Two weeks ago I jumped on a plane and set off for my very first International trip devoted to both work and play.
New Mexico was the destination.
Completing my Deep Coaching certification was the motivation.
And seeing the Enneagram come to life was my intention.
Coincidently (or not so coincidently) it was ALSO the three year milestone since attending the very first retreat that changed everything for me. From marriage, to parenting, to divorce, to infidelity, to same-sex love, to career changes, to financial independence. It really was a steep learning curve where my life lessons came hard and fast.
So knowing I was going to be perched 7000ft up in the mountains somewhere in Taos, New Mexico delving deeper into something I’m so passionate and interested about was the perfect way to celebrate all that was, all that is and all that will be.
Here is a recap of how the retreat unfolded (with photos galore).
THE SCENERY
Spacious. Open. Liberating. Fresh. Beautiful. Breathtaking. From rolling mountains to beautiful sunrises + sunsets, I spent long periods just taking it all in. There was something about this place that revived my soul in ways I never predicted. Mother nature sure does have her way with our hearts and our bodies.
One thing is certain: she’s the power source you can always count on.
THE VENUE
Welcome to the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, originally a very special home of a very special woman who brought all the spiritual thinkers, artists and authors together here at her home back in the 1920’s. And to top it off, I was assigned Mabel’s bedroom.
THE SNOW
All week the weather in Taos was beautiful. A lot colder than I’m use to here in Brisbane, but still nice and sunny.
However, on the final night of the retreat, it snowed. We were on our “surprise graduation celebration trip & dinner” when the snow started falling. We had just walked back inside for dinner after finishing a sacred ceremony in the woods led by a very special lady. The timing of the snow was perfect AND precious – a night I will never forget.
By the time we arrived back at the retreat headquarters I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. I was on a winter wonderland high.
THE PEOPLE
21 beautiful people: 3 of them teachers. 4 of them mentors. 14 of them new students.
Most from the States. 3 from overseas (1 woman from South Africa, 1 gentleman from Ecuador, and myself from Australia).
This is the 2013 Deep Coaching cohort who’ve been riding this journey with me. Doing this deep work with them has been an absolute honour.
2013 Deep Coaching Cohort
Diana – my teacher, my mentor + Director of Deep Coaching Institute.
Roxanne – my teacher + Founder of Deep Coaching Institute.
THE CERTIFICATE
Even though I still have 2 months left before my full certification is complete, the hours of this “Building Coaching Presence Retreat” are totally worth the recognition. Ta-da!
THE HIGHLIGHTS
Sitting by the fire late at night sipping on tea chatting and laughing with everyone / The spread of organic food for every breakfast, lunch and dinner / Sharing Mabel’s room with Beth / The array of birds, especially the woodpecker / Skype chats with my girls back home / Staring up into the 170 billion galaxies in the middle of the night / The hugs / Pablo’s Primal Dancing / A private psychotherapy session with Nancy / Walking the Labyrinth (twice) / The rattle meditation + ecstatic posture / The visions / Our surprise graduation trip and dinner to a very special place / Exploring Sue’s home and hearing her story of how the Spiritual Roadhouse came to her during her travels around Australia / Buying a rattle made by one of the Native Americans from a local tribe / Staring into Roxanne’s eyes / Early morning walks / Scoping out all the art galleries in town / Hand writing everyone a love note / Knowing I’m the first person from Australia (and also the youngest) to be doing this training.
I’ll be back tomorrow with Part 2: My holiday in Santa Fe and Los Angeles.
A SOULFUL GIVEAWAY
You’ve probably noticed that I don’t yet have an official coaching page on my website even though coaching forms a big part of my work. Maybe I’ll have something up in the next month or so, but for now, the right women seem to find me at the right time and that’s what matters most to me.
One thing is certain, when it comes to one on one coaching, I’m not your quick fix kinda of girl. It’s just not my style. Not because I don’t believe in quick results or instant gratification but because I’m all about helping you stay true to WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU REALLY WANT from moment to moment. One epiphany or ah-ha moment doesn’t always translate to action or embodiment (which is what I’m really interested in). And lets be honest, when you’ve been living on ‘auto pilot’ for so long, it takes some time unravelling the patterns, the bullshit, the facade and the inner critic before you can access your deeper soul truths.
So in celebration of all the profound and practical goodness I learnt on my retreat in New Mexico AND my desire to work with women on a longer term basis, I am giving away 3 months of coaching to ONE OF YOU! Whether you need a big dose of clarity or courage or compassion or confidence or consciousness, I will help you transition from here to there.
For your chance to be the honouring recipient of this soulful giveaway, simply tell me why you want this or need this in the comments below or on facebook (or both). The winner will be announced via my newsletter next Sunday 31 March, so be sure you are already on it.
The more people who know about this, the better. So I encourage you to please share this with your community of beautiful people. Tweet it. Facebook book. Instagram it.
Generosity and love all round. Always.
Susana, I would love this opportunity to work with you because, when I first ‘met you’ in your welcome video to new Aussie B-Schoolers on Facebook about 5 minutes ago (!), I could see you have a heap of sassy warmth – it is not easy to find coaches that glow so effortless & instill absolute trust within me. In the only past month I have shifted every fibre of my being from conservative accountant and introverted homebody/wife to absolutely buzzing with excitement and dreams for the future – to do what I can to help others as a transitional coach helping young girls and women harness their potential (based on my own hard-earnt experience in coping with family trauma and recovering from anorexia), and unleash my creativity on the side by designing/making organic, super stylish inspirational home decor. What I need is a big dose of clarity & confidence from you to help make this real. My business model will include scholarships every quarter to my coaching e-courses and sessions – so you know that if you give me the opportunity to coach with you, I will keep paying it forward to others. Tamara Tomic ([email protected])
YES YES YES!! I love your work and would love you to hold some space for me. To be honest, I have been stalking *cough* I mean following your work ever since I found you mid-last year and have always been fascinated by what you do, the way you carry your energy, and also the grace and integrity that you embody. I feel really connected and I get the feeling that working with you will push a lot of my buttons, and I am all about this button pushing thing now – you know? Been doing heaps of inner work and ready to step up and nothing better than 3 months of coaching with you to help me release even more and become brighter and sparklier forever more! Loved speaking with you today, and I feel like there is so much more that can unfold and unleash from here! xoxoxo
My reason is simple. My transformation started with your Selfish for 27 days. I emerged a little more with your Ennegram coaching. So it feels fitting that you would be the one to help me figure ‘it’ out a little more.
I’m so happy for you that you had an amazing trip. It’s so awesome to see that you have people guiding your growth as much as you guide all of ours xx
Hey Susana,
Just like Jacinta, I began my journey with you in Selfish for 27 days at the end of last year. I do realise that my journey started way before this, however, signing up for selfish was the beginning of my journey back to myself. Through your encouragement and your further guidance with the Enneagram session, you have given me the confidence to commit to this change. Working with you on a one on one basis would help me immensely to stay the course and bring the real me back to a life I know is somewhere inside of me! The wonderful growth I have experienced under your influence would be greatly nurtured and increased. I have already shared so much of my journey with you it is only fitting to continue it with you.
Xx
Hi Susana! Firstly, I am so, so happy that your first trip overseas was such a joyful and fulfilling one. It really fills my heart with gladness.
I feel very lucky that I was able to meet you (however briefly) at the February Night of Stillness. I was blown away by the way you led that meditation and the discussion afterwards – how you listened carefully to what everyone said and then asked such thoughtful, gentle, probing questions, like you were really reaching into each person’s core. This quiet, deeply contemplative style is exactly my style too, and I felt as though we would connect and work really well together.
I’ve been on a real journey these last few months, seeking my true, authentic self. I’ve read widely, started meditating, and had some fantastic help from other mindfulness champions online. And I have definitely felt a positive shift. But like you say – an “ah-ha” moment does not a journey make. This is a long-term endeavour, this “knowing thyself” business, and I want to commit to it fully. To approach it with every tool in my belt, from every possible angle. I really think that you could help me so much.
[…] If you missed yesterday’s post, check it out here. Part 1: my retreat in Taos, New Mexico. […]
Susana, we met last weekend and I felt a simple connection with you. You told me to have the belief that things would unfold. I’m holding those words close to my heart as I listen for a call. A new chapter is opening for me, I can feel it coming. This time I am choosing not to rush but to wait for something deeper and more heartfelt. The last few years have been tumultuous. Caring for my young son; letting go a promising career; overcoming illness and disability; leaving behind a fourteen year relationship; embarking on a new life with a new love only to watch him be crushed by the very same illness. And so here I find myself, standing single and strong beside my beautiful child, wholly grateful for the past, mindful of the present and blessed by the myriad opportunities that lie ahead. I am hoping that you might choose to be a guiding star for the next stage in our journey.
Susana, it’s the strangest thing. I’ve spent my whole life being brave and strong and confident and independent – and it’s only now that I’m 40 that I realise how much better a person I could be if I allowed those barriers to drop. I love me now, but I have the feeling that so much more awaits me. We’ve spoken only for a few minutes face-to-face – I was inspired by your presence, your focus, your ability to connect with whoever was in front of you. You may just be the person I need to guide me through my inner-most thoughts!
I would love to work with you Susana. I’m at a point where I need to change some aspects of my life so I can really start LIVING again, rather than just existing. I’m sick of not doing it my way, and of letting ‘the fear’ rule my decisions and override my heart. I’m sick of being constricted. Your story hits home to me, the getting to a point where change is really necessary. I’m ready to start making lasting change. It’s time for me to step up and start really committing to myself.
Oh my god, Susana. This is such a beautiful thing that you are offering. I have felt an instant soul attraction to you ever since finding your work while debating on signing up for B-School. It was such a deep and resonating feeling when I came to your page and starting taking in your words and adventures in life. I am at a stage in my life where I need to start honoring myself and open up to the bigness that I have inside. I truly feel that the universe has called me to you to start this journey. I am already looking forward to working with you after B-School (and I can’t wait to access Selfish for 27 days!)! I feel that this opportunity could take me even deeper, and even more connected to my essence with you as a guide. I would be honoured and humbled, and deeply grateful if I was chosen for this gorgeous offering.
Dear Susana,
I hesitated to write this because I read the below comments and they all seem so deserving of your support. I also hesitate because I am not one for baring my soul. Which leads me to the reason WHY I decided that … yes … I will comment here :)
As you know, I am a stay at home mum. I have no family here and not much access (logistically) to friends. I can feel isolated and quite cut off from the rest of the world.
I don’t have time for “me” anymore … between looking after my (ridiculously gorgeous) baby boy and setting up/learning how to create a business that serves the world (like yours) … The reason I would ADORE to have a 3 month coaching package with you is that it would carve out time and space to bring myself back to me. I would love the opportunity to be reminded to unfurl and to spread my wings – even within the walls of my home.
Thank you for offering the opportunity .. x
My coaching needs are pretty simple (I think): I had a breakdown about 18 months ago and spent almost a year recovering. I then walked away from my former life (corporate job, financial security and what I thought was ‘normal’) because it was toxic. I started a new business and have experienced a lot of frustrations, challenges, highs, lows, good days, bad days, and extremely long hours. But it is truly satisfying on a personal level. I work with my husband and finally, get to see him more than I ever did, but as a result tend to bicker about ‘work’ with him too much at times. I’m driven to succeed but often forget that I need to be successfully healthy and happy before that success can translate into any other type of “gain”.
I sometimes feel like I’m on the verge on falling into old bad habits again and wonder if I did the right thing by walking away from my old life into the new. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford your coaching if it weren’t for being picked to win.
Hi Susana,
I adored reading about your experiences with your trip and with your retreat. It’s truly inspiring.
I loved what you wrote about one a-ha moment and, as you know, I had quite a few of those with my enneagram session. It started a chain reaction. I actually had a note to contact you in the next couple of weeks because after my email I could hear Leonie’s words about getting money together for what you desire in my head and I became determined to make it happen.
My enneagram session and the subsequent learning has been life changing, but I’ve started to see little snippets of conditioned habits sneaking in. I’ve started gaining momentum with business and ideas, and I don’t want to lose that because I was too chicken to admit my fears, to admit that I wasn’t completely sure where I was heading and the biggie, that warrior woman over here perhaps couldn’t make it all happen on her own (and that didn’t mean I was a failure). Your non-judgemental style is awesome and my session was probably one of the most raw conversations I’ve had straight off the bat with anyone and I think that is what made it most beneficial, and makes me feel that your coaching is the right opportunity for me to grow.
I don’t want to look back and think this was another shot I didn’t take to create the life I want. I want to look back and say this was the one that changed it.
It would be an absolute honour to work with you again (whether through this beautiful offering or making it happen!)
Happy Easter. Have a beautiful long weekend,
Kate x
Dear Susana,
What a beautiful gift to pass on to someone. I have read your story and always admired your commitment to following your true self. I’m aware of some self-limiting thoughts (although I’m sure there are plenty more), subscribed to lot’s of wonderful teachers, read their articles and books. I have made some changes, however I’m stuck in a lifelong situation that I need help accepting (being personal I could share more via email), so I can truly *feel* what’s missing from my life. I want to go deeper to actually experience the changes you speak so highly of.
I hope I get the chance to work with you, if not now, sometime in the future.
Sam
p.s. Your trip looks amazing and something I have recently put on my bucket list. One day… :)
Hi Susanna!
First off, thank you for offering this lovely opportunity and being so generous! I have been a follower of your work for a few years now and adore your mid-week mantras. I really connect with your work and words and feel this opportunity would really assist me in excelling personally, professionally and spiritually. I have just started a business and these precious 3 months of coaching could be a wonderful gift! My top three reasons why you should pick moi! :)
1. I have connected with your work/words/world over time and know your style and I dig it.
2. This opportunity could not come at a better time (that divine universe ;)….)
3. When the student is ready, the teacher appears :)
Cheers to Choosing the Lucky Lady!
Kim
Hello Susana
I would be hugely honoured & massively grateful should the universe put us together for 3 months of magic weaving, releasing old stuff & bringing fabulous stuff into the world!
I’ve felt a resonance with you since I first “found” you online through other amazing health beauties like Tara, Rach & Michelle Marie… I too have a degree in advertising, but sought a more holistic lifestyle so retrained in acupuncture…
I’ve been in practice for the last 4 years but I’m looking to add some new things into my clinical offerings with the Five Element theory that forms the basis of my needle treatments… Which I feel I need a little guidance on, both business wise & confidence wise!! & I feel you are EXACTLY the right lady to help me, especially with your enneagram coaching, as there are huge similarities & resonances between the two practices!
Sending so much goodness & tons of beautiful loveliness xxx
Ah gorgeous one,
It’s so unusual for me, but when I saw your offer, I was immediately drawn to it and had to enter! I’m in a place in my life which is incredible and spectacular in the swift movement that things are manifesting and expanding which I am loving. Though something that I am deeply craving is the support of another, who understands to lean on and open up to in order to gain a broader perspective and greater sensibility as I move through this tremendous journey of co-creation and self realisation.
I’d be absolutely honoured if you were the woman by my side, to learn and grow with.
Sending you so much love and super excited to find out who is the lucky love to bathe in your coaching goodness for three moths (I do so hope it’ll be me!).
So much love and in gratitude,
Vienda xx
I need this as i have, finally, in my mid forties truly realized that i know longer even know who i am. love and blessings to you.
Hi Susana, I would love the opportunity to work with you. I have been feeling something inside of me for about 6 months now, getting stronger and stronger, I know I have so much more to give than where I’m at right now, I just don’t know what or how. I’ve taken a few initial discovery steps and am searching for more, I’m so ready for something new and exciting and have so much energy it’s driving me crazy. I would really love some guidance and clarity to help me on the way. Thank you for the opportuninity and your generosity!
Hi Susana,
I hesitated at entering this too, and as expected waited until the very last minute to get brave enough to enter. My journey started during selfish for 27 days, but I feel ashamed to say that I failed miserably. I seek so much of my self worth through the validation of others that I sucked doing things for me because I needed to/wanted to. I honestly, truly sucked. I’ve just started to put the feelers out and sign up to start the journey on becoming a certified NLP coach but I find myself afraid. I’m afraid of what will happen and what people will think. I’m afraid of what stepping away from my career will bring. I’m afraid, so afraid, and have so little confidence in myself, my abilities and the decisions I want to make for myself. When I read your getting a big dose of clarity and confidence, I felt myself tear up because I know that’s what I need. I live day-to-day in the survival state not the joyful state at least in my head and its truly exhausting. This would just be the most amazing experience ever and to work with you would just be incredible.
Happy Easter – I hope you are having a wonderful long weekend!
Kirstie x
I’d love to receive the 3 months coaching because i’m over myself and tired of my fearful excuses. I want to get out of the way over the 3 months so I can finally assist others. I’d be honoured to work with a powerful coach like you to get my business started and be proud and powerful to stand in my power to help others who have not come so far on the journey I’ve been on. I want to pass my gifts on to help others but am stopped in inaction and small mindset. Thanks for considering me. Ciao Teresa
What an amazing opportunity!
I would love the chance t
What an amazing opportunity!
I would love the chance to work with you!
For me – it’s all about direction and confidence. I need both desperately. I need to believe in myself but I have no idea how to. I know I am meant to help people in some way but I don’t know where to start.
After having my children I need to find a way to know myself as a person, not just a mother.
xxx
Ps. The retreat looks incredible.
Dear God, this would be an amazing open door for me. There’s no way, normally, I could afford such a wonderful opportunity. Life as been challenging, you see.
The last year has been tumultuous. It started when my husband began to beat me, and verbally abuse our (at the time) 2 year old daughter. It hit a head when he came scarily close to killing us. It shook me to my core.
Through the help of community advice group of battered women, I gained the strength to go to court, alone and terrified, to get an intervention order for our protection. I then had to go through our whole house of stuff and sell and give away everything as I could no longer afford the rent on my own. My daughter and I were homeless for a time and finally sought shelter in the spare room of my parents house. We’ve been here, sharing a little 3m x 3m bedroom for six months since. It’s been, needless to say, profoundly stressful and grieving – but I do feel like, deep down, this was needed in some way to force a beautiful and dramatic change in both my life and vicariously, my daughters life.
I am sure, one day soon, I can find the money and support to find housing again. But it is all one day at a time. Every day has been a struggle but above all I am trying my best to live in the present moment and remain positive. It’s hard, I can’t deny that. I’m in the thick of it still – but I feel as though I’m in my chrysalis ready to be reborn as a butterfly. One can only hope. It’s all I’ve got right now.
Hi Susana ,
not sure if I’m to late? I’m going to write it anyway.
I’ve been following your journey lightly and you have always had such a beautiful deep impact on me from the the very first yoga class.
I am on a complete new path wanting to leave the life you call auto pilot.love that.
I am going to be a life coach for inspiration.
today I pulled a card from doreen virtue life purpose cards, and it was go to school learn what you need; find a coach/ mentor.watch for the signs we will lead you.And here I am.
I would be honoured to work with you and be pushed and pulled to be the true me that is waiting to be birthed . namaste
I am lost…..
Gosh I was really drawn to your fab offer and was preparing my comment but I’ve just saw Sammy’s entry above and feel that Sammy needs this much more than me – I know this is a little weird but can Sammy have my entry too please? X
Dear Susana,
Thank you for sharing your beautiful trip with us, it sounds like it has been very insightful and transformational in one. The place looks very pretty and am so delighted that you have enjoyed your time there, and congratulations on being and doing it! :)
I have just discovered that you are having this Giveaway, so Thank you. Really appreciate you giving 3 months of your time to one of us and helping and supporting us on our own path. I can see that it will be a treasure.
I feel I am ready to receive your support right now because I am slowly stepping into who I am destined to become, my true power and this is the very reason that I am here in this world, to be a full expression of who I really am and share my gifts and services with the world. I feel your support will empower me into my magnificent self in action and I will start living the life that I desire. This is the start of a life, a business and a new era of my life where I boldly stand in my power and for the first time I choose you to help me.
Thank you and bright blessings to you
With love
x
Ana
Wow. So many beautiful women so deserving of your help Susana. I guess it’s a sign of our times that so many of us,beautiful and deserving in many different ways, have little idea of our worth. Or maybe its a sign that the help many of us desire is simply out of our reach. I know that I, for one, am not my priority. My children are first, then my husband, then my mortgage, then my unfulfilling job. When there simply is no “me” time there is no justification to spending upwards of $500 to find it!! Hence we all apply in the vain hope of winning a giveaway such as yours. Thankyou for the chance & I hope the person that wins truly puts your guidance to good use, in turn helping someone else close to them. Kindest wishes, Nicole :)
Hia,
For me I guess its about beginning a process that will carry me, lead me, mould me, become me, for the rest of my life. I’ve only just started the journey and I’ve already beginning to be shaped into something brighter and better. This would give me a chance to see the possibilities. To everyone that has entered, luck and good wishes, I hope that we all find a little bit of light and guidance.
Love Lauren x
Hi Susan,
You sent out an email a while back and when it came through the title all but stunned me. It was about falling in love with a woman… and changing your life. I read your words and laughed… and then cried for a moment,… those were my words, your journey was so similar to mine in so many ways that I was comforted. I was married for almost 10 years to the most amazing man I’ve ever met still to this day, had two wonderful children and had worked my ass off to build an amazing life for all of us… so why did I go to bed each night empty, so uncomfortable in my own skin that I’d silently cry myself to sleep and felt lost as to what was wrong with me? Needless to say it took being in the same room with more than 3 lesbians all of three months before I knew. All of the lesbians who had been brave enough to hit on me my whole life…. (“ummm I’m sorry, I’m married” blaming my short hair) I owed them all an apology. My mother knew when I was in high school and screamed it at me during an argument once. I told her she was crazy and stormed out. She and strangers could see what I couldn’t face until I was almost 35. I’d like to tell you that once I knew I set out to make the changes I needed to make to be happy, but the truth is I sat with the wondering and guilt of tearing apart my family for 2 years before my husband and I separated. There was counseling, true efforts and fidelity the whole time. I was naive about all of it, believing that those things and my good intentions would make it easier for everyone. It didn’t. It was a year that has left us with serious scarring. I go to bed each night exhausted but now it’s with a wholeness I had never experienced before. I am an artist who’s studio is in the loft of her Texas cottage on a one acre farm. The kids and I seem to have found a groove that keeps us and this place running. We are grateful for our own resilience and that we are lucky enough to have such a cool place to call home. … even if chopping firewood in the cold wasn’t something any of us thought about in the beginning. lol
Now..I feel I’m -we’re- ready to get our feet under us void of turmoil or undue fear. Tonight at midnight (how fitting) I’m relaunching my own website and I’m excited about whatever is next. Having a coach right now is not something I could fit into our budget but when I think about what I want to feel that I am missing it’s the support I know coaching supplies. The few friends I have left after this process are the greatest gift next to my own creativity, but they love me.. like really really LOVE me and their advice and support shows me that everyday. With love like theirs it’s impossible to be objective though.. and who wouldn’t benefit from the objective advice of someone who only wants you to succeed? I do so hope at some point if not this one the two of us can work together. Your joy and courage are motivating in moments when that’s exactly what I need the most. Thank you for sharing your life with us so that we may learn from and through you. XOXO
To next chapters and endless moments of joy,
Heather
i’m leia – a 30 year old american chica – existing in a multi-layered “healing crisis” period on the sunny coast! i received a heavy medical diagnosis, and was ripped from the active life that i was confident was perfect for me. i get it – it obviously wasn’t, but as much as i can see the positives, its also a daily battle to start fresh, and re-invent myself. being able to step back and really see and feel the perfect way for me to react to “things” is what i am able to visualize for myself, but truly knowing how to break free of old patterns eludes me, even though i am confident it is what my soul needs to continue expanding. i have moments of such clarity, epiphanies, where i have a deep understanding but they seem so fleeting – and i battle the frustration of going in and out of the “reality” in which i want to develop.
i would love to absorb your wisdom, share in your spark and work on breaking through the layers – i am feeling that i am not able to go at it alone – and i am sure that this is the key to healing the ill health that has manifested in my body as well.
with gratitude. xo.
Hi Susana,
I would love to be gifted with 3 months of coaching with you. I have recently discovered that my truth is to work with women to empower them to live the life that they would love. I would love to experience your coaching for my own heart and growth and also ultimately to live my life purpose…I connect with so much of what you share and love your authenticity which really resonates with my own expression. Annie
[…] first overseas trip to New Mexico (part 1 and part 2). The travel bug has finally gotten to […]
[…] wisdom and her teachings. She is my teacher, my mentor and the very reason I recently travelled to New Mexico for my Deep Coaching Certification. For the past three years her work and her presence has had a […]