Shine! 2026 | Retreat Reflections
Personal Retreat Reflections as a Facilitator -
Several years ago, an organizational development peer and protégé, who was shadowing me to learn the ropes, said to me, "you create and hold space for people." I found that both alarming and charming -- Creating space and holding spaces felt a bit mystical -- aren't meeting rooms, living rooms, campfires simply spaces unto themselves? This instinct, though, is part of why I was drawn to facilitating retreats.
Even as I wrapped my head around the creation and holding of space, I have always felt and referred to learning environments as sacred spaces. As I have continued to practice organization development, facilitation, and coaching, I have come to attend to the purpose of facilitating learning and transformation as more than the exchange of information. This sense has been advanced by my own practices of yoga, meditation, journalling, and mindfulness, as the space is not only around us, it is within us.
My professional practice has evolved to the point where creating and holding space is my first and most precious charge -- space for each individual to come into the environment and experience safety and express vulnerability, curiosity, and hope -- and a space for the several individuals as well, to experience and express community.
One of the most precious aspects to me of Elate retreats is the intuitive, instinctive, and affirming drive we all have to create and contribute to community.
At Elate retreats, through the shared work, ten people arrive. Connections form. At the end, a community departs, strengthened by the threads of shared experience and vulnerability that affirm the power of human connection,
Retreating begins with the Self -- the choice to honor Self, invest in Self, nurture Self. The space that is created lifts up each person and orients them to a broader sense of one-ness -- not "I am the same as others" -- more about, "Alone or with others, I am a unique and powerful person who co-creates my experience and the experience that of others."
This. This is the opportunity of Elate. Self-leadership, self-compassion, self-trust, self-forgiveness, self-honoring.
In learning and retreat spaces there can be a natural resistance to just "dropping in" and "being." Being in community, though, changes the game. Let me share how community increases the quality of the experience.
One recent guest at Elate's Shine! retreat shared that she "was so nervous about being vulnerable with a group of strangers but everyone was so welcoming and the nervousness went away right away. I cannot remember the last time I felt so comfortable in a group setting like that. I feel like I truly have a network of strong women who are on a similar journey that I can reach out to and continue to build ties with."
Another, striving to "achieve" and "show up ready" read ahead in the guidebook, and grew overwhelmed by just the potential of the experience -- she stepped away for a bit to explore the tension she was experiencing. Others in the group noticed -- and cared about -- her absence. It also led her and me to a wonderful discussion about not having to "be ready" to Shine! Showing up, being with, instead of "being ready" in a group environment allows you to process at your own pace and be lifted up and spurred forward by the reflections and experiences of those with you.
Which also brings me to one of the most important learnings I have culled from the retreats I have organized and led. Being a professional facilitator can at times feel lonely. Facilitating is usually “neutral and impartial” and attention and intention are focused outward. The quality of experiences I create for others through Elate pulls forward my natural desire to connect with others in a meaningful way, demonstrating must have both a willingness to be more vulnerable and an ability to be with myself AND others. This is “the work” – and sets an example for our attendees while honoring and respecting the precious, perfectly imperfect humanity in all of us, including me!
In the corporate space I facilitate, train, and coach independently, my clients’ trust allowing me the space to perform to my highest potential. Elate has afforded me relief from carrying the work alone. You cannot be hyper-independent in community – and while I have for so long chosen to carry this very deep and heavy work alone, I have come to recognize it is a coping mechanism developed at some point to keep me safe from being let down, disappointed by, or abandoned by others.
Elate has shown me that creating, building, and holding sacred spaces for others, and doing it well, happens WITH others -- with amazing, intuitive, present, intentional, and purposeful partners. It happens through the voices who envision and build the space, the members of the circle who create the connections through their exchanges and reflections, and the trusting relationships with body and healing practitioners, artists, gentle organizers, and chefs who co-created the experience of Shine! 2026.
-- Ultimately, Shine! has show me that elevated learning and transformational experiences happen with others, in community, with with intentionality, partnership, trust, vulnerability, and purpose. Elate isn’t mine – it is ours.
Thank you to the people who are attending, you are the bright sparks of Shine! What a gift it has been. I look forward to our next spaces -- where we lift ourselves and others up.
