Founders of SABA Retreats
SABA Retreats was founded by Julie and Lorna, united by a shared understanding: true healing doesn’t come from doing more — it comes from feeling safe enough to slow down.
Both of us arrived at this work through lived experience as much as formal training. Years spent navigating high-pressure environments, personal transitions, and moments of profound change showed us that sustainable transformation begins with nervous system regulation, presence, and genuine support.
SABA was created to offer something different from many traditional retreat spaces.
Rather than pressure to transform or constant structured activity, our retreats are intentionally spacious, allowing participants to slow down, reconnect, and simply arrive as they are.
Every detail — from location and pacing to facilitation and cultural integration — is chosen with care so that each retreat feels supportive, grounding, and deeply restorative.
Lorna brings a nervous-system-led, trauma-aware approach shaped by years in corporate leadership alongside her work in breathwork, sound healing, and conscious coaching. Her facilitation is grounded in steadiness, compassion, and deep respect for the body’s own wisdom and timing.
Based in Zanzibar, Julie brings deep local knowledge, trusted partnerships, and a background in entrepreneurship and international event management. Having lived and worked across multiple countries — including many years in Africa — she creates refined retreat experiences that honour place, culture, and flow.
SABA Retreats are designed for women in transition — those navigating shifts in career, relationships, identity, health, menopause, or life direction.
You may feel drawn to SABA if you:
• Feel overwhelmed, depleted, or disconnected
• Are moving through change and seeking clarity or steadiness
• Long for rest that goes deeper than a holiday
• Value emotional safety over intensity
• Prefer intimate groups and meaningful connection
• Are open to breathwork, sound healing, and embodied practices
• Want space to simply be — without needing to fix or perform
SABA is for women ready to listen inward, at their own pace.
Our retreats are intentionally slow, spacious, and softly held. They may not be aligned if you:
• Prefer high-intensity or physically demanding experiences
• Expect tightly packed schedules or dramatic “breakthrough” formats
• Thrive in large-group environments
• Seek a party-style or purely fitness-focused retreat
Alignment matters. We honour that different paths suit different seasons of life.
Our Approach & Standards
At SABA, we prioritise:
Trauma-aware facilitation
Small-group integrity
Cultural respect and local collaboration
Nervous-system-led pacing
Thoughtful curation over excess
Intimate, small-group experiences weaving breath, sound, movement, and reflection — designed to restore clarity and inner balance.
Private, nervous-system-led sessions supporting women through life transitions with steadiness, compassion, and grounded guidance.