When I joined Adventure Awake in Greenland, I was looking for an escape. I had a strong urge to change and to learn new methodology to live by. To my disappointment I didn’t get any of this. Instead I got to reconnect with myself while exploring one the most spectacular places on this planet with a group of powerful women. We did coaching sessions and we stretched our boundaries every day while life was happening all around us. Covered in six layers of clothes, I was gradually peeling off my personal layers of insecurity and fear, opening up and practicing generosity of sharing myself with the rest of our group without fear and control, learning to surrender and to be present in the moment.

On the way back I felt as if I hadn’t changed a bit. And I haven’t. Instead, I became more of myself than I’ve ever been. As I learned to trust the team on the journey, I most importantly learned to trust myself. Could I imagine that my life would change so much ever since? Not at all, yet happiness comes effortlessly when you are being yourself. Coached by Antesa, I learned how important it is to let go of the plan and enjoy the journey, always staying curious. 

It all starts with each of us and commitment we’re ready to make yet I will always be grateful to Antesa for being there for me, believing and supporting, challenging and helping to see that everything is possible once you let it be. 

Before I went on my trip, my mind and body were in overdrive - I didn't even realise it because it had become the norm for me. I live in a beautiful place on half an acre of land with my own stream and two amazing children but I really couldn't feel present to it. I kept looking for reasons why, I kept trying to get things complete with people that might have stopped me being present but what I hadn't considered was that it was me that was stopping me from being present.

During and since the trip to Greenland, I have seen the impact that the sheer pace that I live my life has on me and everyone around me. It was super frustrating for me to shift down a gear but it was pretty much the only coaching that I kept getting. It felt like the most unfair thing to be in a place like Greenland and have to slow down, take it easy, don't race ahead, don't be the leader. It was a bumpy ride, exactly like when you change from 5th to 2nd gear in your car, the engine whirrs and the car lurches around a bit.

This is still a work in progress for me but the results are already monumental. My ability to be present, with myself, with my children, with my partner has grown. I can actually feel the experience of the beautiful life that I have created for myself and I can see what is possible opening up in front of me like an undiscovered map and the experience is effortless, peaceful and awe-inspiring.

Before leaving Jordan on my first Adventure Awake trip I had already decided I would be going on the following Adventure Awake trip to Mongolia. It was one of the best decisions of my life. My time spent working with Summer and Antesa in both of these magnificent places has been truly life changing. 

Not only do they pick amazing places to travel that alone inspire growth and reflection but the thoughtfulness and exquisite attention of the coaching they do makes these trips unforgettable. One of my favorite parts of an Adventure Awake trip is that it doesn’t stop once you get home. The growth and self discovery you learn on these trips can continue anywhere. This is one of the biggest lessons I have discovered from my time on these trips, personal growth happens from within no matter where I am physically. 

I started my journey with Adventure Awake as a girl who couldn’t hear her own intuition, let alone knew that she had one. It’s hard to believe I was once that person compared to who I am now, a women with a deep sense of knowing and self approval. I am so grateful to Antesa and Summer for their unconditional love, support and seeing in me what I couldn’t at the time. The work they do isn’t about improving or fixing oneself but uncovering your true self. Something magical happens on these trips that is hard to put into words but is felt through the experience. 

After my time on Adventure Awake experiences I have found within a deeper sense of connection to myself and the world around me. 

You think you know exactly who you are, but then you go on an adventure with Adventure Awake. Then you realize this adventure is not like other adventures you've been on. Yes, the physical locations you explore and discover are incredible and life changing in and of themselves. But the real adventure is the one you take inward. That's where the adventure truly begins.

I began my adventure with a feeling of restlessness. I knew there was more to my life than I was experiencing, and I've experienced a lot. I've traveled extensively, I've worked hard and I've loved a lot but still something was missing. I soon realized that something was a connection with myself. Antesa and Summer were instrumental in helping me make that connection. Antesa is truly gifted in her approach and ability to guide you in digging really deep to uncover who your true self is. It is a process. It is heartbreaking at times. It is also necessary and so worth it if you want to truly manifest your best self and your best life.

Adventure Awake was the perfect combination of rugged travel and exploration with intense self discovery. Antesa always says there are no coincidences and that could not have been more true for me. This opportunity came along at the perfect time. I have grown so much and feel so much more my true self. I will be forever grateful.

As soon as I heard of the concept of Adventure Awake, I knew I wanted in. I didn’t manage to go on the first one because I listened to the voices inside that told me it was too much for me. But when I heard the second adventure was in Jordan, somewhere I had always wanted to go, I knew it was a sign that I had to make it happen. I am so glad I did. I travelled with an amazing group of people, some of whom I had met before but no one I knew well. That completely changed over the course of our journey.

Guided by Antesa and Summer, we went far beneath the surface of small talk. We shared amazing experiences, had wonderful food, met incredible people and bit by bit formed a tight bond as a group. The adventure was carefully designed to enable us to open up to each other about the personal journeys we were on and the obstacles we were facing. This included making changes as we went along where it was felt that would benefit our process. 

With the group as my witness, I was able to look beyond my obstacles and see how I could be a better me. I saw how I was holding back, not letting the world experience the best of me and vice versa. It was the combination of being on a journey through a different land and inherently out of my comfort zone, undergoing the varied experiences laid out by Antesa and Summer and the coaching I received, both individually and in the group, that made this possible. Several months later I am still feeling the impact of it. And I have an awesome group of new friends across the world.

As I started Adventure Awake, I had a good life, a good job, a huge group of friends and was to become a mum. But something felt off. I didn't feel satisfied, there was something gnawing at my edges; an itch I had not been able to scratch yet. Having a huge desire to travel for myself, I knew I wanted it to be something unique that I hadn't experienced before. I had always wanted to go to Jordan, so that, with the customized coaching offering with Adventure Awake, I knew: This is for me.

What I wasn't expecting was to be held in conditions and a space that would allow me to go so deep, hold me steady as I rallied against old stories, allow me to come through and integrate, all while taking in everything the country and it's people had to offer. I underestimated how deep and wide this would go, cracking open an entry point to my relationship with my mother, unlocked as I revisited my relationship with my dad.

On this trip, I learned in real time how to hold myself and be held through high sensation and about having faith and trusting someone implicitly, even when I didn't quite trust myself. Mere entry points to unlocking many areas of freedom that began integrating level by level once the trip itself was over.

I now sit with my baby in my arms, and don't feel a victim of sacrifice. I laugh with my mother at how ridiculous our need to deprive ourselves of the things we need is and discuss our feelings in real time, as opposed to me doing everything I can to be away from her. And my faith and trust in people, beyond a need to have something in return, has become a staple part of my daily practice. I scratched that itch and so much more.

Although I had been working on personal growth for many years and was deep into discovering who I am, I was still plagued with self doubt, a sense of not being enough, and a belief that on the deepest levels, there was something fundamentally 'wrong' with me. Adventure Awake came along at the perfect moment to help me make a huge leap forward in my personal growth and happiness.

One of the most amazing things about the Adventure Awake trip was that while I was physically exploring places and experiences I had never seen before, I was simultaneously exploring and discovering parts of my internal self that I had never deeply looked at before. I was able to see how I created stories in my head that turned every event into proof of my old beliefs of not being right and not being enough. With Antesa's and Summer's laser sharp attention and compassion, as well as the support of the group, I was able to make a transformational shift in some of my self-limiting beliefs and be able to open up to the possibility of the truth that there was never anything fundamentally 'wrong' with me in the first place. What if everything I am doing is the perfectly right thing for each moment?

After my Adventure Awake experience in Georgia, I can truly say I am the happiest I have ever been. My relationship with my self is deeper and stronger than it has ever been. It sounds sappy to say this, but I finally truly love myself. I'm kinder to myself and I am happy with my own company.

I have gained powerful tools to continue my own growth and a greater awareness of my inherent 'rightness'. Through all my quirks, and choices and mistakes, I know that at my core, I am actually more than 'enough'!

Having my experience of visiting a new country whilst someone was carefully paying attention to my actions and later detailing what they saw has a very rewarding experience. A real time feedback loop was established and it allowed me to see my hidden spots at a pace I had not experienced before. 

The main thing I got from going to an Adventure Awake trip was trust in my desire. The entire experience was one of me going after my desire and seeing the traps I place for myself, the places where I give up before I even acknowledge it and how good it feels to follow it. I developed a lot more trust on what feels good for me and replaced the belief that the world is an unwelcoming place with the idea that everything around me wants me to have what I want.          

Traveling had been my escape, a way to put 'real life' on hold, leave the woes of work and bill paying at home and 'get away from it all'... or so I thought until I went on my first Adventure Awake trip to Georgia.  

Summer and Antesa have such a healthy perspective when it comes to travel, they have helped me to reframe my view on traveling; not as a means of escape but rather a way to access a deeper part of my being that I'm not able to when I'm at home. I've realized since our trip that life is always 'real life' no matter if I'm on vacation or not, there is no time off from personal expansion. I had such an incredible experience traveling with them through Georgia. I was able to work through experiences in real time with their guidance and insight, as we were traveling through unfamiliar territory.

The coaching I received during and after the trip has created a space for me to continue my personal growth and if I'm ever overwhelmed Antesa reminds me it's not about what's happening on the outside, all of the power to make a change is inside of me.

I loved our trip and adventure - I am committed to personal growth and constant evolving, and I did indeed learn more of my blind spots on our journey in Georgia. I truly enjoyed all the participants and fellow travelers on our trip and hearing their stories. We all felt the magic of Georgia and its history, all of its elements, the music, harmony, the cheese, the markets, the strength of women and the feminine there.