This post has been waiting for its final form for half a year. I wrote about my experiences soon after the retreat, but only now did it seem right to write the experience in a publishable format.
Last October, I was at a “Woman’s Own Strength, Courage, and Prosperity” retreat at the Radalla Resort in Iitti. The retreat was held by Iina Lempinen. She is a Life Coach, resource coach, work community trainer and non-fiction writer. She also does energy treatments and guided meditations. The weekend consisted of meditations, coaching exercises, healings and manifestations.
Radalla resort provided a wonderful setting for the retreat. The atmosphere was wonderful both in the building where the actual retreat was held and in the restaurant and hotel rooms. The food was heavenly and the portions were like works of art.
About retreat program
The weekend program consisted of different kind of meditations, coaching exercises, healings and manifestations. The whole thing seemed carefully considered and just right for the group in the retreat. Under Iina’s leadership, a warm, cordial, and confidential atmosphere quickly developed among the participants.
Meditations
During the meditations I got e.g. treatment for different chakras, the masculine and feminine in me was balanced, I practiced forgiveness and I even met my dragon.
The most significant experience I had in a meditation related to forgiveness. With it, I realized that one big thing I already thought I had dealt with was still in my mind, in my body.
I often see pictures in my mind during meditation and during this meditation I saw a big black disgusting ball rising from under my heart chakra. At first it didn’t want to come out but after a while it did. This ball represented my big emotional lock, which has prevented me from feeling deeply for years. I had tried to bury all my sad feelings and they had made a blockage in my heart. With the help of Iina, I was now finally able to find and treat this wound. Of course, the work with the wound continues, but during the retreat I got off to a good start. During the meditation, I also saw an amusing vision as this blockage rose out of the heart chakra, an empty crater was left behind and a “construction site” sign flashed in my mind. It was probably a tip for me to keep working on the issue to get heart chakra healed in full.
Coaching exercises
I also really liked the coaching exercises.
We did e.g. a letting go exercise, where we first had to think about how we feel to live life like we do now. Then, under Iina's guidance, we thought about what our dream life would be like. When I first thought about my current life, it felt like someone was pulling me down by my feet and on the other hand a weight was loaded on top of me so that I felt very heavy, sticky and disgusting. When we were allowed to move on to a new life, our dream life, I immediately felt relieved. It felt like it would be possible to take flight. It felt absolutely insanely good. The following thoughts came to my mind: "Never go back to the old days." and “You yourself are the worst enemy”.
During the exercise, we also had to think about what is preventing us from living our own dream life and this was my answer to that question. So I myself am the biggest obstacle to my own dream life. All my closest people support me already, no one else stops me but myself. So I should just let go of all my old beliefs and dare to go towards my own dream. Start living now as if all my dreams had already been achieved, and not just wait for someone from somewhere to come and give me that dream. Anything is possible, but of course you have to work for it.
The queen and the dragon
In the evening we went to a sauna by the lake and after that we spent the evening as queens. We imagined what our lives would be like if we were queens. We imagined how it would feel, how we would behave. How we would stand, walk. A simple but empowering exercise.
We ended the evening with a dragon meditation. It may sound funny to talk about your own dragon, but to me, the dragon had already become a regular guest in my meditations in the past. The dragon represents our own power and that is why it is so important.
My dragon joined me in my meditation again and gave me the messages, “Be a woman” and “Take care and defend yourself”. I have lived in a very masculine world for a long time and perhaps also hid my femininity a little. Now is the time for my inner woman to come forth. I also need to learn to defend myself, both from myself and others.
Salt seremony
We ended the retreat on Sunday afternoon with a salt ceremony. For myself, this was something completely new, so I don’t know if I can properly describe it, but I will try. In the ceremony, you first put a lot of salt in a bowl and mix it into the salt from a previous ceremony (this is called the root salt). After that, each participant adds some ingredients of their choice to the salt. We had various spices, essential oils and rose petals. Each of us got to put some ingredient in the salt and hope / pray with it something for the whole group. After that, Iina wanted us to add some wish to ourselves as well, because women very rarely ask anything for themselves. Then we got to mix the ingredients with salt and bless the salt. In the end we each got some salt, to use in our own salt ceremonies or even for a foot bath. This was a really wonderful ending to the retreat. We got to think a little about what we learned at the retreat and hope something for others and ourselves. After the ceremony, the feeling was loving, loved, light and warm.
Finally
The retreat was an important journey for me, wonderful, educational, loving, interesting and empowering. I am especially grateful to Iina, who with her great heart led us on a wonderful journey into inner femininity, inner power. I am really grateful to the other people who attended the retreat, together we experienced something wonderful over the weekend.
About my meditation experiences, I would like to say that I have experienced many things that I can’t explain. I see a lot of images, as I have described above, and I also feel different energies. In my opinion how one interprets these things does not matter much. One may experience them as evidence of some higher power, another as something supernatural, and a third only as a sign of the co-operation of the subconscious and imagination. I don't think it matters what you believe. Only that you accept these experiences with an open mind and accept the help they offer.
I have received tremendous help from Iina’s guided meditations and healings both during this retreat and before. The way I found Iina is also a wonderful story and Iina’s involvement in e.g. the emergence of this blog even more amazing. I'll write more about that sometime later.
Iina can be found on facebook Sydäntietoinen ja rakkaudellinen elämä- group. I highly recommend that you check it out, some of the posts are also in english, but mostly in finnish. On instagram you can find her in sydantietoinen_elama.
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