Step into a living story.
From June 20–27, 2026, join us for an unforgettable Creative Writing & Yoga Retreat in Dublin, Ireland—where ancient landscapes, legendary stories, and mindful movement awaken your imagination and nourish your soul. Designed for active yogis and curious creatives, this 8-day journey invites you to write, wander, and breathe your way through one of the world’s most inspiring artistic capitals.
Feel your senses come alive as you stroll through Dublin’s storied Temple Bar, linger along the banks of the River Liffey, and immerse yourself in the sweeping beauty of County Kerry. Here, poets, painters, and musicians have drawn inspiration for centuries, and you’ll feel their haunting creative energy in every cobblestone, cliff, and candlelit pub.
Ireland is a land built on story—tales of divine beings, legendary heroes, mischievous fairies, and mystical creatures like Banshees, Leprechauns, Púcas, and Selkies. These myths, once carried by spoken word and song, still echo through the hills and villages, inviting you to add your own voice to the tradition.
Imagine Dublin…
Imagine stepping onto a narrow, cobblestoned lane in Temple Bar as dusk settles over Dublin. The air hums with music drifting from open pub doors—fiddles, laughter, the low warmth of voices telling stories. Lantern light spills across brick walls and rain-polished stones, turning the streets into ribbons of gold. You pass doorways that once welcomed Joyce, Yeats, and generations of poets, and you feel it—that unmistakable creative electricity, alive and whispering, write me.
The scent of peat smoke and fresh bread floats through the evening as you wander toward the River Liffey, its dark surface reflecting a thousand shimmering lights. Somewhere nearby, a busker sings an old ballad, and the melody seems to move through your chest like a memory you’ve always carried. You find a quiet corner—perhaps a small table outside a pub, perhaps a stone ledge overlooking the water—and slip your notebook from your bag.
You pause, breathing it in. The city feels both ancient and alive, grounded and enchanted. You begin to write.
At first, the sounds pull at your attention—the clink of glasses, the rhythm of footsteps, the lilt of Irish voices—but soon the world becomes fuel. Words spill onto the page as if they’ve been waiting for this very moment. You feel rooted in your body, yet lifted beyond it, as though story and self are merging into something luminous and true. This place knows you. This place is speaking through you.
You look up, smiling, heart full. Lanterns glow brighter, music swells, and Dublin wraps you in its warm, storied embrace. A quiet certainty rises within you: This is where my voice wakes up. This is where I belong.
…Welcome to Dublin.
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.
-W.B. Yeats
Do you feel a quiet longing to slow down, listen inward, and rediscover the voice that lives beneath the noise of everyday life?
Then this is the PERFECT retreat for you!
In Ireland, inspiration isn’t something you chase—it rises up around you. From the hush of ancient stone circles to the hum of music drifting from candlelit pubs, this land invites your nervous system to soften and your imagination to open. As you move through yoga, meditation, and mindful writing, your thoughts begin to settle, your senses awaken, and creativity flows in a natural, almost enchanted way. Whether you’ve been writing for years or simply feel the nudge of a story waiting to be told, this retreat offers the space and magic to meet it.
Are you craving meaningful connection with others who speak the language of curiosity, creativity, and wonder?
You’ll find it here.
This retreat gathers kindred spirits—writers, yogis, and seekers—into a week of shared discovery across Ireland’s most storied landscapes. Each day you’ll come together for guided workshops, breathwork, and movement, then venture out to explore cliffs, castles, villages, and green paths that have inspired generations of storytellers. In these moments—writing side by side, wandering ancient roads, laughing over meals—you’ll form deep, lasting bonds. You’ll return home not only with new pages and fresh perspective, but with a creative community and friendships shaped by story, presence, and place.
I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today.
-James Joyce
It All Begins in Dublin
Our journey opens in Dublin, where story lives in stone, ink, and song. You arrive and immediately step into Ireland’s living literary heritage—wandering through Trinity College to behold the Book of Kells, sharing your first conversations in centuries-old pubs, and strolling the same green paths that once inspired Joyce. Our opening writing sessions mirror this sense of arrival.
We begin by setting intentions, meeting your fellow writers, and dropping into the body through breath and meditation before the pen ever touches the page. These first workshops are playful and expansive, designed to loosen the inner critic and fill your pages quickly. You’ll explore how travel itself becomes a writing prompt—how a pub window glowing at dusk, the cadence of street music, or the hush of a library can become the seed of a story. By the end of these first days, you’ll already be writing differently, carrying a personal toolkit of exercises you can return to again and again.
An Inspiring Solstice
The summer solstice takes us beyond the city into Ireland’s ancient heart. Standing among sacred sites like Newgrange, Tara, and Knowth, you feel time stretch and soften. These landscapes invite a deeper kind of listening, and in our writing sessions that follow, we begin to work from intuition. Yoga and meditation guide you inward; the land draws you outward.
You learn to write from sensation, memory, and presence, tasting life in the moment and again on the page.
Pure Magic in County Kerry
As we journey southwest to County Kerry, the pace shifts. You settle into a manor house surrounded by wild beauty, stone circles, and rolling green hills. Here, writing becomes ritual—woven into days filled with epic coastline drives, ancient forts, and island crossings that feel like passages between worlds.
Each day brings immersion in place and deeper creative practice. You walk among Iron Age forts on the Ring of Kerry, cross to islands once home to monks, trace the cliffs of the peninsula, and wander towns shaped by poets and storytellers.
These experiences become fuel for the page. Our workshops now explore how to paint entire worlds using only words, how to let landscape live inside your sentences, and how to place your voice in conversation with writers who came before you. You learn to capture atmosphere, myth, and memory, discovering that once you have these tools, any place you stand becomes a wellspring of inspiration.
As your pages begin to fill, we turn toward revision—not as correction, but as creative play. You learn how to reshape and refine your work with curiosity and joy, guided by the same ease you cultivate on the mat.
In supportive circles, you’re invited to share if you wish, receiving grounded, compassionate feedback while learning how to offer the same to others. One-on-one conversations give space to talk about your craft, your direction, and what’s calling you next. Writing becomes something you no longer do alone—it becomes a shared, living practice.
Journey Back To Dublin
The final days bring us back toward Dublin, carrying the richness of Kerry with us. We walk through castles and cathedrals, trace the footsteps of Joyce, Yeats, and Beckett, and gather in pubs where literature and laughter still mingle. Our last workshops celebrate what has emerged. We reflect on what you’ve created and where it wants to go—how a piece born beside a lake or on a cliffside might one day find its way into the world. The end becomes a beginning.
On your final morning, a quiet pilgrimage through Dublin offers a gentle closing—a moment to bow to the stories that shaped you and the ones now waiting to be written. You depart Ireland grounded, creatively alive, and carrying far more than memories. You leave with fresh work, renewed clarity, and a living relationship with your voice—ready to continue the story wherever you go next.
Your feet will bring you where your heart is
-Irish Proverb
Where Will We Stay?
Your Gateway to Irish Imagination-Trinity College, Dublin
On the first and last nights of your journey, you’ll be cradled in the heart of Dublin at the iconic Trinity College Apartments—your home amidst ancient spires, lively streets, and the vibrant pulse of Ireland’s literary capital. Just steps from cobblestone pathways, world-renowned pubs, and storied halls of learning, these apartments place you right where history and creativity intertwine.
You’ll wake each morning beneath the gentle hum of Temple Bar’s cultural heartbeat, wander to Trinity College to glimpse the legendary Book of Kells, and return each evening to a quiet retreat where the city’s warmth lingers just beyond your window.
Here, the day dissolves beautifully into night: the sound of distant music floating through your open window, the glow of streetlamps reflected in rain-kissed stones, and the promise of another day to write, explore, and breathe. Whether you’re sipping your first Irish breakfast tea or sharing laughter in a nearby pub after an evening writing circle, this place sets the tone for transformation—rooted in story, steeped in culture, and brimming with possibility. It’s more than a place to stay; it’s where your retreat begins and ends with wonder.
Your Creative Sanctuary-West Cove House, County Kerry
Then comes West Cove House in County Kerry—the heart of your retreat experience from June 22nd to 26th, and a place that feels as if it were pulled straight from a storyteller’s dream. Tucked into a landscape of rugged peaks, ocean winds, and emerald fields that seem to breathe with ancient life, this magnificent manor becomes your personal refuge—an expansive creative sanctuary for yoga, writing, reflection, and community.
Here, the retreat truly unfolds. The entire estate is yours: rooms that invite deep rest, common spaces that nurture conversation and connection, and outdoor corners where the Atlantic breeze coaxes clarity and inspiration. Mornings begin with yoga bathed in soft light, afternoons unfold into writing workshops under open skies, and evenings bring laughter, music, and visits from special guests who enrich the magic of this place. It’s a world apart from the everyday, a landscape that invites you to slow down, open up, and let your creative voice find new depth.
Whether you’re gathered in a sunlit room, wandering to a nearby ruin, or simply staring out across rolling hills as the sky melts into sunset, West Cove House offers a rare kind of spaciousness—one that holds room for your breath, your words, and your soul’s longing to expand. This is the place where inspiration becomes experience, and where every corner seems to say: stay here a little longer, there is more story yet to be written.
Mouthwatering Meals!
Food in Ireland is more than nourishment—it’s story, warmth, and welcome woven into every meal.
In Dublin, your mornings begin in cozy cafés, sipping rich coffee or tea as the city slowly stirs around you. These breakfasts are included and set the tone for unhurried mornings of writing and wandering. Evenings invite you into historic pubs where candlelight, conversation, and the hum of music create an atmosphere as nourishing as the food itself. Two of these pub dinners are included, offering a shared taste of Ireland’s culinary heritage, while one evening is yours to explore freely. Temple Bar is a feast for the senses, brimming with mouthwatering options—from modern Irish bistros to tucked-away gems—giving you the freedom to follow your curiosity and appetite. Lunches in Dublin are also open, encouraging you to discover the flavors that call to you, just as you do with your writing.
In County Kerry, meals become part of the retreat’s rhythm. Each morning begins with breakfast prepared by a private chef at the house, filling the space with warmth and the comforting aromas of home. When we’re at the house or exploring nearby, lunches and dinners are lovingly prepared for the group, creating an experience that feels both luxurious and deeply grounding. One special day in Killarney includes lunch together, while dinner that evening is yours to enjoy in one of the town’s lively pubs—where music, laughter, and local flavor come together in true Irish style.
Throughout the journey, meals reflect both traditional and modern Irish cuisine, with abundant healthy options and thoughtful care for all guests. Vegan and vegetarian choices are always available, and we work closely with chefs and restaurants to accommodate other dietary needs whenever possible.
Invest in Your Creative Spirit
This experience is more than a getaway—it’s an intentional investment in your creative energy, joy, and sense of connection. Over eight transformative days, you’ll step out of routine and into inspiration, guided by yoga, writing, and the living stories of Ireland. Every detail is thoughtfully curated so you can relax fully, move deeply, write honestly, and return home renewed—carrying not only memories, but momentum. This is time you give yourself to remember who you are beneath the noise, and to reignite the voice that’s been waiting to be heard.
Price Includes
✓ Transportation for all scheduled activities
✓ 3 nights in Trinity College Summer Apartments
✓ 4 nights in Westcove House, County Kerry
✓ 7 breakfasts
✓ 4 lunches (3 are yours to explore)
✓ 6 dinner meals with non-alcoholic beverages (one is yours to explore)
✓ Transportation to all activities in the itinerary
✓ Entry fees and guide services (where applicable)
✓ Excursion to Skellig Michael
✓ Private tour of ancient passage tombs
✓ 2 evening events at Westcove
✓ Daily yoga & meditation practices
✓ Daily creative writing workshops
What’s Not Included
✗ Airfare to/from Dublin
✗ Transportation to/from Dublin International Airport to Trinity College
✗ Personal items (souvenirs, snacks, personal care items, etc.)
✗ Lunch on 3 days
✗ Dinner on one night
✗ Spa services
✗ Alcoholic beverages
✗ Tips
✗ Travel insurance
All of this for only:
$3,499 – Double Occupancy
$3,999 – Single Occupancy
An unforgettable journey. A powerful creative reset. A gift to yourself that keeps giving long after you return home.
Meet Your Dublin Retreat Leaders!
Each year, Sarah and Kevin co-create a signature retreat exploring one of Europe’s great literary capitals—inviting travelers to experience place, story, and presence through yoga, writing, and deep cultural immersion. From Paris to Dublin, these journeys are designed to awaken creativity, cultivate community, and remind us that the world itself is one of our greatest teachers. This year they are joined by native Dubliner Dearbhla Kelly to share her culture and practice.
Sarah Herrington
Sarah is a writer, writing teacher, and yoga teacher whose life has been shaped by the quiet power of words and the transformative magic of breath. She began writing as a child, discovered yoga as a teenager, and has spent her adult life exploring how these two practices beautifully support one another—on the page, on the mat, and in the heart.
Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Yoga Journal, Oprah Magazine, and Poets & Writers, and she is the author of four books on yoga.
Sarah holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and has been teaching yoga for over fifteen years, with training in Vinyasa, Restorative, and Kids Yoga. She is the founder of OM Schooled, a kids yoga teacher training rooted in years of teaching in public schools, and she teaches in Loyola Marymount University’s Yoga, Mindfulness, and Social Change program.
During the pandemic, Sarah began leading Mindful Writing Workshops, creating space for others to explore the meeting point of contemplation and creativity—to learn how breath opens language, how presence shapes story, and how voice finds its way into the world. She believes in the power of a poem, the wisdom of the body, and the magic that emerges when creative people gather with intention.
Ireland, with its deep mythic roots and living storytelling tradition, is a natural home for Sarah’s work. She is thrilled to guide writers through landscapes that have inspired centuries of poets and dreamers, helping each participant listen inward and write from a place of truth, wonder, and embodied presence.
Dearbhla Kelly
Dearbhla Kelly is a deeply respected yoga teacher whose roots in Ireland and intimate knowledge of this land bring an extraordinary layer of richness to this retreat. Born and raised in Ireland, Dearbhla carries a lived relationship with its landscapes, rhythms, and stories—one that goes far beyond guidebooks. She knows the quiet magic of mist rising over hills, the way weather shapes mood and movement, and how the land itself invites reflection. Ireland is not just a destination for her; it is home, and she shares it with the warmth and reverence of someone introducing you to a beloved friend.
With over two decades of teaching experience, Dearbhla is internationally recognized for her depth of knowledge, precision, and heart-centered approach to yoga. Her background includes extensive study in Vinyasa and Ashtanga Yoga, anatomy, therapeutics, and mindful movement, and she is known for her ability to make yoga both profoundly accessible and deeply transformative. Her teaching weaves intelligence, compassion, and humor, inviting students to listen to their bodies with curiosity and care.
Dearbhla’s classes are grounding, illuminating, and quietly powerful. She has a gift for helping students feel at home in themselves—whether through subtle alignment, breath awareness, or the simple act of standing fully present.
Sharing Ireland through yoga is a natural extension of Dearbhla’s life’s work. She brings not only expertise, but a deep cultural fluency—an understanding of how movement, myth, land, and story are woven together here. With Dearbhla as your guide, the practice becomes a conversation with the land itself, inviting you to move, breathe, and belong within this ancient, living story.
Kevin Montgomery
Kevin spent much of his professional life as a corporate executive, navigating constant travel, tight deadlines, and the relentless pace of modern work. Yoga became his anchor—a way to stay grounded, clear, and connected in the midst of it all. Then life offered a beautiful turning point: the opportunity to step out of that world and lead the vibrant community now known as Red Diamond Yoga.
Kevin’s retreats are rooted in purposeful travel. He believes that yoga and meditation allow us to truly be in the places we visit—to feel the texture of a city, the energy of a landscape, and the spirit of a culture. His journeys are designed so that participants don’t simply see a destination, but experience it fully, returning home relaxed, inspired, and deeply nourished by the energy of place.
Ireland holds a special magic for this work. From ancient stone circles to candlelit pubs, from wild coastal cliffs to storied city streets, it is a land that invites reflection, reverence, and imagination. Kevin has lovingly curated this retreat to weave together movement, mindfulness, culture, and creativity in a way that feels both expansive and intimate.
He is passionate about teaching, mentoring, and creating space for organic personal growth. Above all, he treasures the sense of community that unfolds on retreat—strangers becoming companions, companions becoming lifelong friends. Kevin can’t imagine a more perfect setting than Ireland to explore writing, presence, and creative awakening, and he looks forward to sharing this unforgettable journey with you.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed, to discard the old, embrace the new, and run headlong down an immutable course
― Jacques Cousteau
The Perfect Creative Escape
Through daily yoga and mindful writing practices, you’ll learn to create from a place of presence—observing without judgment, listening deeply, and letting inspiration flow. We’ll explore landscapes and legends, savor incredible Irish cuisine, wander lush parks, and experience the warmth of Ireland’s iconic pub culture.
You’ll leave feeling grounded, refreshed, and creatively alive—your body relaxed, your mind clear, and your heart full of joy, carrying home stories that only you could write.
