PlayFest Wellbeing Retreat in Redwood City, CA on Oct 19 & 20, 2024

Play makes dreams doable.

PlayFest is a 1.5 day wellbeing retreat in Redwood City, California designed to support stressed out, busy professionals, parents, and entrepreneurs with reclaiming their power and freedom through different forms of play. 

Whether you work in tech, healthcare, education, corporate, for yourself, or are just craving a reset away from the kids, PlayFest is for you. 

All humans 18+ are welcome to attend! We have a 75 person max capacity. 

The host of PlayFest has led wellbeing workshops for Google, Meta, Microsoft, Uber, Course Hero, Scale AI, and more and the other speakers are just as impressive! This retreat will be transformative for all areas of your life. 

At PlayFest, you'll: 

  • Rediscover 6+ different ways to play in all areas of your life so you can feel more free and empowered even after you leave the retreat
  • Release stress, feel good, laugh, and nourish yourself with hands-on, immersive experiences
  • Learn bite-sized tools and practices that you can use in your day-to-day to feel more alive
  • Connect with other like-minded community members - you may even make friends!

What's included:

  • Attendance to PlayFest: Oct 19 9am-5pm and Oct 20 9am-2pm
  • 5 expert speakers specializing in different wellness fields will each lead a 1-hour experiential workshop and your host, Emily Schickli, will book-end each day with a shorter session to help you get into a play mindset and integrate everything you experience!
  • More specifically, you'll enjoy: 6+ guided experiences: meditation, movement, healing plants, pleasure, intuitive art, stress relief, and play mindset with a bonus option to play with your food!
  • Catered lunch on Sunday, coffee and tea both mornings, and snacks from local businesses
  • Access to the always-open Play Parlor, where you can take a break, reflect, make art, pull Oracle cards, connect with new friends, or enjoy refreshments
  • Hands-on art and plant crafts with take-home goodies
  • Fun surprises like door prizes from local businesses!

What's not included: 

  • Overnight accommodation - we will share some recommendations with you, but you are responsible for any costs or bookings that you need. 
  • Lunch on Saturday - we'll have a long break for you to wander downtown with new friends to support local businesses, order in, or bring a lunch!
  • Specific snacks or self-care items you need to feel comfortable throughout the day. If you know you need some creature comforts, bring them :) 
  • Yoga mat - bring your own to have one available for our movement and meditation sessions or a blanket if you don't have one
  • Painting smocks - wear clothes you can get dirty on Sunday or bring a smock or old t-shirt
  • Transportation to and from the event

What People Are Saying:

Emily is a strong facilitator for personal growth and brings together science and spirituality in a really cool and accessible way. Emily led a lunchtime workshop for our Women in Windows and Devices group at Microsoft as a way for us to connect with each other and get creative. We loved learning how to work with our intuition to make better decisions and even made some art: our own intention cards for the new year! She created an inviting and warm environment, got us all engaged and interacting even though it was an online event, and encouraged us to step out of our comfort zones and connect with ourselves and each other. We can't recommend her as a workshop leader enough!

Valeria Goncharenko, Program Manager II at Microsoft

Emily helped Googlers gain more clarity into their challenges and identify opportunities for greater wellbeing through her booth and interactive workshop on work-life balance at our Wellness Fair. Emily was a natural and her bright yellow booth stood out as a positive beacon, where she offered her signature and unique approach to card reading as personal development. Since then, she’s taught several actionable virtual workshops: “The Art (& Science!) of Intuitive Card Reading,” “The Art (& Myth!) of Work-Life Balance,” and “Knitting 101: The Art & Science of Stress Relief” through our Arts program. She continues to be a hit!

Lindsay Alford, Executive Director of Techapella.org & Google Program Manager

For Mental Health Awareness Month, we brought Emily in to do a “Stress Relief Workshop” and guided meditation. She accommodated the event to a virtual format so that we could do it during shelter-in-place. We had 18+ attendees at the event, and our employees raved about the stress relief techniques we practiced together during the workshop. Some people were new to meditation, and they had their first chance at it during the online workshop as well. Emily was also very flexible to the attendees needs, allowing people to turn off their video if they wanted to and giving them a safe space to talk about how they respond to stress. By the end of the workshop, our employees had the tools to cope with stress along with a meditation they could model themselves. It was a successful event, and I would recommend Emily for any corporate events related to wellness! It was a pleasure to have her present at Scale AI.

June Lee - Formerly at Scale AI now at Zip HQ

Emily led a 6-week series of virtual yoga classes towards the end of 2020 and a 6-week virtual meditation series during Mental Health Awareness Month to help our employees de-stress and feel more balanced when overwhelm was at an all-time high. We weren’t sure what to expect from a digital wellness series with an outside consultant, but Emily exceeded expectations the first time so much so that we hired her again in May. Emily was a pleasure to work with, happy to make customizations based on our team needs, and even explained the neuroscience behind the East meets West practices she was teaching so employees could understand why they are effective. For the series, she leveraged her considerable expertise to design a progressive program that was appropriate for beginners and helped attendees deepen their stress resilience, self-awareness, and connection to themselves.

Natalia C., Event Planner at a SF Bay Area Tech Company

In the process of working with Emily, I learned who I was. I trust myself more––3 times more, which feels wild to say, and I really recognize my intuition and gifts.

Elizabeth Lewis, Founder of Detroit Mom, Lansing Moms, and Retreat to Reclaim

I honestly don't even know how to verbalize the impact of working with Emily. Two months ago, I would have been super frustrated with myself for doing something and now I'm just not. Basically, what Emily does is help you love yourself. She’s magic.

Asha Jones, Fraud Analyst in FinTech

$500.00 USD

I understand this is an in-person retreat experience in downtown Redwood City, CA on Oct 19 and Oct 20, 2024 and there is no digital offering included if I am not able to attend in person. Tickets can be transferred to different persons, however, there are no refunds on ticket sales available, regardless of attendance. All attendees and ticket purchasers agree to the terms and conditions and release of liability by attending and/or purchasing this ticket.  

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