The entire retreat so sacred, fun and transformational. I have honestly struggled with yoga and breathwork for years, and I am a yoga instructor. So, coming here and having a sacred place to go into deep practices, opened me up as a teacher and as a human. I feel more comfortable in my skin than I have ever felt in my life. If I had to summarise this retreat in one word it would be ‘pause.’ I finally have paused in my life, and I almost 48 years old, and I don’t think I’ve ever taken a pause to reflect on myself and to love myself this much.

It’s something that he does where he gets into your mind that helps you move better through your body. The morning cleansing ritual was interesting at first, but then it became something that I wanted to do every single day. The purification process actually brought up everything that needed to get out at the moment. It’s powerful in so many ways because you’re connecting to yourself. This is all about you. Johnson’s just the facilitator in helping you to find you and bringing out what needs to come out. He is very gifted.

What I discovered about myself is how much fear I had before coming here, but also how much strength and tenacity I have in going through this journey to let go of my fears and old beliefs. This journey has been transformative. It has been magical and heartfelt.

The shamanic journeys were extremely profound. I had a lot of soul revelations and true connection with Spirit. I feel Johnson is truly a channel to the spirit world, and his presence there is so much stronger than me doing it on my own. It was beyond my wildest dreams. What surprised me about this retreat was the connections with the people in the group. I feel like I have made friends from all over the world. Each person in the group contributed their own unique energy, and we all have a really special connection now.

It’s been a very uplifting and invigorating experience. I don’t think it’s something that you can explain to anybody unless they go through it themselves. I think that it’s important for each person in the world to experience because this is a journey on understanding where you come from – to connect to your inner self and to understand your mission for the future.

What felt really healing to me was that Johnson was able to provide the space and the compassion for me to let go of the family ancestry that was so abusive, without telling me how to do it, but allowing me to find mine own way of doing it. He has a beautiful of not pushing you into something you’re not ready for, and letting you find it on your own because no one can heal you but yourself.

What I love about Bali is the culture and the people. As soon as you land, you sense the sincerity and the authenticity of the people because they look you in the eyes and they smile with their eyes. I’ve worked with Johnson intensely for about one year. I would call this a healing retreat. We all have healing to do and are on different points of the spectrum. We all have the same pain and suffer from the same traumas, and Johnson creates the safest container. He’s just so gentle, yet firm and so wise.

We did this fabulous trek up to Tiger’s Nest. I had this injury where I couldn’t walk down, and somebody carried me for half the way down and then found me a horse. When we tried to thank these people, they said, ‘it was our honour.’ You saw the real base of generosity and compassion that people had, and the unconditional pleasure they got from doing things for other people. That was a very moving experience.

I’m on the most incredible spiritual journey with Johnson. We have done so many amazing things, rafting down the river, going to monasteries and temples. I would highly do this all over again. We did a number of workshops everyday, and shamanic journeys which I had never done before. You actually feel the energy through your body, that Spirit has come into you that made me feel at one with nature and the world.

We have been here in Bhutan for 10 days doing daily yoga and shamanic journeys, hiking in the mountains and visiting temples. The place is magical and very beautiful. I came here with no specific things in mind, but through the different journeys and the mystical places we went to, I learned a lot about myself – the attachments I had, my fears and my personality. This has been enlightening for me, because I feel more free.

What learned from some of the workshops that we were doing was that I am exactly where I need to be in my life. That is something that I usually struggle with comparing myself to others, whether they are my age or are my friends or people I know. Just seeing the way people live here and being happy with what they have had a profound impact on me. I loved the Bhutanese landscape and felt really welcomed here.

I really loved this retreat because it was a great combination of seeing Bhutan, but also going through a personal journey from doing yoga everyday and shamanic healing journeys. I loved how each element of the retreat complimented each other. I’ve never done shamanic journeying before, and I found it very spiritual and illuminating.

There has been lots of highlights of the trip here in Bhutan like walking up to Tiger’s Nest with Dr. Karma who was chanting his mantra all the way up. Miraculously after 10 days, I can now sit cross legged which I probably haven’t been able to do since I was 18. Today, we went to the oldest temple, which was very moving. While I don’t always pick up on energy, I felt a lot in there. Also, the practice of using Buddhist symbology has helped me a lot in meditation.

It’s been a wonderful experience. Johnson did an amazing job of bringing a group of diverse people from age 17 to 68 together from multiple countries through his yoga, breathwork and shamanic journeys. I think through Johnson’s guidance and Dr. Karma’s suggestions, I feel more committed to going home and going deeper in my meditation practice. I would highly recommend taking this trip with a team of experienced individuals like we have because it makes the experience so much richer.

I think I most of my energy is quite masculine, and I always had issues with self-control. Throughout this trip, I started thinking more about this yin yang balance between masculine and feminine energies. The biggest takeaway for me is to shift my consciousness to embrace more of my feminine side. The biggest highlight was visiting the fertility temple as I’m currently through a journey in that area. It was really helpful in shifting my thinking and focus.

This is 8 days of beautifully intense work around self development, exploration, and immersion in the most incredible environment with heart warming and welcoming people who move you to change, whether you choose to or not. From the moment you step off the plane into Bhutan, you are absolutely engulfed in this warmth, serenity and spiritual oneness that is hard to put into words unless you’re actually here.

I feel like I’ve been very deep and serious when it comes to my healing, but there was always something that was missing. And I feel that has been somewhat answered on this retreat. One Buddhist deity that fascinated me was the divine madman. He represents the things we don’t talk about, the things we hide in the dark, and his wisdom of embracing the duality of light and the dark in the mundane, opened up my heart to embrace all of my parts. All my healing work up til now has always been in my head, and now that I feel it embodied, I was able to come out of my shell in a way that is just so powerful.

Bhutan is very interesting. It is like going into a new paradigm unlike anywhere I have been. The energy here is pure and light in contrast to our quicker lifestyle back home in Australia. All the temples carry a different energy, and being able to meditate in them was quite therapeutic. I felt the most energy at Tiger’s Nest. We were fortunate enough to sit with monks who were chanting, praying and really immersing ourselves in that energy. The country itself is beautiful, however it was a highlight to have Johnson facilitate the different themes each day which allowed us to integrate the cultural experience with our inner journeys.

Johnson is a wonderful facilitator. Dr. Karma gave fantastic insights into Buddhism and how to live your life day to day. What fascinated me about Buddhism is how everyone does things so mindfully. Another thing that struck me was how the concept of the Buddha exists within all of us waiting to come out. I like to travel, and to be able to go to a country where you get very unique experiences that are very authentic is very rare these days. This is a magnificent country to experience in this format.

I’ve learnt so much in Bhutan especially with the guidance of Johnson and the group. It is so magical. It’s so spiritual. Praying to the divine madman who had his male organ depicted everywhere was confronting, but as I watched how the locals worshipped it, I was able to lean into my discomfort and sit with my insecurities. I am so grateful to Johnson for organising this experience and getting us out of our comfort zone and into a whole new world.