Healing Emotional Pain:
A 5-Day Emotional Healing Retreat
Transforming Grief, Anger, Fear,
and the "Old Story"
July 14–18, 2027
Western Massachusetts
Led by Jon Terrell, M.A. • Full tuition, including food and housing: $1,095 • See other retreat dates
The Healing Emotional Pain Retreat is a five-day emotional healing retreat in western Massachusetts for people carrying grief, anger, fear, or old patterns they can't seem to shake. It's an extended version of our signature Grief, Loss and Difficult Emotions Retreat. The extra time gives us a more relaxed pace and room to go deeper.
"My experience was amazing. I was surrounded by a loving, supportive community with total acceptance and authenticity. I came away with a ton of healing and a sense of freedom and emotional wellness that I still carry with me today out in the 'real world'." — Marissa L., Newton, MA
This Retreat Is for You If You Are:
- Feeling the pain of grief after a personal loss
- Overwhelmed by the death of someone close to you
- Going through a divorce, separation, or difficult transition
- Caught in complicated grief, where the pain doesn't seem to end
- Feeling anger, jealousy, resentment, guilt, or hurt
- Repeating old patterns in your relationships
- Living with depression, negativity, or a sense that life has passed you by
- Grieving the loss of a dream you had for yourself
- Trapped in anxiety, worry, or fear
- Feeling isolated, lonely, sad, or hopeless
- Carrying regret, embarrassment, or shame
This retreat can help you find a new vision for your life and serve as a springboard for new energy, purpose, and direction.
The Old Story
We all long to shine in our lives and express our true nature. We long to be fully alive and present. We want to love and be loved.
But too often we find ourselves tangled in conflicts and limitations, out of sync with our hopes and dreams. We repeat old patterns in new relationships, unconsciously recreating the very conditions we want to avoid. We lament the past and worry about the future. We're everywhere but here.
We're stuck in the same old story.
The New Story
It doesn't have to be that way.
At this retreat, we journey into the transforming power of a loving community. Using processes drawn from humanistic and transpersonal psychotherapy and diverse spiritual traditions, we learn to connect with fear, grief, anger, and other deeply held feelings, and work them through to the other side.
Something like alchemy happens. Lead becomes gold. We come back to our bodies in a new way and feel a fresh aliveness and spaciousness in our hearts. Our dark, stuck feelings turn out to carry gifts, treasures waiting to be discovered.
My Story
More than 28 years ago, I felt emotionally wounded and needed a retreat like this, but I didn't know where to find one or even how to look. I was stuck in my life, my work, and my marriage.
I just couldn't change my old story, despite years of psychotherapy and other work.
Then, with the help of a wise therapist, I began to explore deep emotional processes at different retreats, and my old story began to crumble. In its place came hope and a new sense of purpose.
I left my job as a training director at a health agency to focus on emotional healing. These retreats combine the best tools I've found. For 28 years, I've led small-group Healing Emotional Pain retreats that go beyond talking about issues to where we're actually stuck: the feelings in our bodies.
A Different Kind of Emotional Healing
Search online for "healing emotional pain," and you'll find many pages of mental tips: change your thoughts, challenge your judgments. The idea is that our emotions come from what we think. That can help, but working on feelings through thinking is slow and, for many people, almost impossible. And it often doesn't go nearly deep enough.
Our approach is different, more direct, and it works much faster. We focus on your feelings and help you feel them fully, in your body.
At this retreat, we create enough safety and support that you can experience your emotions and move through them. Emotions change when you let them express themselves. You feel better, freer, and more alive. You get relief.
Most of us can't do this alone. We need help. That's why we offer these retreats.
Why Other Methods Often Fall Short
- Talk therapy can help, but it can take years and often stops at mental insight.
- Positive thinking (affirmations, hypnotic suggestion) laid over old patterns usually has a temporary effect.
- Diet and exercise are good for us, but they don't reach undigested emotional pain.
- Meditation can help too, but only a few methods go deep enough to heal core wounding.
Healing Childhood Wounds and Old Patterns
Deep emotional work often reveals an emptiness, a hole in our sense of self. Many people spend their lives trying to fill it with relationships, alcohol and other drugs, or coping habits that don't really help.
That hole usually starts in childhood. To thrive, children need nurturing and protection. Many of us didn't get enough, or were hurt during the years our brains were building their sense of safety and connection.
That early wounding becomes a template for how we live and love. As Harville Hendrix and others have pointed out, we try to work through old hurts in our closest relationships, but often end up replaying the same patterns. Because this happens below awareness, we blame others, the world, or ourselves.
It's not too late to change the old story and learn to love and re-parent ourselves. It takes courage to feel the stuck feelings that hold the old patterns in place. That's what this retreat is for.
What Happens at the Healing Emotional Pain Retreat?
When we're caught in grief, anger, or anxiety, our brains try to manage the feelings by avoiding them. We push them down into our bodies and end up stuck in our heads. Or we feel like we're drowning in emotion and can't do anything.
It takes energy to hold feelings down, so we can end up exhausted, listless, even depressed. At the retreat, we reclaim that energy, and it becomes passion, vitality, and aliveness.
Creating a Safe Container
We begin by building safety, because safety helps the brain and body relax, the first step in working with feelings. We eat together, move together, and get to know each other through activities designed to help everyone connect easily.
Everyone agrees to stay for the whole retreat, to support each other with goodwill, and to keep strict confidentiality, so you can be fully yourself. Then each person shares their story and why they've come.
We also learn the framework of our approach:
- The Principles of Loving, which can guide us through our lives
- The Skills of Loving, practical ways to live those principles
The Deep Work Of Healing Emotional Pain
The heart of the retreat is the time each participant spends at the center of the circle with the facilitator. When it's your turn, you're helped to relax and breathe deeply into the feelings in your body, letting them surface and express themselves safely.
Held by a loving group, you let go into what's arising and work those feelings through to the other side. Healing Emotional pain is often a layered process: grief, fear, and anger are frequently intertwined. As one layer releases, you can feel and transform the next.
We go from pain to joy. Uncomfortable feelings, once expressed, move naturally toward healing, toward the source of all feeling, which is love.
Our brains like to know exactly what will happen ahead of time. But much of this work happens in the body, where we hold these feelings. As the body releases, we feel better, and the mind gradually understands what happened.
Integration
The final part of the retreat helps you bring your healing home. Each person begins a plan for their life that carries the lessons forward. We practice grounding skills, including caring for the retreat space that has served us so well.
What People Gain From This Emotional Healing Retreat
- Deep relief from the pain of grief
- Release from anger, guilt, and shame
- A deep sense of peace and gratitude
- Freedom from old patterns and a new story for your life
- Trust in yourself and your life's journey
- Inspiration, joy, and passion
- The ability to love again
- New friends
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the retreat religious? No. It's open to everyone who can benefit, regardless of their spiritual beliefs. People come from many religious and non-religious backgrounds.
How is this different from your Grief, Loss and Difficult Emotions Retreat? It's the same core work with an extra day, which allows a gentler pace and more time for each person. It also gives more attention to old patterns and childhood wounds. Our 4-day grief retreat is a good fit if it fits your schedule, loss is your main focus, or you have less time.
Do I need experience with therapy or emotional work? No. Many people come with none. The phone interview helps us both make sure the retreat is right for you.
Is it an emotional wellness retreat or a therapy retreat? It's a small-group emotional healing retreat, not a spa or a clinical program. We focus on feeling and releasing emotional pain in a safe, loving community.
Registration and Retreat Details
Dates: July 14–18, 2027. Starts Wednesday at 5 pm and ends Sunday around 1 pm. We begin once everyone has arrived, and everyone agrees to stay until the close.
Location: Star Dance Ranch, Jon's home in western Massachusetts: an old farmhouse with a beautiful new wing built for the retreats. We are about three hours from New York City, and two from Boston. About one hour from Bradley International Airport (BDL); we can help you arrange a van shuttle or Uber/Lyft.
Housing: Shared on-site rooms with some privacy for each person. If you snore or prefer your own space, motels are a few miles away at an extra cost.
Group size: Up to 12 participants, so everyone gets personal attention.
Cost: $1,095, including housing and all meals except the first night's potluck. A $350 deposit holds your space (Venmo, Zelle, or check preferred), and we'll add you to the list once we receive it. Pay the remaining balance in full at least 14 days before the retreat begins.
Space is limited, so we encourage early registration.
Refund policy: 60+ days before the retreat start date: 100% refund minus a $100 fee.
- 30 to 59 days before the retreat start date: 50% refund of the deposit.
- Less than 30 days before the retreat start date: Non-refundable.
Cancellation by Star Experience: If Star Experience cannot facilitate the retreat and has no alternative but to cancel, you will receive a full refund of all monies paid, including your deposit, unless a qualified replacement leader can be secured or an alternative date is offered and agreed upon. Please note that Star Experience is not responsible or liable for any additional fees paid to third parties, including travel, flights, or insurance companies.
Alcohol and drugs: This is an alcohol- and recreational-drug-free retreat.
Forms: You'll sign a liability release and other legal documents. We'll provide a link before the retreat so you can sign those forms electronically.
First Step: A Free Phone Conversation
Before registering, please set up a free 20–30-minute phone call with Jon so we can answer your questions about healing emotional pain and make sure the retreat is right for you. Send a message using the form below with your phone number and the best times to reach you. Longer consultations and counseling sessions are available at our regular rates.
About Jon Terrell, M.A.
Jon Terrell is a body-oriented therapist who has helped people heal grief, anger, and other difficult emotions for 28 years. He holds a master's in psychology and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy. Jon believes most of us carry old emotional wounds that, once healed, open us to the joy and light available in each moment. Read Jon's full bio.
Legal Documents for those who want to attend our retreats: Go Here
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Participant Comments
"It was a miracle. Thank you so much for having all of us into your home and creating such an amazing and healing experience. I went there with intentions for myself and didn't want to leave without healing in my heart and change in myself.
I don't know where to start with how life changing and powerful what you are doing is to me and everyone else. I know what I saw and witnessed in each person's journey there changed them. I saw a different face and hope and glow and love in every single person when we left. It was soooo beautiful!
I know I am changed and that I will never be the same. I found what I was needing in my heart and soul for so many years. I just couldn't do it all alone. I needed what I experienced there with everyone and I know I need to continue with this connectedness to keep elevating to where my soul and heart long to be.
My heart is still overflowing with love and warmth it's truly perfect.I can't wait to come back!!!"
Michele Smith, CT.
"That was the best weekend of my life!! I feel quite different; the "worthlessness" is gone and I'm seeing through new eyes, feeling through new emotions and my bod feels good! I'm keeping the flames burning here and at the same time relaxing into it.
Before I came I was truly depressed. The loss of my job and closing of my beloved business had me very worried. I had personalized those losses and began to think and feel myself as worthless and unable to work my way into another career. I just didn’t have the energy. My interactions with other people were dull and fruitless. I felt that I had nothing to bring to the table.
At the retreat an unwinding occurred and I found my Deep Self again. Because of the work we did I became very strong in myself and found that creative, joyful self. I wasn't afraid any more! It really was as though the sun came out and I was filled with joy. Life is richer.
Since my return home, I have kept that kernel of joy and found that I am much more capable in my life. I’ve had several job interviews and I continue happily searching for what I want to do next.
One of my very good friends remarked, “You’ve changed, you are like yourself, only more.” And that’s what it feels like to me also. I’m no longer stuck in discontent, but expanding from solid roots into this incredible life.
Thank you, thank you for your love and guidance, for fathering and holding me in that delicate place."
Michele Warren, Boulder, CO
"Jon created the most safe, sacred and powerful container which certainly enriched the weekend for me, along with the incredible encouragement from Jon and everyone. It made for a mind-altering and energy-moving experience, far exceeding my expectations! Under the grass there is GROUND and I will hold onto this how ever fast the earth spins! I am so grateful."
Scott Barber, VT