RETREAT CENTER

SEVA DEVA    •    HEALING    •    RETREAT CENTER

Five Day Healing Retreat

If you have a desire to reconnect with your true self and feel ready to look within, consider doing a Five Day Healing Retreat at SEVA DEVA in San Diego, California. You’ll have a separate entrance to your own private bedroom, bathroom, and living space, and access to a peaceful garden sanctuary on a lush canyon. Healthy, organic, vegetarian meals will help nourish your body, and you'll have time to rest, be with yourself, and reflect on what you're learning. Our friend Molly, a gifted massage therapist, is available if you’d like a healing massage.

Each morning we'll meet for a three-hour counseling session. We’ll do an in-depth intake to begin with, which will include your family history and major childhood experiences, all the way up to the present and what has prompted you to take your next step. After that I’ll explain the Four Quadrant Model of Health and Wholeness. This model will give you clarity on where you may be out of balance, as well as help you understand how to create greater health and wholeness in your life.

What I’ve discovered since beginning my wholistic counseling practice in 1984, is that the main underlying cause of people’s unhealthy patterns, almost without exception, is their repressed emotions. I’ve also found that most people are afraid of their feelings. They either bottle them up inside, which inevitably takes its toll on the body, mind and spirit, or they unleash their anger and frustration onto others, hurting the ones they love. And so I’ll introduce you to Externalization, a simple, empowering emotional release technique I learned from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and have been sharing for almost 25 years. Teaching you how to take care of your emotions will be a fundamental part of our five days together, because this technique is an effective way to release emotions safely and appropriately.

I wish I could say that healing emotional wounds is quick and easy, but it’s neither. Emotions are our children, and like all children, they need attention, patience, support and love to become healthy and whole. Especially at the beginning. When emotions have been avoided for years, they’re deeply buried inside the body. It takes time to access the layers of repressed anger, sadness and fear, and to work through the resistance to feeling them. That’s why commitment and consistency are important aspects of this healing journey. And like incorporating anything new into your life, it takes practice, practice, practice.

I designed the Five Day Healing Retreat as a private, one-on-one workshop for people living outside of San Diego who are not able to come for regular counseling sessions. It’s an introduction to a wholistic approach to healing that focuses on emotions - the root cause of most imbalances. You’ll learn about your emotions and how to take care of them. I’ll show you the Externalization technique and you’ll have the opportunity to do some emotional release work while you’re here. Time permitting and when appropriate, some of our sessions will also include Aura-Soma color therapy, Quantum-Touch, Interactive Guided Imagery, Hatha Yoga and Soul Retrieval, to assist you in your healing process.

From years of doing this work with people, I know that it takes time and on-going support to integrate Externalization into your daily life. Therefore once you’re back home we’ll meet weekly for a two-hour phone counseling session. Our phone sessions will last for six months, or longer, as needed. I’ll help you create a safe place to release, where you live; assist you in informing loved ones about this work; talk through any resistance that comes up; teach you how to reframe old beliefs that will want to dissuade you from taking care of your emotions, especially when everyone around you is avoiding theirs; hold the space while you develop the commitment and consistency required to do this work; sit with you in your discomfort and be with you (on the phone) while you do your releasing. Our sessions will be complete when you feel safe releasing your emotions, as they come up, on your own.

If this sounds a bit daunting, let me assure you that as your backlog of emotions are expressed they leave your body, which means that eventually there will be less and less to release. Then, like brushing your teeth, washing your hair and feeding your body, expressing your emotions whenever you feel them will become a natural and regular part of taking care of yourself. From personal experience I can happily say that the rewards for doing this transformational work are well worth it. If you want to open more deeply to love, clarity, freedom, health, balance, joy, creativity and peace in your life, and are willing to hang in there and do what it takes, then I’m here to help you!

Individual Custom Retreat

Give yourself the gift of time. Come for a day, a weekend, a week or longer and immerse yourself in the nurturing energy of SEVA DEVA Healing Retreat Center. You're welcome to schedule any of the individual modalities listed on this website. Or, if your desire is to rest and rejuvenate, you’ll find a safe haven here for your body, mind, emotions and spirit.

ACCOMMODATIONS

SEVA DEVA is located in the quaint San Diego neighborhood of North Park, which is a few minutes from the airport and the zoo. Upstairs is a cozy livingroom, yoga studio, sunny kitchen and a healing office.

The Retreat Center on the lower level has a bedroom with a queen sized bed and a full bathroom. Beside it is a spacious multi-purpose room overlooking the garden. Organic vegetarian meals are provided.

The garden is a healing Nature Spirit Sanctuary on a lush canyon. It contains five private sitting areas, a yard with an avocado, lemon and three orange trees, many flower beds and a delightful Buddha water fountain. SEVA DEVA invites you to treat yourself with love.

COST

TESTIMONIALS

It has been just over a year since I returned from my healing trip to Seva Deva. As often happens to me in the winter, I was feeling a growing sense of bottled up emotions the winter of 07/08. I needed to express myself in all my horrid glory! I felt that such a process of emotional release was not only critical for my well being but would help to reveal to me my true dharmic path. I found Seva Deva on line and resonated deeply with Carol's story and her approach to healing.

I was greeted by both Carol and Dan when I arrived as it was getting dark out. I felt truly welcomed into their warm and glowing home. Their home felt calm, loving and healing. The attention they gave me was undivided and full of care. Carol provided for me a safe space to feel everything and anything. The love I felt with her resonated in my soul. The food she prepared was potent with nourishment. Her gardens were filled with spirit. I was being deeply nourished on all levels. The last day she channelled a very powerful message to my soul using Aura Soma products as a way of focusing this message. Now over a year later that message is still resonating and guiding me. Thank you, Carol, for sharing your healing gift with me and so many others.

— E.J. Founder of Shepherd's Dream
    Montague, CA

It is difficult to put into words how grateful I am for the 5 days that I spent at Seva Deva. Carol was willing to go with me to places that very few Souls dare visit. As a result of her guidance and unbending faith in the process that she teaches, I was able to jumpstart my emotions and reconnect with an essential piece of my Self. The meals that I shared with Carol and Dan were a beautiful part of my retreat. Dan's insights into what I was experiencing were priceless. The gardens on the grounds also provided me a great place to relax and reflect. My love and gratitude are forever with Carol, Dan, and the home they call Seva Deva.

— E.B. Special Ed Teacher
    Venice Beach, CA

Seva Deva offered me the tools, the space and the support to facilitate profound life transformation. Carol and Dan offer their home as a spiritual sanctuary for those drawn to life at a deeper level. Carol's various healing modalities worked in concert to awaken my higher Self into this life. Dan's willingness to share his rich life experience around the dinner table offered me even more insight into my own journey. The well of listening offered was unconditionally accepting and cleansing. I would recommend Seva Deva to anyone ready to take their life to a new threshold.

— C.F. Artist
     Boulder, CO

I recently had the complete pleasure of spending a 3-day Custom Retreat at Seva Deva. When friends asked me how my time there was, I found myself replying, "Life changing."

The atmosphere of peace and joy that surrounds this retreat home was immediately evident upon arrival. The authenticity of that atmosphere and the people who have created it was proved over the time I stayed.

The food provided from Carol's kitchen was offered with love and care-of-preparation. I immediately saw that I could improve my health by refining my vegetarian diet to more closely align with the food I ate while at Seva Deva. And the convenience of having such wholesome and life-giving sustenance available enhanced the entire retreat experience.

The setting for the Quantum Touch workshop in which I participated was perfect. Clearly this is a space that has been cleansed and nurtured for learning and growth. The joy of completing my first Quantum Touch workshop was wonderful.

The gardens of Seva Deva are heavenly. Just being able to walk around the gardens or sit and meditate in the natural beauty there provided healing at a deep level. The time of rest and peace engerized me with a lasting benefit that I have been able to carry into the weeks following my return to my daily life.

I also benefited greatly from Carol's expertise as a wholistic counselor as I participated in several of the modalities that she offers. Because the healing and change I experienced while at Seva Deva were immediate and lasting, it is easy to know the truth and beauty of what I experienced there. My heart overflows with gratitude for Carol and Dan and what they have built in the hills of San Diego.

— K.S. MA, ED, Education Supervisor
     Birmingham, AL

I have seen Carol on an almost weekly basis for the last year and it has been such an amazing journey of healing and self-discovery. Recently, I finally decided that it was time for a retreat - all to myself!! Days to focus, stay with my feelings and listen without distraction. Days of wonderful peace and calm, surrounded by constant love and support. Days of beautiful simplicity to realize what it feels like to actually CARE for myself. Three delicious, fresh, organic homecooked meals a day spent in relaxation. (Certainly not my usual experience!) My body experienced such an intense joy at being properly nurtured and cared for!

Needless to say, the Retreat provided the breakthrough I needed. I did some wonderful emotional release work as I was able to stay connected, receive powerful guidance and explore deeper parts of myself. Every day now, I am getting better at loving myself and making time for myself. I would like to express profound gratitude to Carol and Dan for welcoming me into their home and sharing their love. What wonderful mirrors they are!

— M.F. Counselor
     San Diego, CA

I have just come back from my healing retreat with tools to handle my life. It was a wonderful few days. The food was wholesome, earthy, and good for the soul. Carol and Dan really create a safe space to wander back to your dreams and to let you just be yourself. Through this really rough time in my life, I feel stronger than ever. Thank you for helping me reconnect to my passion and my dreams.

— J.P. Teacher
     Orange County, CA

Spending these retreat days with Carol in her lovely home was a treat in itself. The plush and serene gardens, the beautiful and private space, and the delicious vegetarian cooking was a vacation for my soul. Her Quantum Touch healing sessions made my body tingle with the flow of her intense energy. Her compassionate way of listening was soothing to my struggles, and her relaxing yoga classes helped to ground me. My life has changed since spending time at Seva Deva. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

— L.W. Substance Prevention Specialist
     Los Angeles, CA