Hello everyone! I have so much amazing news to share with you all! I have been living in the Lake Atitlan energy vortex in Guatemala since January, and have found myself in a thriving community amidst the majestic lake and volcanoes, spiritually minded and open in all directions, transformations and manifestations abound. The frequency is high here, and the fabric of space time more elastic, with synchronistic serendipities at every corner and curve. To be able to express fully what the last 2 months have been here for me could be an entire book on it's own.
I have found myself in the sharing role of yoga, breathwork, sound healing and plant medicine practices I have accumulated over the years. It seems that nearly everyone down here has some background in various spiritual and healing arts, worldwide and even galactic in scope, and workshops, retreats and trainings are abundant. This is what captivated me about San Marcos the first time I came here, and this year, I had the unique opportunity to co-host my first week long retreat, appropriately named the Joy of Transformation.
Together with co-host Nick Bauer, we created, organized and participated in the Joy of Transformation, a 7 day retreat featuring Yoga, Reiki I and II, Sonic Saunas, Ecstatic Dance, and Plant Medicine ceremonies up at the Golden Temple high above San Marcos. We planned the week's activities based on the most auspicious days of the Mayan T'zolkin calendar, and everything seemed to line up perfectly with the energies we were hoping to cultivate. The retreat reached a maximum group of 15 amazing human beings, and the week proved to be transformational, for all of us, on many dimensions and levels.
The Golden Temple, though arguably one of the most beautiful views in all of San Marcos, proved to be challenging for logistics during the week. The temple is perched high on a mountain, roughly 35 minutes of steep hiking away from the village, and has very little water access. To our surprise we ran out of drinking water on the 2nd day of the retreat, and I found myself in the role of being the one responsible for solutions to various logistical activities, while also sharing practices throughout the day, and simultaneously photographing the event :) After two days of being tested and overcoming various logistical problems, the rhythm established from Wednesday on, and I was able to drop in and have fun in the nightly saunas, daily sunrise yoga practices, amazing song and dance circles, and the delicious food that nourished us!
In addition to all our offerings, we had truthfulness "Satya" ceremonies, where we had a chance to speak all the things we had been holding inside, maybe for our whole lives, and also to integrate the powerful upgrades and transformations we all were experiencing. There were cuddle puddles and snuggle sessions, and our medicine ceremony on 4 Jaguar proved to become a giant amorphous blob of love :) It was truly nourishing to be held in a space with so many beautiful, activated, loving and accepting individuals :)
On 1 Chuen (monkey), our chef Michael Verner who had been cooking for us from the El Taller bistro all week came up and performed a surprise DJ set at sunset, and still managed to cook us the most delicious crepes in the world afterwards! All week Michael and his team at the El Taller bistro kept us nourished with delicious breakfast, lunch and dinners, which helped sustain and ground in the powerful energy we were cultivating!
I learned an unimaginable amount of information in the process of this first retreat. It is such a unique experience to be facilitating a group, being responsible for the nuts and bolts of the operation, holding sacred space and caring for everyone's needs, and dropping in and having a transformational experience myself! On 1 Monkey, I managed to erupt a volcanic fountain of emotion, some grief I had been holding in my solar plexus. I cried in my friend's arms for some time, and in the space after felt a sacred lightness, a cleansing release, and proceeded to move full power into the rest of my life! Oh the Joy of Transformation!
I took the last 2 weeks for solitude, rest and integration- So important! Now that I feel ready to emerge once again from my cocoon, well rested and ready for the next phase, I have another announcement to make: We have acquired land!
Enter Arco Isis Sanctuary. Synchronicity and being open to the flow has allowed this precious hillside land to manifest in effortless order, a grove of coffee, avocado and mango perched above the San Marcos valley. This land is where we will be building a home, a transformational retreat center, and an organization to help improve the local community by funding various projects from education and better housing, to access to clean drinking water.
"Arco Isis" has a play on the words "Arco Iris," the Spanish translation for "Rainbow," as well as the reference to the Egyptian Goddess Isis, Goddess of rebirth, fertility and protection. I have received visions of the symbol of Isis twice now, once during a medicine ceremony last year at the Lake, and again two days ago at a Mayan Water Ceremony. She revealed to me a white ankh with wings, symbolizing fertility, rebirth, and protection. It is in this theme that we are building our sanctuary retreat center, the future home of transformational retreats, a permaculture reserve, and a quiet getaway from the buzz of San Marcos. :)
We have cultivated a logo to represent the sanctuary: a bird with the head of a hummingbird, representing action and pollination, the body of a phoenix, representing rebirth and transformation, and the tail of a Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. The bird's wings are spread heart wide open in front of the Seed of Life, representative of the 7 days of creation, of sacred geometry, and the order in which the universe expresses itself.
Our first rebirth begins with the land, nearly 3 acres of coffee and fruit trees. Up until last year, the soil was heavily fertilized for nearly 20 years for the coffee and avocado trees, which there are still remnants in the soil. We are now undergoing the process of transitioning to an organic grade landscape, bringing health and fertility back to this land, and saving Lake Atitlan the fertilizer runoff that would be coming from the soils of this former coffee plantation. Within a matter of time the landscape will be a home to a diverse culture of flowering plants and fruiting trees, as well as a home for bee hives, a series of temples, cabins and tent spaces. We are intending for a sacred sanctuary to host events, trainings and retreats, and co-create the vibration of Peace and Love!
This summer we will begin crowdfunding for our Sanctuary center and community improvement projects. We hope to offer a boost to the local indigenous population, who we share this land with. Many people here in Guatemala are struggling to make a living on often less than $10 a day, and many are without work opportunities. Families are living in impoverished living conditions, and opportunities for the young in terms of education and advancement have been limited. We hope to bring our transformative energy and abundance to help this community thrive, so we can all thrive here in this magical Lake Atitlan community.
For crowdfunding donations we will be offering perks and prizes ranging from Rainbow Cloud Kombucha and Cacao ceremonies, all the way up to all inclusive trips for a week long transformational retreats in Guatemala! More news to come! Thank you to everyone who has shared this journey, who continues to live for love and peace and unity!
-Matthew Gordon Eklund
