NY

To prepare for our time together, we invite you to an online Pre-Retreat Meet & Greet Info Session via Zoom. (This session is open only to registered retreat participants and offers a relaxed space to connect, ask questions, and begin getting to know one another before the retreat.) Kindly save the date: Sunday, July 26, 2026 at 3:00 PM.

You will also receive a pre-arrival email with packing list and essential info.

Book your retreat by January 15th and enjoy $300 off—join us at Menla to nourish your body, mind, and spirit. Email us at info@hereandnowyoga.com to join our VIP Retreat List and claim your exclusive discount code.

We can’t wait to welcome you.