Making My Mess My Message by Maya Jules

As I sit down to write this, I’m reminded of a line in one of my favorite songs of all time - “Once In A Lifetime” by The Talking Heads - when David Byrne says, “And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here…?” It’s pretty wild to look back at the bumpy, treacherous road that landed me in this spot right here, right now, introducing myself to a community of beautiful souls who are deeply committed to health, wellness and transformation. I never would have guessed I’d be here, although when I really reflect, it makes absolute perfect sense, like everything eventually does.

So, how did I get here? Well, my life looked very different just two years ago. I was working my butt off in the music industry, surrounded by energy vampires of the highest degree. Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, too. I live and breathe music and live experiences, and I had some truly extravagant experiences, but the universe had other plans for me. To back up a bit, I had a history of debilitating depression. There were far more days I wished I could be dead than alive. This began seasonally and situationally, but it didn’t end there. I tried multiple types of therapy and several medications, but nothing moved the needle on my mental health. There was something wrong with me and no one knew what it was. Although I spent more nights than I want to admit researching how to quickly and effectively end it all, there was still a persistence inside of me to find an answer. I’ll save you from all the grueling details of that part of my journey, but fast forward to that answer.

I got a diagnosis. I learned that what I was experiencing made perfect sense for what was actually happening in my body. I had an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s, which often comes equipped with depression, apathy, low energy and other symptoms of that nature. I was so relieved to finally know what was causing me to feel as bad as I had for the last four years, but I was also terrified. This news changed just about everything for me. I would go on to change my diet numerous times, adopt intensive healing protocols, work with holistic healers and coaches, read everything I could get my hands on about Hashimoto’s, nutrition, biohacking, wellness, etc., and finally, after six months of sneaking breaks to research health at work, I left my job, and essentially my life, to start a new one. 

At first, my new life had no real agenda other than learning and healing. I traveled, went on retreats and enrolled in a nutrition certification program to arm myself with more knowledge and practical tools. The information I was absorbing was life changing - from nutritional science to personal development practices to spirituality and energy systems. I started meeting more people in the health and wellness space, and I found my tribe.

I had to figure out how I was going to make a living out of this. Having worked in events for 10 years, I wanted to keep that part of me alive and apply it to my newfound passion. Human connection has always been a top value for me. So, I started a transformational events company to create containers for people to heal and expand. I started manifesting incredible, inspiring clients and would work with them to produce their workshops and retreats. Then, upon completion of my certification program and practice hours, I launched my wellness concierge practice to offer personalized nutrition and lifestyle consulting. Everything was lining up.

Fast forward again - I met the amazing Kori of Revamp Retreats. We chatted on the phone after connecting in a Facebook group. We later met up in person and quickly realized we had a similar vision for our businesses and our lives. The communication was sporadic at first, and eventually the pace picked up and we started working on various projects together. It was so fulfilling to be working alongside another person, not to mention a totally magical person! I never wanted to fully work alone because I’m quite extroverted, and Kori was looking for more help with retreats. One thing led to another and we decided to join forces. So that brings me to now. I’m extremely grateful for all the hardships that guided me here, and I’m happy to share that my Hashimoto’s is in remission and I am no longer depressed. Rather, I look forward to each day and love my life! Functional nutrition approaches, retreats and mindset work saved me. 

Kori and I are now working on planning lots of transformational experiences for you next year and beyond, and I really hope you can join us! Feel free to reach out to me if you or a loved one is struggling and looking for answers. I am fully committed to spreading wellness and helping people optimize their lives. Let’s revamp together. 

You can find me at mayajules.co or @my.oh.maya on Instagram. I can't wait to connect!

xx Maya

How To Believe in Magic by Naomi Zelin

*Disclaimer hitch hiking can be very dangerous, if you want to hitch hike please be aware of an already existing safe hitch hiking culture*

I rose with the sun this morning in anticipation to extend my visa on Koh Samui. I should have taken the first boat out. Looking back, it would have been a lot easier if I would have planned this better. But I didn't plan thus I've wasted a whole lot more money and a whole lot more time on this experience. But as I sit here waiting for the next ferry to arrive I can only think that this all happens for a reason. Reasons bigger than us, reasons that cannot be explained.

I woke up ready to take a taxi, but then decided I was too broke after calculating the price of a visa extension. With that, I decided that I would take the long way and start walking. Now if you've never hitch hiked before it's a feeling that’s hard to replicate, absolute anxiety with total euphoric excitement. If you're someone who has traveled enough, this is the high of choice, the feeling of endless opportunity and of course the promise of a great story and one of a kind experience. 

I began my journey by hitching a ride with an Englishman who had just dropped his kids off at school. He tells me that he's lived on this island for 20 years now. With deep conviction, he tells me of his travels in Africa as a young man in his 20’s, stating at that point in his life he realized how big the world was. He came to the conclusion that trying to see the entire world would be very complicated and time consuming. So he decided that staying in one spot was the way to really enjoy life. 

He dropped me off half way to my destination. 

Next a motor biker picked me up to take me to the pier. He was an Indian man who wore a long string of rudraksha malas. He went out of his way to make sure I was dropped off at the right pier. We spoke little about ourselves because the wind made it complicated to chat. Our brief interaction included him asking if I was a yoga teacher and how long I will be staying on the island. He then told me he owed shop by the pier, with a big pure heart. I let him know I would come check out his shop one day.

When I got to the pier, I went to the first stand I saw and got my boat ticket. The woman at the counter said that it would be 250 bhat and the ferry would board at 12:30 p.m. I look at my phone and see it’s only about 9am, the thing about spontaneous-no-plan-travel is that it's not always the most efficient, although I can guarantee you it’s got a magic all its own. Now, it seems that I've have a few hours on my hands.

I'm in Thong Sala the city center of this small island I live on. How small is small? Well, to get to the other end of this island it's only about an hour bike ride. Most places I either walk to or hop on a friend’s motor bike, as we never really go much farther than a 10 or 15 minutes away from our bungalows. 

So here I am in the big city with time to kill, first stop is to fuel up on a light nash and some coffee, obviously. I walk around not looking for anything in particular just letting the wind and stores float me around. I head to the 20 bhat shop (think dollar store but Thai style), where I see all the many things I want to buy for my future home. Wherever that place may be. I buy a glass container because I'm sick of plastic bottles and how wasteful they are. Feeling like I've seen all I need to, I decided that it’s time to head back to the pier to see what's happening, maybe catch a few sun rays before I venture on to the other island. 

I walk past the store of the man who picked me up on his motor bike, and I walked in to say hello and thank him again for the ride. He then asked me what kind of yoga I teach and if I do any energy healing. Shaking my head vigorously I said, “Yes! I teach many styles of yoga and I am also a reiki healer!”  He looked at me deeply and inquisitively, asked if his chakras were balanced and if I could read his energy without using my hands. I reply by telling him I'm still new to energy healing and I cannot do that quite yet. 

Without any other question this man asks, “Ok so how did you hurt your back?”

Not knowing this man for longer than 10 minutes and him calling out my back problems. I get this feeling that he’s one who knows a lot more than meets the eye. Even after all the travel and healers I've met, things like this still surprise me but not as much as they did when I first began my journey of spirituality.

He asked me about my back problems and spoke to some trauma in my mind that I've buried with many layers of dirt. He gave me some insights into my pain both physically and mentally, with next to no information about me, he hits it spot on. This man doesn't advertise or try to get money from me, another sign that he is a healer from the heart and not for the recognition. The one thing I'm most passionate about it is always making an effort to work on myself, always trying to heal and reconcile unhelpful conditioning. I immediately ask him when we can schedule a healing session. He says that he’s busy with running his business and that he spends his spare time on his own meditations, this was his way of gracefully declining my offer.  Since I am persistent and can never take no for an answer, I ask again, when can I come to see you. He walks around the question with another question about me. Then he uses a pen to push at my hands. He tells me I have a pinched nerve in my back and that I should stop doing forward bends in my yoga practice. 

He says he's an energy and meridian healer, using pressure points all over the body to release trapped energy. We continue to talk about energy and he asks me how long I've been a healer for. I reply with my educational background, my degrees and all the certifications that prove me to be a healer. He looks at me with a smirk, totally unimpressed with my answer. Replying sarcastically with, “Ok now ask me about my degrees…” I shoot him a look and in unison we both begin to belly laugh. I say, I understand a degree is often just piece of paper letting others know that you passed some illusionary standard. I then went on to tell him that everything that makes me a healer is not something I was taught in school but comes from an intuitive place that I was born with. With truthful reflection, undergrad and graduate school taught me nothing that I didn't already know. 

He finally hands me his card and says that I can email him to make an appointment for some energy work. He looks at me and said, “I was meant to pick you up on the bike this morning, we were meant to meet one another.”

I agree whole heartedly with him. 

Now off to the pier to extend my visa.

By Naomi Zelin

Join Naomi on an adventure of your own to the magical lands of Morocco, March 16-22, 2018. You never know what surprises await you!

An Innocent Misunderstanding by Jamie Wozny

It was one of those days. All was going smoothly one minute, the next I’m sitting on my couch with tears rolling down my face. The cute, blue hat I’m wearing can’t even fix this mess.

I’ve learned better though these days. I didn’t need a reason to be feeling sad. To me, emotions are just emotions. They are energy moving through us, period. The human mind likes to say, “I’m feeling sad because….” and then search the surrounding environment for an answer. But we make up our best guess as to “why” we feel a certain way. In truth, we are simply experiencing what we are experiencing moment to moment. And if we let go of the “because” then our thought experience can flow through uninhibited and free like the flowing river of energy that we are.

So in this moment, I had a sense to allow myself to enter a quiet, eighty degree, hot summer room, take the cute, blue hat off and allow this energy to flow. As I sat quietly in reflection, without needing to search for why I was feeling this way, an insight occurred to me.

I realized that my mind had made a mistake. A mistake many of our minds make. I realized I was under the spell of an innocent misunderstanding.

Images of my childhood flashed before my eyes. I saw all the places where I thought safety lived. I thought it lived in things like my childhood home, my mom, being sick and getting attention and having just enough money.

But then in a flash I saw the truth.

Safety can’t live in those things. Safety is a state of being. Safety can’t live in anything in the outside world. Because we live in an inside out world. We experience our reality via thought occurring within us moment to moment and we look out into the world and think it comes from there. We innocently think that something out there happens and it causes a feeling within. But we are always feeling our own thinking and experiencing that as “reality” moment to moment.

My childhood brain thought, “Mom makes me feel safe. My home makes me feel safe. Having just-enough-money-and-no-more makes me feel safe.”

But here’s the kicker to show you that those are just subjective thoughts and not “truths.” I guarantee there were times my mom didn’t make me feel safe, or my home didn’t make me feel safe or having just enough money didn’t make me feel safe. So it was never the money, the home or my mom making me feel a certain way. It was me always experiencing my ever changing thoughts about my outside world and picking certain ones that were familiar to me and then labeling them as truth, which in turn became a habit in my brain.

And I didn’t know to question it back then. But I know better now. And I’m sharing this with you so that you, in your eighty degree summer day apartment with your cute, blue hat can find relief from the biggest misunderstanding on the planet.

What was really occurring all along when I was young was that every time I had a nice feeling, I was experiencing my own inner state of being. That nice, safe, warm, cozy feeling was me feeling my inner world. It was me in my natural state and because no one taught me these principles of life at a young age, I innocently thought that warmth was being caused by my outside world so I innocently gave my power away and continued to do so until my crying episode on the couch.

Love, safety, compassion, forgiveness and the like are states of being. They aren’t contingent upon the outside world being a certain way. They are accessed when our mind settles. And our mind settles by nature. On its own without our input. Like a cut heals. On it’s own. Sometimes our wisdom tells us to help it along, but more often than not, the intelligence of the system does the job just fine on it’s own.

Because I thought safety lived in these things, my mind would try to control my world to stay safe. This meant; leaving mom, not safe. Being away from home, not safe. Having a lot of money. Not safe. And the list goes on. But the only reason I’d think those things weren’t safe would be because I’d have a lot of thinking about them. Then I’d feel my thinking about them. And then I’d think those things were causing my feelings. And I’d be innocently swayed by the illusion that these things were making me unsafe.

Just remember, your safety doesn’t live out there. It lives in here. It’s a state of being. So you can let life be as life is knowing that you simply experience a whole lot of ebbing and flowing thought through the vessel that is You. It comes and it goes. It eventually settles and passes. And so you are free to let your life open up, free to try things your wisdom suggests and free to finally live your life with uninhibited, wild abandon.

I hope you can join me for a Life with Wild Abandon in Bali, November 1st to 7th.

It Began with Bali By Jamie Nicole Wirht

It Began with Bali.

It was not so long ago I quit my job in fashion. Cold turkey with no real plans.

Why? Because I was unhappy where I was. I could feel it in my body, hear it in my thoughts, and others could see it on my face.

The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to help people and I knew I couldn’t wait much longer to explore that path. Then of course uncertainty started to kick in...

How would it happen?  When would I know?  Where would I start?

So I decided to ask for signs and trust that it would all fall into place.

November 2016 I was in a yoga class. Right after shavasana, the teacher mentioned she had one final spot left for her yoga retreat to Bali in January. I got full body chills. 

Could this be it?  Could this be the next step?

That night I went online and looked up the retreat. Thankfully it was not your average yoga retreat. The title read…Manifest & Magic Bail Retreat. Learn how to manifest the life of your wildest dreams.

I was Sold.

It was a full body YES.

So I let go of the fear of traveling alone and the uncertainty of what would happen. I quit my job that December, packed my bags, and went…

Bali is not a place. It’s a vibration. A portal. A location to go to experience a different version of yourself. The person you could be without all the fears and limiting beliefs you currently have. The person you are craving to be but you just don’t have the time, can't see the next steps, or don't even know where to start.

Bali was a big shifting point for me and I am happy to have it help change you too. 

It’s now two years later and I am a yoga teacher and a spiritual life coach. I teach others how to manifest their dreams lives because I manifested and created mine. On this retreat, I will teach you all the tools that got me to this point. I am now getting paid to empower others and do what I love in the place that started it all.

But to get to this point I had to jump. I took many jumps and so can you.

If you are waiting for a sign, a signal, a moment, a feeling, a change…this is it. 

This is your sign!

Enough is enough. Don’t go your whole life playing small. Wishing, wanting, and hoping. Your dream life is yours if you want it.

Get in the driver's seat. Take charge. Your life won’t change if you don’t start changing it.

If you feel called, take the jump and come CONNECT, CREATE, & RECHARGE in BALI with me! I am Co-leading with my amazing friend and teacher Miki Ash on October 10th-16th. 

I hope to see you in paradise.

Learning To Trust Again in Tulum By Carly Benson

A story of leaning into trust by one of our retreaters, Carly Benson.

I have trust issues from being cheated on and out of a lot of money, lied to and backstabbed. What's funny is I knew this, but I didn't really know this about me. I didn't know how deep it runs or the well of anger it has caused in me.

And then I came to Tulum for the fourth time and the Universe handed me the ultimate lessons in letting go and learning to trust.

As amazing as it is in Tulum, what people don't tell you is that it's not like the states...

You can't flush your toilet paper. The mosquitos are on another level. You can't drink the water or use ice. My room has no A/C. And the most terrifying of all: my room also has NO lock on it. Meaning when I go to sleep I have to trust and have deep faith I will be kept safe and protected.

Don't get me wrong, it's one of the most magical places and I'm not complaining, but rather keeping it real about the amount of surrender that goes into traveling internationally.

While these things all seem like a big trade off, it wasn't until I had no lock on my door, that I realized part of my journey here this time was to relearn how to trust. Myself. Life. Others. God.

And to remember to be OK with walking into the unknown. The uncomfortable. And to not just be ok, but to embrace it all. Even the things that make me feel unsafe or uneasy.

To trust that I'm being guided and to know the universe always has my back. To know that I don't need to have 20 locks on my heart either.

I'm reminded of a quote that goes something like this: The caves we fear to enter, hold the treasures that we seek. I entered the cave of trust this trip.

In learning to trust again, I've also learned a thing or two about forgiveness, which is one of the most priceless treasures I've ever tried to find.

Who knew that having no locks on my door would lead me to such gold. 

Follow more of her insights and adventures on Instagram: @carlybbenson

Why Leaving Your Life is the Best Thing for Your Spirituality by Niki Saccareccia

Taking retreat is built in to our biology; usually, in times of deep work like childbirth, death or sickness. But in our modern age, these milestone moments are so much more subtle. We take an afternoon to retreat from social media. If we have the discipline, we take retreat from the never-ending demands of our work emails between the hours of 7pm and 7am. Some of this retreat ritual is built into our culture: we take a short vacation away from our hometown to enjoy a change of scenery. More subtle than this, we take respite from our partner or children with a day or night out with friends. In all of these ways, the little retreats we take give us a brief pause to reboot from surviving the low-grade overstimulation that has become our social norm. In a time where technology has never been more available, finding the space to truly unplug couldn’t be more necessary to our biology and even more to our spiritual survival. 

To “retreat” is a cornerstone of spiritual life because it is required for us to thrive. Daily practices like yoga, meditation, self-love and compassion, help us to navigate and survive the inevitable highs and lows of being human. These practices support the journey through day-to-day moments. The moments that shape our attitude, our ability to adapt and change, our karmic debt are the same moments that can reinforce all the ways we get stuck and dig ourselves into a rut. 

True retreat - stepping away from the day-to-day, leaving home for foreign terrain, leaving the comforts of our social and professional networks for the company of strangers, experiencing new practices, foods, sounds and conversation, taking literal space to get a different vantage point on our life  - this is where the revival of spirit takes place. This is where spiritual thriving takes root in the garden of consciousness, without the white noise of our normal responsibilities and expectations. 

And here’s the thing: the garden is constantly being seeded. When you’re aware of it, intentional living, deliberate action, conscious relationship can flourish. But more often then not, the daily grind gets the better of your best intentions and you end up using yoga classes, meditation apps, and the like to escape from the grind in a subtle plea for true retreat. The small moments that should just roll off of your back start to add up, the tension in your shoulders becomes the new normal and eventually you reach a point of self-preservation shut down. Then you fall into the good old habit of distraction, using whatever vice has never let you down. You lose your way…even just a little bit. It’s the same cycle for just about everyone, because we’re human, and we’re flawed and being on top of our game takes work. 

So whether we are really tending the metaphorical garden or letting it roam wild and unkempt, something is growing and something else will flower from the things we do and the thoughts we entertain. 

So here’s the other thing: Thriving is seldom born from the seed of luck. We have to plant that ourselves. We have to take care of our one, short life! This August, we’ll leave the familiarity of our life to take a true retreat into the simple, family-style scenery of rustic Tuscany, Italy….on a literal farm…with seeds that were planted by hand. We’ll cook real food. We’ll pick olives and sip Chianti wine. We’ll hike in the countryside to natural thermal baths and soak our bones. We’ll explore ancient cities with new friends and do our daily practices of yoga and meditation. We’ll have the time to indulge in the deeper work of sound healing, self-examination and massage. Revival isn’t something we need everyday. It is the pause that’s just long enough to really get us breathing deeper and more freely so that we can reenter our life with more gusto, more enthusiasm and more inspiration.  

Can you imagine what seed it will plant for the next year of your beautiful and wild life? 

Revive & Thrive with Niki Saccareccia

August 28th-September 2nd in Tuscany, Italy

Dreams and Beginnings: The Creation of Revamp

Every time I sit to share my story, “things” come up. An email to follow up on, an errand to run, a lack of inspiration. But that’s not what it actually is. These “things” stopping me from telling my story, from speaking my truth, are not the distractions or the excuses, rather they are fear, resistance and a sense of vulnerability.

As I look back on my life, I realize that starting is the hardest part. Starting a business. Starting a life. Starting a story. We have been given all of the resources to literally start anything we can dream of; yet these “things” show up and we hold ourselves back.

So I guess the start to my story is at the beginning; my name is Kori Zornes. I am tough, emotional to the core, passionate about helping others, and I am on a mission. At first I wondered if my story was even worth sharing, but I had to push that self-doubt away.

As people we have to be confident and free enough to expose ourselves. Maybe you will relate or be inspired or just learn more about another person doing her best in this beautiful Universe we currently call home.

Initially, I followed the “logical” path, the one expected of me- went to a great university, earned perfect grades, lived for the affirmation of others. However, I wasn’t fulfilled. After graduating I craved adventure, which led me to rural China for a year.

Stepping out of my normal box sparked something deep in my soul, another beginning. My eyes opened to the world, to new people, to other cultures. In those experiences, I didn’t fully realize how vital travel would be for me, that it was one component to my purpose and destiny.

After this rebellion, if you will, from the post-college norm, I thought I needed to get back to “reality.”

Essentially, a corporate job. It lasted two years. An emptiness persisted in my being. The job felt safe and easy, but I lacked true passion. Quitting was inevitable, and I was soon back on my quest. This time that included a one-way ticket to Europe, a month long yoga training, and a plan to fall in love with a man who would prevent me from returning to the monotony of my expected path.

I didn’t fall in love with a man, I fell in love with myself. Which is infinitely better because it allowed me to dive deep into my journey and truly let the Universe guide me.

The Universe compelled me to leave Europe and sent me to Costa Rica. A 10-day retreat nestled in the jungles at a self-sustaining community with a man named David Wolfe forever changed my life. He popped my “reality” bubble, showing and telling me things that awakened me. Finally seeing the world and myself was pure magic.  

My journey led me to Los Angeles, California where I taught yoga, worked as a health coach, continued to learn who I was, and cocktailed on the side to afford this crazy city. It felt like my “new” life was beginning, but as I look back I realize, our story begins over and over. Everything I asked for would show up, but only when I was ready to receive it and when I truly believed I could have it.

Once I understood this, I manifested big things from the Universe. I verbalized my desire to work for a yoga retreat company, and within the week was granted my request. This new opportunity afforded me the chance to travel around the world supporting teachers and clients in transformational journeys.

Each retreat I led was motivated by my desire to serve others. I didn't expect anything in return, but it was like the Universe was reciprocating tenfold every time. All the retreats spoke to me in a different way, and created change in who I was at the core of my being, and the life I was choosing to live.

After spending a month in a quaint town in Mexico running retreats, I came home knowing I had to leave my long-term relationship and move into my own place. I had to turn my life upside down in order to clear space for something to grow, but I didn’t know exactly what was to come. The aftermath of this new beginning wasn’t pretty. For months I felt broken and questioned why I was pushed to do this, but, one day at a time, I preserved.

A retreat in Bali brought clarity and direction, a theme similar from my previous retreats. Everything about Bali and the retreat experience resonated with my soul. It was the spark necessary to light my fire.

I went home knowing I was ready to launch my own company; to take what I had learned and make it better. Revamp Retreats was destined to exist. The only thing that stood in the way was my fear and doubt, which showed up everyday.

But new beginnings are terrifying. Especially when you are on the verge of greatness and on the path which you were meant to forge. Revamp slowly came to life through endless hours of work, a few tears and much inspiration, but a retreat would give me the final push to commit to my dream, my true calling.

Coming full circle, I found myself back in Costa Rica leading my final retreat for someone else’s company. The experience there led me to the awareness that I couldn’t be half in with my destiny. I had to fully commit, so I returned home and rid my life of everything that wasn’t in alignment with my purpose and path. I quit cocktailing. I parted from certain friends. I left the LA party scene. I finally felt ready to go full throttle; I no longer had excuses. I was all in.

Maybe that’s how you know you’re at another new beginning. The chapter before has been closed. That was a year ago. One year. It seems like it is so long and the blink of an eye at the same time. I started Revamp one year ago. One year moving between the feelings that I am worthy and self doubt. But I started, which truly was the hardest part, and now I am constantly pushing forward.

The community, the teachers and healers I work with, the people’s lives that are changed, that is what propels me forward. One year ago, I had nothing but a dream and an idea that the Universe entrusted to me. Now I have retreats planned around the world. Each one is a special place for life changing transformation.

Everyone’s journey is different, but through mine I hope people see that, yes there is more, yes you can have it, and yes the Universe will support you. After every retreat I have the joy of witnessing others experience what I went through- messy, life-changing magic. Their changes and new beginnings don’t always happen immediately; it happens when each man or woman is ready to receive his or her gifts and callings, just as it did for me.

Those moments make the time, energy, tears (lots of them), doubt, love and hard work worth it.

And so it began. And so it begins and even now I know it’s just the start and there’s more to come. My path and my purpose are connected with everyone else around me, so I continue to push past the fear and show up not just for myself, but for everyone who believes in me, and to fulfill my mission of inspiring others through travel, wellness and connection so they can realize their greatest potential.

Because I’m pursuing my truth, what I need continues to be strategically and graciously placed in my lap. So I continue to trust a bigger plan, to ask for what I want and to believe in the magic of the Universe. And I encourage you to do the same. Because we all have beautiful stories to live and to share. Wherever you are now, good, bad or in between, trust that it is just the beginning and there is so much in store for you, just as there was for me.

By Revamp Founder, Kori Zornes

Insta @herwanderlustsoul

The Fearless Feminine by Naomi Zelin

When I think about my intention behind running a retreat that focuses on woman and woman's issues, I could babble off a lot of hot topic buzz words that we can all connect to in a very generic way. But If you know me, generic just wont cut it. I can only speak from personal experience what it is like to push against cultural and societal feminine conditions and rolls. When you overcome spending the majority of your life feeling and thinking that everything about your person is wrong you learn a thing or two, and the best way for me to express myself is by my word and soliloquy.

For a very long time all I wanted was to be loved. I wanted to be consumed. I wanted someone who would look at me in awe thinking I was the only one, the greatest gift to earth. I wanted to be adored and I wanted to be held. I wanted someone to understand me and to love me for all that I am and all that I am not. I so desperately wanted love. But there was one thing missing, I had no idea how to love myself. I had no idea what love really was, I had no idea that I would only receive the love I thought I deserved. And what did I deserve? I thought nothing of myself, my esteem was so non-existent that the love I sought after was disastrous. Fickle hearts with fickle minds. Slowly taking away my soul. Emotionally unavailable, using myself, my body, to feel love. To think that sex is the only way for a man to love me, thinking sex was the only thing I was useful for, only thing I could ever provide for someone else. But, wait. What about love, grand gestures of love? HOW. HOW. HOW. How do I get to be a lucky one? How do I get to have support and love and kindness? Failure after failure, I just gave up. I was sick of making myself feel worthless, I was sick of dealing with people who didn't appreciate me or look at me with eyes of wander. So I quit. I quit seeking out relationships that did not serve me and had a deep look into myself. My system of unloved left me salty and gasping for air, and I had a lot of questions. Questions, I didn't even know the answers to, answers I didn't even have questions for, but when I looked into the bottom of myself I knew one thing. I needed to know how to love myself, I needed to look at myself awestruck every morning, and love the person staring back at me. A declaration while standing on the straw that broke my camels back, “I will stop searching for love and acceptance in everyone else and proudly and courageously love myself.” And so began my gauntlet, fighting against every label, societal condition and insecurity I've felt.

When you stop hating yourself so much, you begin to see hope and possibility as friends and companions. While, Boundaries become the stabilizing foundation of self-love and not the emotional neediness you once believed.

I could go on about how I overcame all my struggles as a woman but that story is still unfolding, and your story might be just beginning. Women’s empowerment to me is fully accepting yourself, your body, your voice and your needs. My story is unique to me, and while yours might be entirely different there is one thing that holds us all together; the desire to believe that we don't  have to wear our hurt like armor, our words as cunning swards to safely protect our fragile little hearts and souls. Stepping into the fearless feminine is a commitment to yourself and the future to redefine and inspire what its like to be a woman.

If you are ready to rise above insecurities, fears, doubts and shame please join us in Tulum, Mexico for a yoga retreat that will ignite your power.

Click here to check out the RISE Women's Retreat with Naomi Zelin, April 16th to 20th.

Love Yourself First By Dr Sarah Schewitz

"Have you ever heard the phrase, “You can’t love another until you love yourself”? Well, it’s true, and here’s why.

When you don’t love yourself it’s very difficult to be in a relationship with anyone else. There are many reasons for this, but one particularly juicy reason is a psychological term called Projection. Projection occurs when you have uncomfortable feelings that are hard to accept, so you unconsciously project, or place, those feelings onto someone else.

For example, if you are a selfish person but don’t accept or like this quality about yourself, you might end up accusing others of being selfish, mainly because it’s too hard to admit to yourself that you are actually the selfish one. Kind of confusing, I know.

So, let’s look at how this applies to relationships. If you don’t love yourself, you might feel like your partner doesn’t love you either. You project that lack of love onto him instead of accepting that it is actually coming from within.

You might think that he is the one who thinks you are overweight or unworthy when instead it’s really you who thinks these things about yourself. He actually thinks you are amazing!

Unfortunately, you don’t believe him when he tells you that because you don’t believe that about yourself.

As a result, you might push him away and start to distance yourself because you just don’t get how someone like him could possibly love someone like you. Your ego hates to be wrong so it will do everything in it’s power to find evidence to support these limiting beliefs about yourself.

So while all this is going on in your unconscious mind, you start to act on it without even realizing it. You start to self-sabotage and find reasons why he is not good enough for you when in reality it’s you who feels not good enough to be with him.

Crazy right?! The unconscious mind is a powerful force to be reckoned with.

Not loving yourself almost always leads to feeling insecure, and this is likely to make you more prone to jealousy and mistrust. Jealousy and mistrust are relationship killers and make it very difficult for your love to thrive. If your partner hasn’t given you any reason to doubt him, but you still feel the need to check his phone every night, a lack of self-love may be the culprit.

Furthermore, if you are insecure about your body and looks, you will probably be oversensitive to the idea that your partner finds other women attractive. You might find yourself constantly asking for validation or reassurance, which can backfire and actually make you seem less attractive!

As a psychologist, I believe that the best relationships happen when two whole people come together to make a union. This idea of a “better half,” is really flawed, because how can a half a person contribute to a loving relationship? The hole that is left from not loving yourself has your shape on it. It can’t be filled by anyone else.

So, what are some ways to love yourself more?

Watch The Talk

Be mindful of the things that you say to yourself. Notice how often you criticize your own efforts and stop doing it! When you hear yourself say things like, “I’ll never be able to finish this class,” or “I am too slow to run a 5K,” try to turn those into more optimistic thoughts. Praise yourself for whatever you are able to do, and try not to focus so much on what you haven’t done.

Say No

Setting boundaries and saying no to things that you don’t really want to do goes a long way toward self-love. In a sense, you are being a good parent to yourself by limiting how much you have to do, and saving your energy for things that bring you joy.

Love Your Flaws

Whether it be emotional or physical flaws, know that they are part of you for a reason. Understand that your flaws show where you have been and made you who you are. Embrace these parts of yourself and know that they are part of what makes you a unique and valuable human being.

Join us on Dr Schewitz retreat in Nosara, Costa Rica April 14th to 19th!

10 Tips to Mind Blowing Sex By Dr Sarah Schewitz

In honor of our Sex, Love, Yoga Retreat, we got the scoop from Dr Sarah about how to fully drop into your sex life...

"At some point or another, the topic of sex always (ahem) comes up when I work with couples. Sex is a very important part of a healthy relationship and when it isn’t working right for both partners, problems can… arise. Interestingly, some studies even suggest that, regardless of the kinds of emotional problems troubling a couple, having good sex can increase their level of satisfaction with the relationship. So, in the interest of increasing satisfaction everywhere, here are my top ten tips for a better sex life.

Love Yourself

Your body is a temple. Love it and treat it right. Talk positively about your body. Don’t focus on your perceived flaws. Instead, focus on what you love about the skin that you’re in. 

Know Yourself

Learn about your body. Discover what turns you on and be willing to communicate that to your partner. Explore your likes and dislikes by touching every part of your body and seeing what feels good. You may be surprised at how sensitive different areas of your body can be.

Drop Judgments

Nothing ruins good sex like judgments. Leave the old beliefs in the past and see sex for what it is; a beautiful way for two people to connect with one another. Look at it this way; the better sex you have, the happier you will be. And the happier you are, the nicer you will be to others. So, really, having great sex is an act of service to humanity! Who could judge that?

Banish Myths

Using porn as a measure of good sex is unrealistic, as is the idea that the absence of multiple orgasms means trouble. It’s important to know that good sex can mean anything from a satisfying quickie to a full night of romance. Don’t get too hung up on how things “should” be. Instead, focus on what feels right to you and your partner.

Be Present

Stay in the moment and enjoy each sensation. Hold eye-contact and focus on your breath as a tool to help you stay in your body. If outside thoughts interrupt you, just watch them pass, and then get back to the action. If you are having trouble staying in the moment, pretend you are an announcer at a sports game and run the play by play of what is happening in your mind. “And now he is kissing my neck…oh that feels so good. And now he is moving lower with his mouth…” You get the idea. 

Fantasize

Share your fantasies with your partner. Do you have a thing for guys dressed as Elvis? Tell him! Whatever it is, allow yourself to be vulnerable and share your desires. Have fun with it!

Role Play

Pretend that you are his new professor or yoga instructor. Pick new roles to try and watch the sparks fly. Having a chance to play and pretend can do wonders for your creative-self.

Explore

Try a new position or a new destination. Or add in a new toy that you both will enjoy. Shake things up to avoid falling into a rut. Drive out to a scenic point and do it in the car. Or go camping and make love under the stars. Google different positions and try them out. You may even find a new favorite.

Try Having Your Eyes Wide Shut

Experiment with a blindfold. This will not only increase the alertness of your other senses but it will also be a trust building exercise. Plus, it’s a great way to play into the art of anticipation.

Get Your Game On

What better way is there to remember that sex is supposed to be fun than to make a game out of it? Try incorporating strip poker or twister into your sexual repertoire. That way, no matter who loses, you both win!  

If you would like to learn more about ways to improve your sexual relationship, you can check out Dr Schewitz at Couples Learn.