Retreat! To take care of your inner needs! --sheknows.com

Retreating is an integral part of the history of women and the history of human culture. It is an archetype as old as human consciousness. Here Jennifer Louden offers tips and inspiration to help women reclaim both our personal rhythms and our majestic herstory.

Woman's Re·treat (rî-trêt¹) noun
1. Springs from and is guided by her inner knowing.
2. A place affording peace, quiet, privacy, or security. See synonyms at SHELTER.
3. a. A period of seclusion, retirement, or solitude.
b. Running away from the external, the torrent of daily "have-to"s.
c. Running toward yourself: toward seclusion, privacy, and contemplation.
4. Setting aside time to tend the heart of your inner life, feed your muse, reclaim your dreams.

Things to consider:

What to bring:

Enthusiasm
Authentic self
Journal
Art supplies
Inspiring music
Talisman of love
Courage

What not to bring:

Work
Phone or beeper
Self-criticism
Noise
TV
Negative people
A watch

Take a retreat in a:

Bathtub
Teacup
Bicycle
Mountaintop
Lake
B & B
Retreat center
Library carrel
Backyard
Corner table in a café
Bed
Book

A retreat, like an act of self-love, is a radical act. You retreat because you are yearning for contact with something. That yearning may be ineffable, impossible to name, a whisper tickling your imagination. It might be a desire to know your true self, to be at peace, to celebrate your strengths, to connect with other women, to find an answer, to bask in self-kindness. - From The Woman's Retreat Book

History of women, history of retreat
Retreating is integral part of the history of women and the history of human culture. It is an archetype as old as human consciousness. The first retreat took place when menstruating women separated from the rest of the tribe. The Thesmophoira in ancient Greece was a group retreat, a descent into mother earth. The Desert Mothers and Christian saints like Julian of Norwich lived their lives on retreat.

Ponder the literary and artistic accomplishments of George Sand, Emily Dickinson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Louisa May Alcott, Willa Cather and you see these accomplishments were made possible partly because, going against the grain of society, these women often retreated, sometimes for months or years at a time. Solitude and retreat have always attracted women mightily, and for good reason. It is here we find ourselves again.