A Month of Rest
In a world that seems to move increasingly quickly, many of us – especially those of us who are in touch with intuitive gifts – have felt a deep need to slow down.
I myself have been feeling this calling. My mind, body, and Soul had been telling me that I needed to reset, and I knew I needed to listen. So, I took the month of June 2025 off for a personal and spiritual retreat. I embarked on quite a journey – first traveling from Tucson to New England to spend quality time with dear friends and family, then flying to Athens to begin an adventure across Greece. My end destination was the isle of Lesvos, where I joined a yoga retreat led by my dear friend Melissa Spamer of Breathe in Santa Fe.
If you’ve ever been to Greece, you know every trip to the islands begins on the mainland, usually in Athens. This gave me the opportunity to visit some truly magical places with a dear client-turned-friend Mira Karakitsou such as the city of Eleusis (the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries – shamanic, spiritual, and healing rituals associated with the goddesses Eileithyia, Demeter, and Persephone dating back to pre-Grecian times) and the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (home to the Pythia, or the Oracle of Delphi – a prophetess of my own spiritual lineage).
Finally, I made my way to Lesvos, and gosh – this retreat was just so beautiful and deeply healing! For two weeks, we spent the mornings and evenings at Angela Farmer and Victor Van Kooten’s yoga hall in Efthalou, where we tended to our bodies and Souls with yoga, meditation, breathwork, and the like. Our afternoons were free to spend exploring the island, swimming in the sea, resting, or doing anything that called to us! We enjoyed delicious group meals, a lovely ceremony to celebrate the Summer Solstice, and even the chance to connect with the precious street cats and kittens who call the area home – more on that over on my other blog!
My multi-destination adventure got me thinking of how we in the U.S. are taught to perceive productivity, work, and the value of our time.
Taking this much time away is incredibly uncommon here, and often inaccessible due to finances, work obligations, etc., and I can say it was no small feat being able to make this work for me. However, this is the norm in many places abroad, especially in Europe, where social safety nets and fair paid time off are far more commonplace.
This extended period of retreat to be incredibly beneficial, and that it consisted of distinct phases I could only name in retrospect. First there was handling all the planning and logistics of travel, and the excitement of exploration when the time came. Then, there was the time spent among loved ones, where I tended to relationships. Then there was the “sight seeing” and cultural explorations. Yet as fulfilling as that all may be, we also need time to be with ourselves.
I found that it wasn’t until after I ticked those other boxes that I could fully settle into the final phase: rest. Our nervous systems need time to go through the full cycle of restoration and rebalancing. Abbreviating it often leads us to feeling like we’ve just woken up from sleep in the midst of a dream state – groggy, still feeling worn out when we do get back to the daily routine.
As I said before, this kind of rest has become a privilege in our world, and an increasingly elusive one at that. But, as personal as my journey was, no part of it was truly alone. I believe we can tend to both ourselves and our communities, and that when we slow down individually, we can do the same as a collective. Honoring our need for nourishment, rest, and rejuvenation is a powerful, loving act. My hope is that eventually, we can all slow down and nourish ourselves as much as we need to thrive. This counter-cultural perspective may be a pipe dream as we navigate the current chaos, but it’s the only thing I’ve seen that deeply supports our well-being.
I’m back in Tucson now, and feeling incredibly refreshed and excited to continue supporting folx in their own transformative, Soul-directed journeys. If you’re in the area, you can find me a few times each month at The Ninth House, hosting walk-in hours for intuitive readings, as well as a monthly group healing event. And if you’d like to work with me 1:1, you can always book a free Clarity Call to see how I can best support you!
