My coaching group, Be the Heroine, just had its first in-person retreat. We met for a long weekend in beautiful Ojai, California. It had been a cold, wet winter there, but spring sprang on the day of our arrival. The rain stopped, the sun warmed, and the hillsides from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara greened stunningly.
The heroines were so ready to meet each other in person! They share so much during our weekly Zoom meetings and on their individual connection calls, they can’t help but love each other. When they met, it was the easy, joyful reunion of old friends – and comrades, really. They do hard work for a good purpose together, and shared endeavor bonds.
We timed the retreat to coincide with the arrival of spring. I and most of the heroines live in cold climates, so I knew we’d all be ready for some warmth! Spring is also a wonderful metaphor for rebirth, which this group is doing on purpose: moving from supporting character to leading lady means living into new ways of being and releasing old.
It was my intention that this two-day retreat feel like a retreat: spacious, restful, contemplative. And for it to include both death and rebirth: death to the ways of thinking and action that no longer serve them; birth to the dreams of what they want to create and who they want to become.
Each of the heroines had her own intention, too.
But the retreat so exceeded everyone’s expectations that I think angels and guides must also have had intentions!
Exhilarated after doing The Work with Byron Katie
There were little miracles, like getting to do The Work with Byron Katie, the originator of The Work and one of my personal heroes. Like Jenn and Barb, our hostesses, who were the collaborators I did not dare to dream of, the production partners I never knew I always wanted. There were synchronicities, like oracle cards that made us speechless with emotion and laugh out loud; unmistakable signs on our nature walk; cards waiting at home for us from friends that echoed messages from the retreat; spring’s arrival coinciding with ours.
On the retreat, the heroines experienced clarity of vision and bright signs that the universe is on their side. In the weeks since we’ve been home, they have asked me, “How do I make it last?” They want to keep the jostle of ordinary life from smudging their clarity and dimming the signs.
So, I ask them, “How do you? Where did clarity and sight spring from for you?”
They close their eyes and remember their best moments and what created them. For some it’s the meditation of The Work. For others, it was the time in nature. For others, the oracle cards or simply the spaciousness of a hotel room all to herself! Every heroine identified the retreat inside herself, to visit as often as she wishes and remember who she is and why she’s here.
They’re also planning a summer reunion!
If you’d like to learn more about the Be the Heroine program, visit the webpage. A new class for 2024 will enroll this October. Get on the waitlist to be the first to know.
