The calm before the storm
I’d like to begin by painting a picture in your mind…
Imagine you’re producing an event, but not just any event – a retreat centered around wellness and education for psilocybin to 40 participants.
You spend six months preparing your team, your sponsors, your inventory, all your supplies for a 3-day, 2-night experience. You get into the event space a couple days prior to setup in 104-degree weather; you setup misters, porta-coolers, multiple shaded structures, tents, and a light display across 10-acres of land.
After setting up everything, you enjoy a night with the team, thanking each other for their hard work and welcoming whatever is to come for the journey ahead. Little did you know, you were welcoming a complete transformation through a storm – a category 2 hurricane to be exact.
Welcoming Hurricane Kay
After experiencing a beautiful evening together, the team say their goodnights, not really noticing the eeriness of the night sky.
As the majority go to sleep, the winds start to pick up and within seconds the rain begins to pour. Those of us that were still up, rush to bring in the lights that were within reach. Tents that took us hours to setup, were torn down within minutes. Chairs and mats go flying, our fire pit flooded, and everything we had spent days arranging was destroyed within an hour’s worth of time.
Some of us could barely sleep as the storm raged on, wondering what condition the space would be for tomorrow’s arrival.
Coming together
Come morning, the storm turned into a pour with winds subsiding only slightly. The sun hardly made an appearance as the entire team woke up to complete and utter devastation. It took us all a second to really take in what had happened before we decided to wake up and come together.
Taking action, our team leaders came up with a plan that mainly involved us working with whatever we had readily available for use. A group of us organized an indoor space, others dried up anything wet, some fixed the lights and recreated an environment that would be suitable for everyone.
As much as we could prepare, the storm continued into the later part of the day and as people arrived. Some guests were not prepared for the weather, lacking camping equipment that was rain resistant. Many were coming from areas with record breaking heatwaves and needed warmer clothing. The best we could do is prepare the homemade vegan lasagna and have everyone huddle together in one warm collective area.
Creating Community
Given the scenario, we were forced to come together and coming out of the recent (if not ever present) COVID environment – it no longer mattered how you felt about the person across from you. The shared space required us to slow down and take the time to get to know one another. Everyone had to quickly get comfortable with their neighbor and we experienced a welcoming dinner that will be one for the books.
The next day of the event was met with further connection and sunshine. Our workshops helped to reconnect our participants with their breath, their bodies and most importantly their hearts. We carried this alignment into the evening and once our ceremony began, our team led each brave soul into a safe journey into the deeper aspects of themselves.
The moonriseswith a brighterglow tonight
What was lost… and somehow found
Like every journey, we never know what we are about to find, discover or ultimately have to deal with. We decide to take it on because – why not? What else are we going to do? If the journey has some kind of meaning, then that’s all the more reason for wanting to take it on. For this trip, the idea of perfection had to be thrown away, only to be replaced by the willingness to surrender. Sometimes it means letting go of an expectation that no longer serves us or parting with an idea that has only continued our suffering.
These gatherings were created with the intention to help people gain clarity, connection and belief in themselves. At the end of the day, there is no one size fits all scenario to healing. No one person can heal like the person next to them. The point is, that you at least try and having a solid community to turn to, helps aid in that process. Our job is to continue to hold space; a space that is safe, with guidance, that allows for growth and rediscovery to anyone who needs it.
As always, we welcome all brave journeyers and hope to see you at our next gathering. For more information, please reach out to us at info@eeproductions.org.
With love and light!
