After a 16 hour adventure of a day that included: almost 2 hours driving over to Davenport, Florida, 12 hours of delightful retreat workshop activities, clean eating, body treatment under crystal lights, chatting with enlightened souls and making new soul bonds, and a bit more than one hour and a half driving back home to Bradenton, Florida… I was pooped but highly Energized! I thoroughly enjoyed my day (blessed IN Joy)!
Here’s my review of Unplug to Recharge retreat.
First, the other kindred spirits at this weekend retreat became new “soulie sisters” of mine! That means, we each felt as if we’d made a soul friend within minutes of meeting. And that’s always very aWEsOMe!
We started the morning by taking turns introducing ourselves to each other while holding a beautiful Talking Stick that Gloria brought. Those familiar with Stephen Covey’s classes, or Native American ceremonies will know what this is. It helped each of us feel heard, while encouraging the listeners to practice Active Listening skills (instead of thinking about what they would say next). We had fun with this routine though, and sometimes when one of us would get excited and want to burst with some statement, another would say, “Touch the stick, touch the stick”! And we would all roar with laughter!
Then, we moved to the massive kitchen table to being making salt scrub (mine’s in the glass jar with black lid in the photo). I was thrilled to do this activity because I’d tried this before (years ago–on my own) and hadn’t been very successful, so this was a treat! And now I know how to make this for myself from here on out. (Wink!) I used lavender essential oil and vanilla. It works well and smells sooo good!
Later in the day, we worked on cards, similar to vision boards, but much more interesting! The cards are part of a process called, Soul Collage–and for me, it served as a sort of automatic writing class! I enjoyed this time immensely, especially the sharing about each of our cards after we completing creating the boards and writing about them.
Here’s one of my cards. I named it, Blue. I guess it’s very fitting I’d do that, since I just finished writing my new book, Blue Eyes (it’s off to the editor as of 9/9/2022).
I can’t say enough about how this experience allowed each of us to learn more about each other and bond. I’d had an expectation that I may not engage that much with this project because I’d not Connected so strongly with vision board creation years ago–wow, was I wrong!
I loved exploring more about this way of automatic writing (I’d wanted to do automatic writing but had not previously taken the time). So it was really revealing and I enjoyed that.
Here’s a picture of me creating my boards (note the blue glass in the window):
And this is my two second board, along with the page out of my journal (a gift from Gloria to each participant):
Gloria cooked lunch and dinner for us, and totally exceeded my expectations of food that was gluten-free (and grain free). Plus, the food was so good, I asked for the recipes! (That almost never happens.)
We also said a meditation prayer of thanks (and held hands) before each meal (that had lovingly been placed on the kitchen table by the host). This blessed our food and perhaps, added to all the lively flavors!
Here’s the cabbage I made yesterday, after returning home from the retreat:
We had the opportunity to take in several holistic health treatments too, and I chose to lay under the healing crystal lights.
The crystal lights were on a stand beside a bed and had an array of colored lights that would turn and off in rhythm. And light music played for the 30 minutes I was under the healing lights.
Fully clothed, I had a sheet on me and pad over my eyes so I could relax and meditate. I probably would have fallen asleep but I could hear my soulie sisters talking in the next room, just a bit–enough to keep me more present. I enjoyed laying on the under those crystal lights.
After dinner, we surprised Gloria with a luscious Chantilly Lace birthday cake from Whole Foods, a card from ALL, and gifts. We enjoyed dinner very much and the cake was divine. (I chose to have a small slice because I’m now on week 6 of WildFit.)
We had plenty of time to talk about meaningful topics with one another, do a little shopping too (from one of the gals’ crystal offerings), and try vocalizing in Light Language.
Gloria Grace Rand sings and speaks Light Language and gave us a collective session. I had heard it a few times before but was hesitant to try it. With much encouragement though, I did give it a whirl and sang or hummed something that sounded Asian to me. I had never heard myself sing anything like what came out of my mouth this evening before. It was stunning and energizing! I think I will continue this practice at home. (Wink!)
If you’d like to hear Gloria’s podcast where she shares her Light Language, check it out here: https://gloriarand.com/receiving-gods-grace/#more-19380
Toward evening time, we wrote on a piece of paper any of the things we wanted to “let go” or release. And then, we went into the backyard (which I noted had two twin Live Oak trees, and I felt that was uncanny since the next day was the 21st anniversary of the day the twin towers fell in New York City). We had a short full moon and fire ceremony and lit our papers on fire. I sang a bit and gave thanks for a day well spent.
The retreat was located at a house called, Contemplation Castle, in Davenport, Florida.
When I see more photos on Facebook of the event, I’ll update this and add them, as I didn’t take any pictures during the event because I totally unplugged (and didn’t even take my phone out of my bag all day, except for one time to check messages from my husband). And that was the whole point of the day, for me. (My hubby always says I have my phone attached to my hip!) LOL
Additional pictures
A bit about me, your Spiral Sister
Fractal of Omniscience. “Spiral Sister”Observer & Perceiver of Energy & Wisdom from Nature. Empath|Author|Connector|Speaker|Singer. ❤️🦋🌀〰️🔥🙏☯️
I would love to speak at your bookstore, crystal shop, acupuncture / chiropractor office, natural health foods store, art fair, music or yoga festival. I support healthy lifestyle businesses. I’m an Amazon bestselling author of two co-authored books: “Transform Your Life Book 2 Inspirational Stories and Expert Advice” and “Energy of Receiving”, available on Amazon. Visit my author’s page here.
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