Dance | Defend | Relax

Empowering Day Retreat

2pm - 11pm | May 17th 2025 | Minneapolis

Join us

for an epic day

grounding + centering

moving + breathing

defending + protecting

relaxing + connecting

This day retreat is an all-inclusive experience

Yoga | Self Defense Workshop | Taco Bar | Dancing on the Party Bus | Private Party at Watershed Spa | Yoga Nidra | Spa Serenade

I'm ready to register!

Sometimes this world feels hard to bear and heavy to carry. It is easy to get stuck and lost in sad throught loops. This day retreat idea was born from feeling disconnected, lonely, and disempowered.

Was wondering what to do to feel excited and strong again. Dreamed up an adventure that could be strengthening and fun.

This was born of wanting to remember - and remind us - that we are strong. That we can live joyfully in our bodies, invite a sense of safety, build strength and confidence. We can befriend and delight in our minds. We can bask in kindness and compassion. That we can have fun, dance, eat, and be merry.

And to remember, deeply, what celebrated poet Mary Oliver said,

“Joy is not to be made to be a crumb.”

Let’s gather together for a day to shake it off and lift it up.

Enjoy potent, empowering, rejuvenating, and silly activities (like dancing on a party bus … which may or may not be pink with fluorescent unicorns, fingers crossed!). Learn + enhance our self-defense skills with a renowned, local Sensei. Practice strengthening intuition + body awareness with breath-centered yoga asana at the Aster House ~ gorgeous historic building by the Mississippi River. Gab, laugh, bask in the ambient glow over tacos, guacamole + sparkly bevs. Round it out with radical self care at an urban spa all to ourselves: rad music, new friends, hot tubbing, steaming, sauna, cold-plunge, rest, repeat.

Sounds like a damn fine, fun, freeing, and satisfying day to be alive. Can’t wait to share it with you!

About our epic, empowering Saturday

So excited for this day with you! Please note that this schedule is subject to slight changes in time.
- 2pm Gather at Aster House 25 SE Main St, Minneapolis, MN 55414
- 2:15 Yoga / intention setting
- Party Bus Pick up at Aster House … dance across town
- Drop at Five Elements Martial Arts + Healing Center
- 4pm Five Fingers of Self Defense Workshop with Sensei Kore
- Party Bus Pick up ~ Dance across town with your fave songs on the playlist
- 6:45 Taco Bar at Jefe Urban Cocina
- 8pm Watershed Private Party for us
- ~ Hot tub, steam room, sauna, cold plunge, rest, repeat.
- 8:15pm Optional Gentle movement + Yoga Nidra in Watershed’s Recharge Garden
- Hot tub serenade by Mary
- 11pm Closing Time!
- Yoga practice at Aster House with Mary
- Transportation via Party Bus to Five Elements Martial Arts + Healing Center
- Five Fingers of Self Defense Workshop with Sensei Koré Grate At Five Elements
- Transportation throughout day retreat via Party Bus w/ refreshments including Heti (Low dose THC wellness drinks), bubbly + sparkly water
- Taco Bar at Jefe Urban Cocina (delicious guacamole! Menu below)
- Bubbly and/or Sparkly NA bevarage at Jefe
- Private Party for all of us at Watershed Spa from 8-11 ~ hot tub, steam, sauna, cold plunge
- Optional gentle movement and Yoga Nidra at Watershed
Not included
- Transportation to/from retreat
- Lodging
- Parking fees
- Additional beverages, meats/eats at Jefe
- Gratuity for service at Jefe
- Beverages at Watershed (feel free to BYOB)
Mary Bue is a songwriter, international retreat guide, and yoga teacher based out of Minneapolis, often roaming this beautiful world. Named Best Songwriter of 2020 by City Pages, her music touches upon archetypal themes of the human condition: love, loss, survival, dreams, and the natural world. A longtime student of yoga and psychology, Mary weaves sacred subject matter into her songs, seeking of deeper levels of consciousness, and concern for the environment mixed into oft-crass, real-world hue. Mary released her 9th album The Wildness of Living & Dying in February 2025.
A registered yoga teacher (e-RYT 500) in the Viniyoga tradition, Mary received her certification at Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, WA from Tracy Weber, (student of Gary Kraftsow, student of T.K.V. Desikachar) and her 300 hour from Yoga Center Retreat (formerly Yoga Center of Minneapolis). In 2020, Mary received an additional 200-hour Nada Yoga (the Yoga of Sound) certificate from Nada Yoga School in Rishikesh India, and in 2024 co-founded a Registered Yoga School (RYS) with her master teacher Tara Cindy Sherman, launching Yojita Yoga Teacher Training.

We’ll begin our adventure at Aster House ~ St. Anthony Main ~ a gorgeous new restaurant, music + wedding venue next to the Mississippi River.

Welcome! At 2pm we will gather, share Introductions, intention setting, and a low intensity yoga asana practice in the upper loft/balcony, followed by a brief grounding & protection meditation. Our party bus will arrive after yoga and we’ll dance across town to Five Elements Martial Arts & Healing Center for our self defense training.

Aster House is so beautiful! "With a vibe that hearkens back to the chic Northern Getaways of old, Aster House combines the Jazz Age and the Jet Set, right here on the prettiest street in Minneapolis.”

Hop on the Pink Party Bus

From here, we’ll hop on a Party Bus (hopefully pink!) and head across the city. Dancing (optional yet encouraged!) to your favorite songs to warm up for our self defense workshop.

After the workshop, a selection of beverages will be available for the party bus back to Saint Anthony Main, including bubbly, sparkle water and Heti ~ low dose THC drinks created to give you a sense of place by celebrating the plants around us. Heti means "Home" in the Dakota language.

Check out Heti Products here

Next up: Self Defense Workshop with Shifu/Sensei Koré Grate

The benefits of enhancing your self defense skills are paramount always — and especially in times like these. Strengthening intuition, setting and maintaining personal boundaries (as well as mental boundaries), posture, awareness, vigilance, and building confidence are skills that ripple out far beyond the streets. We are honored and thrilled to learn from Shifu/Sensei Koré Grate (she/her/we/us) for a two hour private workshop at Five Element Martial Arts & Healing Center.

FEMA's Five Fingers of Self Defense & Empowerment Training

Sensei Koré teaches the FIVE FINGERS of Self Defense:

Using your MIND
Using your VOICE
How to ESCAPE
How to FIGHT back
How to TELL your story for descriptions and healing

We’ll arrive to our workshop hopefully warmed up after dancing across town on the party bus!

Please note: If this Day Retreat is not in your budget or doesn’t fit into your schedule at this time, Kore offers this self defense training for Women, Transgender/Non-Binary, and girls 13 and over four times a year for $50 ($20 discount or free options via inquiry). These skills are so important and encouraged - please go even if you can’t make this party! The next training is July 28th 2025 - info here

About Shifu/Sensei Koré Grate

Koré is a lifetime member, board of directors, supporter of AWMAI ~ the Association of Women Martial Arts Instructors, PAWMA ~ the Pacific Association of Women Martial Artists, and NWMAF ~ the National Women's Martial Arts Federation. She is a Professional Spiritual Tattoo Artist at Tatu's By Koré "~ “Soul-Surfacing Skin Designs in a Safe and Sacred Space,” Calligrapher, Artist and studies movement in all aspects including Golf, horseback riding, water skiing, and more.

Koré Grate is Head Instructor & Executive Director of F.E.M.A. since 1989, 8th Degree Black Belt in Wu Chien Pai:(Judo, Jujitsu, Kung Fu, Taiji, Qigong, Meditation), 2nd Degree Black Belt in Soshoryu Iaido (Japanese Sword), 2nd Degree Black Belt in Aikitoho Iaido (Japanese Sword), NWMAF Certified Self Defense Instructor. She has been training for over 50 years & teaching for over 40 years.

Learn more about Sensei Koré and Five Elements Martial Arts + Healing Center here

Koré's mantras are:

"ULTIMATE POSITIVITY"

“LOOK at it, LEARN from it, and LET it go"

Dinner at Jefe Urban Cocina

After dancing across the city in the party bus (featuring your favorite songs), we’ll enjoy a delicious taco bar and some of the best guacamole in town in the ambient glow of Jefe Urban Cocina’s Dragon Lounge. Relax & enjoy in the giant cozy booth or bar seating with your new + old friends.

Jefe Taco Bar

Chips, Salsa, Guacamole to start

Vegetarian Taco Feast: Corn tortillas, black beans, herbivorous butcher vegan chorizo, Pico de gallo, jalepenos, radish, pickled onions, limes, lettuce, cilantro, salso roja, cojia cheese, crema, simple green salad with house-made ranch

Bubbly or NA sparkly drink

*Gratuity, additional eats/meats, other drinks/cockails, not included ~ however you are most welcome to start a separate tab for extras!

The grand finale ~ Private Party for our group at Watershed Spa

Ritual-based bathing based in St. Anthony Main neighborhood of Minneapolis

Our group will enjoy this stunning urban spa all to ourselves. We’ll have three hours to soak, steam, sauna, and cold plunge to our heart’s content. Optional gentle movement and rejuvenating Yoga Nidra practice (“Sleep of the Yogi”) at the start of our time together in the recharge garden. There will be sweet music, sweet silence, and your host Mary Bue will offer an acoustic guitar serenade as you soak!

“Watershed is a beautiful new destination for ritual-based communal bathing in a respectful, safe, and clean environment …. Watershed features a soaking tub that is both social and restful, sauna and steam areas aiding in detoxification and enhancing relaxation, and a rejuvenating cold plunge pool, all essential parts of the hot-cold restorative cycle.
“Watershed embraces the timeless tradition of communal bathing. Our inclusive, whole-systems approach infuses every step of the bathing ritual with clean, positive energy to optimize healing and promote vibrancy. When we come together to shed the outer, we enter an acceptance of self and others. In this atmosphere of acceptance, we experience deep relaxation while simultaneously being energized and renewed. This is the essence of vibrational healing, and what Watershed offers to all who enter. “

BYOB to the spa (cans over glass, please) and we’ll enjoy any leftover beverages from earlier in the day.

Learn more about Watershed Spa Here

Are you ready to Dance | Defend | Relax with us?

This day retreat is an all-inclusive experience from 2pm to 11pm in Minneapolis, hosted by Mary Bue.

We have three tiers of options ~ kindly read carefully as you decide!

Friendship Tier: $275 ~ 5 available*

*Please note ~ if you are able to select the “Be Here” or “Soak it In” tiers and save the Friendship tier spots for those who could use a little break, thank you!

Be Here Tier: $350 ~ Thank you!

Soak it in Tier: $425 For those who are able*

Minimum of 15 participants required for this party to fly 🦋

* If we get close to selling out and receive multiple guests at the Soak It In Tier, 1-2 scholarships will be offered to friends who hoped to come however out of reach right for them right now

Thank you for your consideration and cannot WAIT to share this day with you!

A note about pricing

This has many moving parts and is going to be SO fun! We also recognize the price point may be out of reach for a lot of friends out there.

If this doesn’t fit right now, please do check out Five Element’s Self Defense Training on your own (next session is July 28 (discounted + free option). Enjoy Watershed, Jefe, Aster House, Heti to your heart’s content! Also pay-what-you-like zoom yoga classes w/ Mary and free concerts often. Please craft your own day retreat + follow your bliss!