New
Summer Immersion Series
Join us in Baja this summer for a restorative immersion in creativity, wellness, and local culture
June 29 - September 28
Stay as few as 3 nights or as long as you want
As seen in:
For many locals in Baja, summer is our favorite season.
It rains more often (which is still very infrequently), so everything is greener and more vibrant. The water is warm and calmer – perfect for swimming. The sun shines with tension-melting warmth and everything feels more unhurried and intentional.
That’s what makes summer the perfect season to join us at our Baja retreat center for a well-deserved restorative getaway – and unplug from the frenetic pace of daily life in a creative sanctuary designed to feed your body, mind, and soul.
Write that book or memoir… boost your Spanish skills… tune into your body… and recharge your batteries while we take care of all the meals, activities, and excursion planning.
This is your opportunity to take a purposeful pause and rest, reconnect, and reinvigorate yourself while cultivating life-enriching skills that open new pathways for personal growth and expand your ability to thrive.
Come for a quick weekend reset or treat our world-class retreat center as your personal sanctuary for weeks or longer. Nuestra casa es tu casa! We would love to be your sun-drenched summer haven and give you the space to breathe deeply and savor the beauty of life as you unleash your creativity and reconnect with the things that make you feel truly alive.
Three Immersion pathways to choose from. Join one or all, or do your own thing.
1
Take a writing sabbatical
Find the dedicated writing time and seclusion you seek to complete that first or second draft or make significant progress on that big project you have long dreamed of writing.
There will be plenty of opportunities for you to gather with your writing peers to immerse yourself in rich discussion and bounce around ideas as well as get valuable feedback that sparks fresh inspiration during our communal meals and gatherings. And if you join us in August, you'll get to participate in creavity-sparking writing classes run by talented instructors who will help you unlock the words inside you and get your ideas onto the page. (More on that below.)
Whether you dream of writing your memoir, a novel, non-fiction book, screenplay, or other writing project, you’ll find the focus, clarity, insight, and inspiration you need to take huge strides toward getting your work out into the world.
2
Brush up on your Spanish
Hone your ability to “habla español” in fun and engaging classes with local teachers who will tailor their lessons to your needs, interests, and level of proficiency.
These lessons may include excursions to local shops and other venues to help you soak up the culture and practice your Spanish in real-world environments.
3
Boost your energy & vitality
What makes you feel truly alive? Here's your chance to explore more deeply the practices that enrich your mind, body, and spirit and empower you to cultivate greater vibrancy and fortitude in all areas of your life.
If you've ever attended one of our MEA workshops or online programs, you’ll know that your overall wellness depends on far more than just nutrition and exercise. A truly healthy lifestyle requires meaningful social relationships, pastimes that spark your interest and stimulate creativity, and experiences that cultivate a sense of feeling connected to something larger than yourself.
During our holistic wellness and vitality sessions, you will gain valuable clarity into your own personal “wellness gaps” and where you need to focus your attention and efforts to boost your health and energy and thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
And if you join us anytime between July 20 - August 2, you'll get the chance to work with a true Pilates and body movement master to learn how to improve your life through better movement. (More on that below.)
And of course, every day you will be treated to three nutritious and delicious from-scratch meals featuring locally sourced ingredients lovingly prepared by Chef Tony and the team. You will feel sated and energized from the inside out.
In addition to enjoying any or all of the above immersion pathways, each week you will also be invited to participate in:
Plenty of opportunities for gathering & connection every day
Structured conversations based on MEA curriculum
Mindfulness and movement sessions that bring clarity and insight
Creativity-sparking art sessions that inspire and delight
Opportunities for adventure tailored to your interests
Delicious communal meals with your fellow participants
You can participate in as many or as few activities as you’d like. This is your sanctuary and refuge and you can design your experience however you want. Get up early, sleep in late, dive into every opportunity or focus only on the sessions that interest you most.
The only activities we encourage you to attend are breakfast, lunch, and dinner so you can enjoy Chef Tony’s deliciousness in the company of other amazing humans and engage in soul-enriching conversations that inspire and fulfill you.
Weekly Sample Agenda
Sunday
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Monday
Breakfast
MEA Structured Conversation
Lunch
Writing Session
Gentle Yoga
Dinner
Tuesday
Breakfast
Spanish
Lunch
Wellness/Vitality
Restorative Sound Bath
Dinner
Wednesday
Breakfast
MEA Structured Conversation
Lunch
Art & Creativity
Gentle Yoga
Dinner
Thursday
Breakfast
Spanish
Lunch
Wellness/Vitality
Dinner
Friday
Breakfast
Writing Session
Lunch
Art & Creativity
Gentle Yoga
Dinner
Saturday
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
* Note: optional excursions that may require additional payment may also be available, such as: boating, surfing, horseback riding, hiking to a local waterfall.
What our past guests have to say
MEA Refresh was not what I expected but exactly what I needed. Each day brought a new surprise and challenged me to go outside of my comfort zone. The caliber of the people I met opened discussions that enriched my life. All of it was magical.
- Susan Chritton
It's the most beautiful campus. From oceanside yoga to fresh smoothies. I felt at home with all my needs met and like a tourist with new discoveries every day. Makes me want to visit regularly, or to live there.
- Ellen Kiss
July 20-August 2, 2025 Health & Vitality Focus
Improve your life through
better movement with renowned Pilates instructor, Tom McCook
How we move our bodies through space and time plays a huge role in how healthy and strong we feel as we age.
Decades of improper movement and posture can cause wear and tear on your joints, bones, and muscles that can lead to chronic pain and disease that negatively impacts your quality of life.
The good news is, it doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to learn how to move your body in a way that keeps you healthy, strong, and flexible for years to come.
You don’t need to go to the gym and exhaust yourself with brutal workouts that leave your muscles aching and sore for days.
You simply need to learn how to move more mindfully and efficiently and your body will take care of the rest.
And if you join us anytime between July 20-Aug 2, 2025, you will get the chance to participate in twice-weekly classes with Center of Balance founder and internationally-recognized Pilates Educator and movement specialist, Tom McCook.Meet Your Instructor
Tom McCook
Tom McCook has spent 40 years designing health and life performance programs for a range of clients, from Silicon Valley executives and Olympic athletes, to active seniors and people looking for solutions to their imbalances and injuries.
His mission is to improve people’s lives through movement. He teaches a practical and accessible way to understand your own body and then apply it to your movement practice. These skills go beyond exercise to cultivate health, body wisdom, and being responsive and resilient in life.
Tom’s unique teaching approach synthesizes over 35 years of fitness training, Pilates, body therapy, Somatic Coaching, the Franklin Method, Anatomy in Motion and meditation. He is on the faculty of Balanced Body for Pilates, CoreAlign and the Bodhi Suspension System. Tom is also a sought-after international presenter and mentor.
August 2025 Writing Focus
Discover the Beauty of Your Natural Voice with Wild Writing
What if your natural voice – the voice you use when you’re relaxed and sounding most like yourself – is all you need to create deeply thoughtful pieces of writing?
What if what we call "good writing" isn’t flashy or clever, but honest, full of vulnerability and truth?
Join us anytime August 1-31, 2025 and you'll get the opportunity to participate in twice-weekly classes designed to unlock your natural writing voice with seasoned writing instructors who are excited to add more ease, authenticity, and joy to your writing.
Wild Writing is a timed writing practice where we write as fast as we can, pen never leaving the page. We write quickly to bypass our cleverness, our intelligence, and whoever we think we need to be on the page to sound worthy. By writing quickly, we don’t have time to find the right word or make the piece perfect. Instead, we tunnel straight into the rich landscape of the creative unconscious, the intuition and the instinct where all the messy, unpolished, jewels live. There’s deep wisdom in the cracks of our lives, and this practice gently helps us move past perfectionism and writer’s block so we can find it.
Wild Writing isn’t about mastering writing, it’s about mastering the art of showing up for yourself—your voice, your story, your truth. Laurie Wagner and Mollie McNeil invite you to step into a new chapter of life—one where your inner voice leads the way.
Meet Your Instructors
Laurie Wagner
Laurie Wagner has been publishing books and essays and teaching writing for the last 25 years. She is a process guru and has a genius for holding space, helping people unzip what’s inside of them and get ink on the page.
A creative brain-stormer, Laurie specializes in out-of-the box ways to tell your stories. Her Wild Writing classes are the cornerstone of her work. She travels and runs workshops internationally, and also hosts The Wild Family, a large group of writers from around the world who write together weekly.
She is the author of Living Happily Ever After: Couples Talk about Long Term Love, and Expectations: 30 Women Talk about Becoming a Mother.
Mollie McNeil
Mollie McNeil has taught writing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Mills College, and De Anza College. Currently, she leads workshops at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur and classes for 27 Powers, in addition to private workshops online and in person in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Mollie also writes fiction and her short stories have been published in Blue Lake Review, Crack the Spine, Diverse Voices Quarterly, The Diverse Arts Project, Hawaii Pacific Review, Jet Fuel Review, and Ragazine. She is currently finishing up a coming-of-age novel set in Northern California at the turn-of-the 20th century.
Enjoy Our World- Class Amenities While Enriching Your Mind & Body
Upscale Rooms
Our 26 upscale rooms offer comfy beds with down alternative pillows, crisp white linens, and Mexican towels and robes.
We have four room categories: Ultra Premium, Premium, Deluxe and Cozy rooms, each with their own charm.
Click here to see the details and pictures of rooms that are available during your desired dates.
All-Inclusive Scratch-Cooked Meals
Three meals a day, plus snacks and drinks are included with your room for the entirety of your stay.
Dine in our open, oceanside dining room with endless views as you indulge in Chef Tony’s meals, made with locally sourced ingredients from our organic produce garden located on campus. We happily accommodate a wide range of dietary needs.
Enjoy our homemade iced teas, refreshing popsicles, and margaritas (if you choose).
All-Inclusive Use of Amenities
Replenish Your Mind, Body & Soul
Take full advantage of our facilities and the surrounding environment to reconnect with your body, soothe your frazzled nervous system, and cultivate greater presence in the moment. Activities you may have the opportunity to participate in include:
Mind & Body Wake-Up
Start or end your day on our beach platform overlooking the ocean where you can do some stretching, follow your own yoga or mindfulness practice, or simply sit and listen to the waves as a way to center yourself, quiet your active mind, and slow time as you become more fully present in the moment.
Restorative Sound Bath
Enjoy a beautifully candlelit experience in our yoga studio, where Teddi Dean will blend crystal and Tibetan bowls with music and mindfulness cues to gently guide you back to your body and rebalance your nervous system. You’ll feel as refreshed as if you’ve just had a six-hour nap.
Surf Lessons
Embrace the opportunity of a lifetime and take a surf lesson with one of the best surf schools around. These world-class instructors will walk you through the techniques of how to surf and guide you into your first small wave to experience the “stoke and awe” that only surfing can provide. Note: this activity involves additional cost.
Cliff & Tide Pool Hike
Explore the beautiful Baja landscape just down the road from the MEA campus. You can hike along scenic bluffs, where you can often see whales along with other sea life, then make our way down to a beach where you can explore tide pools and watch the waves crash upon the rocks.
Unleash Your Creativity in Art Classes
Whether you're an experienced artist or a beginner, our guest instructors will help you unlock your creativity through play and inspiration. Let go of "I'm not an artist" or "I'm not creative" and embrace your inherent creativity!
Stay for as few as 3 nights – or as long as you want
We’re happy for you to join us for a quick getaway or an extended sabbatical to help you hone your language skills, finish that writing project, or simply take a sustained sojourn that allows you to deeply unplug from the frenetic pace of regular life and reconnect with the things that matter most.
Shared Room
Nightly Rates starting at
or
Private Room
Nightly Rates starting at
$250/night
per person
based on double occupancy
$325/night
Book 2 weeks,
get 2 weeks free!
Stay for up to 28 days for $3150 (shared room) or $4200 (private room)
All food, snacks, and amenities included with your stay.
If you’re looking for a month-long hideaway to write that book, immerse yourself in Spanish, boost your vitality and wellbeing, or simply rest and rejuvenate, we’ve got you covered!
(For stays longer than two weeks, please contact our Baja team directly for reservation assistance: +1-505-303-0182)
What’s included with your stay
June 29 - September 28
Stay as few as 3 nights or as long as you want