Naples residents Barbara Williams, Karen Beatty, a Realtor for Downing-Frey Realty and Terri Evans, owner of TAE Healthy Aging, fully appreciate how traveling lightly without a suitcase full of plans, expectations and agendas can serve as a vehicle for transformation and expansive personal growth.

World Service Intergroup

While mulling over two esoteric workshops offered in the United Kingdom, one by the World Service Intergroup and the other by the Deborah Mills’ School of Healing and Enlightenment Williams opted to follow her inner guide and attend both. “Initially, I considered that the month in-between the two workshops was too long. However, I know how I benefit from being in the presence of individuals who are working together to generate a focused field of intergroup love and purpose through inner meditative work and enhanced intergroup cooperation,” explains Williams, who now reflects upon how beautifully the whole 30 days unfolded.

“Transformational travel is what I do for self-care. It allows me to fine-tune my energy frequency that I have learned to maintain no matter where I am. I am more selective of where I travel to now, and don’t have to travel as much to connect and strengthen my spiritual muscle,” advises Williams.

Sunrise Ranch

In 2016, Beatty traveled to Sunrise Ranch, a spiritual retreat center in Loveland, Colorado, that allows individuals to volunteer for service work. “A friend of mine lives there, and I

wanted to experience what it was like to live in an intentional community that is a thriving, teaching and demonstration site for personal growth and spiritual renewal.

Beatty stayed for two weeks at the ranch and worked in the dining room and helped to tend a small cafeteria buffet, which is largely provided with fresh produce and free range meats from the ranch’s organic farm. She interacted with chefs and did what was asked of her before, during and after ARISE, a three-day music, yoga, activism and co-creative camping festival. “Working for seven hours a day on my feet was a little beyond my comfort zone. On the other hand, I enjoyed the camaraderie of like-minded people and got to attend the festival,” she says.

The enriching experience gave Beatty the opportunity to tap into group energy and discover that Sunrise Ranch is a microcosm of the macrocosm. “In other words, the same challenges exist in a spiritual community that exist in the outer world. I’m glad that I had this experience and hope to return some day” says Beatty.

Willow Crossing Farms

In February, Evans traveled to Willow Crossing Farms, in Johnson, Vermont, to present an introduction to her workshop, The Way: Who Are You?, for women ranging in age from

their early 20s to mid-30s. While providing a transformational workshop for the Medicine Womyn’s Retreat Sister Circle, which gathers quarterly for retreats, Evans experienced a personal transformation that reignited her passion for teaching.

“From my perspective as a teacher, I don’t get to see a ship full of newbies turn. This is largely because I’m in the bowels of the engine room, making sure that there is enough energy to move the vessel forward. Transformational changes, which I’m setting the stage for, happen so slowly that they are nearly invisible. At the end of the weekend, everyone returns home, where the experience of the workshop continues to unfold,” explains Evans.

Evans noticed that the workshop had a refreshing, palpable energy. “These were not newbies to spiritual wisdom. They were women emanating a sense of full-throttle freedom in their expression of feminine energy. They showed a deep respect for my wisdom and that of the other teacher. I felt for the first time that I was among women who had tapped into the unimpeded energy of the feminine in order to honor feminine values and their diverse gifts, rather than gathering to compete. I was immersed in the energy of transformation that I was there to bring about. Renewed and refreshed, I’m ready to help women write herstory, an unfettered version from the perspective of the feminine, rather than through the filter of the masculine. Nearly every night I have dreams and revelations of what that looks and feels like,” enthuses Evans.

Local Resources

Karen L. Beatty, Downing-Frye Realty, Inc., Naples; 239-269-7788.

TAE Healthy Aging Center, 11983 Tamiami Tr. N., Ste. 100A, Naples; 239-430-6800.