Bridge to the Essence of You: A Yoga and Enneagram Retreat at Wunderland Resort
448 Curtis Creek Rd, Old Fort, NC 28762
Friday Jul 31 - Sun Aug 2, 2026
What is the alchemy of you?
What are the ingredients of your essence?
And what would it feel like to arrive within a sacred circle of humans only here to celebrate what that is?
The Experience
Picture a weekend steeped in wonder and discovery. We’ll gather in the dappled shade of ancient Appalachian woodland to dive into the teachings of the Enneagram and the sacred practice of yoga.
Together in community, we will soak up gifts from the land and each other, break bread, and rest under the forest canopy in art-filled spaces that help to call us home to ourselves.
With its roots in ancient mystery schools, the Enneagram is a powerful tool with modern-day applications for self-growth, empowerment, and enlightenment. The millennia-old tradition of yoga calls us back to our bodies, yoking breath and movement to engage our senses and raise our consciousness. Together, these two wisdom systems can realign us with our truest and highest selves, while giving us deep insights into the nature of all beings.
In this weekend-long immersive retreat, we will explore the Enneagram’s nine types through the Embodiment Tradition, a somatic experience of the system that invites us to feel into each type, from fixation into boundless Essence. We will also connect with each type through the practice of yoga, including asana and meditation.
The Enneagram teaches us that all beings are connected, and through the Embodiment Tradition we can experience this connection for ourselves. Yoga grounds us in ourselves while also expanding our awareness beyond the container of the self, bridging us to the universal.
Enneagram expert Ali McGhee will share her wisdom and knowledge around the sacred and life-changing teaching that is the Enneagram. She will offer tools of empathy and understanding (for self and others) that can be integrated into our everyday lives.
Tara Eschenroeder will infuse the experience with poetry, nature connection and yoga (asana, visualization, meditation); providing an invitation out of the thinking mind back into the soil of our bodies.
Our days together will also include yoga practice tailored for the enneagram types, poetry, forest bathing, creative practice, intentional community-building, and time for rest and nourishment.
Chef-created meals are provided as part of the experience. There is a small food storage area should you wish to bring any special items or snacks.
About Wunderland
Nature’s playground for your soul, Wunderland offers unique accommodation in luxury forest villas and glamping pods that allow you to unplug and connect with the land and each other. Our time together will include opportunities to nourish yourself with the sauna and cold plunge, wander along the nature trails, and soak up the stars. Tent camping is also available for our guests.
INVESTMENT IN YOURSELF
Fully inclusive rates:
~Early bird single Cabin/Glamping Tent (through 6/30): $998 (after EB $1088)
~Early bird double Cabin/Glamping Tent (through 6/30): $808 (after EB $888)
~Early bird camping spot (pitch your own tent) (through 6/30): $648 (after EB $728)
This Includes:
- All meals, plus coffee, tea, water, and light snacks - Shared lodging or a tent camping spot - Forest bathing walks - Sauna and cold plunge - Gathering in circle with community - All-levels yoga practice - Guided meditations - Poetry and time for creative workshopping
- All-levels introduction to the Enneagram (the symbol, Centers of Intelligence, the 9 Types from fixation to Essence) through the Embodiment Tradition
- Compassionate exploration of your own Enneatype, or typing support as you encounter the Types
- Additional materials for continued study and empowerment
This Does not Include:
- Airfare/Transportation - Gratuities for facilitators - Any additional nourishment
All Of You Is Welcome
May you fully occupy this space.
May this space hold you in sacred, loving arms.
May these arms remind you that you are safe here.
And may you rest in surrender, acceptance, and exhale…
All of you is welcome.
Email Ali (ali@enneagramschoolofawakening.org) and Tara to book (beckesch@gmail.com)
Your Guides:
Ali McGhee - Ph.D., writer, storyteller, researcher, and teacher. She is Director of the Enneagram School of Awakening (ESOA) and an International Enneagram Association (IEA) Accredited Professional, cofounder and Chief Liaison Officer of Appalachian Convergence Lab, and a contributing writer for the Chacruna Institute of Psychedelic Plant Medicine. She teaches courses on the Enneagram and creative writing for Story Parlor, the International Enneagram Association, and the Great Smokies Writing Program, and leads training programs in the Enneagram Embodiment Tradition through the ESOA. She completed her doctorate in English Literature from the University of Rochester in 2015.
Ali has presented on stages at the IEA’s global Enneagram conference, Psychedelic Culture, Psychedelic Science, Listen to This: Stories on Stage, Story Parlor, PechaKucha, and CreativeMornings, and her work has been published in the MAPS Bulletin, the Chacruna Chronicles, and Lucid News. She is the author of The Embodied Enneagram: A Creative and Somatic Path to Self-Discovery and The Creative Enneagram Workbook (Creative Enneagram Press, 2025). She is a cohost of the award-winning talk radio show, Slumber Party, on 103.3. Asheville FM and a cohost of CreativeMornings Asheville.
Find out more about her work with the Enneagram here: https://enneagramschoolofawakening.org/
Tara (Becky) Eschenroeder(she/her) - a 500 hour E-RYT, RCYT, YACEP, CTA Certified Coach, and self-published author —is an accomplished yogi who as been voted as one of the top three yoga instructors by Richmond Magazine.
With some teachers, the lessons are planned. They are practiced. They are rehearsed, and they are perfected to a tee, but Tara Eschenroeder offers a different experience. Teaching was Tara’s Dharma long before she realized it. She grew up with a bow and arrow in her hands, learning to pull back with just enough aim and control to send her arrow into the abyss, knowing and trusting it would hit its intended mark. And so she enters each class, each workshop, each lesson, each experience…having prepared her body and mind to become that bow - that vessel - that lesson…letting that arrow fly... weaving its way into the provided space and landing wherever it is intended.
Tara felt that call in 2007 when she first felt the spark of a tiny flame. And instead of approaching that flame fearing the heat, she chose to approach it with love, stoking the fire that was burning within for her passion of yoga. By the end of 2009, she received her 200 hour RYT under Arlene Bjork and Grace Yoga Training Systems. She continued to follow what she knew and trusted her path to be, and she obtained her 500 hour RYT through Om On Yoga under the guidance and wisdom of Jennifer Elliott.
When practicing with Tara, no two classes, workshops, or experiences are ever the same. Students are not told what to do, they are empowered to listen to their own bodies. And while there are general cues throughout of “warrior” and “downward dog” (sometimes accompanied by their Sanskrit name), one is also just as likely to hear cues of “listen to the animal within,” “move through honey, “ride the wave of your breath,” or, simply, just an encouragement to “dance.” Her mentoring and life coaching sessions follow a similar pattern. Mentees are not told what to do but instead empowered to listen within with offered guidance- never forced, and always an open-minded invitation to explore. Tara’s Psychology degree from James Madison University, Elementary Education License from Mary Baldwin College, and coaching certification from Yoga2Life give her a studied foundation for helping others, but it’s her natural instincts and open heart that help students see the best in themselves.
Asheville, NC is Tara’s hOMe where she has the honor of teaching, guiding and presenting throughout the community. She also spends much of her time around the country and outside of holding workshops, retreats, classes, and presenting at festivals. She has also received additional teaching credentials with Project Yoga Richmond and YoKid Stretch Your Limits, as well as served as an Ambassador for Lululemon Athletica. Yet, so much of her teaching is done off of the yoga mat. Tara openly and outwardly lives the teachings has been inspired to share. Just as she would encourage a student falling out of a pose to take themselves lightly, she does the same as she navigates through challenges. And just as she would encourage a student to trust themselves as they spread their wings into something new on the mat, she is a living example of trusting what she knew was her calling as she spread her own wings. She approaches life with that same love that she used to approach that initial flame, and she encourages each person with whom she comes in contact with to do the same. And by doing so, she is living out her truth and her Dharma of being a vessel of blessing.