About
As a yoga teacher, holistic health coach, and through her herbal medicine studies, Alexandra Moncreiffe has created spaces of reconnection through her deeply transformative retreats, private ceremonies and yoga classes.
Shieling Retreats offers spaces where women’s cycles and seasons are honoured and celebrated — spaces for deep rest, play and spontaneous movement. A space that allows total freedom, whilst being the perfect container for women to dive deep into their intuition, their innate creativity, and reconnect to the magic within their bodies.
The rhythm of each retreat is created with nature in mind. Each day is themed around a different element, according to the alchemical map of creation. This helps to activate and balance the creative forces within us. Every day is structured to support nervous system regulation and a healthy hormonal cascade.
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We do our best to support the environment that so generously nourishes us. All of our meals are organic and locally sourced — if not grown on site. We aim to reduce waste wherever possible.
Our yoga mats, props and tools are made of natural jute fibre and come from Scottish producers.
Meet the Practitioners
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Alexandra Moncreiffe
FOUNDER & RETREAT HOST
Creator of Shieling Retreats. Alexandra is a Vinyasa yoga teacher, holistic health coach and herbal medicine student, curating deeply transformative retreats, private ceremonies and yoga classes.
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Lily Moncreiffe
SOUND HEALING PRACTITIONER
Lily works with gongs and tuning forks, having trained around the world with masters such as Fabien Maman. Her practice draws on a deep understanding of vibrational medicine, physics and spirit.
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Rebecca Gordon
HEALING ASTROLOGER
A New York City astrologer, founder of a 20-year-running astrology school and author of ‘Your Body and the Stars’. Rebecca weaves cosmic wisdom together with ecology and systems thinking.
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Clarissa Mitchell
RETREAT CHEF
Clarissa brings a holistic, herbal approach to food, drawing on Traditional Chinese Medicine and nutrition. She cooks with the seasons and the five elements to nourish body and mind.
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Sophie Hutton
BODYWORK & FEMININE EMBODIMENT
Sophie’s work is devoted to the body, the womb and the Earth. Through bodywork, 1:1 sessions and group programmes she offers gentle, nurturing yet profoundly transformative work.
Shieling
Shieling life is an ancient system around which Highland culture was centred. The Shieling itself is a simple dwelling place in the hills where animals could graze and their carers could rest. Shieling culture, however, was more than this — it was a way of life, a nomadic tradition of moving through the land with the seasons. In the summer months, it was usually the women who would take the livestock up into the hills, spending that time watching over the animals, weaving, foraging and connecting with the land. Old Highland accounts of Shieling living speak of a sense of renewal, rejuvenation and freedom not found within the normal constraints of everyday life. The ancient Celtic festivals of Samhain and Beltane marked the changeover — the signals when animals and families would travel up and down the hills.
Let your being be nourished and restored to full embodiment. Explore your inner landscape as you move through the different seasons of your life. Our inner and outer worlds are ever-changing; when we learn to dance with these tides, our lives can open up to a sense of wonder, adaptability and intuition. In this state, we harvest the blessings of the present.
Humans have always evolved alongside ritual and culture, much of which has been lost in modern life. Reconnecting with ancestral traditions restores our sense of belonging and brings richer meaning to the everyday.
Growing up in the Highland hills of Scotland, Alexandra was surrounded by the remains of Shielings — many of them her playgrounds, still filled with a sense of refuge and peace. Her retreats are inspired by these roots. Honouring nature and the seasons, valuing rest and creativity, and making time for movement and play are all central to the experiences offered at Shieling Retreats.
