Why Retreat?

Guest Post by Krisztina Samu, Acupuncturist

Going on retreat is like cleaning out your closet, only YOU are the closet.

Over 30 years ago, I checked myself into the hospital for depression. This experience revealed many things to me. Firstly, depression is anger turned inwards. As a female, I was socialized to be nice to others. Any expressions of anger were immediately corrected and rerouted to the only permitted expression, which was “being nice.” Of course, no one can navigate life with “being nice” as their only path to self-expression.

It’s inauthentic, denies the truth and creates emotional illness.  

The staff at the hospital were largely abusive, except for one nurse who really tried to help the patients. The psychiatrist literally opened his jacket on both sides like the guys on New York street corners did when they were selling stolen watches pinned to the inside of their jackets. 

“What do you want?” the psychiatrist asked. “Uppers? Tranquilizers?” Ridiculous.  

This experience taught me that if things ever go this far with respect to not attending to my inner needs, this is where I would end up, and the outcome is largely not helpful. The bill for the weeklong hospitalization was a whopping $14,000, but a friend helped the hospital reduce its fee to $9,000 which I paid. It was an expensive lesson, but one that put me on the right path.

Later in life, when I felt stress accumulate and I knew that if I didn’t stop and care for myself, breakdown was imminent, I did something different.

Living in Hawaii at the time, I went on a retreat. The retreat was run by an older French woman who was a naturopath.  She had a facility that offered a two-week stay. A raw food chef prepared high vitality foods for us, and we received fresh green juices three times a day.  

Her facility also had a far infrared sauna and a special room there to take coffee enemas. These enemas are made with green, unroasted coffee and are so powerful in their detoxification that this procedure is used by cancer patients.

We could sign up for a variety of therapies, which I did.  The naturopath helped me with somatic emotional expression and breathwork. I learned that stuffed emotions eventually have to surface and be expressed.

It was an amazing experience.  

The library at the retreat center had a book written by a cancer patient who described how diverging from her life path and heart’s desire as the reason she developed cancer. 

Every flower wants to bloom into full self-expression, and so do we. 

Yet fears about making enough money or other worldly concerns can prevent us from pursuing our authentic self-expression.

Today, I know that taking time to recalibrate our lives is not a luxury. It is a critical part of self-care. Just as we clean out our closets, we must clean out our lives, getting rid of that which no longer serves and keeping what is useful and what we need and love.

Since the naturopathic retreat, I’ve gone on four more retreats in my life. The cost of the retreats was always far less than my time in the hospital was—and the rewards infinitely greater.

A self-care retreat has always left me feeling purified, focused, and rested.

I feel that I honor myself when I take care of myself in this way. The hospital experience left me feeling more drained, and frankly a bit abused.

Are you a woman who resonates with this story? How is the closet of your life doing?

Many years have passed since my hospital experience. Today I know that retreats are life-changing events that can recalibrate lives in beautiful ways.

I invite you to join us our upcoming retreat, Moon Medicine: Women’s Deep Healing at Villa Sumaya at Magical Lake Atitlan from August 17 to 24, 2024.

You deserve this time to heal, transform, and evolve!

Krisztina Samu is an acupuncturist who studied traditional Chinese medicine on the Big Island of Hawaii. She is also trained in a Japanese lineage called Seitai Shinpo, a deeply therapeutic style of acupuncture that activates and harmonizes the body’s major organ systems. She has a special area of interest in healing the typical deep traumas that often affect women. Krisztina is a lover of animals and enjoys helping dogs around Lake Atitlan. She has lived at Lake Atitlan for six years and regularly offers healing services at Villa Sumaya.