Redefine Success

For our first retreat, the profoundly wise ritualist and somatic coach Rachel Blackman suggested to our 12 intrepid journeyers to find something from the surrounding grounds and growths to use as an offering for their symbolic altar. The altar for our retreats serves as a repeated point of joint attention, consisting of flowers of diverse colors and compelling shapes, laid upon a cloth bordered with doilies and surrounded by candles. Its presence marks the opening of our group’s circles of connection and it receives the conscious and unconscious intentions of the group. Our retreat was located in the heart of a nature preserve abutting the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands. There would be a bounty of wondrous detritus shed from trees, birds and sprouted from the fecund earth to select from.