A one-day retreat for connection, reflection, and restoration.
Sunday, September 28, 2025
2:00 – 10:00 pm
The Branch Museum
Richmond, VA
Join us for a soulful gathering in one of Richmond’s most beautiful historic spaces, where women will come together to breathe, reflect, create, and connect.
This retreat is an offering from Rest + Rise, designed especially for Women in Community—an afternoon and evening to be fully yourself, held in a space of care and intention.
What’s included:
A grounding Yoga Flow led by Suzanne Burns
Light snacks + a seasonal mocktail crafted just for you
A hands-on floral keepsake, made with blooms from True Grit Flower + Farm
A quiet, centering Group Meditation with Ellie Burke
Time to explore, journal, or simply wander through the halls of The Branch Museum
A plant-forward, candlelit rooftop dinner, created with love and local ingredients by Melanie Russell
A sound bath under the stars, paired with gentle acupuncture to support rest, balance, and energetic flow
The full experience beautifully captured by Big Day Polaroids—with plenty of chances to snap sweet moments with new friends and bring home tangible memories of your day
This retreat is here to help you reconnect—to your breath, your body, your creativity, and to other women walking their own meaningful paths. You’ll leave feeling nourished, grounded, and more at home within yourself.
We hope you’ll join us for this special day.
Because sometimes, all we need is space.
To rest.
To rise.
Together.
Meet Your Facilitators
Suzanne Burns
YOGA FLOW
Suzanne Burns is the founder of Humble Haven Yoga which opened its first brick and mortar location in January of 2016. Suzanne is passionate about making classes and spaces accessible to all individuals who desire to show up, particularly individuals with varying disabilities, and her advocacy extends beyond the world of yoga and into the realm of inclusive employment and education. Suzanne is a mother of three and a small business owner and mentor. She is passionate about empowering others to personally define what balance and fulfillment means to them.
Nitika Achalam
custom floral craft
Step into a circle of creativity, color, and connection. Together we will work with living botanicals and natural fibers to craft something beautiful to take home. Expect to slow down, explore your senses, and discover the hidden colors nature has been holding for you. Gather to create something alchemical guided by flowers, textures, and nature’s hidden magic. Leave with something you made and memories of how it felt to make it.
Nitika Achalam is a farmer, florist, and herbalist behind True Grit Farm & Flower, where she cultivates blooms for beauty, healing, and creative expression. Her work blends sustainable farming, herbal wisdom, and community craft traditions to invite people into deeper relationship with the natural world and each other.
Ellie Burke
GROUP MEDITATION
Ellie Burke, M. Ed, Certified Life Coach, and ERYT-500 has been working in the fields of holistic wellbeing and directed self-discovery for over two decades. Ellie blends her background in education, knowledge of learning philosophies and methodologies, human development and life coaching techniques with 20+ years of experience in the mind-body sciences of yoga and meditation.
Ellie’s work is anchored in and guided by her own lived experience working with and understanding awareness-based self-discovery tools, coaching methods, as well as how holistic wellbeing impacts one's physiological, emotional and mental wellbeing.
She has the unique ability to help individuals identify deeply unconscious patterning and to help them make connections they haven't otherwise made in other forms of self-development or self-discovery work. Ellie is extremely pragmatic and works to make what feels like out-of-reach, inaccessible understandings accessible, relevant, and practical so that real tangible changes can be made in individuals and in communities.
Shannon Eastwood
SOUND BATH UNDER THE STARS
As a healing artist, Shannon Eastwood believes in the transformative power of sound. Shannon began her own sound journey as a child by playing the hand bells and has since evolved her practice to focus on the healing benefits of singing bowls, chimes, and other creative instruments to bring the heart, mind and body into a state of rest and repair.
During Shannon’s sound bath experiences, participants may experience a sense of ease, calm & relaxation. Shannon’s sound baths can also induce a dreamlike state and help to unlock memories, emotions, visions, and the imagination.
Shannon’s healing instruments include her custom set of Crystal Tones singing bowls, which are made of hand selected crystals and other earth elements. Shannon’s collection of sound healing instruments also include chimes, bells, tibetan bowls, ocean drum, and more. Shannon’s sound experience will leave you feeling lighter and brighter.
Shannon (she/her) is an alchemical energy worker who believes in the power of self-transformation through the technology of yoga and sound. As a healing artist, Shannon uses the vibrational frequency of sound to help shift our energetic state of being. Shannon’s collection of sound healing instruments includes a collection of Crystal Tones ® singing bowls designed to ignite the body’s endocrine ‘rest & repair’ system blended with other instruments including chimes, bells, and more.
Shannon is also a certified yoga teacher and has been a yoga practitioner for over 31 years. Shannon holds a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training certification through the Yoga Alliance under the guidance of Glow Yoga and LUUMA Yoga. Shannon infuses her yoga practice with hatha yoga, pranayama, and movements designed to reset your Luminous Energy Field and chakra energy system. Shannon blends the power of sound healing within her guided movement practices. She reminds us to make space for intentional pause, rest & rejuvenation through self care. Shannon leads with empathy, compassion & curiosity. Shannon shares her craft through classes and retreats.
Elizabeth Fuqua, L.Ac
Auricular Acupuncture
Join us for a deeply calming auricular acupuncture treatment designed to rebalance the body and mind. As the needles work to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, you’ll be immersed in a live sound bath to support deep rest and nervous system regulation.
Yoga mats and blankets will be provided. Please bring any additional comfort items—such as pillows or extra blankets—to support your rest.
What is Auricular Acupuncture?
Auricular (ear) acupuncture is a treatment system that uses points on the outer ear to regulate the body and mind. Small, sterile needles are gently placed on the ear to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping to create a sense of calm, balance, and reset.
Facilitator:
Elizabeth Fuqua, L.Ac., is a nationally board-certified and Virginia-licensed acupuncturist. She earned her Master of Science in Acupuncture from the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Elizabeth practices at Vital Qi, a community acupuncture clinic in The Fan, and in her private practice in Bon Air.
Big Day Polaroids
POLAROID PHOTOGRAPHY
Amy and Alex are two artists whose passion for vintage Polaroid photography, creative portraiture, and sharing art with our community have found a joyful intersection — A pop-up events photography business that brings lights, 50-year-old-vintage cameras, and Big Fun. We build customized “photobooths/sets” on location and curate a group of vintage & handmade photo props. We also offer Polaroid Event Photography aka “Beyond The Booth.” Where we wander your event, collecting candid photos of all the hugs, outfits, food, moments, laughter, and bits that might otherwise be missed and make such great memories.
Melanie Russell
YOUR RETREAT HOST
Meet your retreat host, Melanie Russell. Before having 6 children and owning multiple businesses, Melanie first found her calling working in restaurants, curating events and managing a clandestine supper club out of her own kitchen. Connecting people around food quickly turned into connecting people around care. Melanie has owned A Brighter Birth/the ABB Collective for the last 17 years and has grown the small childbirth education classes it began with, into a thriving collective of over 70 practitioners providing all kinds of services to individuals and families in the Richmond, VA area. She also owns ToLABOR, where she trains and certifies Doulas all over the country, creating safe spaces to learn and share, and spreading the skills it takes to do so for others. Melanie has attended close to 700 births as a Birth Doula and focuses on guiding her clients holistically throughout the process, taking into consideration the whole being of each client, not just one part. At this point, Melanie is ready to merge all of her passions into one with the Rest + Rise Retreat. She has developed a weekend full of connections, inspiring education, movement, meditation and rest, all simultaneously happening around beautiful, delicious and healthy food.
"Magic happens when you bring wise, relaxed women to a table and feed them well. They open up and bloom under that kind of care and attention." Her hope in this retreat is to give women in business the space to truly, deeply REST so they can leave the weekend satiated in mind and body, with new friends, inspiration and energy, ready to RISE in their communities and beyond.
Join us.
Space is limited, and every detail is being crafted with intention just for you.
Come as you are, leave with what you didn’t know you needed.
Questions?
Reach out at melanie@abrighterbirth.com