MOUNT SHASTA
SHOULD YOU GO ON A RETREAT?
LISTEN TO EPISODE 23 ON MY PODCAST: SHOULD YOU GO ON A RETREAT? MY RAW TAKE
READ TRANSCRIPTS FROM EPISODE 23 BELOW WHICH ANSWERS THESE QUESTIONS/CONCERNS:
1) SAFETY AND COMFORT
CONCERNS: WILL I FEEL SAFE? KNOW ANYONE? WILL IT FEEL INCLUSIVE OR INTIMIDATING?
2) COST AND VALUE
CONCERNS: IS IT WORTH THE MONEY? WHAT IF I INVEST & DON’T GET THE TRANSFORMATION I’M HOPING FOR?
3) TIME & COMMITMENT & GUILT
CONCERNS: CAN I TAKE TIME AWAY FROM FAMILY, KIDS, WORK?
4) NOT KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT
CONCERNS: WHAT IF I’M NOT SPIRITUAL ENOUGH/ADVANCED ENOUGH/FIT ENOUGH/WILL I BE JUDGED IF I CRY OR IF I DON’T KNOW HOW TO MEDITATE OR DO YOGA?
5) GROUP DYNAMICS
CONCERNS: WHAT IF I DON’T CONNECT W/ANYONE? WHAT IF THE GROUP ENERGY FEELS CLIQUEY OR AWKWARD?
6) INTEGRATION AFTERWARDS
CONCERNS: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GO HOME? WILL PEACE FADE WHEN I’M BACK IN MY ROUTINE?
7) PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS
CONCERNS: WILL THE FOOD FIT MY NEEDS? WHAT IF I NEED ALONE TIME? WHAT IF EMOTIONS COME UP THAT I’M NOT READY FOR?
EXCERPTS DIRECTLY FROM EPISODE 23 OF MY PODCAST:
WOMEN OFTEN WANT NOURISHMENT BUT FEEL HESITATION OR UNCERTAINTY. I WANT TO ADDRESS UNSPOKEN QUESTIONS BASED ON FEEDBACK IN WELLNESS COMMUNITIES, SURVEYS, CONVERSATIONS, & MY OWN OPINIONS HAVING GONE TO MOUNT SHASTA IN NORTHERN CA 3 YEARS IN A ROW NOW. I JUST GOT BACK FROM MY THIRD IMMERSION WITH ONE FREQUENCY WHO HOLD A 6 DAY IMMERSION. I WAS THINKING A LOT THIS YEAR WHY DO I KEEP GOING BACK. THESE ARE SOME CONCERNS OR QUESTIONS I HAVE ALSO HAD SO LET’S START. OF COURSE THERE ARE A BILLION AND ONE RETREATS NOWADAYS & IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON IG YOU MAY HAVE SEEN MY POST FROM MY TRIP WHICH JUST ENDED. SAYING THIS TO SAY THAT WELLNESS IN MY OPINION & RETREATS HAVE BECOME SUCH A TREND THAT THEY ARE DEFINITELY IN MY OPINION NOT ALL CREATED EQUAL, THIS HAS BEEN VOICED BY MANY WOMEN I HAVE HAD CONVERSATIONS WITH WHO HAVE GONE TO MANY DIFFERENT ONES. SO I’M GOING TO KEEP THIS MOSTLY BASED ON THE ONE I KEEP GOING TO IN MT SHASTA BUT OF COURSE YOU CAN APPLY IT TO ANY ONE YOU ARE CONSIDERING GOING TO!
1) SAFETY AND COMFORT
CONCERN: WILL I FEEL SAFE? KNOW ANYONE? WILL IT FEEL INCLUSIVE OR INTIMIDATING?
I love that one frequency encourages unity before the trip starts and encourages carpooling. They create an excel before the trip and everyone enters their logistics. So I have carpooled with girls my first and second year. They give you resources before hand on hotels to settle in the day before the first day of the immersion. I have known some people and met a lot of new people. Everyone has been super warm and welcoming from the very first day and I have found that it’s been the same year after year. I think everyone comes in wanting to be part of a community so it creates an almost immediate kinship of we are in this together.
2) COST AND VALUE
CONCERN: IS IT WORTH THE MONEY? WHAT IF I INVEST & DON’T GET THE TRANSFORMATION I’M HOPING FOR?
I love this one because what I have learned is that if someone is trying to sell you a healing package where you are fixed in a certain amount of days, then first of all god bless them because they are a miracle worker! Healing is not a quick fix. I think the very first year I went, I was just getting out so many tears from over 30 years of holding in my emotions, being taught through survival & my own path to hold in instead of allowing them to freely move through me. So that first year was HEAVY. HEAVY HEAVY. Unpacking and just letting emotions out. That in itself was the transformation for that year. I left that first time feeling like a newborn baby who was learning to see and walk and feel for the first time. You get the medicine you are ready for in your journey for the moment. I think it is misguided to expect quick fixes. Triggers & density come back the moment you leave. The tools you learn are worth an infinity of therapy sessions. It’s easy to look at value and think omg so expensive. But we prioritize what is important to us. If you love expensive bags, you don’t bat an eyelash spending thousands. If you love technology you don’t flinch buying. It’s a self investment that sustains you long after you leave. But the perception of value is really up to you to answer because our ego and human mind will justify on both ends if we don’t consider it valuable.
3) TIME & COMMITMENT & GUILT
CONCERN: CAN I TAKE TIME AWAY FROM FAMILY, KIDS, WORK?
This year we had 3 moms with toddlers and a newborn. It takes a village but if you are committed, people will rally from what I’ve seen and make it work. I witnessed moms so devoted to the immersion that they found ways to mother and still be present. I started realizing after the first year and esp my second year that the 6 days sustained me through my years and gave me strength to always tap back into. So even though it may sound like a lot of days, if you think about it, 365 days out of the year and maybe you get 6 days out of that to immerse yourself in something that could really support you through those 365 days.
4) NOT KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT
CONCERNS: WHAT IF I’M NOT SPIRITUAL ENOUGH/ADVANCED ENOUGH/FIT ENOUGH/WILL I BE JUDGED IF I CRY OR IF I DON’T KNOW HOW TO MEDITATE OR DO YOGA?
THERE IS NO JUDGMENT WHATSOEVER. COME AS YOU ARE. I PERSONALLY COULDN’T HANDLE FACILITATORS WHO COME OFF THIS WAY AND LUCKILY HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED THIS. I’VE SAT IN MANY DIFFERENT MEDITATIONS OR CIRCLES OVER THE YEARS AND IT’S REALLY OK TO COME AS YOU ARE. SOMEONE SAID IT AT THE LAST RETREAT THEY WERE AFRAID THEY WOULDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO OR SAY BUT IT WAS ALL OKAY. WE DON’T ALL KNOW WHICH IS WHY WE SHOW UP. OPENNESS, SURRENDER, FLOW IS MORE SUPPORTIVE AND SHOWING UP. EVERYONE CRIES AND RELEASES. MEDITATION ISN’T EXCLUSIVE, IT’S INNATE, IT’S REALLY JUST YOU REMEMBERING YOUR TRUE NATURE. IF YOU WALK IN NATURE YOU ARE IN A FORM OF MEDITATION. IF YOU ARE HAVING MEANINGFUL CONVOS, YOU ARE PRACTICING. IT’S DOESN’T ALL LOOK 1 WAY. ALSO NOBODY IS MAKING YOU DO ANYTHING. YOU CAN ALWAYS PRACTICE YOUR OWN SOVEREINTY DURING BEFORE AND AFTER AND TRUST YOURSELF.
5) Group dynamics
CONCERNS: WHAT IF I DON’T CONNECT W/ANYONE? WHAT IF THE GROUP ENERGY FEELS CLIQUEY OR AWKWARD?
I think it’s very hard to not connect when you are doing deep work and weaving an experience together. I also think you have to be open to connect. I love that we sit and eat together in the one frequency immersion. We get to kiki and chat at night. Sometimes you are tired and call it early. So many emotions come up so really you are also weaving your own experience within the experience.
6) INTEGRATION AFTERWARDS
CONCERN: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GO HOME? WILL THE PEACE FADE WHEN I’M BACK IN MY ROUTINE?
So this is great and I’ve had 3 years of experience now. First year was brutal, I felt like I was in heaven then ripped out and spit back out into Manhattan chaos immediately after. I cried nonstop after. Something that one of our facilitators said that year always speaks to me which is “you can always access the altar whenever you want”. You can energetically call on the altar which is really just accessing and harnessing all the work you put in as a group in the mountains. We have a group chat that always stays open for any chat or support. We do a catch up zoom call after. Of course everyone finds little ways to connect throughout the year as well if they are going somewhere and someone lives there from the immersion they will meet up. It’s also up to us right to stay devoted to the altar. To continue the practices that we learn. Density will never magically disappear. We have to build our strength to sustain ourselves long after it’s done.
7) PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS
CONCERNS: WILL THE FOOD FIT MY NEEDS? WHAT IF I NEED ALONE TIME? WHAT IF EMOTIONS COME UP THAT I’M NOT READY FOR?
We have chef ray who cooks the most flavorful plant based meals. It’s all inclusive breakfast lunch dinner. Of course that could be a huge trigger for people. We have meat eaters in the group though who looove her food. She personally makes me want to go vegan because it’s that yummy to me. Of course there are grocery stores around that people stock up on with snacks and whatever they want. Some people go into town and choose to get coffees and meals still. It’s really up to you how you want your journey to be. Emotions def come up and depending on your journey some may be pleasant and some heavier. You really have to just surrender and know you are in safe hands, supportive hands, with a group of women holding each other up through it all.
I HOPE THIS GUIDES YOU IF ANY OF THESE HAVE EVER CROSSED YOUR MIND. I CAN ONLY SPEAK FROM WHAT I’VE EXPERIENCED AND AGAIN UNFORTUNATELY NOT ALL EXPERIENCES ARE THE SAME SO USE YOUR DISCERNMENT, ASK QUESTIONS, TUNE IN TO YOUR GUT, YOU HOLD SO MUCH POWER TO HAVE THE EXPERIENCE YOU ARE MEANT TO HAVE AND WITH THE GROUP YOU ARE MEANT TO HAVE IT WITH. IF YOU ARE THINKING OF GOING TO A TRIP AND NEVER HAVE BEFORE, I HOPE YOU GET SOME SOLACE AFTER HEARING SOMETHING HERE. IF IT’S BEEN IN YOUR HEART AND YOU’VE BEEN HESITANT, I HAVE BEEN THERE. ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT ONCE YOU GET TO THE OTHER SIDE, YOU WILL PROBABLY LAUGH AND WONDER WHY YOU DIDN’T JUMP SOONER SO MAYBE THIS IS ALSO YOUR SIGN TO JUST LEAP! WE LIVE IN SUCH AN UNPREDICTABLE, DENSE, CHAOTIC, SOMETIMES VERY DARK WORLD WHERE SO MANY OPPOSING, TRIGGERING FORCES ARE PLAYING IN THE FIELD. I THINK IT IS SO SUPPORTIVE TO EXPERIENCE SOMETHING TRANSFORMATIVE THAT TAKES YOU OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE TO REALLY BEGIN TO GRASP WHAT COULD BE AND WHAT THAT COULD MEAN FOR YOU AS YOU CONTINUE TO EVOLVE. OF COURSE THIS IS A VERY COURAGEOUS BRAVE JUMP. THE POWER IS ALWAYS IN YOUR HANDS WITH HOW AND WHAT YOU EXPERIENCE.
XOXO
IF YOU WANT MORE INFO ON THE SPECIFIC IMMERSION I HAVE BEEN GOING TO FOR 3 YEARS IN A ROW, VISIT ONE FREQUENCY’S WEBSITE!
