Personal Development
Tales of Woe From The First Retreat I Led By Myself
The first retreat I ever led by myself was 2-days long, and a massive learning lesson for me.
Before this retreat, I had led other retreats…but they had always been co-led. I hadn’t done them on my own.
It was the first retreat of five in a 9-month mastermind. 20 incredible women.
I wanted very much to serve them well. And if I’m honest with myself, I also wanted to impress them. I wanted them to like me. No, to adore me. And to think I was brilliant. And to feel they had made the right choice by investing with me.
So that meant that even though I was so excited about this retreat….I was also ridiculously nervous.
6 Tools to Create Deeper Transformation with Your Clients
In my 15 years of facilitating Transformational Experiences for thousands of individuals and groups, I’ve come to learn that there are certain skills and elements you need to master as a leader and facilitator in order to be successful at creating lasting shifts, healing and real openings for your participants.
In fact, what I’ve come to see is that without these tools, things can go very, very wrong – your workshops can fall flat or not go deep enough, or someone in the group will dominate and upset everyone else, or you will misuse your energy and feel exhausted and spent.
Here is a snapshot of some of the most valuable tools I’ve developed over hundreds and hundreds of rituals and workshops:
5 teaching modes that will revolutionize your retreats
This very important article is almost like a glossary of 5 different Teaching Modes that are each vital components of a transformational retreat or workshop.
In my nearly 20 years of experience as a facilitator, and in over 50 retreats that I’ve led and 100s upon 100s of classes I’ve taught, I’ve learned that having a healthy balance of these 5 modes creates a learning environment that nurtures true growth and transformation for participants. READ MORE
Energy is Real (& you need this for group facilitation)
Folks who experience my retreats, workshops and talks often ask me how I am able to create and lead events where participants feel so present, so vulnerable, so connected to me and each other, and so deeply transformed.
My answer is always the same: MASTERY.
You need to master your coaching and facilitation skills in order to go from leading a “nice” event to leading a “WOW” event.
You need to master your coaching and facilitation skills to create experiences that your audiences will never forget.
READ MORE
The MOST important component to coaching & facilitation mastery
Want to know THE most important component of Transformational Facilitation & Coaching?
It’s not about the facilitation skills you master – of course, those are SUPER important and necessary in order to create results and deep healing for your participants. READ MORE
Your Positive Thinking is Harming Your Clients
I know, I know – Positive Thinking is a good thing. I admire and have learned a lot from those who naturally have a positive outlook on life. For better or worse, I did not grow up in an environment that modeled any kind of positive thinking. In fact, quite the opposite. I grew up with two immigrant parents whose own parents had survived the Holocaust. My parents trusted no one, always expected the worst, and because of their own trauma, they were perceiving a constant threat of annihilation. It was kind of like living in Catastrophic Thinking Central.
Needless to say, my proclivity towards the negative (& my neurotic quirks!) speak for themselves!
In my early 20s, I learned about the power of looking through more hopeful and happier lenses, and I’ve been dutifully working on my own positive thinking ever since. I find it powerful and very helpful.
BUT.
And this is a HUGE “But”…
