The Retreat

Avalon: The Garden of Remembering

“Somewhere beyond right and wrong, there is a garden. I will meet you there.” — Rumi

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The Essence of Avalon

Avalon is a living field of connection — a community devoted to healing, discovery, and the conscious unfolding of life.

Here, we explore how our wounds live as contractions in the body — holding stories, beliefs, and memories from the moments we learned to protect ourselves.

When we meet these contractions with awareness and compassion, they begin to soften.

In that softening, energy is released, space opens, and life flows more freely through us.

What once felt dark or painful reveals its hidden wisdom — each contraction becoming a gateway to growth, a golden capacity waiting to awaken.

At Avalon, we do not seek perfection; we practice presence.

We are not here to teach a way of life, but to be curious together — to learn, to listen, and to create ourselves anew.

Through this shared practice, we return to what has always been true: our belonging to life, to each other, and to the mystery that breathes us all.

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The Garden of Remembering

We live in a time of remembering — a time when humanity is being called to reconnect: with Source, with ourselves, with the land, and with one another.

The Avalon team welcomes you into this field of connection — a collective of people devoted to healing, self-discovery, and the conscious unfolding of life.

Here, we bring what is most alive within us into shared space — with curiosity, openness, and care.

When we dare to meet one another in honesty and vulnerability, healing begins.

In being seen, met, and loved, we return to wholeness.

At Avalon, we explore the language of the body — the ways our wounds live within us as contractions in our system.

Each contraction carries a story: a memory, a belief, a moment when life felt too much.

As we bring awareness and compassion to these places, the tension begins to soften.

When a contraction freeleazes, it makes space for something new to arise — energy, freedom, and flow.

We also understand this process as an alchemy of being.

Just as metals must differ for the fire to create something new, we too transform through meeting what is different — in ourselves and in one another.

In Avalon, we don’t avoid contrast or darkness; we include it, knowing that true alchemy requires diversity, tension, and heat.

When we dare to meet what feels separate or unfamiliar, we discover that every human being carries a unique piece of the puzzle — each one essential in the healing of humanity.

This journey is not for the faint-hearted.

It calls to those who long to wake up and grow up — to those who are ready to meet what needs to be met.

It is a journey that asks for devotion, courage, and willingness to face both the beauty and the ache of being human.

In Avalon, we learn that opening the heart means feeling more, not less.

When the protectors soften, we begin to taste the full spectrum of life — the love and bliss, but also the pain and loss that shape the human experience.

Through this expanded capacity to feel, we move beyond a life centered only on self, into deeper connection with one another — and into the living taste of divine unity itself.

Our work is to unlearn the patterns of survival and reawaken the natural flow of life force — restoring harmony between body, heart, mind, and spirit.

We move with nature, not against her.

We follow what is real in the moment, trusting that life itself carries the intelligence we need.

We are not here to teach anyone how to live a fulfilled life.

We are here to practice curiosity — to explore, to learn, and to create ourselves anew.

There is no single recipe for living; instead, we offer tools and presence that support each person’s unfolding.

This is a path of truth, authenticity, compassion, and love — a remembering of our belonging to life, to each other, and to the mystery that connects all things.

Avalon has been called to serve on several lands.

This time, we gather in Norway — for the first time.

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An Invitation

If these words resonate, it may be because something in you already remembers —

a quieter knowing that healing is not about becoming someone new, but about coming home to what has always been whole within you.

In Avalon, we walk this path together.

We listen. We learn. We practice the art of being with life — in its fullness, its movement, and its stillness.

Each circle, each meeting, each breath is an opportunity to freeleaze what no longer serves and to meet what is ready to emerge.

You are welcome here — with all that you are and all that you are becoming.

We meet as equals, as learners, as humans in remembrance.

Together, we create a field where truth can be spoken, tenderness can be felt, and life can flow again.

This is Avalon.

A living prayer of connection.

And the Avalon team welcomes you — with warmth, with openness, and with gratitude.

Retreat Overview:

How does Avalon work?  It starts with a willingness of an individual to take the first step by leading themselves, to be radically honest with where they are at, and with openness, to see themselves in the other.  We call this connection to the others in the group the meeting point.  When a group begins to tune in to what is alive in themselves and to share vulnerably, others are touched.  When touched, things move.  The practice of the meeting point is a safe and easily integrated method that can facilitate deep inner growth.  In some ways the practices seem simple and natural, but spaces that can feel safe enough to allow someone to surrender to fully feel the deepest parts of themselves, and often are not even conscious of, are rare.  And even more rare is the experience of inner transformation that allows one to return to their life with increased capacity to show up for their calling.

This transformation requires that a person be held in love by others to the degree that they can find the radical trust, transformative courage and raw determination to surrender into their pain or subconscious patterns and thus release the contractions that are held in their body,  and to reclaim their sovereignty.  This can’t be done just through one-on-one sessions or taught in a curriculum.  Avalon recognizes this and provides an appropriate container for this transformation. 

We will use the word trauma, even as many new participants will say that they have never experienced trauma in their life.  We use the word to describe the external factors, and our internal response to them, that influence our beliefs, struggles, blind spots, and actions.  Trauma is both what happened to us, but also what we did not receive.  It could be obvious and known, or not known.  What is clear is that in our bodies and actions we can see the evidence of a trauma, and this is what we meet.  Avalon is unique in that the practices do not require conscious awareness of the cause of the trauma to be able to heal from it and experience lasting life change.  For many it is the place where they finally break free from those deep rooted, and often hidden, personal struggles.   

As an individual’s trauma is released from the body and they are held in by a community through their integration process, stable self-led leaders emerge.  By accessing more of their core self, new capacities present themselves leading to increased grounding and stability.  When triggered, rather than loosing control through anger or giving up, a capacity to hold oneself in steadiness, presence, and compassion replaces it.  These capacities include an increased awareness and love for others together with an ability to stand in power.   Further, in those who grow through Avalon, we observe increased spiritual awakening, clarity of purpose, and capacity for action. 

What emerges from Avalon are the stable, conscious, and powerful leaders that the world needs.   As these leaders heal, they can begin to see beyond just their own pain and then to see themselves in connection to others and to source.  Avalon is not a spiritual modality and people from many religious traditions participate together.  But what we have found is that many experience a spiritual awakening as they heal. As we receive first, and cleanse from within, and our authentic self that longs for connection for the divine emerges.  This resultant increased devotion to source and to humanity elevates their capacities as a leader.

Avalon Foundation:

For 10 years, the Avalon retreat has been a container for deep healing by utilizing powerful modalities developed by Alanja Forsberg and held in the love and connection of each group that comes together.  The retreat has evolved over time and now is shifting to a focus on legacy, how do we scale and pass on this valuable methodology for healing.  We have launched a foundation that supports the creation of support materials, a training center, a book, and other media content.    

Themes:

The following Avalon themes will be experienced during the week:

“Pesos” Theory of Development - We’ll discuss how traumas from an early age become “shadow” activities, which catch up with us later, holding us back from our highest potential.

Healing in Connection - A key premise of Avalon is: Traumas formed in connection can only be healed in connection. We’ll train in fully “meeting” one another in connection, both physically and psychologically.

Compassion in Action - We’ll explore the differences among feeling empathy, merely being a “helper,” and demonstrating true compassion in action. We’ll explore how to tune into to another's energy, emotional state, and viewpoint. You will learn to use these skills to facilitate deeper healing, in yourself and in others.

The Art of the "Meeting" - how to attune to the energy, current emotional state and worldview of the people around you, for deep connection and healing.

Surrendered Leadership - Can we lead from a place of surrender? Can we allow our own deeper intelligence to act through us, guide us into an open receptivity, and achieve results our conscious mind could never have anticipated? We can, and we’ll practice this together regularly, over the course of the week. What it means to have a plan, but be able to lead with “all there is”, whether in business, workshops or in your relationships.

Integration:

Highly Recommended - We recommend you to spend another night or two before traveling home to ground yourself and take time to come back to normal life.  On this retreat we will offer both an optional safari or the ability to stay at the retreat center for as long as one needs.

1:1 Sessions - Also at least 5-10 coaching sessions with Alanja or Xena post retreat for integration and grounding the experience that took place.  Pricing will be provided on request.

Weekly Group Session – Included in the cost of attending, post retreat will be held via zoom for a month (post retreat). Dates and timing will be discussed collectively during the retreat.