Rest, Restore and Reawaken
17 - 22 Jan 2027
5 Days to Rest Deeply, Restore Your Energy and Reconnect with What Helps You Feel Alive
Step away from the pace and demands of everyday life and give yourself the rare gift of five spacious days devoted to rest, renewal and rejuvenation.
Not just another wellbeing escape, learn a practical approach to building true health that you can use for the rest of your life.
Small-group retreat · Accommodation and nourishing meals included
View Retreat Details & Reserve My PlaceThis is for you if you are…
- Feeling stressed, overwhelmed or burnt out
- Facing a chronic health condition
- Just needing a break and an energy reset
- Wanting to set your year up well with a grounded reset
- Curious about simple practices that support wellbeing.
What you will receive…
- Spacious time to rest, reflect and awaken your own inner healer
- Gentle practices you can use at home.
- Supportive guidance in a calm small-group setting.
- Nourishing daily rhythms that help your nervous system soften.
- A clearer understanding of what helps you feel restored and recharged.
When did you last feel truly rested?
Not simply away from everyday responsibilities.
But deeply rested. Physically, mentally and emotionally.
Modern life rarely gives us enough space to hear what the body needs. When you have been managing illness, supporting others, carrying ongoing stress or simply pushing through for too long, it can become difficult to remember what it feels like to have energy, clarity and room to breathe.
You may recognise the feeling:
- You wake already tired.
- Your mind keeps racing even when your body wants to stop.
- You know rest would help, but slowing down feels strangely difficult.
- You want to reconnect with yourself, but life keeps pulling you outward.
This retreat has been created to offer that space.
Not as another thing to achieve. Not as an escape from your life. But as an opportunity to pause, restore your energy and reconnect with practices that can continue supporting you long after you return home.
This retreat is designed to empower you to activate your own inner healer and give you a simple understanding of the profound connection between your self, your energy and your own healing potential.
A different kind of retreat
Over five days, you will be gently guided through practices that support deep rest, self-healing, awareness, vitality and reconnection.
This retreat is guided by the insights of Qi Science and grounded in Zhineng Qigong, a holistic practice combining gentle movement, posture, attention and conscious connection with Qi, our life energy. The principles are easy to learn, simple to understand, and once you hear them, they can change your entire outlook on life.
You will not be expected to perform or keep up. You will be invited to listen to your body and explore what becomes possible when your nervous system begins to relax, your body feels safe enough to restore, and you give yourself the space to recharge.
What you will experience
Daily Qigong practice
Gentle movement and awareness practices designed to support relaxation, refresh your cells, boost vitality and your connection with Qi (your vital life force energy).
The practices are delivered in English, easy to understand, and can be adapted to your body.
No previous Qigong experience is required.
Qi Science made clear and practical
A unique blend of ancient principles and cutting-edge modern science translated into plain English, so you can understand not only what you are practicing, but why it can support healing, cultivate energy and produce sustainable inner health.
Connection with nature
The Australian bush offers a powerful container for relaxation, perspective and reconnection. The setting is part of the medicine.
Mingjue Tea Dao Ceremony
A truly unique offering here in Australia. Experience a special moment to rest, replenish and return to your body through this beautiful ceremony facilitated to help open the heart. The tea is a unique creation with an ancient, wild red tea base, blended with particular traditional herbs designed to soften your nervous system and activate a deeper sense of calm to enhance your practice.
Optional massages, nature walks and relaxing bush hammocks
Enhance your retreat experience with a nurturing massage (additional cost), take a rejuvenating walk along the surrounding nature paths, or simply curl up with a good book in one of the hotel’s peaceful bush-hammocks.
Space to simply be
Unstructured time is intentionally included. Some of the deepest restoration happens when nothing is required of you. You'll have time to settle the nervous system, soften the body and experience rest as a healing practice rather than a reward you have to earn.
Why Return to the River?
Yes, there is a river onsite. And yes, we’ll practise beside it a few times during the week.
But Return to the River is about so much more than a physical place.
It is an invitation to reconnect with the vast, continuous flow of life within and around you. In Qigong, we call this flow Qi—the energy and information that forms the foundation of life and moves through everything, including us.
Qi is always present and always moving, although the noise of daily life can make it easy to forget. Stress, fear, worry and habit can disconnect us from the deeper sense of peace, wisdom and vitality that is already within us.
Returning to the river is an invitation to pause, soften and go inward—to consciously reconnect with that steady source of life force and inner knowing.
A river also reminds us that everything changes. As the saying goes, we never step into the same river twice. The water continues to move, carrying things towards us and washing other things away.
When we are living with a serious health challenge, or simply feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of everyday life, fear can feel permanent. It can feel isolating, as though the difficulty will never end.
The river reminds us that while challenges are an inevitable part of being alive, they do not remain unchanged forever. We can learn to meet them, move with them and, eventually, allow them to pass.
The same is true of life’s joyful moments. When something wonderful happens, we naturally want to hold on tightly. But clinging to what is good can create its own kind of fear.
Returning to the river invites us to fully experience joy without needing to grasp it. We can appreciate what is here, trust the flow of life and remain open to the goodness that is still making its way towards us.
The river represents our innate wisdom, our connection to life and our relationship with something far greater than the everyday thinking mind can fully comprehend.
Over five days, you will explore this through movement, stillness, learning and shared experience. You will feel the flow of Qi in your practice and begin to recognise that this connection is not something outside you.
It is already within you. It cannot be taken away.
Return to the River is an invitation to remember who you are beneath the fear, the stress and the noise—and to experience the strength, wisdom and possibility that have been there all along.
Your Facilitators
This retreat exists because healing is not only a concept here. It is lived experience.
Your two facilitators bring more than teaching knowledge. They bring personal proof of what it means to rebuild a relationship with the body, energy and life itself.
This includes a healing journey back to health from a terminal illness and a recovery journey from extreme fatigue and physical illness. We will also hear from a special guest presenter who through this work, has regained the use of her arms after a spinal cord injury left her quadriplegic.
These lived experiences shape the way the retreat is held and delivered.
With humility, compassion and respect for each person’s body.
With deep belief and proof of the human capacity to heal, adapt, soften, reconnect and come alive again.
Their teaching approach translates the ancient art and healing power of Qigong into clear, accessible English, making it easier for Western students to understand, practice and trust.
Sofia Mund
Based in the beautiful Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, Sofia Mund is a dedicated Qi Science and Zhineng Qigong teacher whose work is inspired by a lifelong quest to understand the deeper nature of existence and to help others experience greater health, peace and vitality.
After experiencing her own journey through physical illness and burnout, Sofia discovered Qi Science in 2019. The profound transformation she experienced led her to immerse herself in the study of Zhineng Qigong and consciousness-based healing with respected Chinese teachers including Teacher Liu, Teacher Wei, Teacher Zhu, Teacher Yuan and Teacher Zhen Qingchuan.
Sofia is Australia's first certified Hunyuan Qi Therapist and certified Health and Wellbeing Coach through the Hunyuan Qi Therapy Foundation with Master Yuantong Liu and Britta Stirling. She is also a certified Mingjue Teacher and Healer, a Registered Teacher with the Zhineng Qigong Student Hub, and a certified Qi Science Teacher in the three foundational levels of Qi Science following her residency and advanced training in Dali, China.
She serves as the Australian Organiser for both Teacher Wei's World Consciousness Community and Master Zhen Qingchuan's Inner Perceptions Psychology programs, while continuing her own advanced professional studies in Inner Perceptions Psychology.
In 2026, Sofia launched the Emergence Program as an online learning platform to make these transformative teachings more accessible to people around the world. Through retreats, workshops, courses and one-to-one healing, she is passionate about creating supportive spaces where people can reconnect with their innate capacity for healing, cultivate inner stillness, and awaken greater joy, resilience and wellbeing.
Sofia believes that true healing begins within consciousness and that, with the right guidance and practice, every person has the potential to transform their life from the inside out.
Yvette Martin
Based in Sydney, New South Wales, Yvette’s work sits at the intersection of psychology, leadership, modern medicine and ancient wisdom. After studying psychology at university, she spent 12 years working in pharmaceuticals and at the forefront of emerging medical advances, before moving into a fifteen-year career as an Executive Leadership Coach. During this time, she worked closely with leaders and teams and held senior roles including Head of Talent and Head of People and Culture.
In 2020, Yvette was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. When the cancer returned in her brain in 2022, her life and understanding of health changed profoundly. Her search for ways to support her body, mind and spirit led her to Zhineng Qigong, four journeys to China and Thailand, and formal qualification as a Teacher of Qi Science (formerly Zhineng Qigong) after her residency in Dali, China.
These experiences have shaped Yvette’s belief that health is not simply something managed by experts, but a dynamic relationship between the body, mind, environment, medical care and our own inner resources. She brings together scientific curiosity, practical experience and deep respect for the body’s innate intelligence, helping others feel more informed, empowered and hopeful as they navigate their own challenges.
Yvette’s approach to life is grounded in the belief that even when we cannot control what happens to us, we can continue to influence any outcome by how we meet it.
Yvette offers retreats, online Qigong classes and facilitated support groups for people living with chronic or life-threatening illness. She brings together modern Western medicine and ancient Eastern wisdom to help people support their healing, restore energy, calm fear and stress, enhance their medical treatment, and live with greater joy—while we’re all still here.
Above all, she believes life is precious, healing can take many forms, and there is always more possibility than we first imagine.
What makes this retreat different
Many wellness retreats offer rest, but leave you wondering how to carry that feeling home. The restful feeling fades as the pace of every day life takes hold again.
Here you will be supported to rest deeply, to rejuvenate your body, while also learning simple, repeatable tools you can continue using in everyday life once you are home again.
You will gain a whole new understanding of what true health is, and what is healing and rejuvenating for our bodies and mind.
You do not need to be flexible.
You do not need to be spiritual.
You do not need to be experienced.
You only need a willingness to slow down, listen inward and explore what becomes possible when your body is met with care.
"Healing happens when there is no room for illness in the consciousness"
Master Yuantong Liu
Your Accomodation - The Happy Buddha Retreat
Comfortable Rooms
Rest in comfort with plenty of space, simple design and rejuvenating sleep.
Vegetarian Meals
Nourish your body with delicious and wholesome meals prepared with love.
Relax by the Pool
The hotel includes a relaxing pool, nature walks, & bush hammocks
A small-group retreat limited to 25 guests
This retreat is intentionally limited to 25 guests so the experience can remain spacious, personal and supportive.
The group size allows for meaningful connection without feeling crowded, and enough individual care without making the retreat feel intense or overwhelming.
If this retreat is calling to you, reserving early gives you the best chance of securing your place.
Reserve your place now
If your body is asking for rest and restoration, this retreat may be the reset you have been waiting for.
Secure My Spot
Our daily flow...
7:45-8:45am morning practice
Breakfast break
10:00-1:00pm morning lecture & practice, tea ceremony
Lunch and relaxation time
4:00-6:30pm afternoon fun - Qi experiments, practices, discussions,
Dinner break
8:00-9:00pm evening practice
*morning and afternoon tea breaks will be included in the practice sessions
This is for you if...
- You are longing for genuine rest, not just time away.
- You feel depleted, stressed, disconnected or overextended.
- You are healing, rebuilding or learning to live with more care for your body.
- You are curious about Qigong and want a gentle, easy to understand introduction.
- You want practices that feel practical, grounded and easy to do.
- You are ready to spend time in nature with a small group of people moving toward renewal.
- You want to reawaken your innate wisdom and enjoy a deeper sense of peace, increased emotional resiliency and have an expanded capacity for managing everyday life.
This retreat is not about pushing through, fixing yourself or becoming someone else.
It is about returning to your body. It's about cultivating your energy and your own capacity for healing.
"You never step into the same river twice"
A premium experience with lasting value
This retreat is not simply five days away.
It is an investment in your energy, your nervous system, your healing capacity and your relationship with yourself.
The aim is not for you to leave with a temporary retreat high.
The aim is for you to leave feeling more rested, more connected and more equipped with practices you can continue using in the life you are returning to.
What's included....
Five-day in-person retreat experience from 17–22 January 2027
- Daily Qigong and Qi Science sessions to restore your energy
- Enlightening Qi Science lectures and discussions that will expand your understanding of true health
- Wholesome vegetarian meals to fuel your body
- Comfortable single/twin/triple share accommodation - choose your room option below
- Mingjue Tea Dao Ceremony
- Qi Experiments so you can see the effects of Qi in real time to help support your trust and belief
- Supportive small-group environment
- Ample time to relax by the pool or go for a rejuvenating bush walk
- Transfers to and from the train station before and after the retreat
- Nurturing massages available for extra cost
- Easy practices to continue at home after the retreat to support your wellbeing
Retreat Investment
We’re pleased to offer a range of accommodation options to suit different preferences and budgets. You can book a private room or a bed in a twin or triple-share room. We’ll thoughtfully match shared-room guests, so there’s no need to arrive with a roommate pre-arranged. You can also nominate someone you’d like to share with on the intake form sent after booking if you wish to attend together.
We’re also offering two early commitment rates. In our experience, the retreat begins the moment you say YES: your intention is set, your preparation begins and you become part of the Qi field growing around the group.
To encourage and support those of you who wish to take advantage of this extra time in our Qi field, we have a special 'ACT NOW' offer - if you pay in full with this option before 31st August, you can enjoy $600 off the regular retreat price!
If you don't wish to pay in full just now, we are also offering an Early Commitment rate until the 31st of October of $300 off the regular retreat price. You can secure this special today with a non-refundable deposit of $200.
Simply put, your options are:
1) Book and pay in full by 31 August to receive $600 off the full retreat price.
2) Book and secure your spot with a $200 deposit by 31 October to receive the Early Bird rate of $300 off.
Explore the room options below - pricing includes accommodation, meals, and all retreat practices and education and all prices are in AUD.
Accommodation Options
Single Room
(4 Remaining)
Regular Retreat Rate: $2,200 AUD
Early Commitment (until Oct 31): $1,900 AUD
ACT NOW! (until Aug 31): $1,600 AUD
Twin Room Share
(7 Remaining)
Regular Retreat Rate: $1900 AUD
Early Commitment (until Oct 31): $1,600 AUD
ACT NOW! (until Aug 31): $1,300 AUD
Triple Room
(2 Remaining)
Regular Retreat Rate: $1600 AUD
Early Commitment (until Oct 31): $1300 AUD
ACT NOW! (until Aug 31): $1000 AUD
* We will match people in shared rooms as needed. If you are a couple booking this retreat, you will each need to complete a separate registration. You will have a chance to nominate who you would like to share a room with on the form that is sent to you after you have paid your deposit/paid in full and also indicate whether you would prefer twin beds or to share a single queen-sized bed. If you are coming with a friend, this form is also where you nominate who you would like to share a room with
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need Qigong experience?
Do I need to be fit or flexible?
Is this suitable if I am healing or rebuilding my energy?
What if I am nervous about coming alone?
Can you tell me more about the Accomodation and Meals?
Is this retreat only for people living with illnesses?
How do I get there?
Is there someone I can talk to about this?
Ready to rest deeply and reconnect with what helps you feel alive?
This is your invitation to step away from the noise, return to your body and experience five days of restoration, practice and connection.
Reserve My Place