I had a recent experience that I want to share with you. It was a reminder for me to “practice what I preach,” as the saying goes. I think it’s important for you to know that things come up for me too—and I think this story will (hopefully) help you see how you can turn what might be stressful at first into something truly beautiful.
As you know, I’m in the midst of planning my next Energy Retreat — and I thought: This year will be much easier to plan. It was so wonderful to have the experience of organizing the retreat at the beautiful house in Kent—and I saw the impact this long weekend had on all the participants.
The women who came to my last Energy Retreat experienced huge, life-changing shifts—even if they didn’t realize it right away. When they came home after this experience and let everything they learned integrate into their daily life, all of them now—even the ones who needed a little time to recognize the shifts that happened—all of them have changed their lives dramatically to live in a much more authentic way. Things they thought were impossible to shift suddenly were no longer an issue. It was so truly wonderful for me to witness these shifts come to life.
So, I’ve been very excited to host this experience for another group of women this year. But I came up against a roadblock. It was unexpected and could have caused me a lot of stress, if I hadn’t followed my gut. Magically, it turned into something even better. Let me tell you how…
The house in Kent is a very luxurious space, so it requires an investment. I’m so happy to pay this money when I know the value I’m receiving is equal to what I’m paying. This nature of reciprocity, of equal giving and taking, is a core belief that I center my life (and business) around.
Something felt off
When I started to book the house again for this year, I started to feel like the costs that were coming back in the quotes were just not honest. They knew I would have more than one yoga session per day, so they added an extra price on for that. They wanted me to pay a big sum of money per yoga session. This means I’d be paying this large fee twice per day, when I’m already paying an enormous sum to rent the property.
I was starting to feel like they were being greedy and acting out of a motivation that I didn’t feel right. Also, I started to remember the drama of last year, when they sacked the lovely house manager they had before (whom had planned the whole event with me for more than 3 months!) just 10 days before I arrived. I remembered how they got funny around agreements that we formally had and wanted to add extra costs back then at every corner. Moreover, I remembered how I felt last year about this whole affair and I realized this was a pattern—and not a one-off occurrence, but more of a greedy approach that they have.
This put me in a tough position. The house no longer felt aligned anymore. It wasn’t within my philosophy. When I’m doing business with someone, I want them to be honest and open—and I’m happy to pay for luxury. I want everything to be a fair price for both of us, where they feel they get enough money and I feel I get enough value. I only engage in fair exchanges. This is so, so important to me.
Finally, I got an email that forced me to make a choice. They were now trying to tell me how lucky I was that I was going to be able to speak for free in the upstairs living room of the house, as they normally would charge me a speaking fee. This felt so crazy to me—because if I’m renting the house. I should be able to speak in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the upstairs living room—wherever I want!
I realized I couldn’t go through with booking this house. It was starting to feel quite yucky and there was greed coming through. It didn’t feel honest.
So, I had to be true to myself.
Even though I’d already invested so much time and money in this space. I spent so many hours organizing the retreat there once already, my team spent so much time making the beautiful Energy Retreat website page and my videographer spent hours and hours creating the beautiful videos. So much time and money has already been invested in hosting this retreat at this house.
It would be insane not to have the retreat at this house, if you considered the amount of money that went in to everything. But, it would be even more insane to go ahead for that reason only because it is not aligned. If a new manager comes along, I will happily go back to that place.
But I realized this (stressful) experience was offering me a new opportunity. It’s a good thing when something like this happens because you start to check-in with yourself. I realized I had to decide what is more important… The hours and money I’d already spent OR how we are all going to feel. I want all the women to feel great in the environment because the place has the same values as we have. And when they don’t, I can’t hold space for everyone because the feeling is not right.
Here’s the good news—and how stress can turn into something beautiful…
I started to think about other opportunities. And I thought of this beautiful place I’d been going to since I was a child. This space has new management and was freshly renovated after 140 years—so it’s luxurious and also, had old history. The energy there is so amazing (there’s even a crystal walk below the buildings!). It’s a beautiful, magical place with so many wonderful offerings. It even has a spa, a museum, a variety of different rooms, a 140 year old park, and wonderful trees. I’m still planning all the final details, but I’ll be revealing the new location soon….and I’m so, so excited about it. I know it will be even better than before.
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The moral of this story is that when something is not right and feels off… You have to go with your feeling and honor that. What could have been a very stressful situation ended up turning into something very beautiful and unique. I can’t wait to share this with you soon!
All my love,