Civana Wellness Resort & Spa: A Soft Return to Myself
After moving through the golden hills of Napa and the lively heart of San Francisco, I found myself craving stillness, not the absence of sound, but the kind that settles inside your bones. That gentle kind of rest that isn’t about escape, but about return.
Civana, tucked away in the arms of Cave Creek, Arizona, became that return.
I took this trip with my mom and sister, a three-day staycation that doubled as a retreat and a soft celebration of my mom’s retirement. But deeper than that, it became a moment to pause time. A moment to be held by the desert. A moment to remember me.
The second I stepped into the lobby, I felt my breath drop into my belly. A hush surrounded me, warm midcentury textures, golden desert light, and the promise of peace. My room felt like a sanctuary. Quiet hues cradled the walls, and the bed… it was the kind of bed that holds you like it’s known you're tired for years. I slipped into slumber, letting go. Later, I ran a warm bath slowly, intentionally. I took my time with my skin. My body. My breath. I poured love back in.
Each day unfolded like a soft petal. We dined at Terras and the Seed Café, where the food felt like sunlight and care. Fresh, whole, healing. I ended my nights with peppermint tea, letting the warmth kiss my chest and ease me into silence. I want to carry that ritual with me now, as a gentle end to each day.
But it was the experiences that changed something in me.
Yoga Nidra and Gong Bath were portals deep, sacred invitations to stillness. I felt layers of myself softening, breath by breath. I emerged from those sessions quieter, like I could hear the whisper of my soul again.
Then there was Healing Through Water.
A cold plunge that mirrored the hardest parts of healing, the ones that make you want to run. My mind screamed. My body trembled. But I stayed. I spoke to myself like someone who mattered. And I made it through.
There is a strength in softness. I found it there.
I ended the retreat with a massage and my first Reiki Energy Therapy session.
The therapist told me my crown chakra was wide open my spirit tuned in, aligned. But my throat chakra? Blocked. Quiet.
It made sense. Sometimes, speaking my truth feels like asking too much. But I’m learning that my voice is sacred too. It deserves space.
What stayed with me most was this:
I never thought about my phone.
Not once.
I was here. Present. Laughing with my mom, sharing soft silences with my sister, watching the desert stretch vast under a blanket of stars.
Feeling the warmth of day and the hush of night.
Letting myself be.
I left Civana not just relaxed but renewed.
Grounded.
Whole.
Like I found something I didn’t know I had misplaced.
And maybe… I didn’t just visit a retreat.
Maybe I remembered how to come home to myself
With Love,
Deja 🤍
Between the warm desert sun, the stillness of the pool, the comfort of my room, and the care in every dish served, Civana was more than a retreat; it was a homecoming to my own soul.
