Returning to yourself after a retreat or workshop

We all enjoy a self-development adventure, whether it be time hiking in nature, a healing retreat, an art course or a week at the Arthur Findlay College.

I have hosted many workshops, retreats and residential weeks and witnessed many profound experiences, group realisations and magical moments, inevitability the experience must come to an end and people make their way back to their lives. This is not always an easy transition, we know things are different but sometimes we feel nothing has changed, we absorbed so much and released so much more, it’s important when we return home to allow all we have learned to experience a cascade through our system.

Whether is a retreat or workshop or simply after any busy period in life, it is important to take time for ourselves, to listen, soften and to nurture the different aspects of us. Integration is not something we do or a check box to complete, it can sometimes take moments and other times years. It is something where we need to just get out of the way and allow time, process and integration. It is finding the quiet space where knowledge cascades through our system, combines with emotionality and lived experience to become embodied understanding.

The cascade

Allowing flow through the different aspects of self, how to do it? Simple, get out of the way and see what comes up!

Physical Self

Listen to your body

Your body is the instrument through which you experience this world. It speaks to you firstly in perception and sensation, internal rhythms and melodic realisation. Secondly, it’s your tool for process and healing, your body is constantly working for you, healing physical ailments and processing emotional experience. In life it’s easy to override these messages in the name of productivity and expectation. After a period of intensity, the most loving act for yourself is to pause and listen to your body, stop doing what drains you and makes your body unhappy. Rest is not for the weak, it is for process and self-healing.

• Move your body freely.

• Spend time in nature.

• Eat when you are hungry.

• Sleep when you are tired.

Emotional Self

Experience your emotions

Your emotions do not define you, they ebb and flow and are simply the experience of what’s coming up within you and the feedback of the world around you. They show where we are in harmony and where we are not. Allow yourself to feel your emotions without judgement or reason from the conscious mind. Recognise what pulls on your emotions in an unhealthy way, recognise and release, gently create space for yourself to have the maximum experience.

• Feel what is coming up.

• Follow what makes your heart sing.

• Recognise and release sadness.

• Step closer to love and joy.

Mental Self

Explore your thoughts

Our mind is a powerful tool, but it is easily conditioned into ways of thinking, justification and paradigms of belief. After deep experiences, notice which beliefs no longer serve you and how your philosophy has evolved. Spend less time online, unfollow those who offer quick fixes and instant enlightenment. True understanding unfolds in quiet reflection and the spaces between your thoughts.

• Follow your curiosity.

• Release paradigms of limiting belief.

• Step closer to nature and natural evolution.

• Spend time in silence and observe what arises.

Spiritual Self

Know the light of yourself

Your spiritual nature is not something outside of us, it is the closest we can become to the essence of who we are. Recognise situations, environments and relationships that take you away from your own light and power. Simply returning to your authentic self is the only spiritual practice required.

• Feel more deeply the presence of you.

• Experience the energy of the unseen world.

• Connect with the constant feeling of your being.

• Always know that you are enough.

You are the light and power of yourself

Your body, emotions and mind are your tools of experience within this world. You are more than enough, and no one can take your power from you unless you choose to give it away.

After every adventure, our journey is just beginning. Vast amounts of knowledge are consumed, discussed and digested, and many questions arise. The true work is not in gathering more information or working it out, but in transforming what you have learned into your personal lived wisdom.

Take time to allow the process to move through your system. Think it, feel it and experience what it means for you. The only truth is what you know in the moment, after that just let it go. Find the spark in everything you learn which resonates with you, give it time and allow the knowledge of others to become your own embodied understanding.