Purpose & Passion:
New Year’s Yoga Retreat in Guatemala
December 27, 2025-January 3, 2026
Villa Sumaya, Lake Atitlan
Co-led by Charles MacInerney & Michelle Fajkus
As one year comes to a close and another begins, there’s no better moment to pause, reflect, and realign with what matters most. The turning of the year is a powerful threshold—an opportunity to release the old and welcome the new with clarity, courage, and wholehearted intention.
Join us at sacred Lake Atitlán for a week of deep renewal and purposeful visioning. This soul-centered immersion blends yoga, meditation, journaling, sacred Mayan wisdom, and heart-opening ceremony. Together, we’ll close out 2025 with gratitude and intention—and step into 2026 aligned with our truest path.
Guided by longtime yoga teachers Charles MacInerney and Michelle Margaret Fajkus, this experience weaves the practical with the mystical. You’ll explore the art of goal-setting from a place of flow and fulfillment, while also tuning into the sacred rhythms of the Mayan cosmovision—a living system that invites us to grow, evolve, and live our dharma in harmony with nature and spirit.
Why This Retreat?
The Mayan calendar teaches us that time moves in spirals, not straight lines. Each day carries a unique energy that invites us to deepen our awareness and move closer to our authentic purpose. As we move through the final days of the Gregorian year and into the fresh beginning of 2026, you’ll be supported in shedding what no longer serves and planting seeds for what wants to grow next.
Held at Villa Sumaya, a world-renowned eco-retreat center nestled in the highlands of Guatemala, this retreat offers both structure and spaciousness—daily practice, meaningful workshops, cultural connection, and plenty of time to rest, reflect, and simply be.
What to Expect
Each day combines gentle yet empowering yoga and meditation, inspired writing prompts, and life design workshops based on Charles’ book Toxic Goals, Flow & the Pursuit of Excellence. Together, we’ll explore:
How to use goals to enrich the present moment
How to identify and release “toxic goals” that sabotage joy
How to clarify your deeper desires using creative tools like mind mapping
How to craft an action plan aligned with your soul’s purpose
You’ll also receive a personal Mayan day sign reading and take part in a sacred fire ceremony with a local Mayan spiritual guide to anchor your intentions for the new year.
Retreat Highlights
Daily yoga and meditation with Charles & Michelle
Purpose + passion-focused goal-setting workshops
Sacred Mayan calendar teachings and personal astrology reading
Group Mayan fire ceremony to release, bless, and renew
Creative writing prompts for self-inquiry and visioning
7 nights of deluxe eco-luxury accommodations at Villa Sumaya
Daily vegetarian meals, herbal teas, and juice bar access
Time and space for rest, nature connection, and spa treatments
This retreat is open to all levels of yoga and writing experience. Whether you're navigating a life transition, feeling the call for something new, or simply wanting to reconnect with yourself at the soul level—you are welcome.
Solo travelers, couples, creatives, caregivers, teachers, seekers—this is your invitation to realign with your true nature and carry that clarity forward into the new year.
About the Leaders
Charles MacInerney
Charles is a pioneer in the development of the yoga retreat movement. Since 1992, he has led over 100 three- and four-day retreats in the U.S., and more than 50 retreats in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico. Charles was the first yoga teacher to combine yoga and creative writing into a retreat and he has since led dozens of these popular retreats both domestically and internationally.
Charles began practicing yoga at age 11 in rural Texas and developed a personal practice as a teenager. After successfully rehabilitating a knee injury through yoga during college, he was inspired to teach and began sharing the healing potential of yoga in 1989. Since then, he has taught thousands of classes and workshops. A dedicated supporter of the Austin, Texas yoga community, Charles co-founded the Texas Yoga Retreat in 2000. Locally, he is perhaps best known for his free outdoor Full Moon Yoga class, which has met monthly for nearly 30 years.
Drawing from over four decades of personal practice and study with master teachers including Donna Farhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and John Friend, Charles is known for his grounded wisdom and engaging teaching style. He is the author of Toxic Goals, Flow & the Pursuit of Excellence, and is passionate about helping people align their goals with deeper purpose, presence, and flow.
Michelle Margaret Fajkus
Michelle found yoga as a teenager in Texas and has been practicing ever since. What began as a physical practice quickly became a lifeline. She has been teaching yoga since 2002 and leading retreats in Guatemala since 2010.
After moving to Guatemala City in 2009, Michelle fell in love with Lake Atitlán. She moved there in 2012 and had her daughter in 2013. She lives in Panajachel with her family and works as a writer, editor, translator and retreat center consultant. Michelle joyfully leads retreats that weave the practices of yoga, writing, and the wisdom teachings of Buddhism and the sacred Mayan calendar. She has studied extensively with local Mayan spiritual guides and is an interpreter of Mayan fire ceremonies. Michelle also offers personal Mayan day sign readings online and in person.
She is known for her grounded presence and compassionate guidance. Her teachings are rooted in mindfulness, authenticity, and the belief that each of us is innately whole and deserving of the freedom to live with purpose and joy.
Rates & Registration
Single Lakefront Room: $2495
Double Lakefront Room: $2095 per person
Single Luxury Suite: $2665
Double Luxury Suite: $2325 per person
Includes all retreat offerings, accommodations, meals, and taxes. Does not include airfare, airport transfers, tips, or optional activities.
A $500 nonrefundable deposit is required to reserve your space. Remaining amount due by October 25, 2025.
