IMAGINE THE GRANDEST ACT OF SELF-LOVE IN YOUR LIFE.
What does it look like? Can you close your eyes and dream big,and really picture it?
If it has anything to do with tropical breezes, finally falling in love with yourself and taking the time to acknowledge you are a rockstar goddess who has survived every single challenge life has ever thrown, we have just the gesture you need:
RESTORE YOUR ROAR: A RE-BOOT CAMP
AN EIGHT DAY, SEVEN NIGHT TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE LUSH JUNGLE OF HAWAII AT KALANI OCEANSIDE RETREAT.
NOT ONLY WILL YOU BE GIFTING YOURSELF A TRIP TO HAWAII, (WHICH, HEY, YES, YOU ABSOLUTELY DESERVE JUST FOR BEING A HUMAN ON THIS PLANET) YOU'LL ALSO BE EXPERIENCING A RETREAT-LIKE EXPERIENCE CENTERED AROUND CELEBRATING YOUR BODY AND YOUR FEMININITY.
Restore Your Roar 2015 participants at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.
For an entire week, you'll be given tools to explore your inner goddess and step into your power. You'll be moving your body and chanting affirmations simultaneously for an endorphin-induced high that you've never experienced before.
Your week will include:
Daily movement and affirmation sessions with Olivia Petzy, the hilarious and spiritual healer that will bring your inner fire to the surface
Daily discussions on body love, emotional eating awareness, and more with Amanda Trusty, the body positive activist who has been on her own eating disorder journey
A trip to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park to visit Pele, the fire goddess, in all her glory, and explore the most active volcano on earth – currently showing off one of only two lava lakes that exist in the entire world
An optional day trip to Kona - the other side of the island where the white sand beaches and whales are prominent
Three delicious meals a day made on site using local ingredients
Gorgeous accomodations overlooking the Pacific ocean, but more importantly, that lie under a blanket of stars like you've never witnessed before
Open air group spaces surrounded by banana and papaya trees, hibiscus flowers, coconut palms, and fragrant breezes
Free time to enjoy the clothing optional 25-foot pool, sauna, spa, walking trails, spa services, or optional adventures like snorkeling and black sand beaches
Ecstatic Dance – a barefoot, non-verbal experience on Sunday morning where all you're required to do is move your body as it wishes to be moved to the beat of the music
Bringing Sexy Back – a final movement session paired with affirmations to celebrate your week, with DJ Olivia spinning tunes and burlesque and showgirl performer Amanda Trusty herself
And. So. Much. More.
Whether you've lost your way and all you can muster is a faint meow, or you feel that you're ready to roar but still feel like you need permission, this week in the healing Hawaiian air is for you. We're going to unleash that roar and celebrate it in ways you would have never imagined. We can't wait to meet you.
Aloha! We're Amanda and Olivia, your extremely professional facilitators.
We haven't met you yet, but we are already in love with you. We have been you. We've been through it, and under it, and over it, and sitting on top of it with a bottle of wine (or three). Whatever "it" is, gorgeous one, chances are, we can relate.
From living in New York City to living in a small town. From auditioning for Broadway to being rejected by Broadway. From eating disorders to body shame to marriage to health issues to financial woes to death to heartbreak to eating an entire jar of Nutella to wanting something so bad you'll stop at nothing to get it even if it destroys you, we've been there. We are experts in it. And guess what? We survived. So did you, if you're reading this. And somehow, we also managed to find a deep, fiery roar within us that still wanted to be let out, even after all that. We like to celebrate that, as you can see here.
We are here to teach you how to celebrate it too. All of it. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that we'll be doing it in HAWAI'I.
“...the two amazing organizers, Olivia and Amanda...These two impressed me simply by who they are and how they walk their talk. The two of them possessed the creativity, talent, wisdom, and capacity to “hold the space” for some deep emotional releasing and transforming that occurred for me and the others while at the retreat. ”— Restore Your Roar participant
Want to know more? Let us say aloha!
MEET OLIVIA:
Hi! I'm an actor, improviser, Shrink Session sweat therapist, writer, Welsh terrier mama, wifey, and gummy candy connoisseur in New York City.
Originally from Massachusetts, I grew up singing showtunes with my awesome family, and graduated from Point Park University in Pittsburgh with a BFA in Musical Theatre and a ring on my finger. Rich and I moved to New York, got married, and promptly went on tour together with a show for the next several years. The show title is NSFW, which is why I'm not typing it here.
After returning home to NYC, I discovered musical improv, and found a home at the Magnet Theater where I perform with several groups. I joined the off-Broadway cast of How 2 B A New Yorker in January 2013 as a swing and will take over the role in August 2014.
In addition to my life as an actor, I write a blog called Liv Out Loud and teach a cardio dance class called Shrink Session. I'd love to share my movement background with you. It's a pretty short story: I don't really have one.
Let me explain:
I used to be hugely insecure in my body and the way it moved. Spending four years in a conservatory renowned for its dance program did nothing for my self-confidence. I was straight-up ashamed of the way my body looked while moving. It is not an exaggeration to say that I was usually the worst person in a dance class. I found no joy in movement and dance, only insecurity and shame. I would be so anxious before class I would cry.
Sometimes I had four dance classes in one day. That's a lot of crying. That's a lot of fear. That's a lot of shame.
I gritted my teeth, made it through with a BFA in Musical Theater, and then entered the hell known as NYC Open Call Auditions. Misery, party of one.
Then I stumbled into a class with Shrink Session creator Erin Stutland in November 2009. I honestly don't know why I went-- I think some little part of me desperately wanted to feel good while moving. As per usual, I cried. For once, though, they weren't tears of frustration and defeat. They were tears of freedom. Of excitement that moving my body could feel fun and good. I kept going back for more with Erin and finally was like "I gotta share this shit with people. This. Is. Good." Now, I teach a combination to a room full of people. I am in Shrink Session videos that thousands of people do in their living rooms. Even my husband, literally my #1 fan, told me that if five years ago, I told him I was going to teach a cardio dance class, he would have gently steered me into bed because I was clearly losing my mind.
I want you in my class, regardless of your level of dance skill or athleticism. I want to hold your hand and lead you, gently and most likely with an F bomb or two tossed in for fun, to a place of joy. I want you to allow yourself to be empowered to MOVE.
If you need more of me in your life, please check out my personal website right here.
I am VERY EXCITED to meet you. We are gonna dance and sweat and have a freaking EXPERIENCE.
MEET AMANDA:
Aloha goddess! My name is Amanda Trusty, and I'm known primarily for this viral tap burlesque video to Katy Perry's "Roar", where I stripped down to my skivvies and peeled the words "cellulite" and "fat" off my body to make a statement in November 2013.
I am a tap dancer. I am a body love advocate. I am a Nutella expert. And I write, a lot. Besides my blog Amanda Trusty Says, which I started in 2013 to finally shed light on eating disorders and body image issues in the entertainment industry, I also write for Huffington Post, Sadie Jane Dancewear, Scary Mommy, and more.
Above all else in life, my first love is dance. Since I'm three, it's been the love of my life, and although from it stemmed my body image issues and my binge-eating disorder, it's still my first language and the thing I love to share the most. After performing, choreographing, and studying in New York City for a decade, I moved to the Big Island of Hawai'i in 2013 where I now teach dance to amazing children and adults of many shapes and sizes. In 2014, I was featured on Huffington Post as one of nine women changing the way we view body image in dance and I am currently in the middle of writing a book on the topic which will be the first of its kind.
I fully believe that the power of dance and movement can change the way we experience our bodies and experience the world around us. That's what Restore Your Roar is, and I cannot wait to share it with you along with the spirit of aloha that has changed my life. Mahalo nui loa, and roar.