Self-Retreat

Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever give in. Don’t ever stop trying. Don’t ever sell out. And if you find yourself succumbing to one of the above for a brief moment, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, whisper a prayer, and start where you left off. But never, ever, ever give up.

— Richelle E. Goodrich

Going for my second self-retreat, this time on winter mode!

It’s been some time since my last self-retreat but the universe has aligned once more and a lockdown was imposed making me change all of my Acupuncture sessions and condensing the Hypnotherapy ones so I could have some time off for myself. With the whole country in lockdown there wasn’t much room for finding a place to travel on a remote place or hotel, but fortunately I have the most generous friends who handed me the key to their house so I could do a self-retreat in a real home (mais uma vez um obrigada gigante Sara Guia De Abreu e Paulo Oliveira por serem mais que família).

First day there I was feeling the need to do something, to be active, the need to be productive somehow, eventually I moved on to my yoga practice and meditation and it finally hit me, this is why i’m here for, not to create something, not to work, not to plan my next project but just to hold space for my self, for my own thoughts, to work on which anxieties do I still have, which anxieties or limiting thoughts am I still feeding? Which emotions am I holding back from accepting?

And so here I come, disconnecting wifi and committing to a deep connection to myself with a beautiful cat and an empowering book in the moments of pause.

Happy new year everyone, may 2021 finally bring us the freedom we so much crave for.

- Daniela Pontes

What if everything was possible?

What if even for a few minutes you could believe that everything and absolutely everything is possible? And I don’t mean something complex as the world peace or ending climate change but in your life, in your wild dreams. If you could believe that anything wonderful can happen with your life, what would be your biggest and highest wish? And how would achieving that make you feel?

And if you could imagine yourself there, living the dream, what would be the last steps or things you did just before getting there? And before that? And maybe even before that? What could make the bridge between the moment where you are now and your wildest dream? Does it seem less wild and more achievable if you think of the steps you took to get there? Are there small things you could already do that could help taking you there?

And if you talk about these wishes with the closest people you have, will you find support or doubt? This might be a nice way to also observe if you are surrounded by the right people that can empower you or not.

All of the biggest changes in my life started with an idea that initially sounded crazy or not possible, now looking back i’m happy to have believed and fought for my crazy wishes, and i feel lucky for having an empowering husband who always believes in me no matter what. My initially crazy ideas have actually led me where i am today and into helping people in the way i most love

Wishing you all the achieving of your wildest and crazy dreams! ️

- Daniela

Self-Retreat Weekend

I had a few lovely people writting me to know more about this thing of self-retreating yourself, so here goes my guide: (nothing professional though, simply a kind of self-retreat for people who like me are always busy in their minds and aren't exactly yoga teachers!)

*Things that might help with creating the right atmosphere or the right mood: light a candle, an insence, have some music that relaxes you (sounds of nature) put your phone on flight mode, have a mat and pillows that make you feel comfortable while sitting and laying down.*

- Have your schedule emptied for one or 2 days. - Have all your meals previously prepared (no one wants to spend a retreat cooking right? - Start your day with 2 glasses of water (can be 2 glasses of wine, it's your self-retreat afterall). - Go for a walk in the park or around the block - bring your face-mask if you prefer and then you can curse all you want no one will notice and it can really detox your heart). - Drink another 2 glasses of water (can be 2 glasses of wine, it's your self-retreat afterall). - Go for a swim, and try to go somewhere you know you don't have to meet too many people, it's not everyone you want sharing your retreat with or simply play your favorite dancing song and dance however you feel like at the moment but with a truly intention of freeing yourself. - Find some online yoga/pilates class you like, try to make it something tiring. - Drink another 2 glasses of water (if you did wine on previous times you might want to stick to water this time otherwise you might not remember my next step). - Make sure to have a couple of hours doing nothing, just to sit with yourself. I do this after exercising so that i'm tired enough to actually feel like sitting and resting, if you're at that point in which you are already chronically tired you can just skip all of the previous steps and jump into this one, or better, slide into this one: while you're sitting with yourself evoque moments of victory and achievement, maybe difficult times you could overcome and that somehow made you develop some tool or skill that otherwise you wouldn't have developed, and then think of what you want to achieve in the future, how could the previous tools you developed during hard times help you achieve what you want? Just thinking of this moments of victory, or just hard moments you had to overcome and in which by doing so you ended up developing some kind of helpful skill or characteristic that has proven to be useful.

In the end thank yourself for achieving all of this and for making this self-retreat for yourself.

- Daniela Pontes