Retreat planned for semi-tropical sanctuary [Guatemala, Feb 2019]

Retreat planned for semi-tropical sanctuary [Guatemala, Feb 2019]

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This retreat encourages us to go inside, play, and explore our assumptions, stories, and boundaries about who we are and what we can create in this world. We explore a few core questions such as, Who am I now? How did I get here? Where am I going? How do I create? What am I creating? 

By exploring our unique expressions of inner divine feminine and masculine energies, we tease out tensions for later manifestation, and release ourselves into the ocean of our own divinity therefore deepening our relationship with the divine within and the universal forces that hold us ever in their care.

Join us for a transformative week of personal, quantum evolutionary healing and evolution at a rejuvenating eco-lodge. Experience a life full of joy, community, service, and love. The tools and skills we practice and perfect in this week use traditional spiritual evolutionary formulas adapted for the modern seeker so you can apply them to your life immediately upon return home.

Want more information? http://bit.ly/Shift19 or contact Matthew Koren at: [email protected] +1-503-765-6542.

Sample Daily Flow:

We start each day with time for self-directed meditation, yoga (add-on) or free time after which a nourishing breakfast is served. After breakfast we will gather for group sessions that are interactive and fun, followed by a lunch break overlooking the lake.

Afternoon sessions alternate self-reflective exercises, sacred ceremony, group discussion and free time during which Matthew and retreat center staff are available for healing sessions as well as spa services. Then we commune for a lavish meal at early twilight. Most evenings offer time for renewal and relaxation with a few designated times spent in community and healing ceremonies.

Guest Rooms

Each room features a patio with an unparalleled view of the lake and volcanoes. Touches of vintage Guatemalan furnishings and superior textiles are the featured décor throughout the bedroom and private bath.

Dining & Cuisine

There are (3) three high-vibration meals provided each day with your retreat package. Included meals begin with dinner on Saturday, February 23 and end with breakfast on Saturday, March 2nd.  

Daily prepared meals are organic, vegan/vegetarian (chicken and fish offered at additional charge) and made by resident health conscious chefs. Produce is grown locally, bread is homemade and fresh treats such as strawberry kombucha and raw cacao bliss balls are made in house.

We dine on-site at Café Sumaya Sol from the open-air terrace or glassed-in dining area from which exquisite views of nearby Lake Atitlán and surrounding foliage can be seen. There is also a juice and snack bar, and hot beverage bar with a wide selection of tea grown on the property and coffee sourced from a local co-op.

Retreat Offerings (included in cost)

  • 7 nights / 8 days eco-luxury accommodation with patio overlooking the lake and rich foliage
  • 3 invigorating and locally-sourced vegetarian meals per day + unlimited filtered water, coffee and tea (alcohol and specialty drinks not included)
  • Celebrate and connect with heart when you attend a joyous Cacao ceremony
  • Deepen your connection to your chosen inner purpose during the Mayan Fire Ceremony
  • Experience a proven transformational process that’s been perfected in hundreds of coaching sessions and thousands of hours of study over the last 10 years.
  • Explore quantum evolutionary techniques that unlock latent potential taught by a deeply experienced, highly trained facilitator and team.
  • Nurture your process in sacred natural and human created spaces such as gardens, pool and hot tub haven.
  • Take solace from titles and personas in addition to labels and identities that you carry in your life.
  • Digital detox from phones, computer and all outside media
  • As if you needed more, all taxes are covered

Getting to the Retreat (additional cost)

The airfare to Guatemala City (GUA), travel insurance and in-country transportation is purchased separate from the retreat package. Retreat attendees must plan to spend an entire travel day getting to our remote location. An arrival time by the evening meal on Saturday, Feb 23 is suggested.

Citizens of the U.S., Canadian and EU with required passports will receive a 90-day visa upon entry into Guatemala. Vaccinations and advanced arrangement of visa is not required at this time.

We will connect you with Villa Sumaya staff to arrange your in-country transportation and airport shuttle, lake boat ride and any add-on activities and services (below).

Add on Activities and Services:      

  • Spa & Sauna Treatments (1hr $75 USD – 1.5hr $100 USD – 2hr $130 USD)
  • Yoga classes
  • Kayak Rentals
  • Hike Tour
  • San Pedro Volcano Hike
  • Bird Watching tours
  • Cultural Outings such as Local Market & Shopping Tour
  • + more

Pricing & Registration

Rates are as follows:

A 25% deposit secures your registration. The full payment is due December 23, 2018.

Want more information? http://bit.ly/Shift19 or contact Matthew Koren at: [email protected] +1-503-765-6542.

***Please note: your retreat package covers accommodation from Saturday evening 02/23/19 – Saturday morning 3/2/19.

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Matthew has been leading group workshops and coaching individuals since 2007 to find their inner light and express their divinity. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology with a concentration in cross-cultural communication. He is a metaphysician and ceremonialist working specifically to inspire the collective evolution of our planet.

Through his travels to China, Tibet, Thailand, Canada, New Zealand and other countries, he has had the opportunity to study with many lineage teachers and masters who hold the keys to various healing and spiritual development modalities.

He assimilates such diverse perspectives as meditation and mindfulness, shamanism and psychic field work, ancient mystery school initiations, and modern psychological science to support his clients’ unique spiritual development goals.

Matthew is a Teacher and Life Activation Practitioner in the North American Mystery School, a spiritual guide for his clients at Spirit in Transition, author of “How I Built a Spirit-led Life That I’m Proud Of,” Moreover, he works constantly in support of the cultivation of personal empowerment and community solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

How to Experience Love

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Photo by Leonardo Sanches on Unsplash

Bringing love back into your life is a continual process of death and renewal. The world’s wisdom traditions suggest that we cannot know greater levels of love without knowing greater levels of suffering.

While some people are turned off by this concept, they still accept simple karma. There is always a give and a take. For every severe action, there’s a compassionate one to bring back the balance. And I don’t think these wisdom teachers of ages past are saying that we must endure suffering, or that we must suffer in order to love.

Transform suffering into Love

Transforming suffering is a well-worn path by most Buddhist scholars and teachers, so my intent is not to revisit the theory and methods here, just to remind us that other ways of being in the world exist.

We need a fundamental re-framing of what love is. For our purposes here, let’s say that love is an appreciation of everything that I have right now in this moment. The experience of love is connection…to everything at this time—experiences of suffering and experiences of joy are equally contained within my love when I don’t run away from them, but actually lean into the experience.

Our wisdom teachings are saying that there is an opportunity to transform the experience of suffering in this way. This is more available if we are willing to show up and meet the “negative ego” face-to-face. The negative ego being that part of us that blocks the full expression of who we really are. It’s that part that holds us back from expressing the true power of our divinity.

Everyday we are challenged not to be a Buddha as much as we are to relinquish what we think we know to make space for a new way of being in the world. It’s a choice. But it’s a choice we must make whether we’re conscious of it or not.

Not everyone relates to a missed bus or a thwarted attempt at a good night kiss the same way. It can ruin some people’s mental balance if another person cuts in front of them in line. A whole day can be rocked learning that your child got in a fight at school.

These are all teaching experiences. They are all the universe asking us a deep, fundamental question: How would you like to be (in love)? As a separated, self-interested consciousness, or an aspect of universal spirit collaborating with others for our collective greatness?

It’s all love. How would you like to experience it?

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