Got questions about the retreat?

Ultimately, this is a decision between you and your Inner Authority. (If you don’t know your Inner Authority, you can download your Human Design chart here.)

EMOTIONAL Authority
Your defined Solar Plexus operates in a wave of emotional highs and lows revolving around this decision. This is for gathering information. DO NOT make your decision at the high or low. Allow yourself the time to ride this wave of information-gathering until you reach a state of emotional neutrality – there is no fear trigger or the feeling of “convincing” yourself that this is the time for you (or not).

SACRAL Authority
This is about your body’s response when you saw the invitation, when you read the description, and it’s pretty much felt in the now. If this opportunity is correct for you, you’ve probably already felt your body in the space, you’ve picked out your room, and you know exactly which comfort devices you intend to pack, like your favorite Yeti thermos and cashmere throw. Your Sacral response is what you’re feeling in your body as this opportunity moves into and through your aura and life. If your body is clenching or bracing or pushing away (again, NOT because of what your MIND is telling you, it’s just a quiet, natural “nuh-uhn”), then this isn’t the right time for you.

SPLENIC Authority
This is a physical “hit” that only happens once — it doesn’t keep repeating itself the way the Sacral can keep reinforcing a decision. The Splenic hit is a signal of feeling safe or not. Feeling the comfort of well-being, or not. Again, it’s not about the mind. Splenic Authority can be tricky at the beginning because it is tied to our survival instinct and the seven fear gates that express our existential fears that keep us safe. The challenge for you is that ALL Not-Self conditioning is based on fears that run through THE MIND, not the body, and until you embody your unique Human Design, this can feel super confusing because you don’t yet have the confidence to distinguish between what is the Not-Self voice/feeling trying to “protect” you and what is the True Self voice/feeling that is trying to bring you into your highest timeline through inner alignment.

EGO Authority
This one is so tricky. Only Manifestors and Projectors will have Ego Authority and this runs through the Heart center. This is rooted in DESIRE. It is about “I want” and this is “for me.” The trick is distinguishing between a true desire from your authority or a false desire from the Not-Self which is the traditional way we think about THE Ego (vs. the Ego’s as an energy center). Again, go into your body and feel for your inner truth. What seems to work for the Ego authorities we’ve met is that it feels like an expansion in the chest when the decision is aligned, and a contraction when it is not. Trust your body – this is where your Inner Authority and higher intelligence resides.

SELF Authority
This center is about Love, Identity, and Direction, and when it’s also your Inner Authority it helps to speak out loud the decision you are making and “try it on.” You can do this by yourself, you can speak to a mirror, or you can write a narrative for yourself about what it feels like to go (or not go) and then feel what it feels like in your body — does this feel like an essential act of self-love? Does it feel like this experience is part of your path, an essential step to get clear about your own yellow brick road? Does this feel like it will support you in knowing, honoring, and locking in to who you uniquely are? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes,’ then it’s a clear indicator that this is correct for you. If not, then it’s not (for now).

MENTAL Authority
This Authority is exclusive to Projectors who have the Head and Ajna or the Ajna and Throat defined. It operates similarly to the Self Authority above, but it gets to experience its truth in conversation. You’ll want to share your thinking with others (again, beware of the Not-Self stories that operate through the mind). But here’s the thing — you’re not actually seeking advice. In fact, it might annoy you. You just need to HEAR yourself out loud. The Mental Authority is short for “environmental” because what you’re sussing out is the space itself — the environment, the people, the experience. Your spidey senses are always on high alert for the right environment for you to be your True Self. Because your Spleen is undefined (the center of health, well-being, and safety), this is the way that you “connect” to a space that’s correct for you — by speaking out loud and sensing the what it feels like in your body to know what’s correct for you (or not).

LUNAR Authority
This is exclusive to Reflectors, and it’s a 28-day cycle of waiting and observing your own vibe while holding space with the retreat opportunity in mind. If, at the end of the 28 days you feel a quiet sense of inspiration and delight coursing through your body, it’s likely that this experience is truly “calling” you. If not, it’s not meant for you at this time.

As with every important decision we make in our personal and professional lives, we trust our Inner Authority. Stacey is Sacral (waiting for the body to respond viscerally with a hard yes or no) and Tara is Splenic (experiencing that instinctive “hit” for safety and well-being vs. threat or danger ahead).

We started out with another property that Tara and Nell were super excited about, but Stacey’s Sacral had a melt-down. Part of it had to do with the price — we would have had to charge at least $1000 - $1500 more for each participant. But really, the mind’s explanations didn’t matter, they just helped unpack the very loud, very visceral “NO.” (Stacey wrote a blog post about this moment, in case you want to read more.)

We expanded the search for a venue that could provide the quiet intimacy and luxurious setting to support the experience we were creating. Funny enough, Stacey remembered a site that had a really good vibe and was being built while she was finishing her Catskills 3500 challenge, so she looked it up. It turned out that this was Eastwind Oliverea. (By the way, this is waiting for Response for you Generators and Manifesting Generators, this is how it looks in the moment-to-moment application to your life.)

After Nell followed up on several new properties, Eastwind landed at the top of the list. Everything felt right for Tara and Nell. It even felt right to Stacey’s Sacral, so she RESPONDED to a call to travel to the property to be sure and wow. EVERYTHING about the property and more kept reinforcing her Sacral response of a resounding ‘YES.’

The team had planned to make a site visit in September before signing our contract with the property, but after that visit and the narrated videos Stacey sent to Tara and Nell where they could also sense her Response, we all agreed that the decision was made, that this was the space, and anything less would be a cheap substitute that would degrade the agenda we had created for this deeply transformational experience.

Our pricing was developed with deep care and intention. We know these are challenging times — many of us are feeling the weight of rising costs and uncertainty — and we held that reality close as we shaped this retreat. The investment reflects not only lodging in the serene and restorative setting of Eastwind Oliverea Valley in the Catskills, but also nourishing, thoughtfully prepared meals and the guidance of three expert facilitators — Stacey, Tara, and Nell — who have designed an experience that is both intimate and transformative.

Every detail, from the location to the food to the flow of the program, has been chosen to support your growth and well-being, so you can arrive fully held and focus on what matters most: your Human Design journey.