Mantra & Medicine
weekend retreat
In our Mantra & Medicine retreats, we aim to reconnect you to the mystical aspect of life and help you refind your deeper spiritual essence. We use music and singing as powerful tools for self-realisation, inviting you to discover the immense transformative power of your own voice. Through sound, we bridge the inner and outer worlds, reconnecting us to the divine within. Each retreat is aligned with the energy of the season and offers a full program of guided practices and rituals. They are unique portals, guiding you into exploring various aspects of the human experience through music and practices from traditions around the world.
Breathe and be
The transformative power of music
Our voice is an instrument. Liberating it can help you heal and express your truth. Every sound, every song, every vibration has a different effect on our body. This is why we integrate music from all over the world because we believe in inviting and experiencing áll aspects of life. The light, the love, the bliss, but also the darkness and the rawness. Working with these different energies helps us grow and become more of who we really are.
Through the seasons
Winter
Mantra & Medicine weekend
Call of the North
With this Scandinavian winter theme, we aim to give a voice to the ancient wisdom found in the myths and legends of our Northern ancestors. Winter is a time of deep transformation. From darkness and death, new light and life are reborn. By shedding layers, we create space for what wants to emerge. Throughout the weekend, we’ll share music that is felt deep in our bones, and we’ll sing songs in languages like Norwegian, Gaelic, Swedish, and Finnish. This music is raw, powerful, and carries an uncompromising quality. The ceremony atmosphere is pronfoundly ritualistic and is carried by the primal power of the drum.
Spring
Mantra & Medicine weekend
The Path of Light
During our spring retreat, we draw inspiration from the ancient wisdom of the Yogic tradition and teachings rooted in Buddhism. This edition is all about devotion, the heart’s movement toward the light. Just as all life starts to grow toward the sunlight in spring, we too walk the path toward enlightenment, waking up to our true nature and opening ourselves to the divine. Through powerful practices we invite you into the stillness of your soul, beyond the mind, where music, as always, is the golden thread that weaves it all together.
Summer
Mantra & Medicine weekend
Voice of the Desert
In our Voice of the Desert retreat, we are held by the warmth of summer. She invites us to open, to blossom, and to let our hearts speak. We take you to the dry desert lands of the Middle Eastern world, under the twinkling starts of the Arabian sky. We thereby want to welcome the energy of the Middle Eastern regions; warm, sensual and mystical…This retreat is an ode to the joy of being alive, to the fire within us. Through music, poetry, movement, breath and various other practices we activate our life force.
Autumn
Mantra & Medicine weekend
Spirit of the Earth
The theme: Spirit of the Earth, invites you to connect deeply with Mother Earth.
This retreat immerses you in the rich musical traditions and rituals of Central and South America, where spirituality is deeply woven into nature. We begin the weekend with a sweatlodge, a powerful purification ritual. On the second day, during the ceremony, we sing medicine songs, also known as icaros, in Spanish, Portuguese, Native American languages, and English. These are beautiful prayer songs that hold a deeply healing power.
They celebrate the cycles of life, honor the elements, and remind us of our sacred connection to all living things.
Example program Mantra & Medicine retreat
Although every edition is unique, with practices from various cultures and lineages…
This is what a typical program looks like:
Friday
⌾ 15.45 Arrival time
⌾ 16.30 Opening Circle
⌾ 17.30 Small group practice & Free time
⌾ 18.30 Potluck Dinner
⌾ 20.00 Evening Program (Soundjourney / Sweatlodge/ Chanting)
Saturday
⌾ 09.30 Silent sitting
⌾ 10.00 Movement practice
⌾ 12.00 Brunch
⌾ 13.00 Small group practice & Free time
⌾ 16.00 Opening ritual
⌾ 16.30 Start ceremonial singing circle
⌾ 21.30 End ceremony & dinner
Sunday
⌾ 09.30 Silent sitting
⌾ 10.00 Breathwork
⌾ 12.00 Brunch
⌾ 13.00 Small group practice & Free time
⌾ 14.00 Closing circle
⌾ 15.00 Leaving time
Sound and music have been used since ancient times for healing and transformation. Indigenous cultures and ancient civilisations understood that the voice could carry intentions, prayers, and emotions to the divine realms. I believe it to be a powerful tool that has the ability to transform any negative energies within the body and open gateways for our life-force to flow. When we chant mantras or sing beautiful songs, we harmonise and synchronize the internal rhythms of the mind and body. Singing is a language of emotions. It can tap into the depths of one’s feelings, revealing layers of suppressed emotions or unspoken truths. Singing with purpose and intention helps infusing each note with the energy of your desires.
The Facilitators
Together with my life partner Robert Tolenaars, I guide ceremonies and events. We are musicians who believe in the power of sound as a gateway to transformation. Our journey together began in a small singing circle years ago. Since then, we have been guiding people through ceremonies and rituals, where music becomes a bridge to something deeper. We create spaces for those who seek to travel beyond the noise, to listen deeply, and rediscover the sacred within.
With a blend of vocals, guitar, shruti box, and medicine drum, we bring depth and presence to every journey, weaving together mantras, medicine songs, and prayers from different cultures. For us, music is more than a melody. It’s a way to remember.
In the Mantra & Medicine Retreat, we guide you through the light as well as the dark, using sound as a thread to lead you inward.
The Vibe ❤︎
Medicine songs & Mantra’s
Om Bhur Bhuvaḥ Swaḥ Tat-savitur Vareñyaṃ Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi Dhiyo Yonaḥ Prachodayāt ~
Om: The primeval sound
Bhur: the physical body/physical realm Bhuvah: the life force/the mental realm Suvah: the soul/spiritual realm
Tat: That (God)
Savitur: the Sun, Creator (source of all life) Vareñyam: adore
Bhargo: effulgence (divine light)
Devasya: supreme Lord
Dhīmahi: meditate
Dhiyo: the intellect
Yo: may this light
Nah: our
Prachodayāt: illumine/inspire
When the fire in my soul Burns a longing for the goal And I know in my heart it is you
Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma
In the deep on the night From the darkness shines the light And I know in my heart it is you
Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma
When the truth is revealed All the sorrows shall be healed And I know in my heart it is you.
Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma