The Art of Holding Space: How Soul School Creates Safe Containers for Deep Healing and Self Discovery

Effective space holding is the backbone to the transformative experiences that take place on spiritual retreats. Here’s how we do it!

Spiritual retreats can be both peaceful and serene, as well as incredibly emotionally and energetically charged spaces. Many spiritual retreats that are focused on healing and self-discovery, like our Peru Ayahuasca Yoga Retreat, call on you to dive deep inside of yourself and confront your most challenging inner conflicts and roadblocks, all while secluded in a new place, surrounded by new people. This is a profoundly intense thing to do and requires you to feel safe to open up. This is where the art of holding space comes into play. As facilitators and guides, it’s our responsibility to create a safe container that’ll hold you through such a transformative experience.

What is holding space?

Holding space is the practice of being present with someone without judgement. By holding space for someone, you are creating a safe and supportive environment for them to share and feel through their emotions. You hold space not by trying to fix or solve, but by acknowledging what someone is carrying and being willing to hold those thoughts and feelings with them. Holding space means allowing someone to feel seen, heard, and held with loving-kindness. 

The healing power of spiritual retreats when coupled with mindful facilitation 

A spiritual retreat can be an amazing catalyst for transformation and collective healing, but only if the container being held allows people to feel safe to delve into their feelings. Going on a spiritual retreat requires vulnerability, and for us, that means knowing how to lead with a gentle hand and loving heart so that we can cultivate safety, support, and trust in everyone who joins us. Being able to assist others on their healing journeys is an honour and a privilege, and we approach this sacred role through heart-centered leadership. When people can step into our retreats and feel their bodies relax, hearts open, and minds clear, we know we’re doing it right.

Being able to build boundaries that people can play, get curious, and meet themselves and others more deeply within is what supports people in the unravelling, growth, and transformations. Knowing how to expertly hold space in this way is especially important when facilitating experiences with psychedelic medicine. It’s our responsibility to be a supportive and encouraging presence to see you through the therapeutic experience safely. 

When coupled with mindful facilitation, spiritual retreats open space for profound dialogue, healing, and breakthroughs. When we can create a space for people to feel comfortable to meet themselves and others vulnerably and authentically, that’s where the magic happens. Our conscious and intentional guidance is just one of the reasons why so many people have said our retreats have forever changed their lives!

How Soul School guides with intention:

1. We create a container for complex emotions to exist

On a Soul School spiritual retreat, you are met in your humanness and all the beauty and messiness that entails. Many of the practices we embark on together, such as our ayahuasca ceremony, can provoke deeply emotional experiences that feel quite heavy and intense. We walk alongside you during this shadow work so that you feel empowered, safe, and comfortable. By encouraging you to sit with your emotions, rather than fighting or suppressing them, we allow these complex emotions to exist together. We help you give voice to your thoughts and feelings, rather than pushing them down, so you can confront and address them. This is where the releasing and healing takes place and what can help you step out of the retreat feeling lighter. 

2. We leave space for people to trust their own inner guidance and intuition

It’s never our goal to tell others what to do. Instead of actively doing the inner work for you, we walk alongside you on your journey. We create a safe and accepting environment where you can learn to listen to and trust your inner wisdom. We’re here to help you see, realize, and step into your own divine power. 

3. We practice presence

As a facilitator, one must be willing to be present with themself and others. Being present requires active listening. When you’re present, you’re not thinking about what you’re going to say or do next. You let whatever is coming up flow through. By listening with our ears and our hearts, we can be a nonjudgemental witness to the energy of the collective. We can then use this energy to guide the directions that we go, which makes for more meaningful experiences because the work being done in the container will be aligned with the needs of the present moment.

4. We attune to energy

Attuning to energy begins by having emotional intelligence and being able to understand your own emotions and the emotions of the people around you. It’s important for us to be sensitive to the needs, energy, and emotional state of the collective so we can show up accordingly. As conscious space holders, we are constantly reading the energy of a space and attuning to it.

5. We practice what we preach

We live by, practice, and participate in the same teachings and practices we share with you, and it shows. Practicing what we preach means we can share from a place of knowledge and experience that is not just intellectual; it’s also embodied. Our own lived experiences allow us to empathize and understand what you’re going through on a deeper level. This level of understanding is crucial when it comes to psychedelic experiences. We wouldn’t have you sit with something we have not sat with ourselves. On our spiritual retreats, you are surrounded by people who are familiar with and have been transformed by the medicines you’re also engaging with, which builds mutual trust and understanding.

6. We’re committed to our own spiritual and emotional hygiene

In order for us to show up fully for you, we need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Therefore, we proactively work to protect our own energy so we don’t become activated by turbulent emotions or energy that may come up. Inner healing work can feel overwhelming and chaotic if you don’t have a grounding presence to support you. Therefore, we make sure we have grounding practices in place that we can lean on to keep us rooted while you embark on your deep healing and self-discovery journey with us.