Surf y Salud Retreat
Dates: July 25-27, 2025
Location: Baja California Norte, Mexico
What to expect:
This weekend intensive has been intentionally curated to dive deeper into your relationship with self, sisterhood, and the sea through the creative practice of surfing! Our days will include surfing the local breaks, holistic surf coaching workshops, enjoying the local flavors, yoga, and an opportunity to share our stoke with the local community.
The Surf
A soft, righthand reef/point break that is popular with longboarders, beginners/intermediate surfers, to advanced surfers on fishes and mid-lengths. This retreat is catered for intermediate beginner to intermediate surf experience that are looking to explore how your mind, body, and soul surf the waves of life and the sea!
Intermediate beginner: is transitioning from whitewater to catching the green face of the wave. Can independently paddle and sit on their board. Is comfortable in being in water where they can not touch the ground. They have taken some lessons and have surfed a couple times previously.
Boards & gear:
Boards: the wave is enjoyable from longboards to fishes. Volume is nice to have. We recommend brining your own board, but if you want to rent a board from us, let us know and we can set up a package for you
Wetsuit/gear: the water temperature ranges around low to mid 60s. And the midday wind can give a chill. We enjoy wearing our 4mil. But 3m full suit can feel good too. The entry does have some rocks, so if you have tender feet, booties are great! If you need a wetsuit, let us know and we can arrange a package for you.
Facilitators:
Natalie Small LMFT
Natalie is the founder of the Groundswell Surf Therapy ™ model and specializes in utilizing somatic, art, play, and eco therapy to support a deeper relationship with self, others, and the sea. She will be guiding us through yoga as well as holistic surf coaching workshops that will connect us to our water lineage, explore our strengths and resiliencies, grow our body trust and wisdom, and overcome fears.
Arielle Katz AMFT
Ari grew up in Baja and has a deep love for the people, culture, and waves of Baja. She is excited to share some of her favorite spots with you along with providing high level surf coaching. She is also an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist at the Groundswell Institute Clinic and has been providing surf therapy in San Diego since 2023
Our home for the week:
We will be staying and surfing at Arielle’s home break just south of Rosarito. The neighborhood is gated and has great facilities including: jacuzzi, pool, private beach, volleyball, and shuffle board. Nothing like a jacuzzi soak post surf with your surfsisters!
Food:
We will have a private chef preparing some local favorites plus a lunch out enjoying tacos on the town! *all meals are included except one lunch where we will enjoy local street tacos!
Room Options:
Single rooms: (with or w/o private bath) (2 of these rooms have a private bathroom)
Double rooms: (with or w/o private bath (1 of these rooms has a private bathroom)
Transportation:
We will meet in Ocean Beach, San Diego to load up gear and our 2 transportation cars. There is plenty of parking to leave your car parked on the street in OB for the weekend. It will take us about 1.5-2 hours to get to our destination for the weekend.
On the way back, for those who do not have sentri or global entry, you will walk across the boarder using the walking line. This normally takes 15min-1 hour depending on the traffick. Your driver will be waiting for you on the other side of the boarder to drive the rest of the way back to OB.
Price:
$700 shared room w/shared bath
$750 shared room w/private bath
$900 single room w/shared bath
$950 single room w/private bath
*payment plans available
For questions and inquiries please reach out to Natalie at hello@thegroundswellinstitute.com
We look forward to surfing deeper into self love, sea love, and sisterhood together!