REFLECTIONS FROM
Costa Rica By MAVEN NADEGE GREEN (SHE | HER)
To be VULNERABLE, BRAVE and to show up as your AUTHENTIC SELF requires more than lip service inviting you to do so—what are the conditions in place that allow for such an existence?
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his was one of the first questions we were asked to reflect on as the Maven 5–Year Anniversary Cohort members—myself, Doris Parent (she | her), Pioneer Winter (he | him), Christopher Cuevas (they | them), Dejha Carrington (she | her) and Gaby Garcia-Vera (all pronouns)—settled into our Costa Rica retreat at a stunning nature compound nestled in the mountains with a panoramic view of the ocean and lush foliage. Pura Vida, simple life or pure life, we were told is a way of being in Costa Rica, more than a motto stamped on tourist merchandise and vacation packages, it is an invitation to suspend the noise and just be. Inhale…exhale. Being in nature invited me to slow down and hear the wind’s whisper, the ocean’s shhhh caressing the sands below, the whistling of birds just out of eyesight— there was already a lesson from the land on deep listening before our sessions started that extended into the days of thinking and being in community with one another.
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RE F LE CT IO N S FRO M C OS TA R I C A
We went down by the ocean as a cohort where the crashing of the waves punctuated Gaby’s “Big Idea”—a moment where each of us is called upon to lead an intimate conversation that digs deep on a particular topic or issue. Gaby offered us a portrait of healing, failing, alignment and collective building while we sat in the sand listening and taking it all in.
I think oftentimes we think about throwing down and we elicit a vision of battle, I think throwing down is a radical act of love. We commit to taking on the world together. — GABY GARCIA-VERA (ALL PRONOUNS)
There is this exhausting thing that happens at retreats that are really masquerading as overloaded conferences, but in much nicer settings, where you never actually get to retreat—that was not the case here. Rest was built in and prioritized. It was in those moments while laying like a starfish at the edge of the ocean waiting for a wave to gently wash over me that I could sit with the offerings from our cohort, turning them over and how they apply to me, a Black queer woman from the South by way of the Caribbean, a single mom, a healer and a storyteller. Next to me also allowing the water to rise over their body was Christopher. They were also contemplating Gaby’s words in this moment of tranquility. They said with a relaxing sigh that conveyed lightness, “Stillness is divine.” continued on next page
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