Dear Friends,
You better BELIZE it!
(How many puns can we come up with?)
The gift of time.
The gift of self care.
The gift of connection.
The gift of self exploration.
The gift of vulnerability and growth.
So grateful for these 24 women who gave themselves the gift of joining our Belize retreat. Each day deeper conversations happened and deeper relationships formed. It is truly a beautiful group and we had a wonderful time together!
Part of our retreat goody bag was our Power With Grace and Tommy Breeze collab hats! These hats were not only practical to wear to exercise and for daily beach life, but also they were SO helpful at the airport for people to find one another (even if they had never met before)!
Hope you enjoy this mini recap of our Belize retreat!
PS some of the images below are links to one minute video collages of our Belize highlights!
Life is about choosing perspectives and opportunities
Our journey was indeed long: 2 flights, a 3 hour layover, and a 2 hour shuttle. It could be perceived as a painfully long journey.
However, looking back at our first travel day beginning at SFO, that’s where the magical connections started happening. Who we went to the airport with, who we sat next to on the plane, who we walked with to get food during the layover… the opportunities were there, and from the get go, this group of women embraced one another!
Our first evening together
We arrived to Hopkins Bay Resort in Belize in the early afternoon and checked into our rooms. Everyone had either a beachfront room (literally with waves steps away) or beachview room (pictured above).
They set up a long table for our group and prepared delicious buffet style food each breakfast and dinner, with a-la-carte menu options for lunch. After dinner, we had our opening night circle to do introductions and set intentions for the week.
By the way, they built this entire dance floor and tent for our group to use this week, lights and all! Incredible!
Day 1 Video Highlights: Dancing and Night Hike
We had a long, good night’s sleep and woke up excited and refreshed for our first full day filled with meditation, bonding, core work, dancing, free time and a night jungle hike in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and Jaguar Reserve!
We found miniature snakes (Marianne holding above), an opossum, big spiders, giant anthills, tapir footprints, caterpillars, and most everyone in the group was brave enough to eat termites straight from the hive...
Apparently they were minty!
Day 2 Part 1: Artbox Belize
This was our big full day excursion diving into the culture and history of Belize! We took a 2 hour private van with Pablo as our tour guide, learning many interesting facts about Belize along the way.
Our bathroom stop ended up being an hour-long coffee and souvenir shopping stop at a cute store called Artbox Belize. A little behind schedule, but hey, we're on vacation, right?
Day 2 Part 2: Xunantunich Ruins
The tour guides that our resort arranged were amazing and gave us so much interesting information about the Xunantunich ruins, which was named after a beautiful woman that was reported to be seen at the entrance of the ruins, but disappeared.
Xunantunich translates to "Stone Woman."
We couldn't resist the opportunity to do a spontaneous flash mob in front of the ruins since no one else was around, and then we climbed to the top!
Day 2 Part 3: Cave Tubing
After we left Xunantunich ruins and rode the hand-cranked ferry back while spotting giant iguanas, there were a few local stands on the street for more souvenir shopping, and then we ate authentic lunch food at a place called Benny's.
For the second half of the day, we drove to our cave tubing site where we geared up with life vests and headlamps, then carried our own inner tubes for about a 10-15 minute hike in the jungle and descended deep into the cave.
Once we got on our inner tubes, we first went against the current in one long line, learning about the different rock formations and trying to spot bats. Later, we all let go and floated back with the current, and the highlight was when we all had to turn off our lights and meditate quietly in the darkness. Pure darkness and silence in an eerie but exciting way!
Day 3: Dancing, Yoga and Karaoke!
After our full 12 hour day of excursions yesterday, this was a full “rest” day at the resort with meditation, journaling, dancing, core work, yoga, and free time in the afternoon to play at the beach or explore the local town of Hopkins.
At night, one of our highlights was having a private Karaoke party at the Rhumshack restaurant! Apparently if you put a group of kind, authentic and non-judgmental dancers together for a karaoke party, it becomes pure magic, laughter and fun!!!
Thank you to all these ladies for not only singing their hearts out in Belize, but also, sharing their hearts so openly with one another this week. That’s when the true magic happens!
Day 4: Meditation, Movement, Music and Memories!
We were supposed to go snorkeling today but because the winds were stronger, we moved our excursion to tomorrow and made today a staycation at the resort!
We had our morning activities of meditation, journaling, core work and dancing, then free time in the afternoon to get massages, take a nap, swim in the ocean, or ride bikes (or rent golf carts) to the local town! In the late afternoon, we had yoga followed by dinner and conversations. A perfect day to recharge, rest, and rejuvenate!
Day 5: Snorkeling, Closing Circle & Garifuna Drumming
Our final full day in Belize was the perfect ending to our retreat. We took a 45 minute speedboat from the front of our resort to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, which is the second largest barrier reef after Australia. Now these were the waters we had been waiting to see!!!
The water was so clear and we split into smaller groups to find sea life! Among us, we were able to follow schools of fish, see a spotted eagle ray, eels, barracudas, hold live conch shells and sea cucumbers, and someone even spotted an octopus!
In the evening, we had our closing circle with our tradition of wearing all white on the last night! During dinner, we listened to live Garifuna cultural drumming and watched their cultural dancing. The full moon on this final evening together reflected our full hearts from the entire week!
Imperfectly Perfect
Beyond the "activities" that we did, there really aren’t words to describe the deeper magic that happened on the retreat. The women who came just simply showed up.
They showed up with open hearts.
They showed up without judgment.
They showed up to receive.
They showed up to connect.
They showed up to grow.
We are so much more than a class. We are a community of women, who, genuinely believe in kindness, acceptance and loving one another, and it only happens when we are willing and ready to be real, vulnerable, and to trust.
So much gratitude for all of you (whether you came on the retreat or not) who understand the deeper purpose of “The Power With Grace.”
Special Classes This Week
Hope you can join us for two special classes this week!
Happy Birthday to Jen Liao on Zoom!
Tuesday, January 30th 9:30am Stop Drop and Dance @UUMarin
Jen will pick her favorite songs for a 60 minute playlist!
Can Do Fundraiser!
Friday, February 2nd 6:00pm CanDo Fundraiser @Mary Silveira Elementary!
Sign up to join us for $30/family and help raise money for the Miller Creek School District (Lucas Valley Elementary, Mary Silveira Elementary, Vallecito Elementary, and Miller Creek Middle Schools). Thank you to our hosts Heather DiGiorgio, Jennifer Ishii, Kristi Leach, and Susanah Gasper!
Wear your hot pink Never Gonna Not Dance Again tanks!
Just be here with me.
This was a poem I read at the end of one of our yoga classes in Belize. What a powerful reminder to just be present and mindful and alive with every big and small thing around us, all the time.
May your week ahead include extra attention to all the gifts in our lives that we often take for granted.
Love,
Grace
PS Thank you to my mom, dad and husband for making it possible for me to lead retreats. Without them, it would be impossible to be away for a week. They are the absolute best.
And GO 49ERS!!!
