A Family's Journey of Healing

You will often hear Diederik refer to the 'Ripple effect' of the work we do at Choose Again. This is where one person comes to the Intensive Retreat Centre, or a Workshop, and experiences the transformation that the Six Steps to Freedom provides. Then, they take that transformation back to their family, or place of work, and people are curious about what has caused this change. Then, they try the work for themselves!
This is always a privilege to witness, and we want to share with you the story of one family who took this one step further, and started hosting Choose Again workshops in their purpose built Yurt!

Dear Choose-Again,
I’m writing to thank you so much for the wonderful experience we are having with the 6 steps to freedom and Choose-Again. 
My husband Travis and I first heard of the work at Choose-Again when Diederik Wolsak was on a podcast with Gabor Mate.  Travis was intrigued and listened to several of the Choose-Again podcasts on YouTube.  They are really a great resource for understanding this work! The more he listened the more interested he became in the center in Costa Rica.  We discussed it and decided that we wanted to make the journey to El Cielo as a couple.  Travis called the center and just happened to get Diederik on the phone!  The two of them ended up having a conversation and the next thing I knew we were sending my 27-year-old son to Costa Rica!
Andrew spent several months at the center, he was struggling with drug addiction and self-hatred and frankly did not want to live any longer.  He was on the road to nowhere with over-doses and destructive behavior when we offered this healing journey to him.
Travis and I went to the center to visit Andrew and do some healing work of our own and spent 12 days there.  The transformation that we saw in Andrew in a very short time was overwhelming.  We were ready to do the work ourselves. 
Travis and I are both in long-term recovery and have done a lot of self-discovery work over the years, but something was missing.  We knew that we had underlying beliefs and that we were always getting triggered, but we were missing the piece about them being mistaken beliefs and that they could be healed with a simple 6-step forgiveness process!
While we were at El Cielo I was able to do some intensive work in circle with Andrew and some powerful healing.  I am grateful for the time that we spent there.  To say that it was life changing for all of us is an understatement.  We loved the outcome of doing the work so much that Travis and I came home and started doing weekly circles in our basement.  We have a very large community that we are sharing this work with.  We stared a Facebook Page and it already has 500 members.  We have since built a yurt and we hold 2 healing circles a week as well as Holotropic breathwork sessions in it.  We do this work because it is the Truth. 
Our relationship is for our healing and “when” we get triggered we have an opportunity to heal a mistaken belief about ourselves.  We take radical responsibility for ourselves, our triggers, our feelings and we have a process for working through absolutely anything that comes up. 
Travis and I had the opportunity to do a workshop in France this year with Diederik, Stacy & Freddie it was a wonderful week in a beautiful setting.  We did some great work there and some more learning.  We are excited and happy to share what we have learned!
Last month we hosted a workshop here in Seattle (In our yurt) with Fred Wilberts from Choose-Again Costa Rica.  Our experience was wonderful.  There is so much joy in watching the healing of mistaken beliefs in myself and in the people, that I love. 
The workshop was very successful we had 12 participants and Fredie was amazing.  Travis and I as well as Andrew helped facilitate and did all the behind the scenes planning.  We were able to donate all the proceeds the Choose-Again Scholarship fund.  We are looking forward to doing more of these types of events.
We are excited to learn and share more in the days & years to come.  What a relief to discover that nothing has ever gone wrong!
In Love and Service,
 
Wendy Townsend