How to Play in the Dark: Integration for Life + Work
A co-creative emergent retreat for women(+) visionaries, leaders, and creators
Hello Everyone,
I am sharing something that is near and dear to my heart, an event that has literally been 13 years in the making, through my own alchemical evolution and life’s dance.
There comes a time every year when we are called not into more light, but into the dark. Not the dark of fear or hiding—but the dark of mystery, depth, and fertile ground.
How to Play in the Dark is an invitation into that space, aligned with the season of darkness and inward exploration.
From October 22–26, 2025, we’ll gather in Ojai, California for a co-creative retreat where shadow meets play, and where leadership is reimagined as something shared, reciprocal, and alive.
Themes We’ll Explore
Belonging + Wounding
Descent + Power
Play as Medicine
Deconstructing Leadership
The Experience
This is not a top-down “luxury escape.” This is a living, breathing container of healing, remembrance, and co-creation.
Together we will share meals, clean up dishes, tend to space, hold one another through shadow, and create moments of wild play. Every gesture—mundane or magical—is part of the medicine.
Guides + Weavers:
Courtney Smith — Transformational Guide + Circle Weaver (word of mouth only)
Heather Riley — Visual + Movement Facilitator + Therapist (Visualizing Potential)
Alison Dale — Human Design + Somatic Alchemist
Jessie Solon — Sound Frequency Guide
Meg Koenig — Architect of Play, Presence + Nourishment
This is not a retreat you consume. It is a retreat you co-create.
Shared Participation Looks Like
Meals: rotating sign-ups for prep + cleanup
Tending the Space: keeping our home cozy + cared for
Personal Responsibility: water, rest, journaling, self-regulation
Community Care: presence + support for the collective container
Playful Contribution: creativity, humor, willingness to process + co-create joy
By dissolving hierarchy, we restore balance. By practicing communal responsibility, we remember what it means to be in true community.
Investment
Early Bird: $3,333 (through Sept 22, 2025)
Standard: $3,888 (after Sept 22, 2025)
Your investment includes:
✔ 4 nights in community space in Ojai
✔ Organic, locally-prepared meals
✔ Daily practices in shadow play, movement, sound + hypnosis
✔ Playful + nourishing surprises
✔ Pre + post retreat integration calls (with Human Design + Astrology)
✔ A visionary circle of women(+) walking this path together
Deposit: $1,500 (non-refundable) secures your spot once accepted.
Limited to 8 participants.
Application Process
Because this is an intimate, emergent space, all participants must complete an application.
Applications ensure the group is aligned in intention and readiness.
Once your application is approved, you’ll be invited into the container.
A Note on Deconstructing Leadership
Through play, deep presence, embodied experiential learning, and deep dive practices, we’ll reimagine what leadership means.
This is leadership as reciprocity.
Leadership as shared responsibility.
Leadership as remembering how to play—together.
Logistics at a Glance
📍 Where: Ojai, California
📅 When: October 22–26, 2025
💫 Who: Facilitated by myself, Heather Riley, Courtney Smith, Alison Dale (Astro Somatic Guide), and Jessie Solon (Sound Frequency).
Spaces are intentionally limited—this retreat is designed to be intimate, immersive, and transformative.
Retreat Referral Program
Community is at the heart of this retreat. If you know someone who’s meant to be here, invite them.
If they apply and attend, you receive $100 as a thank-you.
No cap. No limit. Just community weaving itself together.
Are You Ready to Step Into the Dark?
This is a call for those ready to enter the mystery with courage, curiosity, and play.
✨ If your body lit up reading this, consider it your invitation. If not please pass this on and possibly get a little cash for your pocket!
EXCITED
WILD
PLAYFUL
LOVE,
Meg + the How to Play in the Dark Team