An internet research on the Retreat.Guru database will showcase countless facilitated in nature experiences ranging from simple mindfulness ones to more in depth inner nature journeys. A very small number of them dwell deeper by taking their guests onto a journey of deciphering the subconscious spirit and shadows driving our routines and behaviour. However, hardly any of them take the longer term route of post-integration and post-care journeys allowing for a deeper self-understanding and the unfolding of the healing process in the aftermath.
While the Soul Dreamers experience does include elements of mindfulness, on site nature immersion, psychedelic therapy (in some of the cases), and in depth connection to local communities, we go well beyond it.
In order to give you a quick glance within Soul Dreamers, I have invited our two main online facilitators Carolina and Jonah to give an account of what they are preparing for you. They will also be hosting a live one hour workshop this coming Wednesday on what constitutes a healing journey, and how one can really connect to the deep root of an existing emotional wound through a supportive therapeutic roadmap before and after a retreat experience.
Caro and Jonah, you have joined the Soul Dreamers program acting as our two main guardian angels leading the online facilitation program prior and after a retreat. Tell us a little about yourselves and why you’ve embraced this new challenge with us?
Caro:
I’m a transpersonal and systemic psychotherapist specialized in neural-reprogramming methods that align physical, emotional and mental healing. I have worked over the past 10 years with private and corporate clients that seek to overcome the traumas of the Ego in order to find back to their natural state of belonging, allowing oneself or the corporation to act and to create towards society and our collective welfare. I’m a spiritual learner deeply connected to Mother Nature and the traditional communities in Brazil, my homeland. I believe in the truth of therapeutic integration for deep self-immersion experiences as one possible tool to guide inner transformation and self and collective realization.
Jonas:
I have over 30 years of experience in physical/emotional trauma work with both individuals and groups – and equally important – I have done the work and continue to do the work myself. The work contains the Story Deconstruction Method SDM, trauma resilience processing and emotional work. I have a masters in leadership for sustainability and I’m a trained facilitator in emotional trauma and resilience work and carry instructor certificates in IMPACT Personal Safety and compassion based training. My work emanates from activating our self-healing through physical/emotional trauma release. Our physical/emotional traumas hold the wisdom of the past and offer a catalyst for transformation into our pure potential existence into the future.
There are a lot of nature and/or psychedelic retreats out there. What makes the Soul Dreamers program stand out? How are we different in our offerings?
Caro:
Soul Dreamers offers a holistic and therapeutic approach towards transformation on the individual, group and systemic perspective. When it comes to psychedelics it’s important that we don’t get trapped in seeking the spiritual realm as it can lead to “spiritual bypassing” (the tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to avoid facing unresolved psychological wounds and emotional traumas and our daily life). A psychedelic journey can be fun but with the right ingress and long term therapeutic and physical/emotional work you can truly transform yourself and activate your fullest potential – therefore the fullest potential for humanity – what we refer to as “becoming an eco-leader”.
Jonas:
We partnered as specialists with Soul Dreamers to create an integrated methodology for people to embrace themselves and their journey within a safe space where tools and techniques will be shared and practiced as a preparation for the retreat experiences. We are developing a real transformational work that goes beyond the experience itself and culminates in a post-work too, in which the participants have the option to receive individual or collective guidance for whatever might unfold after the inner journey. Our uniqueness consists finally as well in opening space for collective action towards Eco-Leadership as part of the post-process of the experience.
You’ve mentioned previously that the healing and transformational journey we’re offering does not need to be repeated in the aftermath. You’ve stated that once a person understands the method of self-healing then the endless search for transformational programs ends. How does this work in practice?
Caro:
True healing happens once our physical, emotional and mental bodies are aligned and we engage consciously with our inner healing process. That is why, once you learn to work consciously on all those levels, you are able to fully integrate the healing which otherwise would just partially happen on an unconscious level. Consciousness is also the key which allows the awakened individual to really evolve in his/her daily life. It connects the spiritual understanding to material change. Our system also needs time to realize what is unfolding within and that is also why we first need to get all out of one experience and understand its empowerment in our lives before opening the doors for another immersion. That is no magic, just conscious work.
Jonas:
Again, people are trapped in a desperate search to find and understand themselves – through the mind and from the outside – therefore we don’t tap into our own body wisdom. Once we do processes that anchors us into activating our self-healing the journey becomes OURS and thus the manic, desperation subsides and less sessions of therapy and psychedelic therapy are needed. On this journey, you become your own guide and healer as self-realization emerges. This is REAL leadership and the road to transformation as a part of the whole and as a part of the future.
How do psychedelics support a psychotherapeutic healing program? How can the conscious, subconscious, and the unconscious be unfolded successfully onto a therapeutic journey?
Caro:
The conscious, subconscious and the unconscious can only be unfolded through awareness and consciousness development. Psychedelics are not a magical gateway, they can actually bring complications and close doors in healing processes if used in the wrong manner and without proper preparation. But once a person has received right and qualified guidance prior, during and post the psychedelic experience, it can unlock doors on our physical, emotional and mental levels leading to self-healing, trauma release and to a new level of empowerment which is activated in the Self by integrating the intelligence which is received through the medicine.
Jonas:
First of all, there are many people out there that think that the psychedelics hold the wisdom to your transformation – this is NOT true. I have for many years done these deeper transformations without psychedelics with great results. What the psychedelics bring is the ability to speed up the process and in many cases access areas that are particularly concealed or even entombed. The physical/emotional trauma release work – is and has always been the key.
Our major goal at Soul Dreamers is to take our clients onto a compassionate eco-leadership pathway. A journey leaving behind an ego focused mindset towards opening community belonging and co-creation. What does this mean to you? How would you translate our noble goal in simple words for our audiences?
Caro:
The word “transpersonal” means to go beyond, transcend, the person I believe I am, the Ego, the self. This can only happen after the stages of self-healing and of self-realization, when the individual can then open up to the greater Self within the transpersonal and collective levels. So in order to transform the planet and create a sustainable future (which can only be collective) each individual needs to embrace his/her own journey. With Soul Dreamers we are opening space for people to accomplish their inner healing and giving them room to come out of the individual work and engage into collective action once they truly feel as part of All (which is by the way our natural state of being) and have become what we call Eco-Leaders.
Jonas:
Ultimately the journey of real deep self development which is what we are talking about will open you to self-compassion that in turn will create compassion towards your surroundings and the greater world. I am exhaustively repetitive – but for me the self-realization through the physical/emotional trauma work is everything.
Guide us through the Soul Dreamers own offerings a little. We are offering an online program leading to onsite retreats. What is the detailed process of booking a journey with us, and what do our visitors receive in exchange?
Caro:
Step 1: 1-on-1 interview with us to gauge if this is your cup of tea and how this longer journey resonates with your individual journey.
Step 2: committing to the work. You are the one responsible for your transformation.
Step 3: choosing which of the retreats best fits you and getting the logistics ready with support from our team members.
Step 4: participating in the preparation session one week prior to the retreat, in which we will focus on guiding you towards physical-emotional-mental clarity, consciousness work, self-realization and action tools.
Step 5: The retreat.
Step 6: participating on a post-retreat session for long term work and integration, focussing on assessing tools and connecting the inner experience to the material world.
If you had to summarize the Soul Dreamers program in a few words only, what would they be?
Caro:
The Soul Dreamers program is a pathway onto finding back our true nature.
Jonas:
Self-realization leads to compassionate eco-leadership.
Thank you both very much for your time, excited to unfold the journey together!