My Why: A Spiritual Wellness Retreat Changed my Life. How retreat marketing became my purpose.
- Marina Scott
- Feb 14
- 5 min read
Let's Rewind
Back in the early 2000’s I was a party girl. That persona continued to shape my life, my work, my social circle, my environment and my health for decades. I chose to study Public Relations with a focus on event planning (why not party for a living?). While I progressed in my career, my lack of inner work and inability (self acknowledgement note: my unreadiness) to look at the underlying false beliefs and traumas kept me stuck in a disconnected state.
Moving through a variety of roles in event planning and marketing with confidence allowed me to gain a vast amount of experience. This included hundreds of events: food and beverage festivals, snowboard competitions, mountain bike races, way too many weddings, corporate functions and non profit events. Many of these events and all of the weddings were planned during my decade of living on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii.
The Mother Persona
Leading up to the birth of my first daughter, I was working two jobs. I hosted multiple corporate functions and a community festival for 20k people just two days before her arrival. Looking back, I wish I’d just put my feet up! But this is how we learn.
It quickly became apparent that the demands of event planning were not conducive to life as a mom, especially with just 8 weeks of ‘temporary disability’ postpartum in the great US of A. Taking one of many leaps of faith in my career, I started offering social media and marketing support to local small businesses. Fast forward 7 years and Marina Scott Marketing continues to evolve.
Motherhood was a seemingly unnatural role for me. One that took years to wiggle into and ultimately gave me the push I needed to do the necessary ‘deep work’ on myself.
The Deep Dive
In January 2021 my second daughter was 18 months old and just ready for weaning. I hopped a plane to Costa Rica and attended my first of 4 ayahuasca wellness retreats at Rythmia Life Advancement Center near Tamarindo.
I can confidently say that my work with plant medicine changed my entire life. I was able to identify some of the reasons why I was the way I was, what was no longer serving me and how to release those blockages so I could move forward as a more authentic, self loving version of myself. Long story of spiritual healing short, a retreat changed my life and I am eternally grateful.
Integration
I feel it necessary to note here, as many like minded souls also know well, that a retreat or medicine journey is not a magic cure. The spiritual practices that I dedicated myself to eventually became my life and it is this continuous self inquiry, mindfulness and connection to a higher source that allows for my ongoing expansion.
Feeling into Misalignment
My intuition well polished, I had an epiphany of sorts in the airport shuttle leaving my second retreat. Out of the blue, I saw a little blondie on the front of a ‘quad’ moto with her shirtless surfer looking papa on the dusty streets of Tamarindo and it hit me. I needed to make some drastic changes to honor my spiritual growth and align with my most authentic self. The lust for travel and waves, less ‘things’, more experiences, a new language and an alternative schooling system for my daughters, culture, like minded community and access to spiritual practices all pointed to Costa Rica. I went home, had an easy conversation with my easy going husband and started preparing my family and my life (including the sale of our home) to make the move.
Taking Action
The removal of debt was huge to me. I felt like we could finally break free from a cultural norm of doggy paddling our heads above water and making the rich richer. A fresh start didn’t come easily and I eventually identified financial blockages beyond my debt, but my life in american paradise is over for now.
Around the time of a lot of drama around the house sale I pulled a lot of death cards from oracle decks. The day after we closed, I pulled ‘comfrey’ from my favorite herbal astrology oracle deck ‘to stop the bleeding’. My rebirth took some time, the jungle enveloped me and shook hard.
I persevered and continue to grow like the vines, flow like the rivers and find my solace in the sea.
Finding my Flow
The work is never done! But I’ve noticed my ability to more easily identify triggers, to pause and question my perspective, to consider challenges as opportunities in disguise, to fully trust my path as abundant. When an area of my life is misaligned, I look at it. Most recently that has been my profession.
Bums in Bikinis
2024 started hot and heavy. It was a ‘watch what you wish for’ moment as I’d been calling in more work and suddenly every client I’d ever worked with plus new leads showed up needing everything all at once. The efficient and hard working Capricorn in me turned down no one. I ‘made it work’ which perpetuated the constant fight for work time and feeling of never getting ahead (ie a trigger).
An offer from a bikini brand seemed like a good fit for my lifestyle and for a while I was able to put some authenticity into the brand. I also learned a lot about retail marketing, a new niche for me. Yet again, the misalignment angel started tapping on my shoulder. As I rushed from evening meetings to childcare pickups to dinner, I felt like I needed to shower off the materialism of the western world. It was very obvious when my reign in this role was over and (another self acknowledgement) I didn’t hang around long. With dignity and even some recognition of my strong self knowing from the client, I stepped back into my contractor role where I could be safe to leave work at work and better protect my energy.
Surrounded by healers, I questioned ‘what is my gift’? While triggering old beliefs about my self worth, I dug into my toolkit and found awareness and acknowledgment, with a sprinkle of trust, and stepped one foot in front of the other.
A New Paradigm
Rather than rushing into new contracts or roles to feed my family, I made a conscious decision to give myself some time to choose my life, in all aspects. This was huge! I now have all of those spiritual practices at my fingertips and am surrounded by an expansive, inspiring community. Pause for gratitude. Trust in full force, I’ve been exploring my why. Some of my best insights come through time in nature, at the river or in the surf. Breathwork sessions bring clarity and creative visioning. But again, it was a spiritual wellness retreat that brought and continues to unlock the breakthroughs. For me, Mother Aya allows for my deepest self inspection. Consultas and visions bring me back again and again to who I AM. It is through these journeys, in hand with ongoing self care, that I find myself identifying my niche.
The Retreat Marketing Expert is Born!
It seems so obvious now ;) The confidence that led me through all life's adventures is alive and well. All of my past experience, personal and professional, has led me to exactly where I am today and there is truly nowhere else I could or should be. This new chapter is beyond exciting. I look forward to connecting with like minded retreat leaders, practitioners and guests in exotic locations. To see my retreat marketing clients thrive while facilitating the transmission of a higher frequency to the world is rewarding on the deepest level. This is ME and this is MY WHY.
Thank you for following me on this journey. If my story resonates with you, let’s connect!
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