Belonging
Return to belonging through daily 5Rhythms® on sacred volcanic land
Join us at Lake Atitlán for a 6-day, 5-night 5Rhythms® immersion to come home to belonging, inside your body and your life.
October 20-25, 2026
Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
You already know the feeling.
Not broken. Not lost. Just somewhere between the person you were and the one you're becoming. Between the life you've left and the one that hasn't fully opened yet. You keep moving, keep showing up, keep doing all the right things. But underneath all of it, something quieter, something older. A question your body has been holding long before your mind found words for it:
Where do I actually belong?
Question arise not to answer about belonging to which city, in which chapter, in which version of your life. But to answer that you belong here, in this body, in this one wild, particular existence that is yours and no one else's.
That’s the reason for this retreat, a space to find the answer within you, not by thinking harder, but by moving deeper.
There are places on this earth that strip you down to what's real
Lake Atitlán is one of them.
The lake sits over five thousand feet above sea level in the Guatemalan highlands, ringed by three volcanoes: San Pedro, Tolimán, and Atitlán, that rise from the water like something ancient and deliberate. Its depths have never been fully measured. Scientists have tried. The lake keeps its secrets. The Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel Maya have lived on these shores for centuries, and they have always known what visitors eventually feel, that this is not just a beautiful place. It is a living one. A place where the boundary between the visible and the invisible is thin, where the ancestors are close, and where the land itself is a teacher.
To arrive at Atitlán is to be received. The water knows you're there. The volcanoes witness. The air; clean, high-altitude, carrying the scent of copal and lake mist, does something to the nervous system that no amount of urban wellness can replicate. People come here and find themselves saying things they didn't know they needed to say. Deciding things they didn't know they were ready to decide. Remembering things they thought they'd lost. Feeling what they have been craving for, an inner sense of belonging.
We chose October because October at the lake is its own revelation. The heavy rains of the wet season are releasing. The sky opens. The volcanoes, often hidden for months behind cloud and mist, reveal themselves in full, dramatic clarity. The light turns mellow and golden and stays that way into the evening. The lakeshore villages slow into harvest rhythm. The whole land is exhaling, letting go, making room.
It is the season of threshold. The perfect mirror for the inner work that is waiting.
What these six days hold
Each day, we dance.
5Rhythms is not a dance class. It's not choreography. It's not a performance. It's a map: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness, five elemental energies that move through every human body, every single day, whether we notice them or not. In this practice, we notice. We stop managing our inner weather and start moving it through. What releases when we do tends to be exactly what we've been carrying the longest.
You do not need dance experience. You need a body and a willingness to let it speak. Both of which you already have.
We'll open in a sacred cacao ceremony, cacao as it has been honored in this land for thousands of years, as a heart opener, a plant teacher, a way of arriving fully before the dance begins. Coffee, another ancestral gift of Guatemala, will be met in its traditional form too, not as a morning habit but as a ritual of awakening.
Between sessions, the lake holds you. Walk to the water in the early morning when the mist is still sitting on it. Watch the volcanoes appear through the clouds. Let the land work on you the way it has been working on people here for centuries.
Who is this for?
You’re craving a deeper sense of belonging, in your body, your life, and your choices
You’re in a transition (change, loss, reinvention, midlife threshold) and want to root into what’s next
You want daily 5Rhythms® as the main practice and you’re willing to move, sweat, feel, and be real
You’re drawn to Guatemala’s volcanic land + Lake Atitlán and want nature as part of the medicine
You value a container that is heart-centered, trauma-aware, and spiritually grounded (without being dogmatic)
You’re ready to come home to yourself and let the dance change something
This retreat is open to all, from seasoned dancers to those new to 5Rhythms but willing to explore movement as a gateway to transformation.
Who is this not for?
You’re looking for a relaxing vacation, sightseeing trip, or a retreat with only light movement
You don’t want a daily movement practice or you prefer a purely intellectual/process-only experience
You’re not willing to be in a group container (shared practices, honest presence, community)
You need a rigid schedule and don’t do well with a retreat pace that includes rest, depth, and integration
You’re currently in an acute crisis and need 1:1 clinical support as your primary container (this retreat is not therapy)
The Teachers
Vehllia Tranne & Alessandro Moruzzi are both Certified 5Rhythms® Teachers and the Founders of The City Waves 5Rhythms® San Francisco
Vehllia Tranne (Certified since 2013; Waves + Heartbeat, 5RTA Accredited) is the Founder of The City Waves™. Her teaching is elemental, intuitive, trauma-sensitive, and powerfully grounded, inviting real transformation without forcing.
Vehllia was born in Java, on the Ring of Fire, on volcanic land, into a lineage that has always understood the earth as a living teacher. She has been dancing before she could walk. She carries ancestral healing wisdom from both her maternal and paternal lineage, is initiated into the ancient divination of the Dagara tradition, Balinese ceremonial priestesshood, and has spent her life weaving Eastern and Western cultures, movement practices, and the kind of depth that only comes from a life fully, courageously lived.
She found 5Rhythms the way most of us find the things that transform us, not by searching, but by being found. That encounter rocked her world. It still does. For over a decade, she has built The City Waves, one of the most vibrant and heart-centered 5Rhythms communities in San Francisco, grounded in her fierce belief that movement is medicine and that belonging begins in the body. Her teaching carries volcanic power and extraordinary tenderness in equal measure. She will meet you exactly where you are, and she will not let you stay smaller than you actually are.
Alessandro Moruzzi (Certified since 2013; Waves + Heartbeat, 5RTA Accredited + Teacher to Teacher Mentor), Founder of The City Waves™, brings artistry, warmth, and precision, guiding dancers into a safe, playful, profound journey with sacred humor and deep heart.
Alessandro was born and raised in Italy, where he spent the first half of his life as a school teacher, musician, and theater performer before the road took him inward. He has lived and traveled through many parts of the world, always searching inside and out, before finding in 5Rhythms a home that moved with him. He is a Co-Founder of The City Waves, a certified Holistic Health Counselor, Breema Practitioner, and has been shaped by extraordinary teachers including Malidoma Somé and Gabrielle Roth herself.
Alessandro brings music, theater, shamanic experience, and a quality of sacred humor to everything he does. His presence on the floor is generous, playful, and deeply healing. He crafts journeys that are grounded and full of heart, the kind of space where you feel safe enough to go somewhere real.
Together, Vehllia and Alessandro have spent over a decade building something special in the San Francisco Bay Area, a community where people come to move and stay because they finally feel like they belong. Now they bring that same medicine to one of the most powerful landscapes on earth - Lake Atitlán.
Workshop Details
This retreat counts as 5-Day Waves towards the 5Rhythms® Teacher Training path
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Spaces are limited to ensure an intimate and supportive retreat experience.
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6 Days / 5 Nights • Lake Atitlán, Guatemala • 20-25 October 2026
A 5Rhythms® Immersion into BelongingYou already know the feeling.
Not broken. Not lost. Just somewhere between the person you were and the one you're becoming. Between the life you've left and the one that hasn't fully opened yet. You keep moving, keep showing up, keep doing all the right things. But underneath all of it, something quieter, something older. A question your body has been holding long before your mind found words for it: Where do I actually belong?
Question arise not to answer about belonging to which city, in which chapter, in which version of your life. But to answer that you belong here, in this body, in this one wild, particular existence that is yours and no one else's.
That’s the reason for this retreat, a space to find the answer within you, not by thinking harder, but by moving deeper.
There are places on this earth that strip you down to what's real
Lake Atitlán is one of them.
The lake sits over five thousand feet above sea level in the Guatemalan highlands, ringed by three volcanoes: San Pedro, Tolimán, and Atitlán, that rise from the water like something ancient and deliberate. Its depths have never been fully measured. Scientists have tried. The lake keeps its secrets. The Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel Maya have lived on these shores for centuries, and they have always known what visitors eventually feel, that this is not just a beautiful place. It is a living one. A place where the boundary between the visible and the invisible is thin, where the ancestors are close, and where the land itself is a teacher.
To arrive at Atitlán is to be received. The water knows you're there. The volcanoes witness. The air, clean, high-altitude, carrying the scent of copal and lake mist does something to the nervous system that no amount of urban wellness can replicate. People come here and find themselves saying things they didn't know they needed to say. Deciding things they didn't know they were ready to decide. Remembering things they thought they'd lost. Feeling what they have been craving for, an inner sense of belonging.
We chose October because October at the lake is its own revelation. The heavy rains of the wet season are releasing. The sky opens. The volcanoes, often hidden for months behind cloud and mist, reveal themselves in full, dramatic clarity. The light turns mellow and golden and stays that way into the evening. The lakeshore villages slow into harvest rhythm. The whole land is exhaling, letting go, making room.
It is the season of threshold. The perfect mirror for the inner work that is waiting.
The teachers who will hold you
Vehllia Tranne (Certified since 2013; Waves + Heartbeat, 5RTA Accredited) is the Founder of The City Waves™ San Francisco. Her teaching is elemental, intuitive, trauma-sensitive, and powerfully grounded, inviting real transformation without forcing.
Vehllia was born in Java, on the Ring of Fire, on volcanic land, into a lineage that has always understood the earth as a living teacher. She has been dancing before she could walk. She carries ancestral healing wisdom from both her maternal and paternal lineage, is initiated into the ancient divination of the Dagara tradition, Balinese ceremonial priestesshood, and has spent her life weaving Eastern and Western cultures, movement practices, and the kind of depth that only comes from a life fully, courageously lived.
She found 5Rhythms the way most of us find the things that transform us, not by searching, but by being found. That encounter rocked her world. It still does. For over a decade, she has built The City Waves, one of the most vibrant and heart-centered 5Rhythms communities in San Francisco, grounded in her fierce belief that movement is medicine and that belonging begins in the body. Her teaching carries volcanic power and extraordinary tenderness in equal measure. She will meet you exactly where you are, and she will not let you stay smaller than you actually are.
Alessandro Moruzzi (Certified since 2013; Waves + Heartbeat, 5RTA Accredited), Founder of The City Waves™, brings artistry, warmth, and precision, guiding dancers into a safe, playful, profound journey with sacred humor and deep heart.
Alessandro was born and raised in Italy, where he spent the first half of his life as a school teacher, musician, and theater performer before the road took him inward. He has lived and traveled through many parts of the world, always searching inside and out, before finding in 5Rhythms a home that moved with him. He is a Co-Founder of The City Waves, a certified Holistic Health Counselor, Breema Practitioner, and has been shaped by extraordinary teachers including Malidoma Somé and Gabrielle Roth herself.
Alessandro brings music, theater, shamanic experience, and a quality of sacred humor to everything he does. His presence on the floor is generous, playful, and deeply healing. He crafts journeys that are grounded and full of heart, the kind of space where you feel safe enough to go somewhere real.
Together, Vehllia and Alessandro have spent over a decade building something rare in the Bay Area, a community where people come to move and stay because they finally feel like they belong. Now they bring that same medicine to one of the most powerful landscapes on earth - Lake Atitlán.
What these six days hold
Each day, we dance.
5Rhythms is not a dance class. It's not choreography. It's not a performance. It's a map: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness, five elemental energies that move through every human body, every single day, whether we notice them or not. In this practice, we notice. We stop managing our inner weather and start moving it through. What releases when we do tends to be exactly what we've been carrying the longest.
You do not need dance experience. You need a body and a willingness to let it speak. Both of which you already have.
We'll open in sacred cacao ceremony, cacao as it has been honored in this land for thousands of years, as a heart opener, a plant teacher, a way of arriving fully before the dance begins. Coffee, another ancestral gift of Guatemala, will be met in its traditional form too, not as a morning habit but as a ritual of awakening.
Between sessions, the lake holds you. Walk to the water in the early morning when the mist is still sitting on it. Watch the volcanoes appear through the clouds. Let the land work on you the way it has been working on people here for centuries.
Who this is for
This retreat is for the 5Rhythms practitioner who wants more than a weekly class, more time, more depth, more of themselves.
It's for the person who has never danced 5Rhythms but felt something move in them when they heard about it. That feeling is an invitation. It's worth following.
It's for anyone standing at a threshold, a move, a loss, a transition, an identity you've outgrown, a longing you haven't yet been able to name. For the ones who are tired of managing life from the outside in and are ready to begin from the inside out.
Before you talk yourself out of it.
The world is in transition. You can feel it. Many of us are in personal transition too, shedding old skins, navigating unmapped territory, carrying questions we haven't known how to answer. There is no better time than this, and no better place than a lake the ancient Maya called sacred, surrounded by volcanoes, in the company of people who came for exactly the same reason you did.
Your body already knows whether this is for you. It knew before you finished reading this.
Trust that.
Spaces are limited.
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Transport & Group Arrival Plan (October 20–25, 2026)
To make your arrival easy, supported, and stress-free, we will arrange private group transportation for you, from Antigua to Casa Floresta, all included in your registration fee.
Because Casa Floresta is boat-access-only and has a firm arrival policy, this retreat requires a coordinated group arrival.
Casa Floresta check-in is 3:00–5:00pm
No arrivals are permitted after 5:00pm. To honor this, our group transfer will be planned to arrive comfortably within the 3:00–5:00pm window.
To be fully settled for dinner and our first night on the dance floor, everyone must arrive with the group during the check-in window.
The Plan (simple + clear)
1) Fly into Guatemala City (GUA)
All international travelers fly into Guatemala City (GUA)
2) Overnight in Guatemala City or Antigua (suggested) on Monday, Oct 19
To protect the group container (and to avoid the stress of flight delays), we are asking everyone to arrive in Guatemala and overnight in Guatemala City or Antigua on Monday, Oct 19. Antigua is our meeting point so we can travel together as one group.
3) Group transfer to Casa Floresta (Tuesday, Oct 20)
On Tuesday, Oct 20, we’ll depart Antigua at 12pm together by private shuttle to Panajachel, then take a private boat to Casa Floresta to arrive in time for check-in.
We will send:
the exact Antigua meeting location, and
the departure time for the group shuttle well in advance
Booking your flights (important)
Please book your travel so that you can be in Antigua by the evening of Monday, Oct 19.
This one choice makes everything smoother:
no rushing to make boats and check-in
no stress if flights are delayed
a calm arrival into the retreat energy
everyone arrives together and the container begins as one
Why we’re being firm about timing
Lake travel and boat access require coordination, and Casa Floresta’s 5:00pm cutoff is a real boundary. Arriving together means you’re held from the beginning, no navigating logistics alone, no missing dinner, no arriving late into the group field.
If you have special circumstances around travel timing, contact us before booking and we’ll support you in finding the best option.
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This is a residential retreat with accommodation, meals and workshop included. Please refer to ‘What’s Included’ and ‘What’s Not Included’ list for more details.
In general, pricing differs by the type of accommodation you prefer. We support all budget levels.
Choose the accommodation that best suits your comfort and budget.
(A deposit is required to secure your spot. Payment plans available upon request.)
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Please note, this is a general schedule and it is subject to change
Day 1 - Tuesday, October 20
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Check-in / Arrivals
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM: Dinner
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM: Open DanceDay 2 - Wednesday, October 21
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM: Morning Yoga
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Morning Session (5Rhythms®)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Afternoon Session (5Rhythms®)
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM: Dinner
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM: Cacao CeremonyDay 3 - Thursday, October 22
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM: Morning Yoga
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Morning Session (5Rhythms®)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Lakeside sauna / Rest / Integration
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM: Dinner
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM: Ancestral Prayer /Silent MeditationDay 4 - Friday, October 23
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM: Morning Yoga
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Morning Session (5Rhythms®)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Traditional Mayan Plant Bath
4:30 PM - 5:30 PM: Fire Circle
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM: Dinner
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM: Offering RitualDay 5 - Saturday, October 24
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM: Morning Yoga
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Morning Session (5Rhythms®)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch
2:30 PM - 5:30 PM: Traditional Mayan Fire Ceremony
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM: Dinner
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM: Full Moon CeremonyDay 6 - Sunday, October 25
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM: Morning Yoga
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Breakfast
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Closing Circle
11:00 AM: Check-out -
This retreat is an all-inclusive experience, carefully designed to nourish your body, heart, soul and spirit.
What’s Included
6 days / 5 nights retreat experience in Guatemala
Accommodation during the retreat at Casa Floresta, Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
Daily 5Rhythms® movement sessions (your main practice) guided by Vehllia Tranne + Alessandro Moruzzi
Daily yoga guided by Karen Campo
Opening + closing circles and guided group process for integration
Cacao ceremony
Elemental ritual with the land (lake water, volcanic stone, firelight, breath, sound, silence)
Traditional Mayan fire ceremony
Traditional plant bath ritual
Daily meals: [breakfast + lunch + dinner] (plus water, tea, coffee, snacks
On-site retreat amenities: [traditional sauna, garden spaces, lake access, amazing views of the volcanoes]
Retreat support: facilitation, space-holding, and on-site coordination throughout the week
Private group transportation from Antigua to Casa Floresta at specific timing
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While most aspects of the retreat are covered, some personal expenses are not included.
What’s Not Included
International airfare to/from Guatemala. Closest airport: La Aurora International Airport (GUA)
Ground transportation to/from Casa Floresta (airport transfers, shuttles, taxis) unless explicitly stated
Travel insurance (highly recommended)
Passport/visa fees (if applicable)
Optional add-ons such as private sessions, bodywork, extra ceremonies, excursions, spa services, or additional nights
Additional Private Sessions – If you wish to book a one-on-one movement, coaching, or bodywork session, this will be at an additional cost.
Personal expenses (laundry, souvenirs, extra snacks/drinks outside what’s provided)
Tips/gratuities for local staff and drivers
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Deposit of USD 500 to hold your registration is not refundable.
If regular registration participants must cancel before 20 July, they will receive a full refund minus a 50% processing fee.
If regular registration participants must cancel by 20 September, their refund will be subject to participant replacement. If a replacement is registered, participants will receive a full refund minus a 50% processing fee.
For cancellation after 21 September, no refund will be issued. If a participant does not show up for the retreat without communicating, their registration payment will not be refunded.
In individual cases 30% of the full amount could be reasonably credited towards future events.
The City Waves reserves the right to cancel any retreat/workshop in the event of insufficient registration or other unforeseen circumstances, in which case, the full amount paid to register for a retreat/workshop will be refunded to the registrants. In the event of cancellation, an attempt will be made to notify registrants no later than 10 calendar days before the start of the retreat/workshop. All other expenses incurred including but not limited to flights and accommodation arranged for the purpose of attending a retreat/workshop will not be covered.
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None