Strong, Wild, Wise: Living in Rhythm for Vitality & Longevity
Reclaim your vitality, fill your cup, and connect on your journey towards optimal health.
Nourish Your Mind, Body, and Soul:
A Retreat for Self-Care and Transformation
with your hosts
Mary Sheila Gonnella, BCHN and Marcella Friel
Space is limited, sign up today!
Journey back to your most vital self
Do people tell you you're aging “gracefully”, but inside you're silently struggling with fatigue, inflammation, hormone imbalance, or emotional stagnation?
You deserve to feel energized, connected, and confident in your skin, so that your lifespan matches your health-span, and the rest of your life becomes the best of your life.
We’ll explore how to:
- Break free from outdated beliefs around aging and appearance
- Tune into your body’s inner rhythms using wisdom from Ayurveda, modern nutrition, and somatic movement
- Build habits and rituals that align with your nervous system and hormone cycles
- Use EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) to gently release emotional blocks that are no longer serving you
- Reclaim your strength, mentally, emotionally, and physically
Through daily practices, deep rest, and authentic community, you’ll leave with a personalized roadmap to guide your next chapter, all in an environment of fun, playfulness, and plenty of belly laughs.
Transform
You’ll participate in interactive sessions to help you find hormonal and emotional balance and love the body you're in.
Take in the ocean views from our retreat hall as you learn new ways to connect to your health goals & nourish your best asset ... YOU!
Relax
Nestled between tropical jungles and golden sandy beaches lies Mar de Jade, an idyllic wellness retreat center in Chacala, Mexico.
Just north of Puerto Vallarta, Chacala offers lots of local excursions to choose from, as well as simply relaxing in hammocks by the sea.
Nourish
Experience open-air oceanside dining while being nourished with the freshest foods from Mar de Jade's organic farm.
The 3 daily buffet meals are lovingly prepared from scratch, using the highest quality organic ingredients available. The mainly vegetarian menu offers chicken and seafood options.
What is the Vitality Live Wellness Retreat all about?
Come as you are—with an open heart and mind—to a warm, tropical sanctuary where healing meets inspiration. Nestled in a vibrant beautiful cove, this retreat offers the perfect opportunity to plant seeds of transformation that will nourish you long after you return home.
When you immerse yourself in the natural beauty of the ocean, salty air, and tropical warmth, your body can truly rest and digest. The elements of this sacred environment gently calm the nervous system, replenish your energy, and create space for deep rejuvenation.
Throughout the retreat, you'll be guided to release old patterns and explore new practices that support real, lasting change. Together, we’ll focus on ways to reduce inflammation, strengthen the gut-brain connection, boost immunity, release old patterns that no longer serve you, and build an inner ecosystem that supports vitality, clarity, and growth.
Where We’ll Be: Mar de Jade, Chacala, Mexico
We’ll be staying at Mar de Jade, a stunning wellness retreat center nestled between the lush tropical jungle and the golden sands of Chacala, a peaceful fishing village on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. This intimate and inviting space offers the perfect backdrop for relaxation, inspiration, and deep nourishment—both physically and spiritually.
Founded in 1982 by Dr. Laura del Valle and her siblings, Mar de Jade was born from a dream and a school bus, as they left bustling Mexico City to build something truly special in Chacala. Since then, it has grown into a sanctuary for transformation, healing, and conscious living.
A portion of each guest’s stay supports MDJ Community Projects, a nonprofit that includes:
- El Jardín – a Montessori-Waldorf inspired K–9 school in Chacala
- TAO de Jade – a trade school for youth facing economic hardship
- El Rancho – an organic farm that provides many of the fresh, vibrant ingredients featured in Mar de Jade’s nourishing meals
When you attend this retreat at Mar de Jade, you support a living, thriving ecosystem of community, service, and sustainability.
What if wellness didn’t feel like a struggle?
What if...
- instead of falling into bed depleted, you ended your days feeling deeply nourished?
- your self-care wasn’t another chore, but a natural rhythm you joyfully returned to each day?
- you replaced late-night scrolling with moonlit reflection? Or mindless food choices with vibrant, intentional nourishment?
- guilt and “shoulds” were replaced with gentle structure and lasting support?
This is exactly what Vitality Live is about!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the truly magical and powerful experiences you offered us all at your Spring Vitality retreat. Your knowledge and teachings have always been so informative and inspiring but all of my expectations about what the retreat would hold for me were far exceeded.
I am also so grateful and filled up by all the new friends (aka retreat members) I made . What we all created together will never leave me.
Each of those individuals has touched my life in a meaningful way that I hope to continue and grow in the future and at upcoming retreats. They each widened my understanding and my horizons in all different ways.
Debbi - happy retreat participant
This retreat is an invitation to...
come home to your natural rhythm—one that’s been there all along, pulsing beneath the noise of everyday life.
Deep in your hormonal system, there is a knowing.
You are connected to the ocean’s tides, to the sun’s arc, to the pulse of the earth.
Even when you feel out of sync—you’re not broken.
You’re just overdue for a reconnection.
Together, we’ll untangle the habits that no longer serve you.
You’ll learn to stabilize without the struggle,
regulate without rigidity, and reconnect to rest, resilience, and joy.
Through the wisdom of Ayurveda, hormone harmony, and the gut-brain connection, you’ll remember what your body has always known:
You’re not meant to push. You’re meant to flow.
It’s time to realize your wellness—and reclaim your rhythm.
Realize your vision of wellness
The vision for this retreat is to come together in person and create an experience of learning and deepening our connection to ourselves in practice with one another.
This retreat will distill some of the core teachings from Mary Sheila and Marcella's extensive body of work into a condensed form, giving you new tools and inspiration to live your healthiest through all the stages of your life, while learning tools to release what no longer serves you.
Connect with your natural rhythms
Our vitality is deeply connected to the rhythms of the earth. Just as the planet thrives with a balanced ecosystem, so does our well-being.
At this retreat, you’ll reconnect with your inner ecosystem—nourishing yourself in alignment with nature and your body’s circadian rhythms. Through daily rituals and intentional practices, we’ll explore how to support brain health, reduce inflammation, old belief systems, and embrace aging with strength and clarity.
Book your retreat & get ready to:
Connect - Get oriented, meet your community and explore what
the week has to offer. Set your intentions as we embark on a beautiful week together.
Experience & Explore - Now that you've set your intentions - tap into where and how you want to change, as well as connect the dots between your emotional health and physical health, support your gut brain connection, boost your immunity, and create an inner ecosystem for change.
We'll explore what it means to initiate transformation with the elemental science of Ayurveda, transforming emotional patterns that have you stuck and learn new habits that support the body to come back into balance.
Expand - Throughout the week, we'll discuss how to implement the insights and strategies you’ve learned, with a new mindset to reclaim your vitality.
Logistics
Register for the retreat, then book your accommodations with the retreat center. All meals are included with your accommodations.
Airfare, spa treatments, and optional excursions are not included.
Once you register, you’ll receive information on how to book your room and what to do if you’d like to share a room at the resort. (sharing a room is a great way to save)
Step 1: Book with us first and grab your spot by January 2026. Space is limited so don’t delay.
Step 2: Invite your favorite friends or significant other to join you!
Step 3: Book your room at Mar de Jade.
Step 4: Do a happy dance! We’ll see you in Mexico!
Optional excursions to connect with nature and local culture include jungle hikes, snorkeling, horseback riding, petroglyphs, and more!
***Travel Insurance is highly recommended. You can protect your investment, by purchasing a cancellation/travel insurance policy. insuremytrip.com is a company that has many policies to choose from, including a “cancel for any reason” rider option. There are many other companies offering similar travel insurance plans.
Tuition Cost for The Vitality Live Wellness Retreat!
Full Price - $1100
Early Bird Discount - $950
Early Bird Discount Total Pricing Including Room Accommodations at Mar de Jade
Own Room:
Retreat + Ocean Room = $3900 all-inclusive* + travel
Retreat + Garden Room = $3500 all-inclusive* + travel
Retreat + Guest Room = $3000 all-inclusive* + travel
Retreat + Dorm Room = $2100 all-inclusive* + travel
Share a Room and Save:
Retreat + Ocean Room = $2900 all-inclusive* + travel
Retreat + Garden Room = $2700 all-inclusive* + travel
Retreat + Guest Room = $2400 all-inclusive* + travel
*All-inclusive retreat price includes 7-nights of breathtaking accommodation, 3 delicious buffet-style meals/day, Retreat manual, daily deep-dive lessons in Nutrition, EFT, & Ayurveda with Mary Sheila & Marcella.
Wow is right! What an amazing and deeply nourishing experience taking us to the core of vitality. You took us so far beyond what to eat, when, where I often ruminate, to an active, freeing, blessed encounter with earth’s element. Our circle of sacred human beings steeped in your wisdom elevated me to a state of trust in the world I share with others. Thank you and your beautiful team.
Maureen - happy retreat participant
My whole attitude toward weight and my body have changed dramatically, and I am finding I now have deep compassion and appreciation for all of it! Thank you so much for helping me turn toward love for myself. And the downstream effects are love for everyone else as well. I feel a sea change happening. I am never going back to self-loathing again!
Just wanted to express my deep gratitude for you and MSG!!
Marjorie Kroeger, Boston MA—
About Mary Sheila & Marcella
Mary Sheila and Marcella started working together in 2011 while teaching at Bauman College, where they were paired to co-teach a class called Nutrition Essentials for Everyone. Mary Sheila covered the nutrition portion while Marcella led the culinary instruction. Their chemistry sparked something magical, and they’ve been friends and collaborators ever since.
Together, they’ve co-led online programs (starting with their first in 2017), and since 2019 facilitated in-person retreats in Sonoma County and Colorado, and most recently co-created a DailyOM course in 2024. Their dynamic partnership blends their unique strengths into a powerful, supportive experience that paves the way for transformation.
Mary Sheila Gonnella
Board Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Ayurveda Educator
Mary Sheila Gonnella is a Board Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Educator, and Ayurvedic Practitioner known for blending the science of metabolism with the soul of earth-based healing. Her journey began not in a clinic, but on the land, through basketry, seaweed harvesting, wildcrafting, and fermentation, which continue to inform her whole-body approach to health.
Mary Sheila has decades of experience educating, inspiring, and empowering others, with summits, mentorships, and spicy one-liners on blood sugar balance. Whether it’s decoding CTX scores or whipping up a wild rice kale salad, she meets people where they are and lifts them higher—with habit stacks, heartfelt encouragement, and a solid dose of metabolic truth.
She’s not just teaching health, she’s helping people reclaim their vitality through food and craft a lifestyle that tastes good, feels right, and works.
Marcella Friel
Food & Forgiveness Mentor
Marcella Friel is a transformational mentor who helps health-conscious women love and forgive themselves, their food, and their figure.
In 2018, Marcella founded the Women, Food & Forgiveness Academy, an online community of women who help each other heal the emotional roots of yo-yo dieting, binge eating, sugar addiction, and chronic body shaming.
Marcella is also author of Tap, Taste, Heal: Use Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to Eat Joyfully and Love Your Body.
Known for her playful humor, uncanny insight, and deep kindness, Marcella draws on nearly four decades of Buddhist meditation practice plus 3 decades in 12-Step recovery to help women reclaim their soul from restrictive dieting and love the woman they see in the mirror, no matter what the number on the scale.
Marcella's compassionate, loving and wise approach coupled with Mary Sheila's passion and wisdom around nutrition has been a godsend to me indeed. I'm so glad I joined the Academy it has been life-changing for me and I feel like I'm just getting started!
Lola Fayemi, Surrey, London, UK
Come retreat with us in beautiful Chacala, Mexico, experience the lush green of the jungle and the white sandy tropical beach, and fill your cup!
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