Maya Ward

A sensual homecoming with the body, the Earth, and the wild intelligence of your creative soul

Earth Eros is a deeply embodied retreat for women; a weave of creativity, sensuality, and connection. Rooted in reverence for Gaia and the living intelligence of our bodies, this retreat invites you to explore the delicious terrain of being fully here—powerfully alive and exquisitely receptive.

We will enter into a co-creative dialogue with the Earth—listening, feeling, and responding to her guidance through our bodies. This will be time to dance, to feel, to rest, to sing, to be witnessed, and to rediscover the pleasure of simply being a body—held by the land and nourished by sisterhood.

Together we will create ritual spaces of reverence and deep presence. An intimate group will gather to share, witness, and cultivate authentic connection. We will:

• Free the voice, the pen and the body through profoundly connective processes
• Enter spaces of stillness, reflection, and slow living
• Vision quest and listen deeply for inner guidance
• Create medicine with plants while learning to connect with their wisdom
• Weave baskets with our hands and intentions
• Commune with the land in reverence and gratitude

This rich array of interconnected practices will expand our sensory capacity and open to the subtle currents of eros that pulse through all life. These modalities gently open body, heart, and mind—inviting pleasure, creativity, reverence, joy, and profound connection with each other and with the Earth.

Earth Eros is an invitation into sacred partnership with our planet as an erotic, intelligent force. You will leave nourished, awakened, and wildly reconnected—with yourself, with each other, and with Gaia.

More on the practices

Contact Improvisation is a playful and creative movement practice that involves safe, consensual contact, including rolling, leaning, supporting and being supported by another body. You’ll learn how to safely give and receive the comfort and nourishment of weight, and flow into a dance where both of you are leading and following simultaneously. Profoundly pleasurable, simple yet profound, it creates a delicious state of flow and hones the skills of listening and presence.

Details for the weekend

Food - Nourishing meals and snacks will be provided all weekend, we will cook together and gather to share our meals. Food brings people together and this retreat is all about connection with what the earth provides us to nourish and fuel the aliveness in our bodies. Please let us know if you have dietary requirements and we will ensure we meet what you need.

Investment - Early bird $690 camping $780 bed indoors ( only 7 spots available for indoors) until 31st of March

Please reach out if you would like to set up a payment plan

Arrive from 4pm Friday and set up tents etc. and settle in and we will finish around midday on Monday.

Get to know your Facilitators

Maya Ward embodies deep presence and a passionate love of the timeless mysteries of Gaia. She is a skilled and beloved workshop facilitator, where she bring through the fruits of her thirty year artistic practice that includes writing, dancing, designing, and photography. All her work is an exploration of the ever-deepening intimacy and belonging that unfurls through the receptive body and listening heart. 

Maya has many years of teaching her co-becoming writing processes around Australia and internationally via zoom. Her work is infused with her decades of training and practice in various somatic modalities, including contact improvisation and ecstatic dance, body mind centering, process-oriented psychology, zen meditation, yoga and qi gung.

She has a PhD in Creative Writing exploring somatic and shamanistic metaphysics, based on ancient European and indigenous traditions. Her memoir The Comfort of Water: A River Pilgrimage, described her walk from the sea to the source of Birrarung, the Yarra River, following the length of an ancient Wurundjeri Songline. With a background in architecture, permaculture, community arts and environmental activism, she now lives in the mountain village of Warburton where she co-creates pilgrimage-based ritual and makes gardens with her community. For more information about Maya’s work, go to www.mayaward.com.au

Tammy Russell is a passionate guide for women returning to their wild, natural selves. Rooted in the belief that we are nature, Tammy invites a deep reconnection with the living world — not just as something outside of us, but as a mirror constantly showing us how to be. She offers tools, spaces, and practices that help women reclaim their innate rhythms, intuition, and belonging.

With a fierce love for sensuality and erotic embodiment, Tammy supports others in awakening their erotic life force — the potent, creative energy of Eros. She knows that when we tap into this aliveness, it transforms how we move through the world: with more vibrancy, truth, and pleasure. Her work is an invitation to remember, reclaim, and rewild the body — coming home to your natural state, fully alive and authentically you. www.unlockedwoman.com.au 

Cassie Hower Founder of Plants + Passion. I have a deep passion for the natural world and being in loving connection with Mother Earth. Firstly, I’m an Earth Medicine Practitioner as I keep the earth and plant world at the forefront of my mind when working with clients. I’m also a Clinical Herbalist, Flower Essence Practitioner and Plant Medicine Maker. https://plantsandpassion.com

I want to express what a profound gift it has been to journey with you and our beloved group under your wise guidance. Thank you from the full width and depth of my heart! What a gorgeous process of inner and relational discovery, revelation, communion, magic, homecoming. - Alia