Community Builders: How Calm Mama’s Marcella Wilson Supports Self Care for Sonoma County Moms

As a mom, it can be tough to find a balance between caring for yourself and caring for others. Calm Mama Retreats, founded by Sonoma County local Marcella Wilson and friend Amy Leyva, is designed to give you the space you need to reconnect with your soul, mind, and body. 

From one-day escapes to weekend getaways, Calm Mama Retreats offers moms a chance to rest, recharge, and share their experiences with other women who truly understand the highs and lows of parenting. 

Marcella’s mission is simple: to remind moms that they deserve the same love and care they so often give to others.

We spoke with Marcella to learn more about her business, her mission, and how making space for moms to practice self-care creates a stronger community.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and Calm Mama Retreats?

Marcella Wilson: My name is Marcella Wilson. I have three children—all boys—who are ten, eight, and four. My family lives in Sacramento, California, but I grew up in Sonoma County, so I’m very familiar with the Bay Area and the North Bay. I love being here and the people. 

Calm Mama Retreats was born when my friend noticed there was no retreat or getaway for just moms. We were both moms in the thick of having another baby during the pandemic. 

As you can imagine, it was a lot. The pandemic was overwhelming for everybody, but it was definitely a lot for moms specifically. 

Since we couldn’t find retreats dedicated to moms, we decided that we’d do it ourselves. 

We began learning more about wellness, how it affects motherhood, and how we can calm ourselves and our kids in order to live a more peaceful life, and we started mapping out our luxury retreats. 

Today, Calm Mama has several types of retreats, either lasting for a day or a weekend, depending on how long you want to get away.

What does a day retreat with Calm Mama entail?

Day retreats are about four hours long and usually include some kind of meditation. Typically, it’s a sound bath. 

If you haven’t had one, they are so amazing. You lay there, and someone plays these calming sounds on crystal bowls that really get into your soul, body, and mind. You let the sound wash over you, and the practitioner helps you meditate. It’s especially helpful when you have a lot going on, and it’s hard to slow down and be quiet in your own space. A sound bath takes that constant chatter out of your head and replaces it with a healing sound. 

In addition to meditation, we’ll also have a guest speaker. 

For example, we’ve previously brought in a therapist that specializes in motherhood. She talked about how to reframe what motherhood is for you because it’s totally different from when we grew up and when our parents grew up. 

We’ve also had therapists come in to do inner child work. It’s great for moms who haven’t thought about how their childhood affects the way that they parent and the way that they feel within the chaos.

You can also expect some great food and likely some bubbles! We love to feed people.

What is the Calm Mama weekend retreat experience? 

Our weekend retreats are usually two nights and three days, where a small group of about ten women all come together to stay in a house together. 

The whole weekend focuses on your mind, body, and soul. We might have someone come in and do massages or yoga. We encourage moms to connect and share experiences so they feel seen. There’s a lot of bonding and forming of long-term friendships.

We really want to help moms embrace the idea that motherhood can be beautiful, but it’s also not sunshine and rainbows all the time. We encourage a comfortable space to admit that sometimes you’re not okay, and that’s completely normal.

Why is it so important for moms to have an extended community?

I grew up with a lot of great people in my life and a strong support system. I’m really lucky that my family is able to talk about things. However, as I got older and had more physical distance from my family, it became more difficult. I had to find a community because you can’t do this alone. I also knew I couldn’t just do it with my husband because he’s on his own personal journey as well. There’s something very special about being around women and also being around moms.

We have a tendency to think that if we don’t see other people going through something, we’re the only ones experiencing it. If I don’t see other moms giving their kids the eye or an arm grab, I might think, “What’s wrong with me? Am I a terrible mother?” 

We created this community to show mothers they’re not alone. You’re not crazy because your kids are driving you out of your mind that day. Retreats help provide validation and the ability to bounce ideas off of each other. We all just need to hug it out sometimes. This stuff is hard.

What would you tell moms who need more community support?

If you’re not going to join us for a Calm Mama retreat, which is totally fine, you should find another way to get support. Find somewhere where you can be part of a community that is mindful and intentional in encouraging self-care. 

If you want to join us, we love meeting new people. We love treating moms to a day or weekend of care. We’ll help you with your patience and regulating your own nervous system. You’ll gain valuable tools that can bring you back down to earth when your kids are hectic. If we can control ourselves and we can show our kids that we can control ourselves, then they can learn from us. It helps us, and it helps them. 

Stop focusing on what society tells you that you need to do to be a good mom. It’s a breath of fresh air. That’s what you take away from our retreats. 

We all talk about filling our cups to be able to fill other people’s cups, right? Our amazing sound healer, Amora, shared with me that what we need to do is overflow our cup so that the overflow goes into everybody else. We are still filled, but the overflow is what everyone can have. 

How can moms learn more about attending a Calm Mama Retreat?

We’re always planning new retreats. If you want to get involved, visit us online to find all the details, check out our schedule, and get in touch with us. You can also check out our Instagram.  We’ve been so lucky to have used SOMO Cowork for retreats—it’s such a beautiful space. So, if you’re a Rohnert Park resident, you’ll probably find us back there again soon.

Learn More About SOMO Village

If you’re interested in living in a sustainable community that fuses the best of city living with the country lifestyle and all the amazing things that Sonoma County has to offer, we invite you to visit SOMO Village. To learn more, download our residential project brief or get in touch with us today.