Take a day to unwind, nourish your nervous system, and cultivate creativity surrounded by likeminded women in Bloomington’s Yoga Lab. Featuring special guest Melissa Rusk.

A Daylong Women’s Retreat

Do you start each new year full of intentions to achieve, once and for all, a particular goal, only to backslide (again) after a burst of short-lived success?

Have you become wary of your own wish to change old habits because despite your repeated (and sincere) efforts you haven’t been able to do so?

Do you find yourself slowly down-sizing your desires and dreams because your failure to meet them is too painful?

Is there a voice in your head that says “maybe this is good enough,” when deep-down, you know it isn’t?

Do you criticize and shame yourself for not doing better? Do you want to show up to yourself and your life, and to those you love, differently this year?

If you answered YES to any of the above, please join me at my first 2020 Women’s Retreat, “Self-Sabotage to Self-Love: How to Break Old Patterns For Good! And Create the Life You Truly Want.”

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

During this intensive and individualized daylong retreat you will learn exactly why you haven’t overcome self-sabotage and how to do so for good.

This may sound like a tall order, especially if you’ve tried other programs or therapies or courses before with high hopes, only to find yourself back where you started within a matter of weeks or months.

But it’s not: as a university professor of 21 years and a master life-coach, I’ve helped hundreds of people identify, heal, and transform their most self-destructive habits into concrete, sustainable practices of self-compassion and healthy action.

This work is at the very core of what I do as both coach and teacher, and over the past five years I’ve developed a signature, proven protocol for healing and transforming self-sabotage into actionable self-love.

I know, from my work with clients and students as well as my own personal journey, how defeating and demoralizing it is to feel trapped by one’s own impulses and urges, to ping-pong between self-shaming and attempts to self-soothe that only exacerbate the behaviors we feel ashamed of. I know up-close the routines of rationalizing, justifying, and avoiding that feel in the moment like forward-momentum but are in the end only quick and illusory fixes.

But most of all, I know first-hand what it feels like to fear that we’re broken inside, or too traumatized, or not enough, or too much: I know what it feels like to feel too flawed to become the person we deep-down yearn to be, and in our best moments know that we are.

I also know what it takes to change, for real and for good:

• How to shift from self-blaming and shaming to self-compassion without letting myself off the hook.

• How to feel what needs healing and how to transform trauma and loss into a greater capacity for love.

• How to identify and replace habits of avoidance with the practice of radical presence.

• How to face and welcome my fears.

• How to endure the discomfort of change and embrace the unknown.

• How to overcome overwhelm and act in alignment with what I value.

• How to stick with it, be resilient, and find joy in the midst of struggle.

• How to be free, confident, and of genuine service to those I love and the worlds in which I live.

WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY

During our daylong retreat, I will be teaching you the practices that helped me and have helped my clients and students. I will guide you through teachings, writing prompts, guided meditations, discussion, and carefully-crafted exercises that will help you:

• Recognize and name your sabotaging behavior without drama or self-shaming. This is critical to sustainable growth because we cannot punish ourselves into changing. Paradoxically, transformation can only happen when we accept ourselves just as we are.

• Understand the origin of your self-sabotaging actions. This is key, because without understanding there can be no compassion, and without self-compassion there can be no long-term change.

• Heal the old hurts that leave you vulnerable to triggers and therefore underpin your destructive habits of self-soothing (the self-sabotaging behavior). This is imperative because until we learn to feel and heal ourselves we will remain prone to reactivity and short-term fixes that hurt us (and others) in the long run.

• Identify old subconscious stories and beliefs that keep you stuck. Learn how to release these thoughts as you create new, intentional beliefs. This skill is essential to developing resilience and therefore sticking with your goals and alchemizing failure into courage and motivation.

• Create concrete, everyday practices of radical presence in your life. This is crucial because presence is the antidote to addictive patterning and compulsive behavior; it is the bedrock of true self-love and an inviolable sense of belonging.

If you struggle with habits like overeating, under-eating, over-drinking, over-smoking, compulsive shopping, toxic relationships, love addiction, people-pleasing, procrastination, over-worrying, and the like, this retreat is for you.

And if this sounds right up your alley, but you’re scared of sharing your perceived faults with others, please hear me when I say this:

Shame is the number one obstacle to overcoming your own destructive habits, and shame festers in secrecy and isolation.

The cure to shame is vulnerability: owning who you are, imperfections and all.

This is exactly why I am hosting this retreat. And it is also why I will be sharing with you my own personal journey of overcoming self-sabotage and the suffocating shame that kept me stuck.

THE POWER OF GROUP

I know the power of group, and I believe in it to my core. We cannot do this work alone.

When we work together to become our best selves, we shed layers of shame. When we gather with others who share our challenges, we see how limited our self-perceptions can be. When we show up to ourselves by showing up to each other as well, we ignite our empathy and compassion, the keys to overcoming our own perceived limitations.

Repeat: We cannot do this work alone.

When we come together to heal and transform ourselves, we learn that we’re human, not flawed. We learn that we are loving, not selfish. We learn that we are hugely capable, not broken. We learn that we are in fact already whole and complete, able to change and grow with intention and purpose.

If you want to break out of self-sabotaging patterns for good and step with confidence into your full potential, please join me and a small group of fellow-seekers for a remarkable day of nourishment and learning.

INVESTMENT:

Ticket price includes a beautiful vegetarian lunch plus several handouts and worksheets

To ensure intimacy and community at our retreat, I am limiting the size to 10. This retreat will sell out, so please don’t wait to claim your spot.

If you have any questions, please email me at info@kirstinhotellingzona.com

THE EXPERIENCE:

Please join me for a deeply nourishing day of reflection, renewal, and regeneration with a small group of women who, like you, yearn to feel more vital and alive, more present, and more deeply fulfilled.

Taking time for ourselves to pause, look inward, and learn new ways of seeing and being can feel hard to do, but doing so is critical to creating a life of meaning and connection. It's not only essential that we to do this for ourselves, but also for those we're in relationship with. When we give ourselves the time and care that we need to feel safe, nurtured, seen, and loved, we naturally, effortlessly offer the same to others.

Joy is your birthright: it is that feeling of ineffable belonging, of easeful openness, of creativity tapped and flowing. Joy is clarity, it is freedom; the aliveness that heralds awareness of who you really are, beyond the vagaries of self. As Eckhart Tolle puts it, "the joy of being is the joy of being conscious."

To experience joy is to feel your connection with--your expression of--source-energy. When joyful we don't feel anxious; circumstances may be challenging, yet we feel equanimity. Creative powers come easily and our minds feel clear and crisp. Loving feels effortless, while gratitude and forgiveness replace resentment and rumination. Confusion gives way to intentional action that's in alignment with our values.

But many of us, especially women, feel true joy is just out of reach or, at best, elusive and fleeting, a matter of luck or luxury. For many, fully inhabiting joy generates guilt, fear, even shame: we feel damaged or flawed. The heartbreak we've experienced, the trauma, the grief, the regrets we carry--they render us ineligible for unhampered joy.

Or joy seems like an affordance of privilege, a selfish indulgence: "how could I feel joy when there is so much suffering around me?"

Or perhaps we learned long ago that our joy is a liability, "too much," something to be tamped down lest it drive those we love away.

During this retreat you will learn to identify, heal, and rewrite your relationship to joy.

You will discover that your darkest hours are not an impediment, but rather the gateway to a life of genuine presence--the essence of inviolable joy.

You will learn tools and practices that enable you to meet all of life, especially the most challenging parts, with curiosity instead of resistance, freeing yourself from resentment and rumination.

You will learn how we become addicted to unhappiness, and how to transform this addiction into self-compassion, curiosity, passion, and courage.

You will experience depths of being that you've lost touch with. You will release negative emotional energy. You will open and heal your heart dramatically. You will experience deep relaxation and clarity. You will feel connected--to yourself, to others, and to the totality of being.

You will leave the retreat feeling profoundly refreshed, with a wide array of concrete tools and simple concepts that will allow you to cultivate joy on a daily basis. You'll feel energized, more confident, and bonded with other women.

A SAMPLE OF WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT MY RETREATS:

"I’ve been a mental health therapist for over twenty years. And with that comes a great dedication to my own personal growth and well-being. Traditional personal growth modalities were helpful and necessary, but something was missing...I went to one of Kirstin’s retreats and I was honestly blown away by her skill set. And believe me when I say I was skeptical. I gained so much from just a day with her coaching that I could not stop thinking about it."

"My introduction to Kirstin as a Life Coach was through attending her 1-day Women’s Retreat. The day was full of new ideas and ways of thinking about one’s “full potential” through presentation, group process, and several creative expression activities. I left feeling a renewed sense of inspiration, but more importantly, a clarity regarding my life’s work and a plan of action to begin living a life that supported my goals. I have attended many retreats, and Kirstin’s was superior in its method to draw out deep desires, and also leave with a plan to achieve them. This was no “woo-woo” event."

"I met Kirstin in one of her one-day retreats (September, 2017). I was invited by one of my good friends and it happened just at the right time. It was an amazing experience to be there with a group of great women and Kirsten as our facilitator/leader/coach. She created a very comfortable environment for all the participants, and even though not all of us knew each other, we felt good to be there sharing. At that time, I was going through a transition in my life, and I knew that changes were coming but did not know how to deal with them. I was overwhelmed, overthinking and going in circles in my head. Kirstin tailored a perfect retreat for all participants. She took into consideration our one-on-one conversations with her prior the retreat and prepared something very special and just for us."

"This retreat helped me to put things in perspective, create a plan, and work on real goals. Also, it helped me to think on the balance sometimes we need in our lives in order to let things happen naturally. Kirstin is an amazing coach; she makes everyone feel important and she really cares about what her attendants are going through."

WHAT TO EXPECT:

As the earth softens and new life emerges from the dark of winter, so too something deep within us yearns for growth, clarity, and unhampered expression. There is no better time than springtime to step into your own becoming!

Our day will include guided meditations, heartfelt conversation, carefully-crafted exercises and activities, skilled teaching & life coaching, quiet writing, solitude and reflection, and time outdoors in nature.

If you're compelled to this daylong retreat, I urge you to join us. It will be one of the best things you do for yourself in 2019.

The retreat takes place at the beautiful Ewing Cultural Center in Bloomington, Illinois.

In order to cultivate a strong sense of community and to ensure the kind of individualized attention that sets my retreats apart, space is strictly limited to 10.

Your ticket to the event includes a delicious vegan lunch and beverages.

INVESTMENT:

Your financial investment for this retreat is only $148. This event will sell out, so I encourage you to reserve your ticket now. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at info@kirstinhotellingzona.com

I hope to see you in April!

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

Your Path to Full Potential Retreat is a nourishing, transformative daylong retreat designed specifically for women who have worked hard to create meaningful, purposeful lives but who want to feel more deeply ALIVE : more in touch with your passions and more committed to them; more connected to your body and its innate wisdom; more intimate and less guarded in relationships; more empowered and less self-doubting/self-critical; and finally, more actualized when it comes to living a life of purpose and genuine service.

This retreat it for strong, capable, tender women who care about making real change in this world, and who know deep-down that engaging their own full potential is essential for realizing the work and love they are meant to experience and create in this lifetime.

The retreat takes place at the beautiful Ewing Cultural Center, and includes a delicious vegetarian lunch. In order to cultivate a strong sense of community and ensure the kind of individualized attention that sets my retreats apart, space is limited to 10.

Our day will include writing, reflecting, teaching, discussing, coaching, movement, time in nature, meditation, and creation. Your Path to Full Potential Retreats are nutritive and restorative, just as they stretch you in the best of ways to realize yourself most fully.

During our retreat I will teach you the 3 KEYS to engaging your FULL POTENTIAL. You will learn: 

• How to overcome (and even welcome!) your fears with curiosity and confidence, so that you break out of old patterns (including addictions and shame-spirals) that have kept you stuck and defeated despite your best intentions.

• How to discover and claim what it is you really want, clearing out the dream-killing fog of confusion and indecision.

• How to take aligned action in service of your best, brightest, most radiant self, eliminating self-doubt and feelings of powerlessness.

To start, you will learn how to empower yourself in the face of your own fears. This teaching is especially crucial, as most of us fall short of our full potential not because we lack desire, but because we don't have the tools to overcome our own fears, fears that will always be provoked by touching upon what it is we really want. When you learn how to feel, rather than resist your fear, your life expands exponentially as you leave behind beliefs and habits that no longer serve you and replace them with ones that do. As you learn how to walk through your fear, anxiety and depression become far more manageable and often recede altogether as your replace them with newfound confidence and self-trust.

From here, I will teach you how to access and engage your most potent source of transformation: authentic desire. The opposite of attachment or craving, desire is the feeling of inspired aliveness that catalyzes your creativity, your capacity for loving connection with others, your resilience and problem-solving faculties, and that deep-belly sense of rightness and belonging that we often refer to as “purpose.” Desire is the gateway to joy, and joy is the conduit to your deepest passions and true gifts. As you tap your authentic desire, you will experience a surge in energy, clarity, and excitement, the fuel to your full potential.

I conclude our retreat by teaching you how to take action that is in alignment with your best, truest self. You'll learn how to shift from past-rumination to future-focus, and how to identify exactly the actions you need to take to get the results you want in your life: how to cultivate and sustain motivation when willpower flags; how to get out of overwhelm and exhaustion; and how to set and follow through with goals that leave you feeling deeply capable, energized, and empowered. You will wrap up your day by creating a manageable action plan to take with you, so that you can start implementing what you've learned right away and experience immediate benefits.

If you are interested, trust the voice urging you to attend this retreat. I guarantee that it will be life-changing in the best ways. It takes community and collaboration to live fully; we can't do it alone.

You will leave this retreat with profound insight into how you work and what you want, as well as the skills you need for stepping once and for all into the life you know you are meant to live. The retreat takes place in a gorgeous, serene setting and includes a delicious, bountiful lunch. In order to cultivate a strong sense of community and ensure the kind of individualized attention that sets my retreats apart, space is limited to 10. Don't wait to reserve your spot! You don't want to miss the experience that has transformed hundreds of women's lives. 

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact me here: info@kirstinhotellingzona.com.

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

Your Path to Full Potential Retreat is a nourishing daylong retreat designed specifically for women who are dedicated to making a difference in this world, who have worked intentionally to create lives of meaning and impactful service, but who nevertheless feel that something's missing, who wonder deep-down if "this is it." 

• Do you fear that you're under-using your best self, your true gifts? 

• Do you struggle with old patterns of behavior that don't serve you or your relationships, patterns you can't seem to outrun no matter how hard (how much therapy, how much acupuncture, how much meditation, how much reading, etc.) you try?

• Do you wonder what it would feel like to make decisions and take action--consistently--from a place of empowerment, rather than fear, self-doubt, or worry? 

• Do you feel guilty or selfish because you feel dissatisfied, or wonder if something's wrong with you? 

• Do you feel like you're living a double life? That things look pretty good on the outside, maybe even really impressive, while on the inside you feel anxious, empty, sad or unfulfilled?
  
  If you answered yes to any of these questions, this retreat is for YOU.

During our retreat I will teach you the 3 KEYS to engaging your FULL POTENTIAL. You will learn:

• How to discover and claim what it is you really want by tapping your deepest creative source-energy, clearing out the dream-killing fog of confusion and indecision.

• How to overcome (and even welcome!) your fears with curiosity and confidence, so that you break out of old patterns that have kept you stuck and defeated despite your best intentions.

• How to take aligned action in service of your best, brightest, most radiant self, eliminating self-doubt and feelings of powerlessness. 

To start, I will teach you how to access and engage your most potent source of transformation: authentic desire. The opposite of attachment or craving, desire is the feeling of inspired aliveness that catalyzes your creativity, your capacity for loving connection with others, your resilience and problem-solving faculties, and that deep-belly sense of rightness and belonging that we often refer to as “purpose.” Desire is the gateway to joy, and joy is the conduit to your deepest passions and true gifts. As you tap your authentic desire, you will experience a surge in energy, clarity, and excitement, the fuel to your full potential. 

From here, you will learn how to empower yourself in the face of your own fears. This teaching is especially crucial, as most of us fall short of our full potential not because we lack desire, but because we don't have the tools to overcome our own fears. When you learn how to feel, rather than resist your fear, your life expands exponentially as you leave behind beliefs and habits that no longer serve you and replace them with ones that do. As you learn how to walk through your fear, anxiety and depression become far more manageable and often recede altogether as your replace them with newfound confidence and self-trust.

I conclude our retreat by teaching you how to take action that is in alignment with your best, most expansive self. You'll learn how to identify exactly the actions you need to take to get the results you want in your life; how to cultivate and sustain motivation when willpower flags; how to get out of overwhelm and exhaustion; and how to set and follow through with goals that leave you feeling deeply capable, energized, and empowered. You will wrap up your day by creating a manageable action plan to take with you, so that you can start implementing what you've learned right away and experience immediate benefits. 

You will leave this retreat with profound insight into how you work and what you want, as well as the skills you need for stepping once and for all into the life you know you are meant to live. The retreat takes place in a gorgeous, serene setting and includes a delicious, bountiful lunch. In order to cultivate a strong sense of community and ensure the kind of individualized attention that sets my retreats apart, space is limited to 12. Don't wait to reserve your spot! You don't want to miss the experience that has transformed hundreds of women's lives. 

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact me here: info@kirstinhotellingzona.com.

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

Your Path to Full Potential Retreat is a nourishing daylong retreat designed specifically for women who are dedicated to making a difference in this world, who have worked intentionally to create lives of meaning and impactful service, but who nevertheless feel that something's missing, who wonder deep-down if "this is it." 

• Do you fear that you're under-using your best self, your true gifts? 

• Do you struggle with old patterns of behavior that don't serve you or your relationships, patterns you can't seem to outrun no matter how hard (how much therapy, how much acupuncture, how much meditation, how much reading, etc.) you try?

• Do you wonder what it would feel like to make decisions and take action--consistently--from a place of empowerment, rather than fear, self-doubt, or worry? 

• Do you feel guilty or selfish because you feel dissatisfied, or wonder if something's wrong with you? 

• Do you feel like you're living a double life? That things look pretty good on the outside, maybe even really impressive, while on the inside you feel anxious, empty, sad or unfulfilled?
  
  If you answered yes to any of these questions, this retreat is for YOU.

During our retreat I will teach you the 3 KEYS to engaging your FULL POTENTIAL. You will learn:

• How to discover and claim what it is you really want by tapping your deepest creative source-energy, clearing out the dream-killing fog of confusion and indecision.

• How to overcome (and even welcome!) your fears with curiosity and confidence, so that you break out of old patterns that have kept you stuck and defeated despite your best intentions.

• How to take aligned action in service of your best, brightest, most radiant self, eliminating self-doubt and feelings of powerlessness. 

To start, I will teach you how to access and engage your most potent source of transformation: authentic desire. The opposite of attachment or craving, desire is the feeling of inspired aliveness that catalyzes your creativity, your capacity for loving connection with others, your resilience and problem-solving faculties, and that deep-belly sense of rightness and belonging that we often refer to as “purpose.” Desire is the gateway to joy, and joy is the conduit to your deepest passions and true gifts. As you tap your authentic desire, you will experience a surge in energy, clarity, and excitement, the fuel to your full potential. 

From here, you will learn how to empower yourself in the face of your own fears. This teaching is especially crucial, as most of us fall short of our full potential not because we lack desire, but because we don't have the tools to overcome our own fears. When you learn how to feel, rather than resist your fear, your life expands exponentially as you leave behind beliefs and habits that no longer serve you and replace them with ones that do. As you learn how to walk through your fear, anxiety and depression become far more manageable and often recede altogether as your replace them with newfound confidence and self-trust.

I conclude our retreat by teaching you how to take action that is in alignment with your best, most expansive self. You'll learn how to identify exactly the actions you need to take to get the results you want in your life; how to cultivate and sustain motivation when willpower flags; how to get out of overwhelm and exhaustion; and how to set and follow through with goals that leave you feeling deeply capable, energized, and empowered. You will wrap up your day by creating a manageable action plan to take with you, so that you can start implementing what you've learned right away and experience immediate benefits. 

You will leave this retreat with profound insight into how you work and what you want, as well as the skills you need for stepping once and for all into the life you know you are meant to live. The retreat takes place in a gorgeous, serene setting and includes a delicious, bountiful lunch. In order to cultivate a strong sense of community and ensure the kind of individualized attention that sets my retreats apart, space is limited to 12. Don't wait to reserve your spot! You don't want to miss the experience that has transformed hundreds of women's lives. 

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact me here: info@kirstinhotellingzona.com.

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver

Your Path to Full Potential Retreat is a nourishing daylong retreat designed specifically for women who are dedicated to making a difference in this world, who have worked intentionally to create lives of meaning and impactful service, but who nevertheless feel that something's missing, who wonder deep-down if "this is it." 

• Do you fear that you're under-using your best self, your true gifts? 

• Do you struggle with old patterns of behavior that don't serve you or your relationships, patterns you can't seem to outrun no matter how hard (how much therapy, how much acupuncture, how much meditation, how much reading, etc.) you try?

• Do you wonder what it would feel like to make decisions and take action--consistently--from a place of empowerment, rather than fear, self-doubt, or worry? 

• Do you feel guilty or selfish because you feel dissatisfied, or wonder if something's wrong with you? 

• Do you feel like you're living a double life? That things look pretty good on the outside, maybe even really impressive, while on the inside you feel anxious, empty, sad or unfulfilled?
  
  If you answered yes to any of these questions, this retreat is for YOU.

During our retreat I will teach you the 3 KEYS to engaging your FULL POTENTIAL. You will learn:

• How to discover and claim what it is you really want by tapping your deepest creative source-energy, clearing out the dream-killing fog of confusion and indecision.

• How to overcome (and even welcome!) your fears with curiosity and confidence, so that you break out of old patterns that have kept you stuck and defeated despite your best intentions.

• How to take aligned action in service of your best, brightest, most radiant self, eliminating self-doubt and feelings of powerlessness. 

To start, I will teach you how to access and engage your most potent source of transformation: authentic desire. The opposite of attachment or craving, desire is the feeling of inspired aliveness that catalyzes your creativity, your capacity for loving connection with others, your resilience and problem-solving faculties, and that deep-belly sense of rightness and belonging that we often refer to as “purpose.” Desire is the gateway to joy, and joy is the conduit to your deepest passions and true gifts. As you tap your authentic desire, you will experience a surge in energy, clarity, and excitement, the fuel to your full potential. 

From here, you will learn how to empower yourself in the face of your own fears. This teaching is especially crucial, as most of us fall short of our full potential not because we lack desire, but because we don't have the tools to overcome our own fears. When you learn how to feel, rather than resist your fear, your life expands exponentially as you leave behind beliefs and habits that no longer serve you and replace them with ones that do. As you learn how to walk through your fear, anxiety and depression become far more manageable and often recede altogether as your replace them with newfound confidence and self-trust.

I conclude our retreat by teaching you how to take action that is in alignment with your best, most expansive self. You'll learn how to identify exactly the actions you need to take to get the results you want in your life; how to cultivate and sustain motivation when willpower flags; how to get out of overwhelm and exhaustion; and how to set and follow through with goals that leave you feeling deeply capable, energized, and empowered. You will wrap up your day by creating a manageable action plan to take with you, so that you can start implementing what you've learned right away and experience immediate benefits. 

You will leave this retreat with profound insight into how you work and what you want, as well as the skills you need for stepping once and for all into the life you know you are meant to live. The retreat takes place in a gorgeous, serene setting and includes a delicious, bountiful lunch. In order to cultivate a strong sense of community and ensure the kind of individualized attention that sets my retreats apart, space is limited to 12. Don't wait to reserve your spot! You don't want to miss the experience that has transformed hundreds of women's lives. 

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact me here: info@kirstinhotellingzona.com.