Less than a week ago, I returned from a sublime seven days spent with wonderful people in a magical place, and I will be changed forever. Let’s see how well I can paint the picture for you here. Integration of all the teachings will take years, I imagine, but there are some key takeaways I know everyone can benefit from and a few somewhat out-there threads that I will share.
Setting the scene
First off, let’s set the scene. Italy is one of my favorite countries, although I hadn’t been there in over 20 years – so soaking up the cuisine, the vistas, the language, and the people was magical in itself. To make things more idyllic, the Plant Powered Italia retreat is hosted in a small farmhouse inn perched on rolling hills in the heart of Tuscany, about 45 minutes south of Florence. The roads are winding, the sky goes on forever, and the birds start chirping at 5 am with great intensity.
It has been a dream to go to this retreat for years, but I believe in divine timing, so I know it was this exact one I was meant to attend. It had been on hiatus for the pandemic, the last one was in 2019, but Julie or SriMati, my beloved spiritual mentor, has been hosting yoga retreats at this precious “Borgo” for over 20 years. I am a huge fan of Julie’s and discovered her through her husband – the Rich Roll Podcast.
Rich Roll
Since starting this coaching journey, I have listened to Rich Roll. I believe it has been six years, although his podcast has been on for 10. I discovered it as an excellent inspiration for plant-based eating while studying to be a certified IIN Health Coach because many of the doctors and authors I was assigned were podcast guests. Such as Dr. Neal Bernard, Dr Zach Bush, Dr. Gemma Newman, Dr Valter Longo, & Dr Rhonda Patrick advocates for lifestyle design as medicine in terms of disease prevention, performance, longevity, gut health optimization and optimization and immunity boosting properties of a plant-based diet.
Rich is also sober and an ultra-athlete. So first, he was my source of community and inspiration on my plant-based journey, then when I got sober and switched alcohol for running, he was my mentor on both accords, although he didn’t even know it until I got to tell him in person last week.
Julie Piatt
When I first heard his wife Julie on the podcast, I immediately went and listened to all of her podcasts, hers is called The Life of Me. Quickly I emerged into her world and signed up for her online spiritual community Water Tiger. Water Tiger has provided me with guidance, a salve and a deep grounding into myself on my spiritual path. I consider Julie a friend at this point, and I was so excited to meet her and truly be in her presence for a week.
I was so excited to meet them both, to travel to Italy, to refill my cup, to be pampered by a chef preparing exquisite vegan Italian cuisine for us, practice yoga with Julie, journal with Rich, and meet all the other incredible like-hearted people I knew would be there. It was more than I could have hoped for.
Let the healing energy begin…
First off, the energy and interaction right off the bat with everyone were on such a high vibration. Upon encountering someone new, you hadn’t met yet; it was just pure excitement to understand who they are in the depths of their soul and why they personally align with Rich or Julie or both, like me. The energy and joy were intense.
Taking the (cold) plunge
Our days looked like cold plunging at 6:30 am (I only did it twice, this girl is acclimatized to the tropics – and I do take cold showers every day, but cold plunging in cool Tuscany spring temperatures was a bit much, and I didn’t want to catch a cold and miss out on anything.)
Tea Time
Then there was a 1-hour tea ceremony in silence with Julie and Mel, her spiritual sidekick. The tea leaves were extremely high quality from the Living Tea community, who drink tea together daily to commune with the trees – sip up the wisdom of the ancient trees that produce these leaves. You drink multiple cups of tea; the preparation and pouring are this beautiful artistic ritual. Sitting in silence in the community, letting the rising sun warm your morning face and wake you up gently with the tea, was magical. (Makes a great Mother’s Day gift for the health-conscious or sober Mom on your list, wink, wink).
Morning Pages
Next was writing Morning Pages with Rich Roll. This is a powerful tool to help you get into the practice of writing and a great way to ‘clear the clutter’ in your mind early in the day. It helps us connect with our thought patterns, negative thought loops, the stories we tell ourselves, and what we truly desire. The concept is from Julia Cameron’s highly recommended book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. It is a bible of sorts for creatives and writers alike – but I would encourage you to consider that we are all creatives – we all create things in our daily lives.
A Feast of Plant-Based Options
Somewhere in there, you could grab a light breakfast – the homemade muesli was delicious – I used it to top the daily porridge of selection along with local organic honey. Some days it was oats with apples and almonds; others, it was polenta with fresh strawberries or bananas. Of course, there was excellent coffee, cappuccino, latte, and espresso. Plant-based milk selection as well.
At 9:15 am, yoga started – an hour of asanas, breathing practices, movement, meditation, and Julie’s sermons: “Full-body breathing, everything is Sacred, Your Body is Divine Technology, the only moment you have is now. You ARE nature – you don’t need to seek it out.”
There would be a smoothie break before the first-morning session. On the first day, the morning session was an opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves and share why we were there. Many of us were teary-eyed, talking about what brought us to this moment of seeking inspiration, guidance, and support with feeling grounded in our next move, which forks on the road to take, or if we should carve out our new path.
Be it post-cancer, death in the family, career change, kids leaving home, divorce, or some significant move…this day, we all shared our stories, our deepest darkest fears, pain, and intention for coming solidified our bond. As everyone was crying, it was cathartic. Rich and Julie hold an incredible space, but it was all about the group dynamic. We are still in touch and supporting each other through the transition home.
Living Plant Based
Another morning session was an opportunity to listen LIVE to a podcast interview with the incredible Dr. Alan Desmond, an expert on gut health and a lovely family man from Ireland. I highly recommend you get his acclaimed cookbook. Alan was a profoundly caring participant and highly knowledgeable on why eating plant-based is essential for optimal gut health. His message was mostly a reminder, but I was delighted to confirm that he agrees with my position on supplements, wellness powders, and protein shakes (not ideal!). Whole Food Plant Based is the way to go. Even healthy powders and supplements are highly processed, and more often than not, like all processed food, they contain emulsifiers that destroy our gut lining over time.
Easiest little rule of thumb? Make sure you are eating 30+ plants every week. You are probably already there – this would include whole grains, legumes, herbs, spices, fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds.
Just breathe.
We had several unique experiences: we did Holotropic Breathing as a group – which was insane! It gives you the sensation of time travel in that you completely lose track of time (45 minutes seems like 5), and it takes you on a healing journey, often into your past, future, or both. Many of us had imagery of healing our past, color experiences and releasing all physical pains plaguing the body. I highly recommend you try it but find a trusted community and do it in a group setting, not alone at home. It is also essential to note counter-indications if you have any heart problems. It is an advanced breathing technique, not for the faint of heart. If you are breathwork curious, I recommend you start by reading James Nestor’s book Breath: The New Science of A Lost Art first and try a few guided techniques via the free Insight Timer app.
The Concept of Time
Julie invited a Spiritual Physics Gnome, Orzo, to speak to us about the concept of time. I’ll share a few reflections from my notes, but I won’t go too far down the rabbit hole for those who are not so into the woo. I think my favorite concept was to appreciate how the breath is the marker of our actual present moments – that is, every species has a different length of their clips of being in the present moment. Humans, for example, breathe every 4-5 seconds; a blue whale’s breath length is 15 minutes, and the sun breathes (expands and contracts energetically) every 11 years.
The micro pause between breaths allows one to choose a different frequency, vibe, path, alignment, and timeline. Yet the brain or the ego is always looking for the path that ‘complies’ with the information we already have. The ego is uncomfortable with you choosing a less known or unknown path; it prefers you stay in the negative thought patterns or loops because it is familiar with it. Are you still with me?
In short, breathing consciously helps us stop the thought loops and consciously choose another direction in our lives instead of going with the “wind” of our identity and patterns that we have been looping on for years. Every breath, you have an opportunity to choose an alternative path. Conscious breathing is like filling up at the “gas station of time” because the more time you spend being present with your breath, the more time you have.
It’s all about community.
The community was bar none. This incredible family or “we” were some 40+ people from quite a global mix: New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Portugal, the UK, Ireland, South Africa, the US, and Canada. There were four couples, I believe, and two sets of BBFs. Julie noted immediately that the connection between us was palpable immediately, which generally doesn’t come to fruition on these retreats until day four. Partly the pandemic and our mutual yearning for deep connection with others, but partly because we all just happened to be there on a birth/rebirth mission – meaning, in some shape or form, everyone there was seeking to set out on some new fork in the road in their life.
One day we went on an outing to Siena, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I wandered around the cobblestone streets soaking up the history of this town that holds the world’s oldest working bank and university. I bought myself and my children a handmade journal at this tiny shop, ate chocolate gelato, and sat in the lookout park with a spectacular view of the locals. We had a delicious lunch as a group – plant-based, of course, in a local restaurant. It was lovely to get out and see more of Italy, but I was also ready at the end of the excursion to return to the blissful atmosphere at Borgo Iesolana.
After the intro yoga class, the day we arrived, we all picked a card from the Kim Krans Animal Spirit Oracle Deck to guide our transformation for the week. I picked the Phoenix and can’t get a more transformational card.
Fire Ceremonies
Sealed, I believe with the two fire ceremonies we took part in, we would write on paper to throw into the first what we were releasing about ourselves and what we desire to call in. Returning to the theme of time, fire is the element that embodies time – the constant death, rebirth, death, and rebirth that occurs with fire – destruction leading to fertile ground for something new.
Why I Went
I went to the retreat with a deep desire to find clarity on some significant life changes on the horizon – the Universe clearly communicated to me through multiple modalities to stay the course, and yet again, trust my intuition that at this moment in time, I need to choose the path less traveled. I need to do this for my own self-actualization, which is in the highest interest of all at the end of the day. As Julie would say, we are here on a mission to understand and know ourselves so we can fully express our life’s blueprint – that is to say – you are the one you have been waiting for.
Applying any of these wellness practices or rituals to your life consistently is life-changing: journaling, meditation, breath work, tea ceremony, plant-based eating, community, walking in the forest, cold plunging, chanting or music, eating outside…take your pick.
Start small but start today.
Big love + extreme gratitude to Rich, Julie, their beautiful children and incredible team.
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Resources Are Available
If you or someone you know is experiencing difficulties surrounding alcoholism, addiction, or mental illness, please reach out and ask for help. People everywhere can and want to help; you just have to know where to look. And continue to look until you find what works for you. Click here for a list of regional and national resources.
