Guest Review by Aubrey Howard

In Their Own Words

From first-time guest to returning member of the Rythmia family, hear why Aubrey considers this place home and why she plans to keep coming back for the rest of her life.

Oh yes. Wow, the loving support from the community is unmatched and it's so interesting because now this is my third visit and I will keep coming back for the rest of my life and working with the medicine and getting to know the medicine. Coming down here is always so interesting that first day where you sit in the workshop with the classes with the group that you'll be with for the rest of the week. And now I know, you know, like oh my gosh, all of these people are going to be my soul family because you're in the most vulnerable spaces and there's no shallow conversations and that's what all of us are intimately deeply craving. I think I always will be. I hope to be. Rythmia is such a special magical place and I consider it my home. I've grown so much here and my father sent me down years ago after his experience and so I knew that if he was willing to send me down it was a place that I could trust and feel safe and supported in and I've experienced nothing but that and this trip, this journey, I was reminded of how safe and supportive everyone here, the staff, the salmon, the supporters, the angels are in this process. Rythmia has this beautiful energy and so I really pay attention to how I feel when I'm looking into a resort or vacation or retreat. And so looking at the website and seeing all of the different amenities and services that are provided knowing that it's not only the medicine work but it's also supported by breathwork. And all of these classes that allow the experience to not only be singular but to have this compounded effect where the medicine has more room to expand and to grow within you and also to contextualize the work that you're doing because it is such deep psychological processing and the organization that is happening needs a container. And Rythmia, in my opinion, creates this beautiful safe sacred container that I've seen and felt over and over again. I very much value indigenous knowledge and wisdom and tradition but also recognize, let's say, and also recognize that we do need spaces in which people from the West can come and feel safe and comfortable. So this is a place in which that can happen. I've been working with plant medicines for the last six or seven years and there is always apprehension and nervousness going into these experiences because these medicines are so powerful specifically, Iowa'ska. And it needs to be entered into a care and a lot of reverence. So yes, I was nervous but because of my past experience I recognize the power that these medicines hold for healing and for helping us to regain a sense of connection and self-love. So it's worth it. It's good to go and important to go into the fear. Thank you.