A Shift in Being Retreat
Reflection on our Deep Coaching Retreat in Lisbon, Portugal (May 2026)
Last month, I attended a retreat unlike any I’ve been to before. It was called A Shift in Being, hosted by the Centre for Transformational Coaching and led by Leon VanderPol.
The invitation was simple but also profound – to shift our being-ness, not our doing, goals, strategies, just our BEING.
The altar
Each person was asked to bring one object from home – something personal, chosen intuitively. No instructions beyond that, an object that means something to you right now.
We began by building an altar together. Lorri Hannah, a fellow participant and dear friend, had created these gorgeous hand illustrations of the 4 elements – East for Air, West for Water, North for Earth, South for Fire. Each one was filled with words and qualities that belong to that direction. These four maps were laid out as the frame for our time together, and one by one we added our objects to the centre.
There’s something about placing a personal object in the middle of a group. You’re not just sharing an item – you’re saying something about where you are right now, what you’re carrying, what you’re working with.
The altar became a kind of mirror for the whole circle, even before the conversations, reflections, and breakthroughs; we built our ground together.
The altar of the four elements
Lorri’s extraordinary maps of the four directions had rich meanings.
East for Air: Wonder, new beginnings, clarity, trust, breath of life.
West for Water: Fluidity, flow, transition, letting go, inspiration.
North for Earth: Stability, abundance, connection, power of presence
South for Fire: Passion, transformation, surrender, energy, courage to act.
These four directions became the container and the sacred geometry within which we would spend our time together.
My object – The Butterfly on the stone
I brought a paperweight made by my dearest potter friend Sujata Bahal. It is a ceramic butterfly, wings of teal and sage, resting on a dark, glazed stone.
I chose it because it holds my two truths in one object:
The butterfly: a symbol of transformation & metamorphosis, the willingness to not know what you’re becoming while you’re in the middle of becoming it.
The stone: ground, present & rooted, the stone it rests on, is about being grounded enough, to let that happen.
For me, those two things together felt like my work – I can’t really transform if I’m not rooted, and staying rooted without allowing any change eventually becomes its own kind of stuck.
So essentially, a transformation that is grounded, yet ready to fly.
The object is never really just about the object.
There is a reason ancient cultures built altars. Humans have always placed meaningful things in the centre of their gatherings and places of worship. Objects hold energy & intention.
Over the course of the retreat, through conversations, silences and questions that didn’t always have simple, straightforward answers, something shifted in the room. It’s hard to describe, which I think is actually the point – shifts in BEING aren’t always things you can put into words right away.
You just notice that you’re carrying yourself a little differently and noticing the world differently.
When we placed our objects in the centre of the room – a candle, stones, cards, prayer beads, T-shirt, a sculpture of Shiva, ballet shoes, magnet, magic wand, small lighthouse, keychain, pouch, feathers, leaves, water, empty container – we were saying: this is what I bring, this is what I’m working with and this is where I am at this very moment.
At the end of the retreat, we each took our objects back.
The object was the same, the person holding it had moved.
I’m deeply grateful to Leon & Jonathan for holding such a thoughtful, spacious container for this work, and to each and every person who showed up in that circle and made space for themselves and for me. The retreat wouldn’t have been what it was without each of you!
And guess what I found in Scotland after the retreat??
The metamorphosis continues..
