The very first day, I woke up feeling just completely humbled. I started the day pretty quiet. Knowing that I was going to be social all weekend long, I needed to charge. My friend Viipyr helped me load my Jeep up with the abundance of fruits and veggies (that I bought probably too soon in the week out of just worry with the whole virus thing going on). My juicer, blender, books, incense, crystals, essential oils and every other little thing I could think of found it’s place in my car. We carpooled with two attendees from the retreat (shout out to Loretta & Manny for making the car rider 10x more fun) and headed out to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

It wouldn’t be a trip if we didn’t get lost. Funny enough, so did pretty much all of the attendees so we all ended up running into each other and helping each other find the cabin - which by the way was PERFECT. If you all only knew how many cabins I looked at and sent to Viipyr to help me decide. This was one of the last ones I found and it was perfectly secluded and well kept. Everyone had their space yet we still felt like a big family. Once we all unloaded our cars and settled in, I lead my first breath sessions of many that weekend. It was honestly just so incredible to see 6 individuals that were seriously interested in learning more about breathwork. Our first night I really just wanted everyone to get comfortable and get to know each other. So obviously we stayed in the hot tub until 3 AM and chatted it up after the breath session.

Saturday was definitely when all of the dots connected for everyone. Liquid fasting isn’t as hard/crazy as many think it is! Especially when you do it as a group. Most of us naturally found ourselves waking up early and journaling on the back patio as the birds filled the air with song. It was absolutely beautiful to find this place of peace and quiet during such a stressful time in our world. Not waking up and seeing headlines was refreshing for all of us I think. We started the day with a calming restorative breathwork session, followed by some calisthenic-yoga flow movement that Viipyr lead. And then it was time for the epic juice party! This was probably one of the highlights for all of us cause it really felt like we were just a big family, connecting and healing together and learning from each other. We juiced probably over 5 gallons of juice! What’s amazing about juicing is, it’s just entertainment. We didn’t even drink any of the juice until way later in the evening. We were all so full off of talking, dancing, and preparing the veggies/fruit. Breathwork naturally decreases your appetite without you even realizing!

So it was only right that we went on a nature walk. You don’t know how good it felt to leave my phone in the cabin and be completely immersed in nature with good company. We saw horses too (which are my spirit animal if I have one). We ended up finding a calm little stream to sit in the sun by and just had a moment of slow and silent breaths. 33 slow nostril breaths was the goal, but we all found our own rhythm and what worked for us individually which was beautiful. It was just so filling to be quiet to hear more in nature. The weather couldn’t of been any better.

Once we headed back to the cabin, it was free flow time. For a few hours, we just freely moved and flowed how we chose. Some did reiki sessions, some did yoga, and some just simply found a good book and relaxed. It was so profound to see everyone not even discussing food or whining about hunger. The group just naturally was intrigued in other “foods”. We ended up having a great discussion about tantra/tantric sex that I think was such a great topic to candidly educate others on.

Time wasn’t real during this retreat! We all agreed it felt like way more than two and a half days. That night I lead the group in a very deep, emotional breathwork session, focused mainly on healing inner child traumas. Tears were shed and stories were shared and it was beautiful. I loved how many breakthroughs I was witnessing right in front of me. I can’t even begin to tell you how big my heart felt while I was leading breathwork. I am meant to do this, truly. Anyway, the night flowed into all of us around the campfire with some really great dialogue which we eventually carried over to the hot tub. Somehow we ended up staying up until 6 AM! Everyone’s energy was through the roof and we barely were even really consuming all the juice that was made. Funny enough, we told ourselves we’d wake up in an hour to see the sunrise… fail. Haha, but it’s all good. The time spent together was everything.

The last morning came and I’d be lying if I said I wanted the retreat to end. I was enjoying my time there so much. Disconnected from social media, vlogging, and the overall stress of the city. Just completely in the now, breathing, and sharing energy genuinely. I decided to wake everyone up with the audio book of the Tao Te Ching. A gentle wake up call if I do say so myself. Our checkout was 11 AM, which was honestly way too early so next time I’ll be sure to ask for an extension. But nonetheless, we squeezed in one more activity and I think it ended up being everyone’s favorite. I’ll keep that one a secret that only we know ;) just know it was that morning that we really became the Soul Tribe!

sighs

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Can you even believe this happened?! Yeah me either. This time last year this wasn’t even a thought on my mind. I didn’t even know that I was capable of pulling something off like this. There is absolutely nothing I would change about this experience. I truly feel like like I stepped into my “purpose” if I even believe in life purposes. I believe we all have multiple really. But everything just flowed so naturally, so effortlessly. Every breath session was so intuitively felt. I hope this inspires anyone who feels like they don’t know what it is they’re “supposed to be doing” in this lifetime. I promise you - breathwork and fasting led me here. I truly gave everything up to receive everything. Leading and moving with love instead of lack changes your reality completely.

Just complete bliss ya’ll. I can’t wait to host another one. I’d love to do these quarterly so who knows, maybe some time this summer you’ll be able to attend another. Not sure on the location of it but either way, stay tuned for details.

Thank you for your never ending support along this journey! So many tears of gratitude have been shed lately.

Tears of Gratitude