Finally, care built entirely around lipedema, and around you.
Come for the full five-day retreat, or join with a 3-day pass. Either way, you'll leave with real relief, practical tools, and a community that finally gets it.
Request Retreat DetailsYou're not broken. Your lymphatic system just needs support.
Lipedema is a chronic, progressive condition of the fat and connective tissue that affects millions of women — and is still widely missed, misdiagnosed and misunderstood. It is not a willpower problem. It is not simply weight. It is a real disease with a real name, and it responds to real, consistent care.
Over five days in Los Gatos, California, you will eat food chosen for a lipedema body, receive hands-on lymphatic work, move gently in the ways your lymphatic system responds to, try the therapies our clients use every week, learn the science in plain language — and spend the days with women who already understand, without you having to explain anything.
This retreat is educational and supportive care. Lipedema has no cure, and nothing offered here replaces your physician, surgeon, lymphedema therapist or registered dietitian. What we can do is give you tools, relief, accurate information and a community — so you can make better decisions with your own medical team.
Small, consistent things — together.
Lipedema care is not one treatment. It's a stack of small, consistent things that reduce fluid, soften tissue, calm inflammation, and help you feel more like yourself. Tap a therapy to learn more.
Manual Lymphatic Drainage
Included · 1 sessionA very gentle, rhythmic, light-pressure technique that encourages trapped fluid to move.
Lymphatic Facial Drainage
Full Retreat onlyThe same principles applied to the face, jaw, ears and neck, draining toward the collarbone.
Self-Massage & Dry Brushing
Taught during the weekSimple lymphatic sequences and dry brushing you can keep doing after you go home.
RA Godoy Machine
Pre-booking requiredGentle, rhythmic passive movement of the ankles and feet while you rest.
Flowell Pneumatic Compression
Pre-booking requiredCompression chambers fill and release in sequence, moving fluid up and out of the limb.
ILIB Laser Therapy
Pre-booking requiredA low-level laser applied at the wrist as part of an anti-inflammatory, circulatory protocol.
Red Light Therapy Mat
Open accessFull-body red and near-infrared light for circulation and tissue recovery.
PEMF Mat
Open accessPulsed electromagnetic field therapy for relaxation and recovery between treatments.
Whole-Body Vibration Plate
Open accessRapid oscillation that activates muscle contraction — the engine of lymph flow.
Lipedema-Friendly Meals
All meals includedWhole foods, quality protein and fats, and careful attention to what drives fluid retention.
Nutritionist Consultation
Included · follow-up on Full RetreatA private appointment to review your history, symptoms, and build a realistic plan.
The Active Hour
Daily at 4 PMLight, low-impact group movement chosen because it helps lymph move.
Education Sessions
11 AM & 2 PM · Feb 26–28The lymphatic system, diagnosis, fibrosis, nutrition, surgery, hormones and living with a chronic condition.
A whole week, working together.
Nutrition & gentle movement
Lipedema-friendly meals all week and a private consultation with a nutritionist, paired with daily gentle, lymphatic-friendly movement — so you leave with a routine that fits your life, not a two-week diet.
Therapies & recovery tools
Manual lymphatic drainage, facial drainage, pneumatic compression, and the mechanical and light-based therapies that keep fluid moving between sessions.
Community connection
Evenings, meals and movement together. Isolation makes this disease heavier. Company makes it lighter.
Wherever you are in the journey.
Women at any stage of the lipedema journey — newly diagnosed, still searching for answers, managing conservatively for years, preparing for surgery, or recovering from it. You do not need a formal diagnosis to attend, and every session is offered at a pace your body can meet.
How the week flows.
Mornings and early afternoons are for learning. Late afternoons are for moving. Treatments are booked around the sessions, and evenings belong to the group.
Los Gatos, California.
Tucked in the hills above Los Gatos, in California's South Bay — private, quiet, and close enough to reach with ease.
Room to move, gather, and breathe.
This isn't a clinical retreat center — it's the kind of mountain house you wish your own family had. Every corner of the property was made for slowing down, together.
- Wooded trails wind through the property, perfect for the gentle daily movement built into every day here.
- Open lawns & covered gathering spaces where the group comes together between sessions, meals and treatments.
- A wood-fired cedar hot tub waits for the evenings your body just wants to soak and settle.
Meet Joana.
"You're not broken. Your lymphatic system just needs support."
Joana Lerche is the lipedema specialist behind this retreat, the one who will personally lead your education sessions, walk you through the science, and answer every question you've been holding onto. Trained across lymphatic drainage, nutrition and body-based therapies, she built No Filter Brazilian Med Spa around a simple belief: women with lipedema deserve real, consistent, expert care, not another lecture about willpower. Most of her clients have spent years being told to try harder, eat less and stop complaining. Joana starts from the opposite assumption: that you have a real condition, and that the right care can change what the next year looks like.
A real clinic. A real team.
No Filter Brazilian Med Spa is a working medical spa in California, not a page that only exists online. Here's a look at the place and the people your retreat is actually connected to.
A real address, not just a page online
No Filter Brazilian Med Spa is a working clinic in California's South Bay, with a team on-site every day. Before you ever book a retreat spot, there's a real door, a real waiting room, and real people ready to answer your questions.
The team behind your care
Retreat week isn't run by one person doing everything. It's backed by the same full team that runs No Filter's day-to-day med spa, so the care you experience during the retreat is the same care the clinic delivers every single day.
Credentials you can see
The clinic's wall of certifications reflects ongoing training across lymphatic care and body treatments — not a single class taken once, but a practice that keeps investing in the techniques used throughout your program.
Two ways to join us.
Choose the full residential retreat, or join by day for the three core education days. Each season is intentionally small — spots are limited by design, not by marketing.
- Lunch daily
- Full education program
- Therapy suite access
- Nutritionist consultation
- All meals, all therapies
- All evening events
- Nutritionist + follow-up
- Facial lymphatic drainage
- All meals, all therapies
- All evening events
- Nutritionist + follow-up
- Facial lymphatic drainage
A $250 deposit holds your spot — no full payment required upfront. We accept credit and debit cards, Zelle, Venmo, Klarna, Afterpay and CareCredit. This is a request for details, not a checkout — our team follows up directly to arrange payment.
What to bring.
- Comfortable clothing you can move in, and layers for cool evenings
- Swimwear or two-piece underwear for treatments, plus a robe
- Medical notes or imaging, if you'd like input on them
- A notebook — there's a lot to write down
- A water bottle — hydration matters more during a week of drainage work