Therapeutic retreats
Sometimes the greatest journeys in life begin not with a step… but with the decision to pause.
Today marked the beginning of our women’s retreat, “Self-Love.”For a while, we left behind our daily responsibilities, the constant rush, expectations, and endless to-do lists. Instead, we chose to simply be. With ourselves. With other women. With our own hearts.
Our first day was dedicated to creating a safe space—a place where there is no need to perform, prove anything, or strive to be the strongest, the smartest, or the most perfect. A place where we can gently lay down our everyday masks and simply be who we truly are.
Together with my colleague and co-facilitator, Karin Pohla from Estonia, we had the privilege of creating this space with care, compassion, and respect, allowing every woman to feel seen, heard, and accepted. Through psychodrama, symbols, meditation, and heartfelt conversations, we began a journey of deeper self-discovery.
On our first day, we built trust, explored our inner resources, and, through symbols and psychodrama, searched for what felt most important to each woman at this stage of her life.
There were moments of silence. There was laughter. There were tears.
But above all, there were genuine human connections.
But above all, there were genuine human connections.
Each woman arrived carrying her own story. Her joys. Her pain. Her hopes.
Yet today, we were united by one shared intention—to truly hear ourselves. Sometimes it takes just one question. Sometimes one courageous step onto the stage. Sometimes simply having someone beside you who sees you, hears you, and accepts you without judgment.
That is the power of psychodrama.
True transformation does not begin when we try to become someone else. It begins when we find the courage to meet ourselves.
I am deeply grateful to every woman for her trust, courage, and openness. Your stories remind us that the most meaningful transformations are born not in noise, but in the quiet encounter with one’s own heart.
This is only the beginning of our journey…
With love,
Rūta Janulevičienė & Karin Pohla
www.rutajanuleviciene.lt
Sometimes the greatest journeys in life begin not with a step… but with the decision to pause.
Today marked the beginning of our women’s retreat, “Self-Love.”For a while, we left behind our daily responsibilities, the constant rush, expectations, and endless to-do lists. Instead, we chose to simply be. With ourselves. With other women. With our own hearts.
Our first day was dedicated to creating a safe space—a place where there is no need to perform, prove anything, or strive to be the strongest, the smartest, or the most perfect. A place where we can gently lay down our everyday masks and simply be who we truly are.
Together with my colleague and co-facilitator, Karin Pohla from Estonia, we had the privilege of creating this space with care, compassion, and respect, allowing every woman to feel seen, heard, and accepted. Through psychodrama, symbols, meditation, and heartfelt conversations, we began a journey of deeper self-discovery.
On our first day, we built trust, explored our inner resources, and, through symbols and psychodrama, searched for what felt most important to each woman at this stage of her life.
There were moments of silence. There was laughter. There were tears.\
But above all, there were genuine human connections.
Each woman arrived carrying her own story. Her joys. Her pain. Her hopes.
Yet today, we were united by one shared intention—to truly hear ourselves. Sometimes it takes just one question. Sometimes one courageous step onto the stage. Sometimes simply having someone beside you who sees you, hears you, and accepts you without judgment.
That is the power of psychodrama.
True transformation does not begin when we try to become someone else. It begins when we find the courage to meet ourselves.
I am deeply grateful to every woman for her trust, courage, and openness. Your stories remind us that the most meaningful transformations are born not in noise, but in the quiet encounter with one’s own heart.
This is only the beginning of our journey… 💛
With love,
Rūta Janulevičienė & Karin Pohla 🌿
www.rutajanuleviciene.lt
#SelfLove #WomensRetreat #Psychodrama #SelfDiscovery #EmotionalWellbeing #InnerJourney #HealingJourney #RutaJanuleviciene #KarinPohla
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Y8BzvcS2Y/?mibextid=wwXIfr
🐺 Where a Legend Was Born…
Today I stood once again on Gediminas Hill—the place where, according to legend, Grand Duke Gediminas heard the howl of the Iron Wolf in his dream.
That howl was never about fear.
It was about the courage to create. About believing in the future. About a city that would become strong and whose name would be known throughout the world.
Sometimes I think that each of us carries an Iron Wolf within. That quiet inner voice that gently calls:
“Create. Grow. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.”
It isn’t always easy to hear that voice through the noise of everyday life. But when you pause, look out over the horizon, and simply allow yourself to be… it begins to speak again.
Today this place was even more meaningful because my colleague and dear friend Karin Pohla from Estonia arrived in Lithuania. Tomorrow we will begin leading our women’s retreat, “Self-Love,” together.
It feels symbolic that before beginning this journey, we met here—at the birthplace of the Iron Wolf legend. A place where the vision of a great city began, and where another journey now begins—for women choosing to return to themselves.
Tomorrow we will open a safe space to pause, listen to our inner voice, release what no longer serves us, and strengthen the relationship we have with ourselves. I truly believe that real transformation begins not when we try to become someone else, but when we dare to become fully ourselves.
Thank you, Vilnius, for a story that continues to inspire.
Sometimes, all it takes is one look across the rooftops of the Old Town to remember that great things begin with a single dream.
Tomorrow, that dream becomes a living experience.
💛 I can’t wait to begin this beautiful journey with all the wonderful women joining us.
#Vilnius #GediminasHill #IronWolf #SelfLove #WomensRetreat #Psychodrama #PersonalGrowth #KarinPohla #RutaJanuleviciene #Lithuania
https://www.facebook.com/share/1DNfWXMmGL/?mibextid=wwXIfr
The Second Day of the Women’s Retreat “Love Yourself” – From the Inner Leader to Meeting Your Archetypal Woman
This day was vibrant, heartfelt, and deeply authentic. In the morning, the process was led by Karin Pohla from Estonia. Through experiential exercises, the women explored their Inner Leader – their ability to make decisions, take responsibility, act with confidence, trust themselves, and remain true to their values.
In the afternoon, I continued the journey. We invited the women to look even deeper—not only at the role they choose in life, but at the woman who chooses that role. Through psychodrama, symbolism, embodied experience, and drawing, they encountered their own archetypal woman. Two women discovered the Lover within themselves, while one met the Wild Woman.
These were not simply drawings.
They were encounters with parts of themselves that may have been patiently waiting for years to be seen, heard, and embraced.
Later, through psychodrama, we explored the inner roles that support growth as well as those that hold us back. On the stage appeared not only inner strengths, but also doubts, fears, old beliefs, and long-held patterns. Step by step, the women learned what it truly means to choose themselves.
Between the intense therapeutic processes, there were also many simple, deeply human moments—a cup of tea, heartfelt conversations, warm embraces, shared laughter, and peaceful silence.
One of the participants, Ramunė, gave me a bouquet of wildflowers she had gathered herself. It was a deeply touching moment. Gifts like these remind us that sometimes the most meaningful feelings are expressed not through words, but through small, heartfelt gestures. 💐🌿💛
And in the evening, as if nature itself wished to join our journey, a butterfly gently landed on the flowers🦋 It became the quiet symbol of the day.
Every transformation begins with the courage to look within. Lasting change is born when we dare to embrace every part of ourselves—the strong, the vulnerable, and everything in between.
Thank you to every woman for your trust, your openness, and your courage. It was an honor to walk this part of your journey beside you♥️
With love,
Rūta Janulevičienė & Karin Pohla
www.rutajanuleviciene.lt
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17qFkBbwJQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
The Third Day of the Women’s Retreat “Self-Love” – Integration, Inner Strength, and a Promise to Yourself
The final day of our retreat was dedicated to weaving the entire weekend’s experience into one meaningful whole.
We began the morning by returning to the circle and engaging in sociometry. Through choice, body awareness, and positioning themselves in space, each woman was able to recognize the inner state she brought into the final day, what she still needed, and the direction she wished to take moving forward.After a guided meditation, we brought together everything that had been created throughout the three days:
• her heart,
• her tree,
• her roots and growth,
• and the archetypal woman she had encountered.
The heart spoke of feelings, needs, and authentic desires.
The tree represented what grounds us, nourishes us, and supports our growth.
The archetypal woman reflected the inner part of ourselves that longs not only to be seen in a drawing or briefly experienced during the retreat, but to truly live through our everyday choices.
Later, through symbolic work and psychodrama, the women explored their inner strengths, new possibilities, and what each of them needed most in order to return to everyday life without abandoning themselves.
They invited one another into auxiliary roles, entered into dialogue with different parts of themselves, received support, and experienced their strength not only as something to talk about, but something they could see, hear, and feel within their bodies. It was a deeply moving, tender, and vibrant process. A place where gentleness met strength.Where vulnerability met inner power. Where freedom met responsibility. Where the Lover met the Wild Woman. Where the courage to grow met the permission to remain true to oneself.
The women had the opportunity to see themselves from a new perspective and to hear words they may not have said to themselves for a very long time:
• “I can choose myself.”
• “I can be gentle and strong at the same time.”
• “I have the right to grow, to change, and to take my rightful place in my own life.”
Throughout the day we shared two guided meditations. They helped calm the body, integrate the experiences of the weekend, and strengthen a new relationship with oneself.
In one of these meditations, the women were invited to stop, even for a moment, taking the endless examination of life—to stop trying to prove that they were good enough, strong enough, beautiful enough, or worthy enough of love.
Instead, they allowed themselves to hear:
• “I am enough exactly as I am today.”
• “I can grow without rejecting myself.”
• “I choose myself.”
At the close of the retreat, each woman wrote a personal promise to herself—what she wished to leave behind, what she wanted to begin, and how she would return to herself in those moments when she might forget who she truly is.
One by one, each woman spoke aloud:
“I promise myself…”
And the group became the witness to her promise.
The symbolic chocolate messages became a warm and joyful closing touch—a gentle reminder of courage, friendship, smiles, and the embrace that each woman could carry home into her everyday life. 🍫💛
In our closing circle, we expressed gratitude to ourselves, to one another, and to the shared journey we had taken together. This retreat did not end with promises to become different women. It ended with something far more important: the choice to return to everyday life without leaving ourselves behind.
I am deeply grateful to every woman for her trust, openness, sensitivity, and courage to fully engage in this process.
A heartfelt thank you as well to Airina and her partner Jurga for the beautiful gift of Suduviai Region honey. 🍯💛
It was such a warm and meaningful gesture. For me, the honey became a beautiful symbol of this retreat—a reminder that genuine transformation matures slowly, and that whatever we create with care, patience, and love eventually becomes one of life’s sweetest gifts.
These three days have come to an end. But every woman’s journey with herself continues. Self-love is not one grand decision. It is countless small choices to return to yourself—again and again♥️
With love and gratitude,
Rūta Janulevičienė & Karin Pohla
www.rutajanuleviciene.lt
#SelfLove #WomensRetreat #Psychodrama #Sociometry #Archetypes #InnerStrength #SelfDiscovery #WomenSupportingWomen #Integration #Transformation #RutaJanuleviciene #KarinPohla
https://www.facebook.com/share/1GsRENPFtn/?mibextid=wwXIfr
