STAY TUNED FOR JANUARY 2017 DATES…COMING SOON!

“Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.”

~Hafiz

If you are feeling like you might want to press the pause button and take some time to consciously create the next chapter of your life, please read on.

BACKSTORY:
I have been coming to this incredibly special spot for almost 10 years. 5 years ago, my life was going through a transition.  I was living in a big city, had a big job, was getting a doctorate and had started my own consulting business on the side. On the outside I was successful and productive but on the inside, things felt confusing and chaotic. I was climbing up a ladder, but what was at the top? I felt slightly off-course but didn’t know how to right things.

I felt compelled to come to this spot by myself over New Years to meditate and reflect. It felt a little strange to turn down the usual offers of holiday gatherings with friends and family, but I knew in my bones and in my soul that I needed to STOP and regroup. Something had to change. I packed up my little car, drove 12 hours to the end of the road and DID NOTHING for a week.

I meditated a lot. I spent a lot of time outside listening to the rhythms of nature and my body. I dropped out of thinking and doing and moved into feeling. I ate healthy food when I was hungry. I slept when I was tired.  I woke up when I was done sleeping (no alarms!). I spent hours watching the dolphins play in the surf. I unplugged. I didn’t see other people for days at a time. I had no expectations of accomplishing anything except reconnecting to myself and what mattered to me.

What happened as a byproduct of this process was that I had some great clarity about certain things in my life and newfound trust and courage to have some overdue conversations and make certain decisions. In subsequent years, I have repeated this process and recently started including small groups of friends who I knew would also find value in this process and inspiration from this special place.

This year, I want to share it with you. Part mindfulness retreat, part restorative vacation, this is the perfect spot to reconnect with who you really are and what you came here for.

THE DAILY FLOW:
These will not be ordinary mornings. We will be inviting the divine to dance with us as we go deep by spending a couple of hours in mindfulness practice.  We’ll also explore some guided imagery, mindful movement, gentle inquiry and other practices to help you tap into your own stillness, peace and wisdom. We will do specific practices to enhance the mind-body connection and strengthen positive emotions. We will start our days with poetry (to open our hearts and help set the stage for magic to happen) and gratitude for all that is going right. We will set intentions, explore our deepest places and share what really matters in the safe space that will be created.
I’ll be inviting you into a clear seeing and deep acceptance of what is, while making space for skillfully releasing old patterns that are no longer serving.
Through this inner knowing and conscious choosing, we will each decide how we want our life to feel-we get to decide!
We will keep our eyes and hearts wide open to the beauty that is within and without.
We will set things into motion to make 2016 our best year yet.
We will harness the power of nature, the power of a loving, supportive group, and most importantly our own inner fire to chart a course of personal transformation.

AFTERNOONS
There will be opportunities for us to explore together or for you to have some alone time. Possible group activities include:

• practicing walking meditation in Buxton Woods
• making vision boards
• walking to “the point” (the very tip in the photo below)
• collecting shells and/or building shell mandalas on the beach
  

• endless beach walks enjoying birds, dolphins, waves, maybe seals & the ever-changing beauty of the sky
• visiting the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum (a short drive away)
• visiting the iconic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (a short walk away)
  

• building a bonfire on the beach
• visiting Buxton Village Books (one of my all time favorite book stores)
  

• having a photo shoot on the beach to remember your intention for the year (this is me 2 New Years ago)
  

• horseback riding on the beach*
• massage*
• independent time to reflect, journal, process or just read by the fire or on the deck.

EVENINGS
After dinner, there will be opportunity for fireside chats, games such as scrabble, soaking in the hot tub, stargazing, etc. You will honor your own rhythms.

NOURISHMENT
I am so excited to have the award-winning Cafe Pamlico at the Inn at Pamlico Sound personally catering our food! They are Hatteras Island’s premier destination for casual fine dining. They will deliver healthy, delicious, organic-when-possible, vegetarian meals to us for lunch and dinner. No prep, no clean up, we just enjoy. We will be going to the Inn for a celebratory dinner towards the end of the retreat, just a short drive away in their gorgeous location on Pamlico Sound.

The kitchens will be well stocked with various breakfast goodies (cereals, juices, oatmeal, fruit, granola bars, coffee/tea etc.) and will be self-serve so everyone can start the day at their own pace.

WHERE IN THE WORLD

Have you noticed that some of the most sacred spots in the world are the most remote? Well we will be almost at the very tip of the outer banks, on an island well off the coast of NC. That will be us (in the photo above) jutting right out into the Atlantic Ocean. The main house is right on the ocean with the crashing waves just a few dozen yards from our door.  We will feel into and connect with the power of nature on a daily basis. When we feel the house swaying in the wind on its stilts and feel everything tremble when an especially big wave rolls into shore, we will be reminded that we are not apart from nature but very much intertwined. The salt air and deep rumble of the ocean will permeate our every moment, inviting us to reconnect to our deepest and wildest parts. You may not know exactly what you are looking for, but magic can find you when you linger in places such as this.

THE JOURNEY
The closest airport is in Norfolk, VA which is approximately 138 miles away or 2 hours and 45 minutes by car. Because Hatteras Island is so remote, there is no public transportation. I will try to help connect people who might want to rent a car together. The 2 houses we will be using are on Old Lighthouse Rd. in Buxton, NC.

SOME DETAILS
You can arrive anytime after Noon on Tuesday, February 2. The retreat will begin with our first group gathering from 4:30-6:30 followed by dinner at 7. The formal part of the retreat will end at 11 AM on Feb. 6, but you are invited to stay for the rest of the day to relax and enjoy the house and the area. There might even be room for you to stay overnight on Feb. 6, if that works better with your travel plans and you want some extra time in this special spot to rest and integrate what came up for you during the retreat.

The cost is between $825-$1175 depending on where you stay. Please click here for more information on Pricing-Lodging.

Some recent visitors to the house:

Mind-blowing sunsets and sunrises (unedited photos):

YOUR GUIDE:
Practicing and teaching mindfulness for many years, Erin Sharaf combines her 18 years in health care and over 20 years as an educator to create programs for personal transformation. She has taught mindfulness in hospitals/medical centers, universities and in corporate settings. Erin is an ivy-league grad and has extensive training in mindfulness through the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare & Society (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine, has received the 5 Mindfulness Trainings from Thicht Nhat Hanh, and completed courses in Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) and Mindfulness Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT). She has done many silent mindfulness retreats over the years to deepen her own practice.

A certified Life Coach, Erin also has a master’s degree in Integrative Medicine and is a former professional figure skater.  She is a lifestyle and education blogger for the Huffington Post. Interviewed on NPR, featured in Mindful magazine, and a speaker at many conferences, Erin truly enjoys sharing this transformative practice with others.

LET’S DO THIS!
If you’re still reading and this is speaking to you in some way, please feel free to reach out! I’m happy to arrange a phone call to answer any questions you might have. Sometimes saying “YES” to something new like this can be just the jump-start you need to reclaim your life, as I did years ago in this very spot. This will be a small group of no more than 8 guests. Act now to reserve your spot.

If you know you want to come, you can reserve your spot by filling out this Mindfulness retreat form. 

Please be sure to indicate what type of room you would like. Since the retreat is only a few months away, I ask that you pay in full to reserve your spot. You can pay by check or Paypal at Erin@erinsharaf.com.

PRICES DO NOT INCLUDE:
Travel to and from the retreat
Alcohol
*Horseback riding and massage

Please note that this retreat is being held in a very remote spot which is extraordinarily conducive to the inner work we’ll be doing. There will likely be more silence than you are used to. This retreat is not for you if you need the stimulation of a city or external distractions. The houses do have wifi and TVs but we’ll be unplugging as much as possible. This is a unique opportunity for those ready for a deep dive into your true self.
Photo of Erin: credited to Bon Miller
all other photos (except the satellite image and the one of the food at the Inn) are not retouched and unfiltered and taken either from the retreat property or a very short distance away.

“I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work with these stories from your life–not someone else’s life–water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work. The only work.”
~Clarissa Pinkola Estes