Supporting My Soul: Reflections on a Transformative Well-Being Journey in New Zealand
The weeks at Aro Hā flew by. Finally, it was time for my week-long Revive and Thrive Retreat. Up until this point, I genuinely tried not to look forward to it. I feel like when I am focused on looking forward to something, time flies by, and I wanted my time in New Zealand to go by as slowly as possible. One method I used to support slowing down was staying as present as possible to soak up every moment of every day. I quickly learned that taking deeper breaths helped with that.
Let’s start with that right now, as this is my last blog on this 2024 adventure in well-being. Let's slow down.
Breathe with me. Take a nice sigh out, a deep, slow breath in through the nose, hold at the top.
Sigh out again. Repeat if you’d like—does it feel good to fully be present with our breath.
The realization I’m about to share might not be as profound to you as it was for me, but I’ll do my best to phrase it clearly. After a luxury wellness retreat, I learned one simple fact: my well-being is a direct result of my ability to listen to the needs of my soul and honor them. Listening to my soul is a complex process. To me, listening to my soul encompasses all of me. My soul health combines my physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It is my energy, my heart, and my capacity to love. It is my light and the light that shines out of me and into the eyes of others.
After this week-long retreat, I realized that it doesn’t matter what class I take, what knowledge I have, or how far I hike. What matters is how my soul is doing. With my Aro Hā adventure in well-being, I was truly held in a space where I could do just that. Take a deep breath, slow down, and listen to the needs of my soul. And I was in a safe space, I was deeply cared for, and that created an atmosphere where I could truly and confidently honor those needs.
I am going to take this into every other part of my life. The fact that my wellbeing looks like caring deeply for my soul. I know for a fact that I cannot serve others if my own cup isn’t full, and I now know how to tune in and listen to see how that cup is doing.
My 10 years of focusing on well-being practices have equipped me to have tools to support my physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Hence, the next blog: Soul Care. I am egar to continue to grow my Wellbeing with Kat brand and empower individuals to be equipped with tools, tricks and techniques that can support their soul care as well.
I finished my epic adventure in wellbeing with a solo trip to Sydney, Australia. While there, I stayed in a Airbnb that had a gorgeous view of the city during their Vivid Light Fest, I walked along the coast with a friend I recently met during my Aro Hā retreat, swam in the Bondi Beach pool, and spent time with kangaroos. After the end of truly accomplishing my dream, seven years in the making, I found myself in awe watching the dancing lights about the City Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, realizing that this was my Hilary Duff moment: an experience that fully embodied “what dreams are made of.” A one of a kind, fully designed for your soul type of feeling. A feeling I hope everyone gets to have.
That’s all for now.
Until next time, with love & light,
Kat
