Reflections from the Fill Your Cup Retreat
By Natalie Small
The Fill Your Cup Retreat was an invitation to all those that had completed the Groundswell Facilitator Training to come together for time to reflect, share, be nourished, and play. Everyone was invited to co-create the space together by offering an experiential workshop sharing their work and creativity. It was an incubator space where we bravely tried out new surf therapy material and curriculum. Noticing how when we are held and safe, abundance flows through creativity and play. It was a space to be held as well as hold each other.
Susan Wood, Groundswell facilitator graduate of 2020 and founder of Surf Therapy Organization, Sea Love Grows, and co–owner of the Yoga Farm in Costa Rica, hosted the retreat. The space bordered the protected indigenous lands of the Guaymi people who still are care takers of this sacred coastline. The Yoga Farm property was built as a reciprocal community centered space where people from around the globe came to work with the land and learn from her ways. They provided organic nutrient meals from the land, yoga on their sunset deck, and rustic jungle lodges where you fell asleep to the sounds of the monkeys and woke to the sounds of the birds.
This retreat was the embodiment of what a raw reciprocal community feels like. A taste of what is truly possible if we each show up to both hold and be held. And when feeling held, seen, and honored we each were able to lean in a little more, be exploratory, curious, try on new things and be in a state of play rather than fearing failure.
The vision was inspired by Machu Picchu. From some stories, Machu Picchu was known as a university of sorts where leaders, healers, and creators made pilgrimages along the Incan trails that stretch from Mexico to Chile…and maybe even by sea as far as the Philippines. Leaders would come together in Machu Picchu nestled in the Valle Secrada to share ideas, experiment, incubate, connect with the wisdom of the earth and dream big together. Then follow their land or sea routes back to their villages and civilizations to integrate what they learned into their unique landscapes, communities and cultures.
This was the vision of what this retreat could hold and become. A space where therapists, surf coaches, community leaders, and healers come together. Not to complete a training led by one teacher. But rather to be both teacher and student. We each were invited to lead an experience. To listen to our dreams. To be open to what is possible if we can slow down enough to truly allow ourselves to be seen and to see others. We leaned into joy, play and curiosity. The seeds that were planted in the rich dark soil of our collective soul are finding their way to emerge into the light. As we each go back to our own communities we journey with the alive and embodied knowing of what true community can feel like and look like in our beings. And this is our North Star, our compass. Communities of radical reciprocity with ourselves and the earth.
Reflections From Retreat Attendees
“I rediscovered the gift of believing in oneself and how important that is to make the world go round. Being surrounded by like-minded creative therapists also comforted me to not feel so alone in this work. Also due to one of the workshop, I have been more in tune and listening to my dreams when I can, which is leading to deeper understanding in both myself and clients.”
“I learned that I have a place in this community. I felt a sense of belonging. Sometimes we are out on our therapist journey and it can feel isolating and can bring up self doubt, but finding a community to be thoughtful, creative and inspiring sparks confidence and joy. ”
“I learned that creativity, and “magic” are important components to therapeutic work especially when it comes to engaging with nature. I want to continue to call in that creativity and truth that there is benefit in every part of it despite others who may try to challenge it. ”
