This week, 100 amazing souls from around the world will be joining me and my amazing team for our 4-day BodyMind LIVE! Coach Training Workshop, where we dive deep into the BodyMind Method© and support our clients in fully owning and embodying their coaching role.
I am beyond excited and strangely not nervous (even though a part of me feels like I should be).
This is the 14th live coach training workshop I’ve facilitated since 2016 and my 19th time facilitating a retreat overall. Through it all, there are a couple things I’ve learned along the way on how to best prepare for a powerful, transformational experience.
“Every retreat has a soul.”
-Darla LeDoux
Here are a few things I’ve picked up along the way.
Way back in 2015, I joined my very first mastermind community. The investment stretched me, and it also put me in the room with bad-ass folks committed to making their dreams and goals real.
That is where I met Darla.
Darla is an amazing coach and author of Retreat And Grow Rich. She helped me map out my very first workshop, which, to this day, is still the foundation of our live event.
One thing Darla taught me is that every time you do a live event that brings people together, there is also a greater presence– the soul of the retreat– that is also there. This soul is what allows connections to be made, awarenesses to come through, and magic to happen.
The soul of a retreat can not be planned. It can only be experienced.
Yes, preparing for an event requires logistics and details. And I have found that giving spaciousness to breathe, meditate, and visualize what is asking to come through is a vital part of creating an amazing retreat.
“Present nothing, experience everything.”
-Philip Shepherd
What makes coaching such a powerful relationship is that it is co-created in the moment with the client. As a coach, I am here to partner with my clients and support them in accessing the brilliance within them that is ready to shine.
If you are a coach who wants to lead retreats, I really want you to get this– the part of coaching that makes it so amazing is the part you can never plan for.
The same is true with retreats and events.
A mentor of mine, Philip Shepherd, would often remind me that many people default into ‘presentation mode’ when in front of groups of people. If you think back to having a project in school that requires you to get in front of the class, you know what ‘presentation mode’ feels like. Rigid. Constricted. Disconnected.
Instead, Philip encouraged me to simply receive– receive the people in the room, receive the energy of what is showing up, receive the fullness of all that is, receive the soul of the retreat that is asking to come through– and then let whatever wants to come out, come out.
I’m about to host a live 4-day event. Yes, I have a schedule and a curriculum mapped out. I have set a powerful intention to support our members in boldly embodying their coaching role.
And when I step on that stage, I let it all go and follow the energy.
It is a deep act of surrender and trust and it always turns out better than I could imagine.
Always.
You’ll never know until you start.
– Laura Wieck
The final thing I want to say when it comes to leading events– if you have any desire in your heart to do a retreat, do it.
I have seen way too many coaches get lost in trying to figure out the logistics first and then their event never happens. Decide first and then let the details fall into place.
Trust me– it will turn out even better than you imagine.
Bringing people into community is a transformational process in and of itself. There is a certain aspect of what is possible that you will never be able to plan for until you do it.
I sold my first retreat before I knew any of the details of what I was going to say or how I was going to fill the time. I just had a calling in my heart to do it.
The lives that have been changed… the connections that have been made… the relationships built… I could have never planned for the real magic that comes through events.
Once you experience it for yourself, your entire world will change.
I’m curious, are you a coach, business owner, or service provider who has ever considered leading a retreat? What questions do you have?
Make sure to follow me @laurawieck on Instagram where I’ll be giving you a behind the scenes look at our event!
