Moonshadow Leaders Retreat
An in-person weekend of shared leadership, for people already holding leadership roles in their communities.
Los Angeles, CA / Date TBD
You're already a leader.
You've built something — a community, a practice, a body of work — and people look to you to hold the room.
And you're tired.
Not of the work. Of always being the one in front of it. Of being the most resourced person in every gathering you attend. Of going to retreats designed for participants when what you actually need is a room of peers.
There aren't many spaces for people like you. Most leadership retreats are either pricey credentialing programs or networking events dressed up in nature. What's missing is a real container — a weekend with other leaders where no one is performing leadership, and everyone is sharing it.
You go to a lot of gatherings. You rarely arrive as a participant.
Even at retreats marketed for facilitators, you find yourself reading the room, supporting the leader, holding edges that aren't yours to hold. You leave more depleted than you came.
You crave depth with peers, but most peer spaces stay at the surface — networking, light reflection, social exchanges. You want a room where the people across from you have done the work and don't need to be walked through it.
You're hungry for the kind of conversation that only happens in person, over time, in a place worth being in. Not a Zoom call. Not a half-day intensive. A weekend.
You suspect that what you most need to develop in your leadership isn't more knowledge — it's the experience of being held, briefly, by other leaders. So you can remember what it feels like to receive.
What we saw at the Shadow Summit
This spring, something happened we didn't fully plan for.
The leadership in the room started moving sideways. People stepped forward without being asked. Insight came from corners we hadn't designed for. The center kept shifting — not because anyone was performing humility, but because the structure itself made room for collective direction.
It was the closest we've come to seeing what shared leadership actually looks like in practice. And we wanted more of it.
This retreat is the expansion of that experiment — over a full weekend, in person, with intention.
A leaders retreat without a single leader.
There will be guidance. There will be structure. But no one person will be leading the entire weekend. Instead, each of us steps forward in different ways — sharing skills, leading a session, holding a meal, anchoring a conversation, witnessing.
We arrive as peers and stay peers. The container holds us; we hold the container.
What this makes possible:
The conversations you only get when everyone in the room has held space for groups. The practices you've been wanting to try but haven't had the right witnesses for. The relationships that develop when you're not performing your role. The structural insight that comes from watching other leaders work, and from being seen working yourself.
A weekend of being met at your level — and stretched past it.
Who this is for
This isn't only for shadow workers, parts work practitioners, or facilitators in the wellness world. It's for anyone holding a leadership role in their community:
- Workshop facilitators and retreat leaders
- Therapists, coaches, and somatic practitioners
- Writers and editors who hold writing communities
- Organizers, activists, and movement workers
- Teachers, professors, and educators
- Founders and small-business owners
- Religious and spiritual leaders
- Artists who hold practice spaces
The diversity is the point. A room of only-shadow-workers gets one kind of conversation. A room of leaders across fields gets another — and we think the cross-pollination is where the real shift happens.
What you'll leave with
A weekend's worth of conversations you can't have anywhere else. A small group of peer leaders who know your work and can be in it with you for the long term. The experience of being a participant in a room you didn't have to hold. A few practices, ideas, or threads to take back into your own work. And the tangible reminder that you're not alone in the way you lead — that there's a room of people doing similar work, and now you know them.
What we know, and what we're firming up
What we know:
A weekend retreat. In Los Angeles. Small group — likely 25-35 people. Shared leadership structure with intentional facilitation around the edges. Real food, real time, a place worth being in.
What we're firming up:
Dates. Location. Price. The specific shape of the weekend.
Why we're collecting interest now:
Because the people who say yes will help shape what this becomes. Once we have a sense of who's drawn to this, we'll make better decisions about when, where, and how. If you want a hand in that, this is the moment.
Be the first to know.
Add your name and email below. We'll be in touch as plans firm up — and we'll reach out before the public announcement to the people on this list first.
Be the first to know
No spam, no nonsense. Just updates as the retreat takes shape.
Hosted by Moonshadow
Ashley has been leading retreats for the Shadow and Tools community for years. Over time, she’s witnessed something powerful emerge: the collective intelligence of the group itself. She’s drawn to creating spaces where leaders and practitioners can step into that shared field together.Moonshadow is a shadow work community co-founded by Ashley Abubakar and KP Kaszubowski. We host the Shadow Summit, the Moonshadow Membership, and ongoing Substack writing on shadow work, depth psychology, and the lunar cycle.