Well Woman Exam: Reflections from the Harmonize Your Life Women’s Self-Care Retreat 2024

For the past 5 days, I’ve been engaged in hosting 94 women who joined me in Montego Bay, Jamaica for the 2024 Harmonize Your Life Women’s Self-Care Retreat. After a few days of being totally unplugged, I decided to read emails that had filled my inbox and noticed an important email from Kaiser Permanente that read “Important Message from Your Doctor.” This email caught attention because of the OBGYN appointment that I had just completed the day before I traveled from Atlanta, GA to Jamaica.

While I had no reason to be alarmed, I dare not ignore this letter from my doctor. Because the pap smear test is an important exam for women which reveals changes in the cervical cells that may lead to cancer later in life. According to medical studies, it is recommended that women between the ages of 21 and 65, have a pap smear exam annually to test for cervical cancer. However new studies reveal that women over 30 should have a pap smear exam every 3 years unless there has been an abnormal exam in their medical history.

Research shows, finding cancer early positions women to have the best chance of fighting or preventing cervical cancer. Therefore, I followed the instructions for opening letter and began reading this letter from my OBGYN physician:

Hello Antoinette Alvarado

Your pap smear was reported as normal. Your next pap smear should

be done in three years. Your next well woman exam should be in one year.

For details regarding pap smear screening, please refer to the website,

for the American College of Obstetrician and Gynecologists (ACOG.org).

I look forward to seeing you again for your well woman exam next year.

Be well.

Joanne Sweeney, MD

I am elated to know that my pap smear exam was normal, and no cancer was detected in my cervical cells! However, there is a line in this letter that stood out to me and captured the essence of the Harmonize Your Life Women’s Self-Care Retreat. Dr. Sweeny stated, “Your next well woman exam should be in one year.”

When I read this, I immediately connected her advice to what we do each year in this retreat. The Harmonize Your Life Women’s Self-Care Retreat is a well woman exam. Women gather from all over the continental United States for a 4-day retreat with other women who are focused on being well. Like that pap smear exam, the HYL Retreat is detecting cancerous mindsets, habits and lifestyles, preventing women from being overtaken by life’s adversities, traumas, past mistakes, past failures, or the delusions of success.

The HYL Retreat is not a typical women’s retreat. The women bond at this retreat and make commitments to hold one another accountable for self-care, health, and wellness throughout the year. God meets us in the rest, fun, laughter, play, beach walks, beach parties, sunrises, sunsets, pool parties, excursions, fitness classes, yoga, deep breathing, fellowships, meals, dancing, music, shopping, spa services, journaling, craft making, and the cleansing tears that we cry during our empowerment and self-care strategy sessions.  

Thanks to our 2024 retreat speakers, Talaya Clark, MD, Dr. Anastasia Alvarado, Sheila Agnew McCoy, Dr. Jeanne Porter King, and Mona Roberts for presenting relevant material that challenged and focused our attention on what it really means to be well, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, socially, occupationally, and financially.

Thanks to my amazing HYL Retreat Team, Erica Johnson, Ashaki Stinson, Juanita Butler, Michele Johnson, Courtney Cage and Adlesssa Edwards for your diligence, creativity, and administrative support. Thanks to the women who saw a needand filled in the gaps, like my spiritual daughter Shelly Mason and my ride or die girlfriend, Roslyn Bogle.

Thanks to my husband, Bishop Johnathan Alvarado, for your undying love, support and personal investment into every vision God has place in my heart. Thanks to my sons and daughters,Johnathan, II, Jasmine, Joshua and Ariel who give me space and time away from home to pour into women. I look forward to coming home to my family after each retreat. This year, I’m especially excited to spend time loving on my grandson, Johnathan Elliott, III.

Thanks to the women who trusted me to provide and atmosphere for you to unplug, rest, rejuvenate and refresh as you go into this new year. In the words of my OBGYN, Dr. Sweeney, I look forward to seeing you again for your well woman exam next year.

Be well,

Dr. Toni