Embody Your Design
An Embodied Human Design Retreat for Inner and Outer Transformation
Alentejo, Portugal
Sept 14 - 19, 2026
Immerse in a Transformational
Human Design + Embodiment Experience
Are you ready to connect deeply with your true nature? To uncover the wisdom within your Human Design and bring it to life through your body, your relationships, and your daily experiences?
Join us for six transformative days in the lush hills of Portugal, where we’ll combine Human Design teachings with embodied practices to help you integrate who you are at your core. This retreat is a space to explore your authentic self, connect with others on a soul level, and leave with tools to create real, lasting transformation in your life.
EMBODY YOUR DESIGN Retreat
September 14 - 19, 2026
Alentejo, Portugal
Is this human design immersion retreat for you?
- Are you looking to understand more about what is creating the unconscious patterns in your life?
- Are you looking to create a big shift in one or more life areas?
- Do you want to improve your communication in your relationships?
- Are you someone who deeply seeks a sense of purpose and meaning in your life?
- Are you seeking a deeply nourishing experience in a safe and nature-connected space in the beautiful Portugese countryside?
- Are you curious about Human Design and do you want to embody this knowledge about your nature and nurture at a deeper layer in a serene retreat center in Portugal?
- Do you want to understand yourself better and dedicate time and energy into improving the relationship with your own body and experience more compassion and self love?
why join this retreat?
This retreat isn’t just about learning Human Design—it’s about living it and embodying your unique way of being in the world. Through a carefully curated blend of teachings and practices, you’ll gain:
- A profound understanding of your unique design.
- Tools to cultivate deeper self-trust and authentic expression.
- An experience to really tune into your inner world and connect with your body in this Human Design Immersion.
- A grounded sense of connection—to yourself, others, and life itself.
- A supportive and inspiring community of like-hearted individuals.
What is a human design immersion?
At the heart of this retreat is the foundational work in Human Design through an embodied lens, weaving relational, somatic, and energetic practices to help you understand yourself and your unique design in relation to others and the world.
How does it feel to be “influenced” in your open centers of your design? How does it feel to be in the aura of a Manifestor? How are you using your unique Strategy and Authority to live in your purpose and bring forth your gifts and strengths?
This is foundational work in understanding who you are in your core energetic field, where you are influenced by others, and who you influence in with your unique energy.
In an immersion we are taking the Human Design knowledge and with exercises we will feel how the body reacts. With energy work and practical exercises and tools we will make the connection with our bodies. To tune into our inner world and to “drop” from a mental view of Human Design into an embodied practice!
Whether you are at the start of your own Human Design experiment or already on the path of “reconditioning” and unraveling of your not self an immersion is a space of observation, transformation and contemplation.
How does it feel to be “influenced” in your open centers of your design? How does it feel to be in the aura of a Manifestor? How are you using your unique Strategy and Authority to live in your purpose and bring forth your gifts and strengths?
This is foundational work in understanding who you are in your core energetic field, where you are influenced by others, and who you influence in with your unique energy.
What's Included:
- Pre-retreat Human Design “map opening” session as a preparation for the retreat
- Two preparation coaching sessions – one each from Kristen and Astrid
- 6 days and 5 nights in a shared accommodation at Pachawa Retreat Center in Portugal.
- Transportation from Lisbon to and from our retreat center
- Opening ceremony
- 5 day Human Design Immersion program
- Breathwork sessions
- Daily yoga classes
- Cacao Ceremony
- All other activities and exercises during the retreat
- All meals during the retreat (primarily local and organic!)
- Access to nature and a pool in the garden of the Pachawa Retreat center
- A trip to the beach of Portugal
- Closing ceremony
- Post-retreat group integration sessions + resources
Our retreat activities
Dive Into the World of Human Design
Dive deep into your unique energetic blueprint, learning how to live in alignment and empowermrent with your design through a 5-day immersion program.
The focus will be on Type, Strategy, Authority, Not Self, Signature Feelings & the Centers. We will weave this modality of self-awareness with energy and embodiment tools, creating a bridge from knowledge to living our Design in our daily lives.
You will leave with a deeper understanding of your own unique makeup and design at the energetic level through the lens of Human Design, along with proven tools to support your integration.
Yoga & Transformational Breathwork
Throughout the week, we will be integrating somatic tools and practices to support your learnings in the Human Design material. Daily yoga and meditation will be offered each morning to nourish your mind and body; these classes will be adapted for our group, and will range from morning Hatha/Vinyasa to restorative Yin classes in the evening.
Kristen will be facilitating several Transformational Breathwork journeys during the week to help anchor your connection to your inner knowing, support emotional release, and integrate your learnings from the program into your own energy body. You will learn how to use your breath intentionally to regulate your nervous system and support your vitality.
Cacao Ceremony & Embodied Relating
During a deeply nourishing Cacao Ceremony, we’ll tap into the wisdom of this sacred plant to awaken the heart and reconnect with our inner selves. Cacao has been used for centuries in ceremonial settings to foster emotional openness, intuition, and creativity. More than just a drink, this rich, ceremonial-grade Peruvian cacao serves as a powerful yet gentle plant medicine, guiding you into a state of deep presence and connection.
During this experience, Kristen will create an evening where you’ll be invited to slow down, tune in, and fully embrace the moment. Through mindful intention, breath work and authentic relating practices, you’ll explore the heart’s wisdom allowing love and clarity to flow freely.
Open your heart, build meaningful connections, and explore how your Human Design operates in relationship with others. It is an evening of grounding, emotional release, or an experience of inner peace, this cacao ceremony will be a beautiful opportunity to journey within.
Integration & Journeywork
Sometimes the magic happens in the cracks of the program. Sometimes an exercises gives you an insight you didn’t expect.
We will bring in tools as journaling, the art of contemplation and the experience the power of shamanic journeywork and self-hypnosis to work with the subconscious mind during our time together at the Pachawa retreat center.
You will have the time and place in a natural environment to rest, use the pool and live in community. Or just create a bit of alone time for yourself as well during the breaks in the program. Listen to your body and your energetic needs and we will facilitate the space for that journey!
Meet Your Facilitators
Kristen Yates
Kristen Yates, a Sacral 6/3 Generator, is a breathwork facilitator and somatic guide, RYT-500 yoga instructor, and shamanic practitioner who supports people with embodying their true nature and awakening their innate healing capacities within. With a background in psychology, trauma-informed somatic therapy, relational work and integrative wellness, she weaves Eastern and Western healing modalities to create safe and potent spaces for transformation.
As a multi-faceted facilitator, Kristen guides her students through a journey of returning to their bodies, integrating their soul parts, and emerging with a deeper connection to their most authentic expression. She believes we all hold a deep wisdom in our bodies, and weaves movement, breathwork and embodiment practices with energy work and intuitive guidance into her workshop and retreat spaces.
A nomad at heart, she currently makes her home in the Sacred Valley of Peru and regularly facilitates retreats, workshops, and ceremonies worldwide.
Astrid Heystee
Astrid Heystee, the owner of Palmtree Moments and is Business & Human Design Coach. As a IHDS certified Living Your Design Guide, she blends her expertise in business, marketing, and personal development.
Her journey to a stress free life started in 2016 and resulted in starting her location-independent entrepreneurial journey. Astrid cracked the code on stress and learned that you need to listen to your body and quiet the mind on her journey through life. Calmness is now her superpower!
As a Sacral 5/1 Generator she is sharing her knowledge of the Human Design system and helps you tune into your personal strategy & authority in a practical way. But mostly her motivation is to translate these nuggets of knowledge and insights into practical daily life hacks and habits so you can use this in your own personal Human Design experiment. Because in the end it is all about living, observing and experiencing your design in your daily reality.
With her Human Design workshops, coaching programs and her podcast ‘Travel & Work with Human Design,’ she empowers you to tame your inner critic, reduce stress and embrace joy and wellbeing in your (work)life.
Pachawa Retreat Center
Pachawa Retreat Center is a place for you to connect with yourself and remember what it means to be alive. We have chosen Pachawa for their deep connection and reverence to the land, and passion for hosting groups to come and experience transformation in the space.
Surrounded by breathtaking nature and the option to engage with the community, it ’s a place where growth, reconnection and transformation can take place. Here, in the silence and stillness, your inner voice can be heard loud and clear. Your passion and purpose can sprout and grow. You can experience the safety and stability of your feet in the soil. In this place, hearts open up – and love starts flowing.
Our Accommodations
We have four beautiful accommodation types at Pachawa, ranging from shared nature dome and tiny home to a furnished firetruck and more modern shared apartment. All accommodations offer comfort, hot-water bathrooms and connection to nature, and will vary in terms of shared and private (ensuite) bathrooms.
Shared accommodations will be allocated first-come, first-served!
Shared Room
$2247 (Early Bird)
($2447 after Dec 1)
Private Room:
$2947 / $2747 (Early Bird)
We ask for a $300 deposit to reserve your place. The remaining 50% will be due one month before arrival, and the final 50% will be due one week before arrival.
Life at Pachawa
During these six days together, you will be nourished by organic, farm-to-table meals, pairing healing and nutritious whole foods with vibrant flavor and the joy of dining together with our soul family.
Pachawa’s Vision is to be an example and inspiration for others to live in harmony with their own true nature and the Earth. They facilitate land regeneration using Permaculture Design to sustain their community with nourishing food and natural medicine. Pachawa maintains the land using sustainable methods in order to provide space for others to come and heal, to create a thriving culture based in harmony, compassion and integrity.
Travel logistics
You will fly into Lisbon Airport (LIS) and we will all travel to our retreat center together on the afternoon of Monday, September 14. We do recommend you to arrive a day early and spend the night in Lisbon if possible, to adjust from travel. We are happy to support with any travel/flight questions you have!
If you are American, we recommend you to purchase your outward ticket before entering the E.U. as you will be asked to show this before boarding. (Tourist visa is 90 days for Americans.)
Quetsions, want to get in touch?
Love from past retreats:
One thing that really stands out about Kristen is this spectrum of depth, the huge capacity she has for depth on a deep, soul, love, compassion level – and then her capacity for joy, play, humor, and dance... she just has this huge capacity and breadth for all of the things – feeling the emotion, and the experience of life. For me, being around Kristen and being taught by Kristen is really just to experience life in the fullest.
Leaving this retreat, I’m walking away with a very peaceful heart - something that isn’t always easy for me. I can easily get in my head and be very self-critical, and that was one of my intentions coming in was to tap into my inner self worth and self love. Walking away I feel very loving of myself, I feel so much peace in my heart and love for myself and a deeper love for others. Ultimately, that’s what I want – to live a life of love, and I really feel like I got to deepen that here at the retreat with all the wonderful people, beautiful facilitators, and beautiful Bali! It’s been an incredible journey.
I’m walking away with a sense of individuality and more understanding of myself and the ways that I’m currently showing up in the world - and how I can shift that to something that I want more. Maybe I want to show up differently than I have been - and I feel like this really made that clear and brought that to light.
I came into this feeling introverted and in my head, and the shared journey and adventures and yoga and ceremony and creative exercises cracked open my heart and allowed me to be relaxed and open and really flowing both in my personal and professional development.
Kristen is an awesome facilitator who really created a transformational space for us all on the retreat. She possesses the perfect blend of being a strong leader with great skills (especially yoga!), but also an equal member of the family we formed together.
More Love and feedback:
Since you opened my eyes to my truth I now wake up every morning with a lighter heart because now I know what's my purpose. You helped me to see the potential in me and that's a beautiful gift to give to anyone in this world! And finally you helped me to find a business ideas that is related to my story and my life experiences which is what I have been looking for, for so many years!
