Four Rivers Healing Retreat, Costa Rica

The Four Rivers Healing Retreat is a six-day healing retreat in Costa Rica for people who want to work with Internal Family Systems (IFS), shamanic soul retrieval and embodied practice in a small group. It is led by Everett Considine, Sam Garcia Jr. and Heather Cole Gatto at AmaTierra Retreat & Wellness Center, near San José. The cohort is capped at fourteen participants with three facilitators, so the work can be personal rather than staged for a crowd.

The retreat is built around the idea that most of us live behind a protective system of masks and shields, formed in response to old wounds, which can cut us off from joy, intimacy and connection. Through ritual, parts work and movement, the aim is to let that system relax and to deepen your relationship with your Authentic Self.

What to Expect

Days combine group work with private time. The program includes Internal Family Systems work, exploration of the Seven Core Emotions, soul retrieval work, guided healing rituals and transformation movement processes. Group processes sit alongside one-on-one sessions with the facilitators, which is the reason for the small cohort. Time is also set aside for art and journaling, and there is one group excursion.

Meals are shared, and the organizers treat them as part of the retreat itself, a time for connection and rest in community.

Your Facilitators

Everett Considine is a meditation teacher, IFS practitioner, spiritual guide and author. He has practiced and taught meditation and mindfulness for more than 30 years, and came to IFS as the piece that reaches emotional patterns other personal growth methods can bypass. He is a Level 3 certified IFS practitioner, teaches IFS classes and sees clients one-on-one. He is also a certified Cross-Cultural Shamanic Practitioner, and more than 7,000 people have worked with him as a coach.

Sam Garcia Jr. is a shamanic practitioner, ceremonialist and spiritual mentor with nearly two decades on the healing path. His work includes Sacred Heart Readings, soul retrievals, spiritual mentorship, blessings for homes and land, and rites of passage for life's thresholds. He also offers Soul Dance, a movement practice woven with music and intention. He keeps a daily practice of prayer and meditation and is open about his own healing around complex trauma.

Heather Cole Gatto (Sukrutha) has taught classes, workshops and retreats that bring together shamanism, yoga and art since 2002, and keeps a private practice as a healer and mentor. She is trained in IFS and brings it into her client work. She is a professional artist of 22 years, a yoga instructor of 17 years and a certified cross-cultural shamanic practitioner, and she has meditated daily for 23 years. She has studied with Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), among other teachers.

The Setting

AmaTierra Retreat & Wellness Center is a tropical wellness property near San José, offering yoga, meditation, mindfulness, healthy food, fresh spring water, herbal medicine and bodywork. Lodging is split between individual casitas and a main lodge, with six nights at the center.

Meals are organic, locally sourced and prepared fresh daily. A food form before arrival lets the kitchen honor allergies and individual needs, and all meals are compatible with Bright Line Eating. Airport transportation is included, covering transfers to the retreat center, to the excursion and back to the airport.

Before You Go

No experience level or prerequisites are stated, and the retreat is taught in English. The price covers sessions, ceremonies, private one-on-one work, lodging, all meals, the excursion and airport transfers. Round-trip flights to San José are not included, and the organizers strongly recommend travel insurance.

The casitas and the lodge are connected by steep stairs. Physical restrictions can be accommodated if you ask in advance.