Remember how good it feels to be us.
Four days to step away from everything demanding your attention and return to each other. More presence. More play. More pleasure. And a deeper kind of connection to bring home.
Maybe you’ve become an extraordinary team: household, calendar, careers, family, all without missing a beat.
Somewhere in all that competence, you started meeting mostly in the kitchen, the car, and the group text.
You still love each other. You still like each other. You just miss being lovers first, not co-managers of a busy life.
Or maybe things are genuinely good, and you’re curious. You’ve felt glimpses of something deeper: a slower touch, a conversation that goes all the way down.
You don’t have to wait until something’s wrong to give your relationship something extraordinary.
Picture it.
You arrive in Ashland in the afternoon. The Bayberry Inn is closed to everyone except the couples on this retreat. Your room is ready, a personalized itinerary is waiting, and your phones can finally rest.
The first evening, everyone gathers around one long table. After that, your table for two is reserved at one of Ashland’s favorite restaurants each night.
Mornings start with a multi-course breakfast and coffee you get to drink slowly. Some hours, we practice together: breath, presence, honest conversation, guided touch. Other hours hold a private soak, a side-by-side massage, or a walk five blocks into town.
And in between, there’s time in your room. We call it Playwork, because it’s far more fun than homework.
The deer wander through the garden like they own the place. By the second morning, you’ll feel the same way.
This is what it feels like when we make space for us.
Love Alchemy begins by building a consent-first container together, including a simple plan for moments of overwhelm. Then it unfolds at your pace. Nothing feels like a checklist.
Breath and energy practices that move you from stress into presence, and a sound-bowl immersion that lets your nervous systems settle side by side. Before any intense breathwork, you’ll learn a “home breath” to return to whenever you need it.
Bring home: a way to arrive with each other in under a minute.
Communication labs where you practice asking for what you want, hearing each other without defending, and finding your way back after friction. There’s room for desire and honest truths, without pressure or performance.
Bring home: words for the conversations you’ve been circling.
Sacred touch sequences, clearly guided, with easy check-ins along the way. A five-senses awakening. A devotion ritual that celebrates you as lovers. And an optional, playful trip to a local intimacy boutique, with a gift certificate in hand.
Bring home: new ways to touch, receive, and be desired.
Your private room, your Playwork, a 60-minute side-by-side couples massage, and your Healing Waters date: private soaking time and a meal together. Long dinners where the conversation gets good.
Bring home: shared memories that are just yours.
Simple rituals you’ll design for real life, so the connection doesn’t stay behind in Ashland. You’ll leave with your course manual and the practices you’ve already tried together.
Bring home: a practice for ordinary Tuesdays.
Picture a Tuesday a few weeks after you get home. The calendar is full again. And at the end of it, one of you reaches for the other’s hand and says, “Home breath?” You both smile, because you know exactly where that goes.
Come practice with us in Ashland.
See Dates & Price
Love Alchemy is held at Oregon Wellness Retreat, inside the Bayberry Inn in Ashland, Oregon. For these four days, the inn is home only to the couples on this retreat.
Each couple has a private room with an en-suite bathroom, robes, luxury bedding and a sitting area. Ashland’s Plaza and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival are five blocks away, with the Siskiyou and Cascade mountains all around.
No Tantra experience needed. Couples of any age or stage are welcome.
We love that this retreat is open to couples of every age and stage. Because the work involves touch, breath, and real vulnerability, a few situations call for a different kind of support first.
Love Alchemy isn’t the right fit right now if:
If that’s where you are, a licensed therapist or physician is the right next step, and the door here stays open for when you’re ready.
If you don’t feel safe at home, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.
These don’t rule you out. They mean we want to know ahead of time so we can adapt the practices for you. Tell us on your intake, or reach out first, if either of you:
Depending on what you share, we may suggest gentler versions of some practices, or ask you to check with your own doctor before you come.
John-Adam is a board-certified emergency physician (here as your co-guide, not your doctor), and Melanie’s work is trauma-informed. You won’t be the first couple to ask, and we treat what you share with care and discretion.
I always knew I wanted a different kind of love.
I grew up surrounded by divorce, disconnection, and relationships where love often seemed to come at the cost of something else. Somewhere along the way, I made a promise to myself. I wanted a love that didn’t require abandoning myself.
Nearly 27 years ago, I married my husband, John-Adam. Four boys, countless adventures, career changes, and more than a few messy seasons later, we’re still practicing that kind of love.
Our journey into Tantra and sacred sexuality opened a whole new dimension of our relationship. When breath becomes a bridge. When touch becomes a conversation. When pleasure becomes something we cultivate, circulate, and expand together.
Not because we’ve figured it all out. But because we’ve learned that connection isn’t something you find once and get to keep forever. It’s something you create, nurture, repair, and rediscover again and again.
Trauma-informed Certified Somatic Sexuality & Relationship Coach · Sexual Empowerment Guide
Melanie leads every session. Her facilitation is consent-first and shame-free: you choose your pace and your edges, and every “no” is holy. (And yes, she sometimes spins as a Pleasure Priestess DJ, because ritual can be rhythmic.)
Board-certified emergency physician · Retreat co-guide
After 16 years in the emergency department, tending to people on their hardest days, John-Adam brings a steady presence to the room. He demonstrates practices alongside Melanie, supports breath, sound and movement, and helps couples find their way back after a hard moment. At Love Alchemy he’s your co-guide, not anyone’s doctor or therapist.
We’ll save you a seat at the table.
See Dates & PriceNot included: travel to Ashland and travel insurance. Optional extras: private 1-on-1 sessions with Melanie ($200 for 90 minutes), extra nights at the inn ($297 a night with breakfast), and extra spa treatments.
“Melanie, our teacher, is a blessing. She teaches, pushes you gently to grow, and creates one of the safest spaces imaginable to work on yourself and your relationship.”
K + D
“She created a space that felt safe, welcoming, and completely free of pressure. She never made either of us feel like one person needed to be ‘fixed.’ … We laughed, cried, played, communicated, and connected in ways we never imagined—even after 28 years together.”
J + M
“Working with Melanie has helped us open up so much more in our intimacy and discover what it really means to create a safe space together. … Our connection has grown SO much, and so has our pleasure! We both feel so much safer, more seen, and more connected than ever before.”
S + S
“Melanie’s practices and insights have brought us so much closer. She meets you where you are and then guides you forward—not to where she thinks you should be, but to where you realize you want to be. We’ve elevated our relationship to an incredible level: best friend, lover, partner, and so much more.”
H + K
“Our biggest takeaways were to learn that our inner-children were running our relationship. We also learned some fun tools to spice up our relationship and beautiful communication tools to defuse activating situations and deepen our intimate connection.”
M + D
Each retreat welcomes up to five couples. November 10–13 is open for booking now.
Save Our Place at Love Alchemy
Opens a 30-minute call with us to reserve your dates.
Or call to book: Oregon Wellness Retreat, 1-458-285-5269
Tell us about the two of you, ask anything, and choose your dates.
A 50% deposit reserves your private room at the Bayberry Inn.
A short pre-retreat intake helps us shape the practices for you. The balance is due 21 days before arrival.
“Melanie has the gift of being able to hold a strong container no matter what emotions may arise.”
E + J
No. Everything is guided and beginner-friendly, and each couple sets its own pace. Here, “Tantra” means neo-tantra: ancient ideas blended with modern relationship psychology and nervous-system science. No gurus; experience is our teacher.
No. Love Alchemy Ashland is a no-nudity retreat, and there’s no sexual activity in shared spaces. The practices are sensual and devotional: breath, presence, eye contact, and guided touch, done alongside other couples the way you’d share a yoga class, not a bedroom. Anything more intimate happens in your private room, on your terms, if and when you both want it.
Touch practices are between the two of you, with no partner exchange. Melanie and John-Adam demonstrate on each other, fully clothed. During the five-senses awakening, for example, John-Adam guides the practice on Melanie before you try it together. At times a facilitator may offer supportive touch, and only after asking first, something as simple as “May I place a hand on your shoulder?” A no is welcome, and nothing changes if you say it. Your couples massage is given by licensed massage therapists in a private room, just the two of you and your therapists.
Then that’s the pace. In every practice, the more cautious yes leads. Either of you can pause or sit out anything, anytime, without explaining. If breathwork ever feels like too much, your home breath brings you back. Sitting out is part of the practice, not a failure of it. Your “no” is sacred.
No. Love Alchemy is coaching, education, and guided practice. It isn’t a substitute for therapy or medical care. If you’re already working with a therapist, it can sit alongside that work.
No. You’re welcome to participate without sharing personal details. In group shares, everyone speaks only from their own experience and leaves their partner’s tender stories at home. Private check-ins with a facilitator are available, and for delicate topics you can book a private session with Melanie.
$4,925 per couple, all-inclusive: three nights in your private room, meals, the full program, your couples massage, your Healing Waters date, taxes and gratuities. See “What’s included” above for the full list.
Book a 30-minute call with us, or call Oregon Wellness Retreat at 1-458-285-5269. A 50% deposit holds your place; the balance is due 21 days before arrival.
At Oregon Wellness Retreat, inside the Bayberry Inn, five blocks from Ashland’s Plaza. Fly into Medford (MFR), about 15 minutes away. There’s free parking with an EV charger.
Love Alchemy Ashland is a no-nudity retreat, so wear whatever lets you relax, breathe, and move. Bring light layers, a swimsuit, walking shoes, something nice for dinner out, and comfy clothes. November and February in Ashland are crisp, with daytime highs usually below 53°F.
Yes. Extra nights at the inn are $297 a night, including breakfast. Private 1-on-1 sessions with Melanie are $200 for 90 minutes, individually or together. Extra massage time and other spa experiences can be added through Oregon Wellness Retreat.
Yes. Oregon Wellness Retreat also runs Love Alchemy as a private retreat any time of year. Call 1-458-285-5269 for dates and pricing.
Still have questions? Book a 30-minute call and ask us anything.
A little less of everything else. A whole lot more of each other.
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