What Happens At
The 7-Day Retreat?
“Every year I begin this retreat expecting some miracles, and I have yet to be disappointed.”

By Dick Sutphen

For the last six years Tara and I have conducted the “7-Day Flight-to-Freedom Retreat” in Lake Arrowhead, CA. A maximum of 16 people each year have gathered to soar beyond their current limitations and earthly concerns. The participants have come from all walks of life and from all over the world. Some have been depressed and searching for new life directions. Others have desired to explore their earthly destiny and dharma or to release blocks, purge the past and pursue personal liberation. Some troubled couples have attended to find answers to resolve their conflicts.

Prior to the mountain gathering, Tara compiles the participant’s astrological information and other data to prepare for a private psychic reading she conducts with each person. Then in advance of the retreat, she spends about three hours doing personal psychic/astrological research on each person. By the time she meets the participants on the first day of the retreat, she knows all about each person -- usually even why they’re attending the retreat.

I don’t think she has missed with anyone in six years.

The first afternoon is an opportunity for everyone to get to know each other. Tara and I know these people will not be strangers for long, and there are no accidents in respect to those in attendance. Destiny seems to have a way of putting the right people together at the right time. Deep and lasting friendships have resulted. Some of the groups have created their own organizations afterwards and remain in contact years later. One such group calls themselves the “Sutphen Family” and has their own T-shirts to prove it. I’m writing this article a few days after a weekend birthday party Tara threw for me. Several of those attending the party were people we met at this retreat, who went on to become important personal friends.

On the first day, after a shared dinner, we all gather in the large living room and the explorations begin. There are some altered-state sessions I know I want to include in the retreat, but for me, the fun is in being able to respond to the group energy. Every year it’s different and every year we have different kinds of breakthroughs for those attending.

A favorite technique that evolved out of this retreat is what we call “group-energy focus.” The subject lies on the floor, their head cradled in someone’s lap, while all the participants surround them and lay their hands upon their body. I direct a chakra-linking process followed by everyone going down into a deep altered state of consciousness. We draw down the Universal light of life energy and everyone personally builds and intensifies the energy. When this energy is simultaneously released into the subject, there is always a dramatic shift or breakthrough in healing or awareness.

The group-focus subjects have represented a myriad of conditions. A woman who could not perceive well in past-life regression had the entire group go back into the past at the same time to find the cause of her condition. Everyone went to the same place and observed the traumatic incident manifesting today as a physical effect.

Another woman was experiencing a psychic link to a friend dying of cancer. The effect was overwhelming depression and suicidal desires. The group-focus technique allowed us to cut the tie and block any further linking. The subject’s life was immediately changed for the better.

In another situation, a woman with a troubled life and marginal career, found a whole new life direction in which she focused all her energy upon designing and marketing her own unique clothing.

During a couple of afternoons and evenings off, I meet with participants privately to conduct a past-life regression or counseling session -- whichever they prefer. These are highlights, because they allow me an opportunity to explore concepts that are the core of my communications -- something I seldom have a chance to do unless I’m working on a book requiring hypnotic work.

Normally, about half the participants want to experience regression -- usually going back to the cause of something they seek to better understand about their current life. Others prefer a normal counseling session. But some of the most exciting explorations have been experiments. The participants have requested projections into the future, or to explore life between lives, parallel lives, and even incarnations in other solar systems. Some of these sessions have been mind-boggling, not only for my subject, but for me as well.

Over the seven days we share together, Tara directs many of the meditation or group explorations. She always uses this retreat to try out new concepts. And it never fails that she comes up with some “interesting” spur-of-the-moment ideas. She once suggested the participants lie on their backs, with their heads touching (forming wagon wheels). With these unique energy combinations in play, the session that followed garnered some wondrous results.

In addition to the altered-state explorations, intimate discussions, and good meals, the environment is an important part of this transformational week. The house is located deep in the woods. It’s big and cozy with a large living room and fireplace. Lake Arrowhead is a mountain community located 90 minutes from Los Angeles in the San Bernardino Mountains at 5000 feet elevation. The air is clean in this Alpine setting of giant trees with a big beautiful private lake in the middle of it all. The drive from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is 90 minutes. From Ontario Airport it’s only 45 minutes and you prefer not to drive, a shuttle is available from the Ontario Airport. The retreat is July 8 -- 14 and more information can be found HERE.

Every year I begin this retreat expecting some miracles, and I have yet to be disappointed. If you feel drawn to join us, please don’t ignore the calling. Your soul may want you to attend. Tara and I certainly do.

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