1-on-1
Personal Renaissance Retreat
A daylong 1-to-1 retreat — designed for you, informed by your priorities, worries, hopes, and history.
Hosted by Meriah Kruse, in the beautiful horse country of Central Kentucky.
This retreat exists for the woman who, despite having already lived a long and full Life, senses that somewhere inside her there’s still another chapter beckoning. She’s grateful for all the good that Life has brought her way and she’s proud of her accomplishments and contributions.
Still, she suspects that, underneath the roles she’s played, all the victories and losses, the years of often putting the needs of others first, second-guessing her desires, or molding her choices to please others — there’s a version of herself that is still waiting to be lived.
It’s designed for a woman who wants her next chapter to open a new territory. It’s for the woman who is curious about who she could become.
She’s asking: What is calling to me now? What haven’t I gotten around to yet that feels non-negotiable? What could happen if I follow that desire? Who would I have to become in order to do so?
Is a Personal Renaissance Retreat for You?
Yes
If you’re a woman 50-ish or over who has thought for some time that there’s a richer version of your life available — and you’re tired of waiting for it to appear on its own.
Yes
If you suspect it’s time for a personal reboot!
Yes
If you’re ready to inquire deeply, to remember and celebrate what’s relevant from your past, to take your own inner compass seriously in creating your future.
Yes
If you feel compelled to become the woman you know you’re capable of being in your next phase of life and would like some guidance and encouragement to power the process.
No
If you’re in acute crisis or want to dive deeply into your personal past traumas. A Personal Renaissance Retreat is not therapy – it’s a forward-moving, possibility-focused experience for women who are ready to get on with something fresh, satisfying.
The Central Experience:
Meeting the Woman You’re Becoming
When you join Meriah in your Personal Renaissance Retreat, you won’t just think about who you’re becoming. You’ll meet your Future Self. You’ll spend time with her. And you’ll leave knowing, in your body as well as your mind, much of what she knows.
This is a transformative experience, and your Personal Renaissance Retreat is the container designed to convey that experience.
Your Retreat Begins Days in Advance
Your retreat doesn’t start the day we meet. It starts the moment you say “Yes.”
One
Questionnaire
Once you’ve enrolled, you’ll receive the Sovereign Renaissance Woman Questionnaire –- a deeply clarifying self-exploration designed specifically for women in this stage of life. The questions are substantive and thought-provoking. Many women find the process of completing it transformative in itself — a rare invitation to sit with yourself and tell the truth about what you want, what you’ve outgrown, and what you may be moving toward or hoping for.
TWO
Advance conversation
Soon thereafter, we’ll have a Pre-Retreat Conversation –- either by phone or Zoom — unhurried, preparatory, and part of the process.
THREE
Retreat Day
The Full Day Retreat. By the time we come together, I’ll know you. You’ll know me. The work will already be underway. The ground will already be prepared. (see more details on the Retreat itself below).
FOUR
After-Retreat Conversation
A week or so after the retreat we’ll meet one more time by phone or Zoom. It’s a time for you to ask questions, share ah-hah’s, celebrate your victories, and discuss further steps.
If you’ve chosen the Personal Renaissance Retreat + Story Affirmation option, by now you will have received your Story Affirmation document via email — so if you have questions or wish to report results you’re experiencing, the Post-Retreat Conversation is a wonderful time to do so.
The RETREAT DAY Itself — A Guided Arc
While each Personal Renaissance Retreat is unique, most often we begin at 10 a.m. and conclude our time together around dinner. After dinner, you will have your hotel room or vacation rental to yourself for the night and your breakfast will be provided the following morning (for a total of three meals).
Here’s the itinerary and description for one example Retreat Day. Since each day is custom designed to match your needs and interests, the itineraries vary.
Getting Present in Body & Mind We begin by arriving fully — in the body, in the moment, in this particular stage of life. Through grounding practices designed specifically for the Sovereign Renaissance Woman, we set aside the noise of ordinary life and create the interior conditions that make everything that follows possible. This is not a warm-up. It’s essential.
LIFT UP the Goodness from Your Past. A guided visualization during which you recall some of the aspects of your earlier life that you’re most proud of, acknowledging how much good, how much love has come your way. Step into Gratitude.
Excavating Your Desires and Discontents From this empowered place, it’s time for asking future-oriented questions. What are you hungry for? What have you quietly outgrown? What’s the load-bearing desire — the one thing that, if it were real, would allow everything else in your life to reorganize around it? Some questions you’ll be asked to consider will follow up on your responses to the Sovereign Renaissance Woman’s Questionnaire. This is where women often discover that what they thought they wanted and what they actually want are not quite the same thing.
Choosing the Version of Yourself You’re Going to “Meet” Once we know what you’re moving toward, we identify her — one potential version of your future self. You’ll choose her deliberately, with intention. And then we’ll go…
Crossing the Invisible Bridge The central practice of Your Personal Renaissance Retreat — and the moment everything starts to shift. In a guided, deeply relaxed state, you’ll travel to meet her. You’ll observe her. You’ll learn from her. You’ll talk with her. What passes between you in that moment is something that no-one other than She — your Future Self — could possibly offer you.
Many women describe this experience as the most judgment-free encounter they’ve ever had — a meeting of complete understanding, spanning the distance between what is and what’s possible. You will likely come back changed. Something will have shifted.
Solo Reflection After Crossing the Invisible Bridge, you’ll have quiet time to yourself — to sit, or move, draw or write, to let what happened settle without rushing into language. This unhurried space is not filler. Integration begins here. This is the space where your genius just naturally throws out ideas you didn’t know you had in you. Meriah will leave you alone during this period so you can deeply connect to yourself.
Share and Go Deeper We’ll come back together and you’ll share what you found — as much or as little as you wish. I’ll listen actively and ask questions designed not to interpret your experience but to help you go further into it. To remember details you might have glossed over. To find the thread that’s worth pulling.
This is where what happened in the practice becomes something you can actually use.
Anchor Your Next Step Before we close, you’ll have something real to carry forward — not just inspiration, but something tangible you can commit to, anchoring your forward motion.
Lexington and Central Kentucky
One of the most beautiful areas in the Southeast, known for its rolling hills, propensity for making bourbon and raising champion race horses. Yet Lexington is much more. It’s an exciting and active Arts Town, with thousands of active visual and performing artists working here. It’s a university town, home to the University of Kentucky, Transylvania University and Bluegrass Community College. It’s a diverse city of circa 350,000, with every imaginable nationality and culture represented — over 185 different languages are spoken here. On the edge of the Appalachian Mountains, we are also heavily involved with Mountain culture. Only an hour from the Ohio River, Lexington is also influenced not only by that great waterway but also the northern states with which we share the border. Our welcoming, relaxed, and community-oriented atmosphere makes Lexington a gracious and friendly place to visit.
Your Investment
Option ONE
Your Personal Renaissance Retreat – $1297 $797
This is the crown jewel of our offerings — a hybrid of coaching and personal retreat — a full day devoted to your growth, development and progress, in an environment designed with your needs in mind.
For the next few months, I’m offering Your Personal Renaissance Retreat as a pilot program, at a reduced price. As the day is tailored to your needs, history, and priorities, you’ll also be on the ground floor, contributing to the formation of something that will benefit many other women in the future.
OPTION ONE Includes:
- Retreat Day: A day-long program designed just for you
- Sovereign Renaissance Woman Questionnaire
- Pre-retreat Conversation
- Post Retreat Conversation
- One night’s accommodations at a beautiful Lexington hotel or private property, with 3 meals provided
Option Two
Your Personal Renaissance Retreat + Your Story Affirmation – $1497 $997
Your Story Affirmation is something you can return to every morning for months to come, keeping your realizations alive long after your Personal Renaissance Retreat ends.
If you choose this option, I will compose a personal STORY AFFIRMATION in addition to providing your mini-retreat. You will receive a narrative written specifically from what you shared about your values and aspirations during the retreat and accompanying conversations.
There is normally a fee of $497 for the Story Affirmation alone. In this case, because Meriah will already learn so much about what’s important to you through the Personal Renaissance Retreat process, she’s able to offer it to you for a reduced fee, as a $200 add-on.
OPTION TWO Includes:
- EVERYTHING in Option One, Plus
- Your Personalized Story Affirmation, for your long-term use
A Word About This Retreat, and Next Steps
Your Personal Renaissance Retreat is complete in itself.
Whatever you find, whatever shifts, is real and yours.
There is no further obligation, there will be no pushy upsells, no pressure to do anything further.
That said — many women find that meeting this version of themselves makes them want to keep going. To spend real time moving forward toward your newly sparked aims and vision.
If that’s you, the 12-week Sovereign Renaissance Woman Program exists exactly for that. It’s a more developmental, more sustained journey — one that takes what your retreat reveals, continues building, actualizing your vision from there, and provides a guiding partner to accompany your journey.
We can talk about that after your retreat, if it feels relevant to you.
For now, the only question is whether you want to get started.
To schedule your retreat time:
Because it’s just you and I, we will schedule a time that works for both of us, whether that turns out to be a weekend day or a week day.
Please allow at least one month advance notice so we can secure reservations and assure adequate preparations to exceed your expectations.
We’ll meet in person, at a location within our beautiful Central Kentucky horse country at either a fine hotel or a special private property perfect for our needs.
Like all of our offerings, we begin with a conversation.