Wisdom Gained from our Greek Retreat

There are moments in life where you arrive as one person and leave as someone else. Almost as if you walked through a portal to another dimension, never returning back to the world you knew before. That's what our Permission to Be Human Retreat in Greece was for me - a portal of possibility that's permeated my soul in the most unexpected and life-changing ways.?

But it didn't arrive in the pretty package I had anticipated. That deep inner healing and growth all came as a direct result and response to pain.?

You see, when people ask me how Greece was, they expect me to share all the highlights and skip over the complications. But the truth is, the complications were the highlights because without them we never would have gotten as deep and transformed as consciously.

Let me set the picture before we dive into the details...

Over 6 days, 9 of us joined together on the gorgeous island of Mykonos, Greece to experience the culture, beauty, and healing medicine of what it's like to truly give ourselves permission to be human. The weather was perfect in the upper 70s - low 80s, and sunny each day. Our hotel was overlooking the beautiful sea and provided the most delicious food, service, and views for the ideal relaxation and sense of ease.

Each morning we began with a Mind, Body Spirit Flow where we moved our bodies and aligned our intentions for the day. Participants left the morning session with "growth work" to complete before we reconvened in the late afternoon to dive deeper into the practice. Every session was based on one line of the Permission to Be Human Pledge where we explored what might be possible if we made small shifts that had a big impact on our alignment with our inner and outer selves.?

To take it over the top, we also welcomed Mother Nature as the third facilitator of the retreat and honored her through Water, Air, and Element (water, air, fire & earth) Ceremonies that created rituals and releases for everyone to memorialize their journey. To put it lightly, it was divine.?

And as I shared, it was a rocky road to get to that point. So much wisdom was gained from these 10 lowlights that became their own highlights of the journey.?

1. The pandemic, war, new strain, and a lifetime of unworthiness made me believe it wasn't possible to host an international retreat and consumed my inner dialogue with self-doubt. ?>>> It created the perfect conditions for me to invest in deep inner healing that I had been avoiding my whole life.

2. Someone backed out 3 days before creating a domino effect of complications. >>>??Everyone who was meant to be there was and it gave a powerful opportunity to reassess boundaries and access?

3. Flights were canceled and missed by 5 participants. >>>?Those mishaps proved just how committed they were to making it work and investing in themselves to get there.

4. I was the sickest I've been in years and had to sleep upright in order to breathe. >>>??It allowed me to model healthy boundaries for wellbeing, let go of my plans and step forward as a pure vessel for the work, unattached to the outcome. As a result, I never felt more powerful.

5. One participant got covid and had to quarantine. >>> It triggered fear that brought us all closer together and gave that participant the breakthrough she never would have received otherwise. We also learned how to remotely bring her into the experiences so she still participated throughout.?

6. My phone broke completely. >>> It was exactly what I needed to disconnect and slow down while also empowering my partner to step up with communications to the group

7. After getting approval months prior, the day before our much-anticipated fire ceremony it was deemed illegal. >>>?My creative juices were flowing and after staring at a candle over dinner I birthed an "element ceremony" that allowed us to bring all the elements together and still experience the original intention with the fire but something even better emerged

8. When the retreat ended and it was finally time to relax, our faces were attacked by mosquitoes in our sleep leading us to hide under the covers all night with barely any sleep. >>> We realized just how much we had earned our vacation and appreciated the choice we made to invest in a week of recovery and decompression that was ahead.?

9. Our high-end vacation hotel room was a loft bed which triggered past trauma from falling from a loft bed. >>>??It resulted in a huge childlike wailing cry which was from the build-up of the whole experience, finally moving that energy through and out of my body. James, my husband, promptly and lovingly secured us a new room that was among the best hotel experiences of our lives - all on one level!?

10. I had food poisoning the last 4 hours of a 10 hr flight followed by 2 hrs in stand-still traffic in a thunderstorm trying to get home. >>>??I was reminded that life isn't about doing the work so things get easier, but rather doing the work to help you through the hard parts. My breath work techniques played a massive role in my ability to keep my mind calm while my body was suffering.?

I'd never been so happy to finally get home and feel the relief of accomplishment. Through it all, we really did it.?And we're so proud of how it all unfolded.

Each and every single participant received exactly what they needed, even if it didn't arrive with rainbows and sunshine. Lives were changed, hearts were connected and we're all better humans as a result.?

And for the first time in my life, I feel I've truly shed the need to control, hustle and perfect my way through my work. There is a flow, ease, and a new level of knowing that I cherish, honor and acknowledge - birthed from the ashes of my well-thought-out plans and raised up by my trust, surrender, and faith in what I was born to do in this world.?