Organizer and Facilitator: Juanita Ayacitlali
-Can you please tell us your name and your role/title in organizing the wellness retreats?
Juanita Giraldo Bueno
Organizer, Host & Facilitator
-How many years of experience do you have in this field?
9
-What is your academic background?
Red Way and Native American Practices of the North, South and East
Yoga teacher training at Ashtanga Yoga Montreal
Non-Violent Communication with Conscientia Group
Psychosynthesis - Focus on coaching with Psychosynthesis California
Humanitarian Clown with Patch Adams and the Gesundheit Institute
Social Permaculture with Starhawk
Module 1 of Partners for Youth Empowerment
-Briefly describe your professional background and share some key achievements.
I have been attending retreats since I was 13, starting with Tibetan Buddhism and meditation retreats. Followed by yoga immersions, then sweat lodges, ceremonies and other circles. This led me to want to co-create and support the tribe and its members.
At 15, I supported the creation and co-hosted conferences for a thousand people in Colombia, inviting lamas and teachers from all over the world.
At 19, I co-created weekend and week-long retreats with our former Alma Tierra project, which lasted 5 years. This allowed people to immerse themselves in nature, live in yurts, worship in teepees, participate in sweat lodges, circles and ceremonies. Living as a tribe and in communion with nature.
We also organized rites of passage, which is one of my highlights. Vision quests were a valuable way to nourish the summer.
I became the main fire keeper of the project, host and musician.
I also taught yoga and connection games, mainly learned from Patch Adams and our social clown tour in Mexico in 2016.
I also shared some games learned with Partners for Youth Empowerment.
We have been called to festivals to hold sacred ceremonial space and honor the Sacred Fire.
Next, collaboration in facilitating women's retreats, conferences and learning spaces.
I started working and learning with medicinal plants at age 19 and until this year it was one of my main practices, along with yoga and writing.
I have also been part of Viricuta in Val David for the last 5 years, keeping the fire for sweat lodges, vision quests and dances.
I have been coaching incredible people since 2019.
-Share a fun fact or interesting anecdote about yourself.
I am in love with LOVE, I love spreading it, swimming in it, playing with it. I love bringing others into my different worlds and exploring with them the magic of a smile, trust and embracing life a little more every day!
Fun fact, hmm, I guess you could say I've had a lot of different rock and roll life experiences and so I've learned to see the bright, funny, ridiculous side in the big scheme of things!! So I can dance with different curveballs, with me we will always find a solution!! :) Which I find funny! <3
-What personal qualities do you think you bring to your role as a wellness retreat organizer?
Joy and Confidence: I find beauty in all things and will support creating confidence in the process.
Visionary and grounded: I have vision and I can support the concrete steps to manifest it.
Contacts and Connections: One of my most valuable assets is community. I love building community connections, so I know different people with incredibly different skill sets.
Music and movement: pure passion.
Love... Love... LOVE!
-Share with us your vision for the next one-day wellness retreat. What feelings or experiences do you hope to elicit from participants?
Transformation, Alchemization, Transmutation.
A safe and nurturing environment for them to reach their full potential.
Motivation and inspiration for this incredible year ahead.
A true hero's journey, from expansion to contraction, from beauty to discomfort. We will take the full tour and in the process we will connect to beauty at every step.
Bring back the ritual, a new year is emerging and we are responsible for what we plant!
-How has contrast therapy, whether cold or heat, impacted your life?
Most of my life I have danced with heat therapy through sweat lodges, and it has always brought about a powerful feeling of rebirth. New skins and new beginnings! And that is something I will be forever grateful for, an enveloping warmth that keeps rising, bringing discomfort and teaching me how to rest in the midst of adversity.
It's valuable, and it certainly gave me a great foundation for embracing the cold.
Because, in my personal experience, the more relaxed I am when entering the cold, the more I relax my shoulders and my body, the more pleasant and profound the experience will be.
-Could you describe your personal experience with cold therapy? How do you plan to integrate this therapy into your daily routine?
Cold dives were a valuable way to bring vigor to my body. To reset him in life when he needs an extra boost of love. It has also been a collective experience that brings us closer, because together we can motivate each other in a healthy and nourishing way.
This was also my morning practice for a month last winter, and it was an absolutely valuable way to wake up, embrace the day, and reconnect with the immense gratitude of being alive.
-Could you describe your personal experience with breathing?
Woww!!! Where to start !! Breathing has been an incredible journey through life, whether it be a complete experience of practicing Pranayamas daily. Breathing really has this ability to take us deeper. To cleanse, release, energize and even support us in releasing our own body DMT! It can really become a complete holotropic experience, where we receive messages from our subconscious, and that's an incredible gift.
Breathing is our first ally, when in doubt, breathe. When afraid, breathe. In case of joy... breathe!! Always a precious moment to merge and honor existence.
At first, the full breathing experiences will be very intense for me as it will lead me to freedom from PTSD and my body will fight it, but a gradual approach has really supported me and blessed my journey.
Long live breathing!! It even keeps us warm!
-Reflect on a personal wellness journey or experience that significantly influenced your commitment to becoming the best version of yourself.
Daily practice
Honestly, it all comes down to daily practice. At least that's the case for me, and that's why this one-day retreat is so enticing. It offers concrete tools to continue moving forward on the path.
Whether it is through breathing, exercise, morning cold plunge, incorporating ceremonial cocoa into your daily practice, journaling, chanting or movement; all of these will become tools in your toolbox.
And this is the most precious gift.
-Share a wellness book or resource that has had a lasting impact on your personal philosophy.
Kybalion
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarisa Pinkola Estes
-Tell us about an unexpected or weird hobby that you enjoy.
Creating all kinds of reasons to see my friends who are like family!! Because it is one of the most precious parts of my path! <3
-Reflect on a moment of personal growth that you attribute to your involvement in a wellness-focused lifestyle.
Having time to myself, truly nurturing time for myself, has taught me to love myself, to feel grateful for who I am, to discover what I truly love, and to be excited about discover myself a little more every day!
-Share a personal ritual or habit that you believe contributes significantly to your overall well-being.
Leaving my phone off until I take care of my mind, body and emotions.
Each morning, I will attend to my daily practice before connecting to the rest of this precious existence.
Wake up, snuggle into bed until I'm ready to fully embrace the day, write, get up, hot water and lemon, meditation, yoga practice, EFT (It's really awesome !), Grounding and Release, Breathing.
It changes my life.
-If you had to choose a spirit animal that represents you, which one would it be and why?
Certainly not just one... I'll go with...
Butterfly: Ability to transmute, resilience, movement, open flow, bringing color and vibrant grace wherever it goes.
Hummingbird: The hum of the heart is the medicine of Love. Love in all directions, pollination and blessing of the earth.
Fox: The wise man of the forest, he can be alone or with others, he likes the moments of transition of the day, from light to darkness and from darkness to light. It dances with the stars and connects deeply with the medicine of the earth.
-If you could time travel to any era, past or future, for one day, where would you go and what would you do?
Right HERE <3
-If you were the first human to make contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, what would you say first?
Hahaha, that's a great question. And honestly, I wouldn't know!!
Huge hug dude!! Thank you
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