Costa Rica Immersion

Today, your journey begins the moment you step off the plane at San José’s Juan Santamaría International Airport. You’ll be met and transferred to a comfortable hotel near the airport, where the group gathers for the first time over a welcome dinner. This evening is about arrivals — not just physical, but internal. Over a shared meal, you’ll meet the women who will walk this journey beside you, set your first intentions, and begin to feel the shift that happens when you step out of your routine and into possibility.

After a morning session and breakfast at the hotel, we depart around 10:00 AM for the four-hour drive into the Chirripó mountains. The journey itself is part of the experience — climbing through cloud forests, past volcanic peaks, stopping for refreshments at a mountainside café. When you arrive at Finca Mia in the late afternoon, the river and the jungle will greet you. Settle into your cabina, take your first walk along the stone paths, and join the group for a nourishing dinner and an opening circle as the stars come alive above the mountains.

The morning begins with yoga on the deck overlooking the valley, followed by our first deep-dive writing workshop with Sierra Melcher of Red Thread Publishing: Excavating Your Story — why your voice matters, what message is ready to emerge, and the connection between your lived experience and the book or narrative that wants to be told. In the afternoon, Stephanie leads a coaching circle on The Courage to Be Seen — what holds us back from claiming our voice, and what becomes possible when we step into visibility. This session introduces the confidence thread that will run beneath the entire week. Protected writing time follows, along with a chocolate-making experience with local artisans, grounding your creativity in the land and its traditions. The evening brings your first facilitated reflection circle.

Morning yoga flows into a working session with Sierra on The Architecture of Your Story — translating lived experience into nonfiction narrative structure, from concept to chapter outline, and the craft of weaving personal experience with broader themes. This is where your book begins to take shape. In the afternoon, you’ll journey to a local dairy farm for an artisan cheese tasting, paired with a visit to a nearby butterfly dome — a living metaphor for transformation that will stay with you long after you leave. The evening is yours: write, rest, or gather with new friends under the stars.

 

Today is devoted to the body’s role in authorship. After morning yoga, Stephanie leads a coaching circle exploring the stories we tell ourselves about who gets to be an author, a speaker, a thought leader — where those narratives came from and whether they’re still serving you. Then Susan Ellison-McGee takes the floor for Speaking Your Written Word — presence-based training for writers stepping onto platforms, podcasts, panels, and stages. This work is kind, practical, and grounded in decades of strategic communications experience. You will laugh. You will surprise yourself. In the afternoon, enjoy Finca Mia’s spa offerings during a dedicated self-care afternoon — massages, the salt-water pool, the hot tub, the river. Let the body integrate what the mind has been processing. The evening brings a sound healing session in the maloca, carried by the mountain air.

Morning yoga and a journaling session prepare you for an adventure: the Cloudbridge Nature Reserve. This private cloud forest reserve, adjacent to Chirripó National Park, offers hiking trails through ancient growth forest, past waterfalls and mossy bridges, into some of the most biodiverse terrain on Earth. As you walk in silence through the mist, notice what emerges. What wants to be written. What wants to be said aloud. Return to Finca Mia for lunch, a deep writing session with Sierra on finding the universal in the deeply personal — the craft of writing across difference and honoring others’ stories within your own narrative — and an evening cacao ceremony, an ancient practice of heart-opening and intention-setting that has been held in these mountains for generations.

Something has been changing all week. Today, we name it.

After morning yoga, Sierra leads a workshop on overcoming the inner critic — moving from outline to manuscript, and the craft of writing with both vulnerability and authority. This session addresses imposter syndrome directly, drawing on Sierra’s philosophy that creating from stillness is as vital as creating from effort. Then Stephanie leads an executive group coaching session on The Identity Shift — the interior rearrangement that happens when you move from someone who writes privately to someone who leads publicly. This is deep, facilitated work: examining what you’ve been protecting by staying invisible, and what becomes available when you stop.

In the afternoon, the work becomes embodied. Each participant delivers a two-minute “essence of my story” to the group — your message, your voice, your words, spoken aloud in a room full of women who have held your journey all week. It will feel different than you expect. Stephanie and Sierra provide supportive coaching throughout. The evening is unstructured — write by the river, soak in the hot tub, sit by the fire pit and talk until the stars tell you it’s time for bed. Tomorrow, it all comes together.

This is the day it all comes together — and the day you’ll remember longest.

The morning begins with Susan and Sierra leading a hands-on Podcast and Media Workshop — how to pitch yourself to podcasts, media outlets, and event organizers; crafting your author bio, talking points, and one-sheet; and preparing for interviews with confidence. Participants pair up for mock podcast interviews, practicing their story and delivery with real-time feedback. These are recorded so you can review and refine them at home.

After lunch, the focus shifts to Marketing Your Message — building your author platform and sharing your work with the world. This practical session covers the essentials: your author website, email list building, content strategy, social media for thought leaders, and book launch planning. You’ll leave with a take-home resource packet and a clear strategy, not just inspiration.

In the late afternoon, Stephanie weaves it all together in the closing workshop: The Leadership Leap. You will articulate your author identity. You will name what you are no longer willing to hold back. You will leave this session with a written declaration of who you are becoming and the concrete next steps to get there. In our final sharing circle, each woman speaks — not from the page, but from the self that has emerged over the course of this journey. You will be witnessed. You will witness others. And you will understand, in your body, what it means to stand behind your words.

The evening culminates in a farewell dinner and a Medicine Wheel journey — a sacred practice of reflection, gratitude, and forward vision under the Costa Rican sky. The mountain holds you one last night.

After a heartfelt breakfast and goodbyes, you’ll board the shuttle for the return drive to San José. The mountain road unwinds behind you, but the clarity stays. You carry with you a new sense of authorship, a community of extraordinary women, and the quiet, unshakeable knowledge that your voice was never the problem. The only thing missing was permission — and you just gave it to yourself.

Not in the traditional sense. This is not a quiet escape focused on word count or finishing a manuscript. It is an immersion for writers who are grappling with voice, visibility, authorship, and public presence. Writing is central, but the deeper work is about what it takes to stand behind your work once it enters the world.

No. Participants may be emerging writers, mid-process, or already published. What matters is that you are actively writing and thinking seriously about sharing, submitting, publishing, or speaking publicly about your work. This immersion is designed for writers approaching — or already navigating — the threshold of visibility.

Yes — but not positional leadership. Leadership here means claiming voice and authority, standing behind your ideas publicly, navigating critique and consequence, and understanding the responsibility that comes with being read, heard, and seen. This is leadership through authorship.

Yes. The immersion includes direct guidance from Sierra Melcher, an active publisher and editor, along with honest conversations about the publishing process, rejection and critique, navigating platforms and audiences, and the identity shift from writer to author. Publishing is treated as a leadership threshold, not just a technical step.

Costa Rica is a country shaped by long-term decisions about peace, education, land stewardship, and courage. In 1948, it abolished its military and redirected those resources into healthcare, education, and environmental protection. For writers stepping into the vulnerability of public voice, this setting is not incidental — it is instructional. The land, the philosophy, and the people model what it looks like to choose courage over convention.

A central one. Public authorship is embodied. Many writers experience fear, contraction, or disorientation when their work becomes visible. Our sessions on presence, public speaking, and embodied voice are led by professionals with decades of experience — and are designed to be kind, practical, and even fun. You will leave with real skills for readings, interviews, podcasts, panels, and public platforms.

A stronger sense of authorship and authority. Greater comfort with visibility and critique. Language for navigating publishing and public presence. A grounded writing practice that supports courage, not perfection. A customized “Preparing to Speak” plan. And a community of extraordinary women who understand exactly where you’ve been and where you’re going.

A stronger sense of authorship and authority. Greater comfort with visibility and critique. Language for navigating publishing and public presence. A grounded writing practice that supports courage, not perfection. A customized “Preparing to Speak” plan. And a community of extraordinary women who understand exactly where you’ve been and where you’re going.

Finca Mia sits at 4,000 feet of elevation in the Chirripó mountains. Expect warm days and cool evenings — daytime temperatures in the 70s to low 80s, with evenings dropping into the 60s. Layers are essential: bring long sleeves, a light jacket or hoodie, and warm socks for evenings. Even during the dry season, brief rain showers are possible, so pack a raincoat and umbrella.

A detailed packing list will be provided as part of your pre-departure materials. Key items include: layers of clothing (it’s mountain-cool, not beach-hot), sturdy shoes or sandals with rugged soles for Finca Mia’s stone paths and hiking trails, a flashlight or headlamp for evening walks, a reusable water bottle, swimsuit (for the pool, hot tub, and river!), sunscreen, DEET-free bug repellent, a rain jacket, and a camera. The water at Finca Mia is pristine spring water — you can drink straight from the tap.

Yes — this is important. Finca Mia is in a remote mountain location and operates on a cash-only basis for extras such as spa treatments, laundry, the juice bar, and the boutique. ATMs are not nearby. Please bring US dollars in clean, unmarked bills (no rips or writing — marked bills are not accepted in Costa Rica). A variety of smaller bills ($10s, $20s, $50s) is recommended. Tips for local staff are also appreciated and will be collected at the end of the week.