Boundaries, Being and Belonging
Dec 5 - 12, 2026 - Blue Spirit Retreat Center, Nosara, Costa Rica
What if true belonging begins not with reaching outward, but with reconnecting to your Essential Being?
In this immersive retreat, Annette Knopp and Wanda Brothers guide you through an experiential journey that weaves Buddhist meditation, somatic inquiry, trauma resolution, attachment theory, and cutting-edge neurobiology into a cohesive pathway toward embodied presence.
Through guided inquiry and embodied exploration, you'll befriend your direct felt experience - transforming inner conflict into clarity and uncovering the essential nature beneath conditioned patterns and protective strategies.
You'll discover the paradox at the heart of authentic relating: while your Essential Being is naturally open and unbounded, clear boundaries allow this true nature to express itself skillfully in relationships and in the world.
What makes this retreat unique is our integration of ancient contemplative practices with modern understandings of nervous system regulation and attachment - creating a learning environment where insight becomes embodied and sustainable.
What You'll Experience:
Reconnect with Your Essential Being: Move beyond conditioned patterns to access the basic okayness and innate wisdom that exists beneath your protective strategies and learned identities.
Understand Your Nervous System and Relational Safety: Learn how poly-vagal theory and interoception create the foundation for safety, transforming how you show up in relationships.
Repair Attachment Patterns and Establish Healthy Boundaries: Discover how your implicit sense of self was formed and receive repair messages specific to your attachment style, while learning to set boundaries that honor both connection and autonomy.
Transform Shame into Self-Acceptance: Explore power dynamics and learn embodied practices to shift from shame to acceptance, separating your essential self from conditioned behaviors.
Navigate the Full Spectrum of Your Emotions: Develop a conscious relationship with all emotions - from anger and fear to joy and gratitude - learning to work with rather than against your felt experience.
Integrate Shadow and Reclaim Your Wholeness: Recognize and embrace disowned parts of yourself, discovering how belonging to self makes authentic belonging with others possible.
Make Transformation Sustainable: Cultivate practices and perspectives that support ongoing flourishing, so the insights from this retreat continue to deepen into a more meaningful and connected life.
Rhythm of the Retreat
Our mornings begin with optional yoga or movement (all levels).
We intentionally leave afternoons free for deeper integration - allowing you to unwind habitual stress and tension at your own pace, immersed in the pristine beauty of surrounding nature. Journal, walk the beach, swim in the ocean, lounge at the saltwater infinity pool, or book a massage or treatment at Blue Spirit's Longevity Center.
Blue Spirit's deliciously nutritious cuisine nourishes body and senses with three consciously prepared gourmet vegetarian meals daily (buffet style). Locally sourced fish is served three evenings per week, eggs are available each morning, and the buffet always offers abundant vegan and gluten-free options.
Sample Daily Schedule
Morning
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7:00 - 8:00 Movement Practice (optional, all levels)
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8:15 - 9:00 Breakfast Buffet & Free Time
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9:30 - 12:30 Group Session
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12:30 - 1:30 Lunch Buffet
Afternoon Free (except for one optional group excursion)
Evening
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6:00 - 7:15 Dinner Buffet
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7:15 - 8:15 Group Session
More about Wanda Brothers, co-facilitator of the retreat: https://wandabrothers.com/
Travel to Blue Spirit: https://bluespiritcostarica.com/traveling-to-costa-rica-and-blue-spirit-costa-rica/
About Nosara: https://bluespiritcostarica.com/discover/nosara/
About Costa Rica: https://bluespiritcostarica.com/discover/costa-rica/