by Kanjana Hartshorne | Mar 10, 2026

From Training to Transformation: How Maternal Rage Became Our Newest Retreat

By Kanjana Hartshorne, LCSW, C-IAYT, CCFP, Reiki Master

The Moment Everything Clicked

Last December, I co-facilitated a training on maternal rage for a room full of therapists. We explored the clinical landscape: the research on maternal rage as a presenting issue in the perinatal period and beyond. We discussed evidence-based interventions. We talked about the nervous system, compassion fatigue, and the systemic roots of parental anger.

But then something shifted.

We moved from the intellectual to the embodied. We practiced Lion’s Breath together. We explored what it felt like to let rage move through our bodies instead of managing it away. And in that room, something cracked open. Therapists began to feel their own rage, to create space and allow it to be expressed, to feel a desire for more.

One participant said: “I came here to learn how to help my clients. I’m leaving knowing I need this for myself.”

That’s when I knew: we needed to go deeper. We needed to move beyond training into experiential learning.

The Problem with “Calming” Rage

Here’s what I’ve learned as a therapist, yoga therapist, and compassion fatigue specialist: we’ve been taught to manage anger away. Suppress it. Regulate it. Turn it into something “productive.”

But what if the anger itself is the medicine?

Maternal rage is not a pathology. It’s a signal. It’s your nervous system telling you that something is wrong: your needs aren’t being met, your boundaries are violated, the systems around you are broken.

When we skip straight to “calming” techniques, we’re essentially saying: “Your anger is bad. Let’s make it go away.”

But that’s not integration. That’s repression.

True somatic practice honors both expression AND regulation. It says: “Your rage is valid. Let’s feel it fully. Let’s let your body speak what your words cannot. And then, let’s bring your nervous system back to baseline so you can move forward with clarity.”

From Training to Retreat: The Birth of Wanderhome Rage Retreats

After that December training, participants came to me with the same request: “Can we do this again? Can we go deeper?”

I realized that a one-day training wasn’t enough. We needed time. We needed space. We needed to move from the classroom into nature, into the woods, into the body.

That’s how Wanderhome Rage Retreats were born.

We’re hosting two intimate retreats this spring:

Rage and Clarity for Therapists (March 27)

For clinicians who hold space for everyone else and rarely hold space for themselves. You’ll learn evidence-based somatic interventions that you can bring directly back to your clients. You’ll develop a clarity plan for your next big goal or project. And you’ll receive an invitation into our annual mastermind for ongoing clinical integration.

Mom Rage Retreat (April 26)

For birthing parents and moms ready to unlearn the shame around maternal rage. We’ll explore the systemic roots of anger, understand it as righteous rather than a flaw, and harness it as fuel for conscious action and boundary-setting.

Both retreats include the same core approach:

Expression and Externalizing: Screaming in the woods. Throwing paint. Lion’s Breath. The body speaks what words cannot.
Witnessing and Reflection: Your art becomes a mirror. What does your rage reveal about your needs? Your boundaries? Your power?
Nervous System Reset: Sauna and cold plunge contrast therapy. Yin yoga. Bringing your body back to baseline.
Integration and Action: A clarity plan for moving forward with consciousness and intention.

The Science Behind the Modalities

You might be wondering: is this just catharsis? Isn’t venting supposed to make anger worse?

Research shows that mechanical catharsis without integration can actually reinforce anger patterns. Smashing things and screaming in a rage room might feel good in the moment, but if there’s no reflection, no nervous system reset, no integration, the pressure remains.

Our approach is different because it’s clinical, not cathartic.

Sauna and Cold Plunge: Nervous System Resilience

Contrast therapy (alternating heat and cold) is evidence-based for nervous system regulation and emotional resilience:

Sauna lowers cortisol (stress hormone) and increases endorphins
Cold plunge stimulates the vagus nerve for parasympathetic activation
Together they reset your nervous system after emotional expression
This is where integration happens

Expressive Arts and Somatic Practice: Embodied Meaning-Making

Screaming, throwing paint, and art-making become meaning-making. Paired with breathwork and yoga, these embodied practices facilitate emotional release and nervous system integration:

Externalizes what words cannot express through the body
Lion’s Breath (simhasana pranayama) for primal expression and release
Yin yoga for clarity, integration, and nervous system reset
Art-making as embodied insight and personal meaning

Why Moms Need This Now

Maternal rage is gaining recognition as a legitimate clinical issue. Research shows that rage is a common presenting issue in the perinatal period and beyond, often co-occurring with postpartum depression and anxiety.

But here’s what’s not being talked about enough: some of that rage is righteous.

Moms are angry about:

The impossible standards we’re held to
The lack of systemic support
The expectation that we’ll do it all with a smile
The state of the world we’re raising children in
The injustice, inequality, and burnout

That anger is not a symptom to medicate away. It’s a signal that something needs to change.

And that’s why we created the Mom Rage Retreat. Not to calm moms down. But to help them understand their rage as valid, explore its systemic roots, and harness it as fuel for conscious action.

The Clarity Plan: Integration Beyond the Retreat

One thing that sets our retreats apart from other wellness experiences is the clarity plan.

At the end of each retreat, you’ll work with me to identify what you learned, what shifted in your body, and how you want to move forward. For therapists, this is an invitation into deeper work and our annual mastermind. For moms, you’ll leave with concrete practices and resources for continuing the work at home.

Because the retreat isn’t the end. It’s the beginning.

Join Us

Rage and Clarity for Therapists March 27 | 11:30am-2pm | Fox Den Wellness, Exton, PA 6 intimate spots | $295

Learn more and register for the Therapist Retreat

Mom Rage Retreat April 26 | 3-5:30pm | Fox Den Wellness, Exton, PA 12 spots | $295

Learn more and register for the Mom Rage Retreat

Spots are limited. Registration is live.

Share This With Your Community

Know a therapist or mom who needs this? Share this post. Forward the retreat link. Rage is contagious in the best way.

About Kanjana Hartshorne

Kanjana Hartshorne is a licensed psychotherapist (LCSW), IAYT-certified yoga therapist, certified compassion fatigue professional, and Reiki Master. She is the founder of Healing Hearts Wellness, a holistic group practice where she and her team blend traditional talk therapy with body-based approaches including IFS, EMDR, yoga therapy, reiki, creative arts, ecotherapy, dance movement therapy, and somatic practices. Kanjana leads the annual Body Compassion Project Retreat, CE workshops for therapists, and intensives that invite people to reconnect with their body, energy, and spirit in playful, creative, and transformative ways. She believes therapy doesn’t have to stay inside the box. It can be soulful, imaginative, and even magical.