Your Sanctuary for Deep Transformation
Many people arrive in Sedona feeling a call toward something deeper – seeking clarity, healing, or a sense of renewal during life’s major transitions. At SpiritQuest, we offer a private sanctuary where you can step away from the noise of daily life and reconnect with your true self through guided, transformational experiences.
Whether you are navigating anxiety, relationship challenges, or personal loss, our retreats are designed for those quiet moments when you realize that something in your life is ready to shift.
Expert Guidance for Your Journey
In this way, our role is not to fix or direct, but to provide the guidance, tools, and support that allow insight, healing, and integration to unfold naturally.
Our philosophy centers on fostering deep interpersonal connections and genuine intimacy – helping you move forward while remaining integrated, grounded, and true to yourself. As a holistic retreat center, SpiritQuest provides the tools to release old narratives and embrace a new path. Moving beyond traditional counseling, we utilize a unique blend of spiritual coaching and holistic modalities to manifest a life of balance. These transformative sessions take place at our Sedona retreat center or amidst the raw beauty of the red rocks, creekside, and sacred medicine wheels.
Sacred Land Journeys: Grounded Presence in the Red Rocks
SpiritQuest Retreats take place both indoors at our retreat center and outside amongst the iconic towering buttes of Sedona’s landscape. As one of the few organizations holding a special permit for these sacred lands, we take you beyond the crowded tourist trails to private, secluded sites where true transformation begins.
This is the Grounded Presence stage of your journey. Whether ascending to a high-mountain vista or descending to the cooling waters of Oak Creek, these sessions are designed to reconnect you with the Earth and your own inner stillness. It is here that you will experience the raw power of Sedona’s energy, through our exclusive excursions into the Coconino National Forest.
Our land experiences are customized to your physical comfort and spiritual intent:
Healing Sound & Ceremony: Feel the resonance of Himalayan bowls or the rhythmic beat of the drum over your body as you lay upon the ancient stone.
Vortex Exploration: Learn the history and energetics of Sedona’s vortex sites while engaging in guided meditation or gentle yoga.
Off the Beaten Path: We facilitate morning, evening, and winter midday journeys to secluded locations, including Cathedral Rock, Doe Mountain, Cibola Pass, and the hidden serenity of Casner Canyon or Allen’s Bend.
From simple, short walks to advanced hikes, we lead you to the heart of the desert to find the stillness within.
A Legacy of Personal Transformation
Founded in 2007, SpiritQuest was created to offer more than a temporary escape. Here, our experienced Transformation Master Coaches guide you through deeply personalized work that supports emotional healing and a renewed perspective. While we move beyond the scope of traditional therapy, we provide a safe, compassionate environment dedicated to facilitating lasting life change and sustainable wholeness. SpiritQuest is a holistic retreat experience and does not provide licensed psychotherapy or medical treatment.
Located among Sedona’s red rocks, our retreat center serves as a peaceful home base for private and small-group experiences. We are not a large resort or one-size-fits-all program. Each retreat is intentionally curated to meet guests exactly where they are in their journey.
At SpiritQuest, transformation is not dramatic or performative. It is steady, embodied, and deeply personal.
The SpiritQuest Path to Transformation™
Every SpiritQuest retreat package follows our proprietary SpiritQuest Path to Transformation™. This 4-step journey of Grounded Presence, Somatic Release, the SpiritQuest Method™, and Integrative Wholeness is designed to move you beyond talk therapy and into a state of lasting clarity and peace. Our packages are personal and customized.
SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats’ Mission
SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats focuses on holistic health and Mind, Body, Spirit connection. We believe that the best approach to living your best life is a well-rounded one. No one can heal you the way you can. Therefore, the main goal of SpiritQuest is Empowerment. We do not seek to be your gurus. SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats is founded on six main principles: empowerment, integrity, self-love, letting go, manifestation, and compassion.
Our mission is to preserve and cultivate deep interpersonal connections and intimacy. SpiritQuest ensures that as we move forward, we remain whole, connected, and authentically human. Furthermore, we are committed to a future where deep interpersonal relations remain the heartbeat of our progress. Our goal is that no one loses their sense of belonging in a changing world.
The Path to Transformation™ Team
Katherine Lash – Founder & Architect of Transformation™
Katherine Lash, B.S.Ed., PhB, Magna Cum Laude
Katherine Lash, B.S.Ed., PhB, Magna Cum LaudeAs the founder of SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats, Katherine Lash provides deeply transformative coaching and life-changing experiences amidst the stunning red rocks of Sedona.
Drawing on over 45 years as a local native, Katherine delivers a boutique level of personalized service and attention, with services highly tailored to meet the unique needs and preferences of each individual. In addition, her studies in various yoga traditions, comparative religions, and metaphysical systems form the foundation of her work. Katherine graduated magna cum laude from Northern Arizona University with degrees in Education and Philosophy.
From Her Journey to Your Transformation
As an invited member of the Forbes Business Council, Katherine regularly shares her industry insights; you can find her latest contributions in their official publications. For those seeking her personal story of empowerment, her memoir and other writings are featured on her Amazon Author Profile.
Her work is highly influenced by Bert Hellinger, Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, and Virginia Satir. After 15 years as a secondary educator, she transitioned into holistic instruction.
She integrates her training in Gottman Couples Coaching and Compassionate Communication to help thousands of clients re-frame their past and transform toward a brighter future. In addition, her expertise in Family Constellation work and her background in the arts allow her to use intuitive guidance to restore balance for families and individuals alike.
Cultural Diversity and Spiritual Growth
During her time living in Bali, Indonesia, she traveled extensively through Tibet, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, gaining profound insights into cultural diversity and spiritual practice.
Her journey continued in Hawaii, where she spent two years immersing herself in Ayurvedic medicine. She also studied various Eastern healing modalities while earning her professional license in aesthetics. Upon returning to her native Arizona, Katherine participated in over 100 sweat lodge ceremonies.
This was a transformative experience that deepened her ability to release personal pain and empowered her to guide others in doing the same. To ensure this level of care, Katherine has hand-picked an elite team of practitioners.
Hand-picked Team of Practitioners
Using her unwavering dedication to quality, Katherine hand-picked elite transformation facilitators to ensure every guest receives world-class support. As a result, they create custom-crafted journeys designed specifically for personal growth and evolution. Specializing in small-group and individual relationship dynamics, her team teaches transformative life skills and guides people through critical transitions.
Hear From Katherine
Read Katherine’s Book
Challenging Times Result in Self-Expansion
This is a tale of Katherine’s journey from despair and low self-esteem to empowerment of the soul. Her story leads the reader to various countries in Asia to Hawaii and back again to her beloved Sedona, AZ. Along the way she discovered numerous insights and tools for spiritual growth and fulfillment.
By working through her “dark night of the soul,” Katherine gained the jewels that allowed her to grow her business SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats, and help others along the way. These tools include helping clients find purpose, develop self-esteem, let go of the past, embrace self-love, forgive others, sharpen communication, develop trust, and much more.
Her journey from personal despair to spiritual empowerment was not just a private victory; it became the blueprint for everything SpiritQuest does. This led her to develop the SpiritQuest Path to Transformation™ and the SpiritQuest Method™.
These are not just concepts, but the exact tools and sequences she used to reclaim her own life, now refined into a proven process to help you move through your own tribulations and step into a life of sustainable wholeness and purpose.
Katherine Lash, Architect of Transformation
Lead Transformation Coach, Troy DeSmet – HVPM I & II, B.A., NLP Certified
Dare to live a virtuous life full of contemplation and acts of faith. Troy has devoted his life to right action, transformation, supporting others, and encouraging them to be their best. Along with life experiences that include being a dad to 3 grown adults, selling his organic foods company after a 30-year career, and healing from a near-death experience (Aortic Dissection). Accomplishing 10 dreams in 10 years, Troy incorporates the wisdom from scars with tools and techniques gained to assist others in living their best lives.Troy is a Transformative Coach providing life skills and understanding for spiritual awakening. He is an intuitive and wounded healer. Healing and development experiences brought him through life experiences of Existential Nihilism/Depression and the Dark Night of the Soul. By guiding others through the process of reclaiming their personal power after challenging or manipulative relationships, Troy helps guests rediscover their authentic voice and inner strength.
Venturing Out on the Land For Healing
Troy is a master guide who facilitates land journeys through the amazing red rocks of Sedona, AZ. His ventures include Cathedral Rock, Sugarloaf Mountain, Boynton Canyon, and Doe Mountain.
Troy’s transformation philosophy: when clients learn how amazing and powerful they are, when they learn to love themselves once again.
When they know that THEY are the ones who can heal themselves, then they will join those of us on the planet who are here to raise the vibration of consciousness. Troy lives with the love of his life, Katherine, at the Sedona Sanctuary in Oak Creek Canyon. He provides Personal Spiritual and Healing Retreats with SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats.
SpiritQuest Transformation Office Staff
Manager Jessica R. Lash – CLC
Certified Transformation Life Coach Jessica Lash has devoted her life to validating other humans on their healing paths. After going through her dark night, she had a profound Spiritual Awakening. Nothing was ever the same after that point. She devoted her whole life to Spirituality and healing. Her past experiences gave her a wealth of empathy, understanding, and a deepening of her heart.
She learned to never judge anyone, and has deep faith in every person she connects with. Jessica obtained her Life Coaching license at Southwest Healing Arts in Phoenix, where she also studied Ayurvedic Medicine, Yoga, and Holistic Health.
Transformative Intakes for Custom Journeys
After working with SpiritQuest for over 10 years, doing bodywork and healing, she decided to pour her heart into the office as the Office Manager. She has since studied Business Management, Human Resources, and Communications. She merges her life experience, spirituality, and heart-centered living with her love for Business Administration to lead others to the Path of Transformation.
She has a unique gift that allows her to connect with the people she consults on the phone and create a custom retreat for them. Most of all, and more importantly, she lives with integrity and deep humility. Jessica sees each of her clients as their very own most impactful practitioner.
The Sedona Retreat Experience
Combining Eastern, Western, and Sacred Earth modalities, the SpiritQuest Sedona Retreat Experience will take clients to a place of wholeness through a very specifically designed program. Our retreats are built of a synergistic series of sessions based on a paradigm developed by owner, Katherine Lash. The retreat will not consist of random sessions thrown together, rather we will carefully consider which session should occur first and so on allowing one session to build upon another.
Specialized Practitioners to Facilitate Private Retreats
We will then gather a team of specialists and form the core group, these are practitioners who will work with clients throughout the retreat. Our most popular experiences include our Private Spiritual Retreats, Personalized Healing Retreats, and our signature Private Couples Retreats. In addition, clients love the Private Shamanic Retreats, Personalized Women’s Retreats, and the Private Wellness Retreat.
We consider ALL of Sedona part of the retreat experience and because our retreats go DEEP. If a client needs to cry or have a big release, he/she will have the space and freedom to do so…privately. This is NOT a spa experience or a vacation hang-out. A SpiritQuest Sedona Retreat is a life-changing experience of authentic self-growth and healing. It is a spiritual awakening. Our guests are never the same!
SpiritQuest Retreat Coordinators
Kirti Wright Zhu – CHT (Certified Hypnotherapist)
Assistant Manager, Kirti is a valuable transformation staff member of SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats. She began her journey in October of 2020, upon moving to Sedona, AZ. She has worked in hospitality as a Front Desk Agent and Reservations Coordinator for over a decade, from her hometown in Alaska to the Bay Area of California.
Kirti transitioned from that world back in 2015, to live at the Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville, CA, where she practiced Karma Yoga and offered her skills to her community for 5 years. Kirti thrives when helping her clients re-connect with their true, authentic soul expression.
Holding Space for a Custom Design
She is our Assistant Manager, as well as Retreat Coordinator and Practitioner, enjoying the abundant opportunities to be a dynamic member of the SpiritQuest Team! Kirti has tremendous skill in listening and patiently holding space for SpiritQuest clients. Kirti’s gifted ability to “read” people and hear people allows her to design retreat programs that are highly effective for clients.
Lauren Riffle
Retreat Coordinator, Lauren, is a Native of the Central Coast of California. Lauren first traveled to the Red Rocks of Sedona nearly a decade ago. With a comprehensive personal & professional background in yoga, energy work, massage therapy & trauma-informed care she is passionate about the myriad paths to well-being. She embraces the idea of staying.
Staying with a feeling, staying in confrontation, and staying when things get uncomfortable. Her yin yoga practice embodies this concept, and the evidence of its benefits is easily spotted in Lauren’s resiliency, great attitude, and heart-centered commitment to what she lives and believes in.
Empowering the Human Spirit
She is continually inspired by the transformation of the Human Spirit and our profound ability to create healthy, empowered, impactful lives through the ever-changing, and often challenging seasons life presents. Lauren recognizes her position at SpiritQuest as a sacred call to touch and impact people’s lives & holds great reverence for the beauty & history of Sedona.
SpiritQuest Webmaster & Support Staff
Rayonna Lash – B.A. History, LMT
As the Senior Web Developer at SpiritQuest Sedona Retreats, Rayonna bridges the gap between technical precision and soulful design. With a multidisciplinary background in Graphic Design and History, she is the architect of our digital sanctuary, ensuring that every online interaction reflects the serenity and beauty of the Sedona landscape.
Rayonna specializes in front-end development and performance optimization, crafting a seamless experience for those seeking healing and personal transformation. Whether she is fine-tuning technical code or designing marketing visuals, she is driven by a love for authentic storytelling and the great outdoors. When she isn’t optimizing the SpiritQuest digital path, Rayonna can be found immersed in studio art or a new mountain bike adventure.
Meet the Transformation Master Coaches of SpiritQuest
To ensure a seamless and integrated experience, all SpiritQuest practitioners are booked exclusively through our central office. Upon designing your transformative package, we will determine the right blend of elite practitioners to facilitate your journey. Our retreat designers are masters at determining the flow of your experience and the right team for your retreat based on availability and expertise.
Testimonials
We are proud of our Excellent rating on Google
