The First Retreat β Documentary β Ontario, Canada
Simplyβ¦Woman Retreat
Your Second Act
15 women. One weekend. Something shifted.
The retreat. The filming. The women. Their transformations.
And what happens next.
Hosted by Crystal Andrus Morissette β With Her Daughters, Madelaine & Julia
β¦ The next circle is forming
In September 2026, fifteen women gathered
in the Ontario countryside for three days.
Nobody left the way she arrived.
They came from different cities. Different countries. Different stories. Different decades of life. Some had flown in. Some had driven a few hours, still unsure why they'd said yes. By Sunday they were laughing like women who had known each other for years.
It was the first Simplyβ¦Woman Retreat in seven years, and the first ever held over a full weekend. And the cameras were there for all of it.
This is where it began.
If you're just finding us: you didn't miss it. That was the first gathering, not the last. The next circle is forming.
Friday night. Saturday's circle. A long table. Candlelight.
Something shifted.
I watched it happen.
I've been doing this work for more than thirty years, and I still wasn't ready for that weekend.
Fifteen women walked in on Friday night carrying the things women carry: the marriages, the children, the careers, the bodies that have changed, the years of quietly putting themselves last. My daughters Madelaine and Julia stood beside me for the first time. And somewhere between the candlelight and the fire, the room changed.
It wasn't one big moment. It was a hundred small ones. Laughter that came from somewhere deep. Things said out loud, some of them for the first time. Women looking at their own photographs on Sunday and seeing themselves clearly.
Not because anyone was lost. Because every one of them was ready.
We filmed it, with every woman's permission, because I wanted to keep what happened in that room. And because I have a feeling the most interesting part of their story is still ahead of them.
If something in you recognizes this, I'd love you to be part of what comes next.
Not a Conference.
Not a Crowd.
A small circle of women, a few days set apart from ordinary life, and Crystal at the centre of it. Teaching, music, good food, firelight, honest conversation, and a lot of laughter. It is built for women at the turning point of a life, whether that is a Second Act, a Third or a Fourth.
It is small on purpose. Fifteen women, not three hundred. Everyone is seen. No one disappears into a back row.
It is led by Crystal. Thirty years of work with women, six books, and a way of asking the one question you've been avoiding.
It is a circle, not a stage. Women speak when they're ready. Some speak a lot. Some mostly listen. Both are welcome.
It is beautiful. Candlelight, live music, a table worth sitting at. Women are treated like guests, not attendees.
It is about what's next. Not fixing the past. Deciding, clearly, what the next chapter of your life is going to hold.
It makes friends. Women who arrive as strangers tend to leave with a group chat that doesn't go quiet.
She is here to be seen. To connect. To remember.
Not to become someone new.
To finally say out loud who she already is.
What If the Most Interesting Part of Your Life Hasn't Happened Yet?
That is the question underneath every Simplyβ¦Woman Retreat. Not a reinvention. Not starting over. The chapter where a woman stops waiting for permission.
Clarity
A plain, honest picture of what she wants the next chapter to hold, and what she's done carrying
Sisterhood
Women who saw her as she is that weekend, and who are still cheering her on
Letting Go
Old stories and old fears, set down in firelight
Her Body's Wisdom
Listening to what her body has been telling her all along: Your Body Knowsβ’
Her Own Face
A photograph of herself she actually loves
The Next Chapter
An intention, and the nerve to begin it
A Mother. Her Daughters.
One Weekend Together.
For more than twenty years, Crystal hosted her retreat days alone. In September 2026, for the first time, Madelaine and Julia stood beside her, and the three of them held the weekend together.
Founder Β· Lead Guide
Crystal
Teacher and bestselling author. Thirty years of work with women in more than 45 countries, and the heart of every Simplyβ¦Woman Retreat.
Nourishment & Vitality
Madelaine
Fitness and nutrition expert, entrepreneur, and mom. At the first retreat she cooked and served the Saturday lunch, and made every woman at the table feel she belonged there.
Celebrity Makeup Artist
Julia
Met Gala. SNL. Kim Kardashian's "Glam Masters." Paris Fashion Week. Avril Lavigne world tours. At the first retreat, she spent Sunday with the women.
Three women. Three generations of wisdom, beauty, and love,
in one room, for one weekend.
Three Days. One Beautiful Unfolding.
Friday night. Saturday's circle and the fire. Sunday in front of the camera. This is how the first weekend went.
The Welcome
Friday night was dark and quiet and lit by candles.
The women arrived one by one, some from the airport, some after a long drive, most of them strangers to each other. Mocktails were poured. Tea was warm. There was music low in the room and the kind of hush that tells your nervous system it can finally put things down.
Nothing was forced. Nothing was performed. The night closed with a movement meditation, and by the end of it fifteen women who had walked in separately were, somehow, together.
The Awakening
Saturday brought music. Natalie Hughes played live, and a room of women who had only just met began, slowly, to soften.
Then came Crystal's Your Body Knowsβ’ circle. It wasn't a group exercise. It was one woman at a time, in her own time, saying what was true. Some said a great deal. Some said one sentence that changed the room. Everyone listened.
At midday the women sat down together to a home-cooked lunch that Madelaine had prepared, laid out on white linen. Long conversations. Second helpings. The kind of meal people remember.
The Bonfire Burning Ceremony
Some things can only be set down in firelight, with other women watching and the dark country sky overhead.
Together, around the fire, the women let go of what they were finished carrying. It is an old, human gesture: choosing the woman you are over the story that used to speak for her.
Into the fire they went. Into the light they came.
The Claiming
By Sunday the women were standing differently. You could see it in how they walked into the room.
The morning belonged to Julia. Step by step, laughing the whole way, she showed the women how to bring out their own faces: not younger, not someone else, just more clearly themselves. Then came the photoshoot. Headshots, group photos, a lot of nerves, and then no nerves at all.
The photographs weren't about looking perfect. They were about seeing, clearly, the woman who had been there all along.
Every Simplyβ¦Woman Retreat is its own. Future gatherings will have their own women, their own rhythm, and may take place in a different setting with different details. What carries forward is the heart of it: Crystal, the circle, and the Second Act.
From the Women Who Were There.
Written by women from the September 2026 retreat, in the days after they got home.
"I honestly wasn't sure what I wanted from this weekend. I just knew that I felt lost⦠The greatest clarity I took from the weekend was⦠permission. Permission not to give anymore. Permission to take this time to care for myself. And learning that I don't have to earn the right to prioritize myself."
β Joanne Β· She was there
"I feel more courageous than I have in a long time. I keep asking myself one question, 'What would courage have me do?' and then I go and do it⦠This really is my Second Act. After so many years of feeling trapped in a cage, shaped by authority and other people's expectations, I finally feel free."
β Jessie Β· She was there
"Every detail made us feel special and loved⦠I don't think words can describe how profound an impact it had. The women who participated were inspiring too. It was so great to see how each were growing and living their second act."
β Shelly Β· She was there
"I feel the weekend helped me to shift my life priorities⦠I am very excited to keep moving forward and to also be a part of this new group of women. So happy to be in my Second Act."
β Lisa Β· She was there
The cameras were rolling.
Every woman who came that weekend agreed to be filmed. Not for an advertisement. To keep what really happened: the nerves on Friday, the circle on Saturday, the fire, the faces on Sunday.
That footage is becoming a documentary, Simplyβ¦Woman: Your Second Act.
Where are these women months later?
What did they do with what they found?
We want to find out.
"If you knew the truth of who you really are, you'd be in awe of yourself."
β Crystal Andrus Morissette
Led by Crystal.
Held by Her Family.
Wisdom, nourishment, beauty, music, and a lot of love, passed between generations.
Crystal Andrus
Morissette
"I have spent my life in service of one truth: women are more powerful, more beautiful, and more capable than they have ever been told."
International bestselling author of six books. Founder of Simplyβ¦Woman and The S.W.A.T. Institute. Featured on Oprah.com. For more than 30 years, and with women in more than 45 countries, Crystal has helped women find their voice and build lives they love.
For over two decades, women travelled from around the world to spend a single day with her. Many described it as a before and an after. Today, after a hard season of her own, Crystal is living her own Second Act, and in September 2026 she held her first full Simplyβ¦Woman weekend with her daughters beside her.
Nourishment, Vitality & Welcome
Madelaine Dantas DeGroot
There is a warmth to her that makes you feel you have always belonged at the table.
A thriving expert and entrepreneur in fitness and nutrition, and a devoted mom, Madelaine is what it looks like to be a woman who is grounded, nourished, and fully alive.
At the first retreat she prepared and served the Saturday lunch: a home-cooked meal on white linen for women who had just spent the morning in the circle. When she feeds you, she means it. The women felt it.
Celebrity Makeup Artist & Beauty Educator
Julia Dantas
She took the global beauty world by storm at 21. In September, she brought all of it to Sunday morning.
Crystal's youngest is a firecracker. Julia is a celebrity makeup artist and global educator: she helped glam Lizzo for the Met Gala and Saturday Night Live, competed on Kim Kardashian's TV show "Glam Masters", worked Paris Fashion Week, and toured the world with Avril Lavigne as her personal makeup artist.
At the retreat, she led a beauty and confidence session made for women in their Second Act. Not about looking younger. About looking unmistakably like yourself. Then came the photoshoot.
Live Music & Soulful Expression
Natalie Hughes
Music opens the doors that words cannot.
Musician Natalie Hughes played live on Saturday, and the room changed when she did. Music has always been at the heart of Simplyβ¦Woman gatherings: the language that goes straight past the mind.
Through song, movement, and plain joy, Natalie reminded the women that joy isn't something they have to earn.
Crystal's Husband & the Heart Behind the Scenes
Aaron Morissette
The man who makes it all possible.
Aaron is the quiet force who holds everything together: the logistics, the last-minute details, the kind voice on the phone when a woman has a question before she comes. Crystal will tell you she couldn't do any of this without him.
15 Women. One Weekend.
Something Shifted.
The first chapter has been written. The next circle is forming now. Dates, details and invitations go to the waitlist first, before they are shared anywhere else.
You didn't miss it.
You found us at the beginning.
Join the waitlist and you'll be the first to hear when the next Simplyβ¦Woman Retreat is announced: dates, details, and your invitation, before anyone else.
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No obligation. Just first word when the next retreat is announced. Questions? info@swatinstitute.com
While you wait, enter the world of Simplyβ¦Woman and follow the documentary as it unfolds.
Everything You're Wondering About
Your Story Isn't Over.
It's Just Getting Good.
For twenty years, women crossed oceans for a single day with Crystal. In September 2026, fifteen of them spent a whole weekend together, and something shifted that none of them will forget.
Look what began here.
Somewhere inside you is a woman you have always known, waiting quietly and faithfully, not to become someone new, but simply to be remembered.
If something in you recognizes her, come be part of what happens next.
Join the WaitlistWith love, Crystal
The retreat was never the destination. It was the beginning.
