The Sound of You – a Singer/Songwriter’s Retreat

Sara is an example of “you don’t need to read sheet music to be a musician.” Sara’s ambition, besides making music, is showing the way to joy and finding the true reason for creating music. If this is your first step as a songwriter, or if you have lost your motivation, or just for the benefit of your own wellbeing, she’ll meet you where you are.

Sara dares to listen to her inner voice, allowing it to be expressed through her singing and songwriting. And she invites you to do so too.

“My musical journey began with a love for singing at four years old. Writing came later on during my teenage years. Songwriting became my escape and my outlet for creativity during some tough times my family went through. It was a closely guarded secret and became a parallel world I lived in, different to the darker real world I was escaping from.

As an adult, I took it upon myself to attend Kulturama and the singer-songwriter program to expand my musical world. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Eva Hillered was my teacher and, since then, a mentor and friend whom I still learn very much from. Through various songwriting retreats around the world, I built a ‘music family’—people I wrote songs with, laughed with, and cried with.

Then life evolved, and I moved to England, started a family, and put music on hold to focus on family life. Picking up my guitar felt like another life, but as I approached 40, I could no longer ignore the fact that music was a huge part of who I was—something I simply couldn’t switch off. Music is a passion; its absence left a void and a sense of loss in my life. After a 10-year break, I found my way back to it.

This time round, I am much more aware. I realized I had accumulated countless limiting beliefs and ‘truths’ I needed to confront. Some were inherited; others were deeper—things I’d been told and had started to believe. They were all negative and stifling. Now they echoed in my mind, trying to hold me back once again.

This time, I was better equipped to challenge the negative thoughts and focus on where I wanted to go. Those limiting beliefs no longer fit into the picture of the life I wanted to live. They had to change. Today, awareness is an integrated process to catch negativity when it sneaks in and the techniques I’ve learned to question and replace them with what better serves me. In that way, I changed my music life around.

Making room for music in my daily life has also become essential. Whether it’s playing the guitar, recording melodies while on a walk, or even folding laundry, it’s like yoga or meditation—do the practice, and the rest will follow.

During this retreat, I will share a number of exercises to let your creativity flow without mental barriers stopping it. I want you to see your power and potential, to dare to dream and succeed, and to learn how to create on your own terms. You will get my best tools and processes, learning that anyone can do this—and do it for no other reason than the fact that it brings you joy!

2025 is shaping up to be an exciting year. My band is closer to recording the EP we’ve been working on. My new digital course will be launched with many of the tools you will get to try during the retreat. The summer will also see me travel to New York to record new music that I’ve been co-writing for the past year with a songwriter and friend whom I met on a retreat much like this one in 2023. In September, I am attending yet another songwriting retreat in Denmark myself.

It can become somewhat addictive to meet old and new friends, sharing the love of music and life during a couple of intense days together, let me tell you! But before that, I look so much forward to meeting you and introducing you to this life-changing form of creativity that may just impact more aspects of your life than you’d think!”

/ Sara

Martina is a well-known retreat leader at Shambala. As an existential coach, she guides people to find what’s truly meaningful in their lives. Her other retreats focus on courageous relating or silence in combination with existential circles. With many years of experience directing creators in her line of work, Martina understands just how fragile the creative process can be—and how essential firm yet gentle guidance is.

– Many years ago, I put an advert in the local newspaper saying, ‘Half-bad singer seeks really good musicians. Please reply to “No pretensions, some ambitions”.’ What started as a cover-duo soon developed into creating original music. I realized that there was no creative police force other than the one in my own head, and nobody was going to stop me from making my own music—even though I didn’t read sheet music or play an instrument. The years that followed taught me how much fun it can be when you kick out the voices in your head that don’t belong in your band.

– When I met Sara, her approach to making music simply for the joy of music and singing just for the joy of singing resonated deeply with me. It inspired me to once again pick up this somewhat lost love of mine. For sure, it’s a matter of three core ingredients: creative tools, mental and emotional support, and the power of connection within a community. Sara has a huge bag of creative tools, I’ve been guiding people in their personal processes for years, and the community is you and us.

– In this retreat, I will support your mindfulness practice in various ways. Every day we will also gather in an existential circle. The form is always the same, but the content will differ, depending on what the group decides to explore. There is room for each and every one to connect with what is going on inside them, and each day one person (maybe you?) will get a personal coaching within the circle.

– An existential dialogue is a space for the humanness in us all. Who am I, right now? Where am I going? What do I really want? How do I find true meaning? You won’t be given any quick answers, but you will be guided in ways to explore your questions.