SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA / ACCESS Newswire / December 9, 2025 / In February, on a quiet ridge at the Mount Madonna Institute, ten women will gather for something that feels increasingly rare in modern life: a space without performance, without extraction, without the exhausting choreography of holding everything together. Persephone's Return, created and led by Bloom Family Law founder Katie Padilla, is a three-day retreat designed for women who are ready to reenter their own lives with clarity, sovereignty, and support.
Held February 20-22, 2026, the retreat begins Friday at 4 p.m. and concludes Sunday at noon - a weekend calibrated for exhale. Early-bird pricing is available, and ranges depending on accommodations, with the discount available through December 31, 2025.
The retreat's name references the myth of Persephone: the woman who descends alone, learns to recognize what is real, and returns stronger, more informed, and more rooted in herself. That cyclical, deeply human rhythm mirrors Padilla's own healing journey - one shaped by years of women's retreats, hard-earned self-awareness, and the disorienting realization that transformation often requires a total reshuffling of who belongs at the center of our lives.
"For most women, the early stage of healing is this raw, terrifying moment where you look around and realize you've been surrounded by people who don't actually know how to relate to you in healthy ways," Padilla says. "Retreats were the only place I felt held by people who were practicing a different way of being; people who weren't gathering to talk about status or accomplishment, but to talk about spirituality, self-respect, somatic practices, and the possibility of a more honest life."
Persephone's Return is built around that ethos of soft, serious community. The weekend will include:
A guided sound bath
A yoga class grounded in nervous-system awareness
Meditations and reflective practices
Value-mining \exercises
Coaching sessions focused on integrating personal values into the next chapter of life
And more
While the agenda is intentionally spacious, the promise is simple: women will arrive carrying the invisible labor of being everyone's emotional anchor, and they will leave knowing, in their bodies rather than in theory, that they're not doing it alone.
Padilla notes that many women she meets are running two simultaneous marathons: professional over-functioning, and the relentless emotional work of home, caregiving, and evolution. "Women are leading the way in redefining parenting, relationships, communication - literally everything," she says. "We're exhausted. Not because we're weak, but because we've been doing too much alone, for far too long. This retreat is about interrupting that pattern."
Capacity is intentionally capped at 10 participants to maintain the intimacy that Padilla believes is essential for genuine transformation. Accommodations are included, with both shared and private rooms available.
Retreat registration and full details can be found here:
https://mmc.secure.retreat.guru/program/bloom-family-law-retreat/?form=1&lang=en
About Bloom Family Law
Founded by Katie Padilla, Bloom Family Law is a family law firm that provides holistic services to women navigating major life transitions, particularly those involving relationships, boundaries, and identity reclamation. Through legal coaching, education, and community experiences, Bloom helps women transition from survival patterns to self-led, values-aligned leadership in both their personal and professional lives.
Media Contact:
Name: Katie Padilla
Company: Bloom Family Law
Location (City, State): Oakland, CA
Email: hello@bloomlegalcoach.com
Phone (Optional): 510.977.8393
SOURCE: Bloom Family Law
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