Dragonfly Retreat
8-day, 7-night Retreat
From Darkness into Light
9th – 16th May 2026
The Dragonfly Retreat is our most sacred offering — a deeply immersive journey co-created by Sen Wellness Sanctuary and leading researchers and space holders from Humboldt University. This is an experience for those walking the sacred path — a journey that mirrors the metamorphosis of the dragonfly from darkness into light.
Led by an international team of renowned practitioners and researchers, this 8-day retreat weaves the precision of science with the wisdom of the ancients. Guided by ancient technologies – breathwork, meditation, chanting, movement, osteopathy, acupuncture, Ayurveda, yoga, and cacao – you’ll return to the deep waters of your inner world through discussion-based workshops and experiential ceremonies that explore altered states of consciousness.
You’ll be supported before and after with preparation, integration, and wellbeing assessments, including an evaluation of psychological wellbeing to ground your transformation in tangible shifts. You’ll leave with practical tools, inner anchoring, and a community to walk beside you on your path forward.
This is a selective, invitation-only retreat. If your heart feels the call, we invite you to reach out.
The dragonfly begins its journey as a water-dwelling nymph, spending the first few years of its life at the bottom of a pond. The underwater world is all it knows until one day, it follows the light and emerges from the water to undergo its final moult; its skin splits open, the thorax pushes out, and the wings unfurl. It is reborn into a foreign landscape, unlearning everything it knows to become a creature of the air.
Day 1. Enter the Sacred Womb
Day 2. The Breath of Life
Day 3. Find the Divine Form
Day 4. Unlearn
Day 5. Open the Heart
Day 6. Reunite
Day 7. Emerge into the Light
Day 8. Closing the Sacred Container
The Gifts
Personal Journey
- Pre-retreat 30-day prescription of mantras, chanting and meditation
- 7-day Ayurvedic treatment programme including consultation with the doctor and three-daily treatments (120 minutes in total)
- Ayurvedic herbal medicine to support your retreat
- 1 x one-to-one cranial osteopathy and energy medicine session with Sam Kankanamge, followed by personal check-in
- 1 x one-to-one breathwork session
- Pre and post-retreat surveys to evaluate psychological wellbeing
- Post-retreat one-to-one online consultation with Sam Kankanamge
Collective Journey
- Daily morning sadhana integrating chanting, meditation and breathwork, and witnessing the light emerge at dawn
- Daily morning yoga and meditation session
- Opening ceremony to set the intention of the retreat
- Sacred 5-hour heart opening ceremony with cacao medicine, conscious breathwork, chanting and meditation
- Experiential and discussion-based workshops
- Conscious connected breathwork sessions
- Sacred movement sessions
- Closing ceremony for integration and reflection
Our Guides
Sam Kankanamge BSc (Hons) Osteo, DPO, Dip.Acu is a world-renowned healthcare professional and leader in the international wellness movement. With over 25 years of experience transforming patients’ health, he has been called ‘the best back specialist in the country (UK)’ by The Times (2014).
Christine Heim is Professor and Director of the Institute of Medical Psychology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, a principal investigator in the German Research Foundation Excellence Cluster NeuroCure, and a principal investigator in the German Center for Mental Health.
A dedicated Buddhist monk with over two decades of practice and a certified Level 2 Kundalini yoga instructor, Nimal has been a guiding presence at the Sanctuary. He facilitates weekly meditation sessions that integrate elements of gong healing, breathwork and Buddhist insights to create an enriching experience.
Barbara Breitenstein is a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a licensed psychological psychotherapist (CBT). Her current work investigates the biopsychological foundations of mental disorders and treatment mechanisms, with a focus on altered states of consciousness.
