What a wonderful time we had at Miraval! Cheryl Richardson and I led a 4-day retreat earlier this summer and we had a capacity crowd of 100 magnificent women from all over the world. The event was called: Experience Your Good Now: Learning the Art of Self-Care at Its Highest Level.

We all worked so well together. I thought of my teaching with Cheryl as a badminton tournament…your turn, my turn, your turn, my turn.  And then all of the women who attended took their turn sharing as well.  It was nice that we were all women. Over the years I’ve discovered that the moment you have men attending, some women tend to shut up and shut down. There are certain things that women just won’t open up about in the company of men.

We did a lot of mirror work and covered many topics. We learned how our words are so powerful and so precious. We learned how to harness our words, guide them and let them work for us. 

We also learned that in order to use the power of our words, we need to let go of how much we have suffered in the past, how much we are suffering now, and how much we think we will be suffering in the future. We talked about the importance of forgiveness and how you must do the necessary healing work to let go of who and what is responsible for your suffering so you can come to a place where you can guide your thinking in very positive ways.

Here’s something else we learned:  You can eliminate some of your problems and challenges without even looking at them or thinking about them! 

I promised everyone that when the retreat was over, we would all go home looking five years younger. And we did! We lightened up. We left a lot of burdens and old stuff at Miraval. Every time one woman spoke, she spoke for everybody. Each woman helped other women by sharing her story.  We all helped each other.

The food was delicious. (The fish was phenomenal!) The accommodations were superb and everyone got a massage of her choice each day. Our marvelous guest speakers—Jean Haner spoke about Chinese face reading, Jo’Ann Ruhl talked about the self-care needs for each sign of the zodiac, and Barbara Carrellas took women on a journey to love and take pleasure in their bodies.

When coaching problems came up, Cheryl would handle them. And if there was an issue about affirmations, it would be mine to talk about. We all made a fantastic team.

Cheryl and I will be doing more workshops together at the upcoming I Can Do It Conferences this year, including a weekend program in London called You Can Trust Your Life in October. This time, it’s open to everyone—men too!

I send love to all of the beautiful people who joined us in Miraval (In the photo above, you’ll see them all. That’s me in the middle of the front row sitting next to Cheryl) And I look forward to meeting more of you in London.

We also confirmed the date when Cheryl and I will return to Miraval next year. It’s March 25-29, 2012. (Stay tuned for more details.) Life loves us!

Let’s affirm: Here I am, World—open and receptive to all of the wonderful things in life.