The Art of Retreat Design

FREE ONLINE MASTERCLASS with Nele Vandersmissen

✨ BONUS for those joining live: You’ll receive a complimentary Retreat Design Kit — a beautifully crafted 15-page PDF complete with a ready-to-use Retreat Design Checklist.

  

The Art of Retreat Design

A free masterclass for facilitators, leaders, guides & culture shapers who want to design retreats that truly change people. 

What if the power of a retreat doesn’t live in the location, the schedule, or the list of activities —
but in the invisible architecture holding it all together?

Behind every retreat that leaves people saying
“that was the moment everything changed”
there is a deliberate design.

In this 60-minute free masterclass, I’ll take you behind the scenes of transformational retreat design and show you the framework I’ve used to design and facilitate hundreds of retreats, programs, and rites of passage across more than 20 countries.

This is not about tacking on more activities.
This is about designing containers that work by applying an ancient blueprint of transformation.

Whether you’re dreaming of your first retreat or refining your tenth, this session will give you a clear, grounded map for creating experiences that are safe, potent, and genuinely life-changing.

✨ BONUS for those joining live: You’ll receive a complimentary Retreat Design Kit — a beautifully crafted 15-page PDF complete with a ready-to-use Retreat Design Checklist.

✨ Replay included: If you can’t make it live, I’ll send you the recording.

Sign Up Here

When we remember the ancient blueprint of transformation encoded in nature, we have magic at our fingertips.

In this masterclass you'll learn:

  • The universal framework behind every life-changing retreat (initiation, liminality, integration)

  • The foundations of transformational program design—and why they matter more than ever

  • How to create containers that feel safe, sacred, and strong enough to hold transformation

  • The role of ritual, story, and embodiment—and how to weave them seamlessly into your retreats

  • The biggest mistakes facilitators make when designing retreats—and how to avoid them

  • Simple tools you can use right away to elevate your retreats from “nice” to truly transformational

  • Powerful insights to support your growth as a facilitator, leader, and guide

✨ BONUS for those joining live: You’ll receive a complimentary Retreat Design Kit — a beautifully crafted 15-page PDF complete with a ready-to-use Retreat Design Checklist.

This is the work that changes lives. And it starts here.

sign up here

There has never been a more urgent time to center human transformation

Hi! I'm Nele.

I’m the founder of Wondr, where we reimagine how humans gather and create experiences that truly change lives. Transformation is at the heart of all our work; from running rites-of passage retreats, to training facilitators, to enlivening boardrooms and corporate off sites.

Over the past decade, I’ve designed and led hundreds of retreats and transformational programs across the world—from wild riversides in Australia to ancient forests in Europe, from intimate women’s circles to global corporate gatherings. My work has been trusted by organisations like LinkedIn, Snapchat, Woolworths, and Fonterra, alongside countless communities who have stepped into this work.

I’ve trained more than 500 facilitators in frameworks of Circle, Rites of Passage, and transformational design, equipping them to create ripple effects in their own communities.

What makes my approach unique is the way I weave ancient wisdom and ritual with modern facilitation—bridging depth and practicality. Whether I’m designing a rite-of-passage retreat, a corporate offsite, or a community festival, my aim is always the same: to create containers strong enough for real transformation, and spacious enough for wonder, creativity, and human connection to emerge.

My facilitation style is grounded, playful, and deeply intentional. My mission? To help more guides, facilitators, and leaders design experiences that don’t just inspire for a moment—but transform for a lifetime.

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