Screen fatigue has become its own kind of modern ailment, and the antidote might not be another meditation app — it might be a pottery wheel. That’s the thinking behind the newest program from Goddess Retreats, one of the original women-only wellness retreat brands, which has just launched the Creative Goddess Retreat across its two luxury Bali sanctuaries in Seminyak and Ubud.
Creativity as a Wellness Practice
Rather than building around yoga mats and green juice, this program treats hands-on creativity itself as the wellness intervention. The average adult now spends close to seven hours a day in front of a screen, and a growing body of research ties creative, tactile activity to lower stress, sharper problem-solving, and the immersive mental state known as “flow.” Goddess Retreats is betting that guests are craving exactly that kind of analog reset.
The Creative Goddess Retreat frames traditional textile arts, pottery, and other eco-creative practices as a form of moving meditation — a way to, as founder Chelsea Ross puts it, pull the mind out of virtual reality and back into the present.
From the Founder
Chelsea Ross launched Goddess Retreats over two decades ago, and she’s watched the case for unplugging grow more urgent every year. She notes that in the early days of the brand, digital noise wasn’t nearly the force it is today, and that many women now feel a real pull to step back into the physical world. For Ross, turning tactile, screen-free hobbies into a daily practice is central to helping guests slow down and re-anchor themselves in the present.
She also points to something distinctly Balinese at the heart of the program: the Balinese language has traditionally had no single word for “artist,” because creativity has never been treated as a separate profession — it’s simply part of daily and spiritual life, woven into music, dance, and carving. The retreat invites guests into that living philosophy directly.
How the Retreat Works
Each retreat runs seven days and six nights, all-inclusive, and gives guests a flexible, choose-your-own structure rather than a fixed schedule. Travelers select three signature creative or cultural experiences to shape their own version of the retreat, with offerings varying slightly by location.
Creative workshops on offer across the two sanctuaries include:
- Hand-building and wheel-throwing pottery
- Air-dry clay sculpting and painting
- Balinese silversmithing and charm jewellery design
- Canvas painting alongside a Balinese master artist
- Traditional batik
- Leather journal and passport-cover making
- Perfume blending
- Candle and room-spray making
Cultural workshops include:
- Balinese wood carving and mask painting with master carver Komang
- Balinese dance
- A Balinese cooking class with floating lunch
- Jamu herbal-tonic making
Every guest’s path also includes a Canang Sari offering-making workshop, tying the creative work back to the island’s daily spiritual rituals. Availability differs by sanctuary — leatherwork, perfume blending, and candle-making are Seminyak exclusives, while aromatherapy scent-blending and a Nature-to-Table permaculture experience are unique to Ubud.
What’s Included
Beyond the workshops, each retreat carries the signature Goddess Retreats inclusions:
- Six nights of luxury boutique villa accommodation in an all-female sanctuary
- Sixteen chef-prepared, farm-to-table wellness meals, many featuring produce grown in the retreat’s own permaculture gardens
- Daily beginner-friendly yoga, meditation, and breathwork
- Unlimited spa pampering, with daily access to therapeutic treatments, massages, and contrast therapy (sauna and ice plunge)
Two Sanctuaries, One Philosophy
Guests can choose between Goddess Retreats’ coastal Seminyak property or its jungle-set Ubud sanctuary, each offering its own take on the creative program while sharing the brand’s core focus on women-only community, self-reflection, and renewal.
The Creative Goddess Retreat now joins Goddess Retreats’ broader collection of women-only programs, which spans wellness, healing, and longevity retreats alongside more active offerings like surf, Pilates, fitness, and padel.
Bookings for the Creative Goddess Retreat are open now, year-round, at both the Seminyak and Ubud sanctuaries. More information is available at goddessretreats.com.
