After a wildly successful and delicious inaugural Portal weekend in October 2025, we’re thrilled to share that retreat dates are set for 2026. Read on to learn more about the spirit of Portal weekends and find all the details on our upcoming May retreat.
A Portal weekend is an invitation to drop back into the pulse of your life – into your body, your breath, your joy, your truth. It’s a pause from the performance of it all, and a full-bodied yes to what’s real, what’s good and what’s waiting beneath the noise.
It’s about aliveness. Not as an idea, but as something you feel humming in your cells. It’s about pleasure without justification, connection without small talk and presence without pressure. A place where the sacred and the playful hold hands.
While each retreat weekend will take its own shape, you can expect:
Spaces that feel like a deep exhale.
Moments that bring you back to yourself.
A blend of movement, stillness, nourishment, and connection.
Good cheer, beauty, warmth, and a twinkle of magic.
Time to soften, open, laugh, listen, and remember your aliveness.
Every Portal weekend is crafted to leave you feeling more you: nourished, connected, awake, and buzzing with possibility.
Self-improvement is out, self-remembrance is way in.
Every Portal will be a mix of immersive programming and generous spaciousness to let it all land.
Each weekend includes:
Two decadent nights at The August House, a Michelin-Guide hotel – design-forward, cozy, and made for both deep rest and playful aliveness
Unlimited access to our two cedar dry-heat saunas for sweating it out, softening in, and soaking up the silence
Five nourishing, bountiful meals – rooted in a reverence for both health and hedonism
Friday night welcome reception zero-proof cocktails and a room full of good energy
A roundup of incredible facilitators (led by The August House team!) designed to align with the season and spirit of the weekend.
A Saturday night long-table dinner that’s more ceremony than dinner – delicious, joyful, unforgettable
A Sunday morning wrap-up that’s a literal love letter to yourself.
Plus plenty of beautiful surprises and thoughtful treats to delight you along the way
Whether you’re going inward or laughing out loud, this space will hold you.
Colette O’Hara & Laura MacLachlan
We’re the dreamers behind The August House and the hearts behind The Portal – best friends, design lovers, and believers that magic is real and beauty is a birthright.
For years we whispered about gathering women for something bigger than a weekend away; a retreat that would wake us all up to our own aliveness. We waited until the house felt ready and our energy was humming to throw the doors wide open. Now it’s time.
Our invitation?
To press pause on the numbness, sink fully into life’s juiciness, remember who you are, and revel in the sheer joy of being human.
We’ll be right there with you: laughing, dancing, holding space, and pouring every ounce of delight we’ve got into a weekend you’ll never forget.
Our beloved boutique hotel was built for magic like this. Every corner is a love letter to beauty: sun-dappled rooms, lush common spaces, and cedar saunas that beg you to linger. Think design-forward elegance without the fuss: Italian linens, artful details, and cozy nooks made for deep conversation or solo reflection.
Set in charming Windsor, Nova Scotia, The August House balances intimacy and spaciousness, so you can sink into stillness, laugh out loud, and reconnect with what makes you feel vibrantly alive.
It’s not just a backdrop, it’s an energetic co-host for The Portal.
At The Portal, the table is half the magic. Mornings start with our legendary August House breakfast: baked oatmeal, homemade granola, cinnamon-vanilla yogurt (warning: it will hook you), Bedard’s sourdough, eggs and other cozy delights.
Friday kicks off with zero-proof cocktails and a light, but belly-satisfying nosh. Saturday brings our beloved build-your-own bowls, piled high with veggies, vibrant toppings, and house-made dressings for a true choose-your-own-adventure lunch.
When evening falls, we gather for a family-style long-table dinner that’s equal parts nourishing and beauty. Think fresh bounty, candlelight, and the kind of satisfying meal that lingers in memory long after the plates are cleared.
Features an incredible lineup of women!
Colette O’Hara and Laura MacLachlan (Co-Founders, The August House) – together, Colette and Laura will be your guides and space holders for the entirety of the weekend, bringing you into their signature container of aliveness, beauty and delight (and surprising you whenever possible!).
Kaylee Giffen (Co-Founder, Studio Twenty-Two) – awakens us Saturday morning with a grounded, heart-opening sun ceremony.
Laura Kieley (Founder, The Practice) – leads us in a somatic movement session. Expect sweat, sensation and aliveness.
Sarah MacAlpine (Owner, Two Birds One Stone) – brings us into creativity and aliveness with a spring flower workshop.
Adrien Rawley (Nature-based somatic guide, ritual carrier and holder of sacred circles) AND Kate Varsava (Midwitch, Mother, Dreamer, Yogi, Teacher, Gatherer, Astral Guide) – together, these two incredible teachers will lead us in a magical Saturday evening women’s circle, rich in Adrien’s nature-based teachings and informed by a very special astrological reading from Kate.
Come exactly as you are. Say yes to aliveness, presence, beauty, and being cared for in every sense of the word.
This is your portal and we’re saving you a spot.
Double Occupancy: $850/per person
Bring a friend, a sister, a soulmate, or we can pair you up with your not-yet-known kindred spirit.
Single Occupancy: $1295/per person
A room of your own and all the space you need.
All pricing + HST
For more information or to hold your spot at an upcoming Portal weekend, email us at laura@theaugusthouse.ca
