What Is Green Shoe?
There is a singular question all of us get asked, and to be honest, it is difficult to respond as an “elevator pitch” especially when there are layers to this answer. Each team member has a unique experience with their walk at Green Shoe. Collectively when we’re asked this question our answers could stockpile content for our podcast episodes. So, our team decided the most authentic way to respond was to pour our hearts out on (digital) paper to and FINALLY answer the “age old question”...
“What is Green Shoe?”
Roberta Heath
“A Green Shoe retreat can take you even further into the process of uncovering the truth about yourself and your history.”
Have you ever wondered where parts of your behavior and personality come from? Have you ever asked yourself the question, “Why do I react the way I do?” I know I have. Life is full of questions. As human beings, we are naturally curious, and that curiosity leads us to sometimes investigate ourselves. Investigating ourselves leads to more awareness, healing, and personal growth. That is what Green Shoe is all about. Attending a Green Shoe retreat will help you to begin the investigation process into your own life and discover why you do the things you do. You may have already investigated those questions through therapy and gotten a few answers. A Green Shoe retreat can take you even further into the process of uncovering the truth about yourself and your history. Uncovering the truth about yourself will lead you to let go of everything that is not authentically you and enable you to live your life on your terms.
At Green Shoe, people from all walks of life can come together and explore who they truly are underneath all the questions in a safe and therapeutic environment. Answers to the questions you have been asking yourself can come from unexpected places as you connect the dots of your past with your present and begin to understand who you truly are. For many people, the task may seem intimidating or downright scary. However, healing can only happen when we are willing to take the next step and peel back the layers from years of confusion about our authenticity. Many people fear the unknown and ask, “If I let this go, who will I be without all of this?” If we don’t take that step to find out, we will never know. A Green Shoe retreat can help sort out who you are not and who you authentically are as an inherently worthy human being. Here is a question for you: How liberating will it be for you to be able to let go of who you are not so you can fully embrace who you really are? Attend a Green Shoe retreat and find out.”
Amanda Newlin
“Personally, it has taught me the gift of being truly present, enjoying each moment humbly, and the benefit of having a posture of gratitude.”
This is a two-part answer for me: Professionally and Personally.
Professionally, it is impossible to describe the genuine and transformational change an individual experience during a Green Shoe retreat. I am behind the scenes, not in group, nor part of the clinical team, and as a person looking in from the outside – I can literally feel the environment shift throughout the week. Monday participants arrive timid, uncertain, and looking for answers. Tuesday and Wednesday you can see participants recognize and embrace their past and start to trust the process. Thursdays are H E A V Y - you can feel the transformation taking root. When Friday arrives, participants leave with a sense of self, joy, and the feeling of having their power back. It is truly one of the most authentic and radical changes in someone I have witnessed.
Personally, it has taught me the gift of being truly present, enjoying each moment humbly, and the benefit of having a posture of gratitude. I can recognize a beautiful moment in life as it happens, mentally capture that sense of joy, authentically feel the emotion, and embrace the moment in an authentic posture. I have discovered when you practice the art of gratitude it will enhance relationships, elevate your vertical alignment with your higher power, and allow you to walk and truly enjoy the present.
Steven Brinkworth
“Personally, I find Green Shoe to be a sacred space that offers individuals and groups the ability to get in touch with and heal from the impacts of childhood trauma.”
Green Shoe is not only a business but a metaphor for the movement that transpires in our healing process. Safety and confidentiality are critical components of creating a safe space for us to explore and get in touch with our own “stuff”. Something to be mindful of in the healing process, stepping into our own healing work is not always comfortable. Personally, I find Green Shoe to be a sacred space that offers individuals and groups the ability to get in touch with and heal from the impacts of childhood trauma. These traumas have often been carried in such a way that we do not think other people would understand or identify with our experience and thus we may have kept it hidden away.
Green Shoe is a retreat from the cyclic patterns of dysfunction we see, engage in, and encounter in relationships daily. An opportunity to explore deeper the ways in which our past has impacted and influences our current relationships with ourselves and others.
When we allow ourselves the permission to step into that sacred space of healing and allow ourselves to be open to explore the impacts of our experiences, we begin to recognize and connect with those parts of ourselves that have been informing how we navigate our relationships and the messages that have guided why we do what we do today. Better understanding ourselves and the ego states that arise and influence our patterns in thinking, feeling, and behaving not only benefit self, but also send ripples of healing into our relationships and the community.
I have found great joy in hearing feedback and updates from Green Shoe alumni whether that be in a crowd of 30,000 out of state, or at a restaurant, store, and via email. It is a reminder that the group work experienced at Green Shoe has life that continues to live beyond the physical bounds of Green Shoe. What a gift to see and hear how that healing has impacted individuals and their families even years after attending one weeklong retreat. I love the work we do, and I am grateful for all who attend, support, and encourage not only our alumni but our community in continuing to explore and grow in such a way to be present and balanced in relationships knowing that we are no better and no less than anyone else.
Rebecca Holt
“Green Shoe is a gathering place. It is a community of individuals committed to healing and enhancing relationships in life.”
Green Shoe is a gathering place. It is a community of individuals committed to healing and enhancing relationships in life. Green shoe is sometimes a beginning and at times a stop along the way in recovery from childhood trauma. I often refer to our groups as sacred circles. These are circles in which participants uncover their authentic selves and share who they are with complete strangers. Through collectively healing individuals connect with parts of themselves, they may have never knew existed.
Experiencing the retreat is something that is sacred. There are few times in life where we can show up this authentically and there are few relationships in life that yield this level of connection. It is something only those in the sacred circle can explain or understand – but the beautiful lights that shine from those who bravely participate can be seen and felt by others after they leave. The work at Green Shoe heals.
Stephany Cochran
“Like throwing a stone into a lake, those ripples have helped not just one person, but families and partners connect.”
For 5 years, Green Shoe has impacted the individual lives of each and every one of the participants that have come through. The extraordinary part has been to watch the ripples that have been created by one person giving themselves the gift of experiencing the model and to start living their authentic self. Like throwing a stone into a lake, those ripples have helped not just one person, but families and partners connect. Those connections also reach out to the community as Green Shoe has been a voice for Mental Health. Speaking out and sharing all there is about the Green Shoe model to community groups, schools, and other mental health professionals to bring awareness of what mental health is and self-care techniques.
Teresa Deck
‘The Green Shoe Retreat will point you to a place where you have longed to be, but never seemed to quite arrive.”
Green Shoe is a place of journeys….
Think of a time you remember feeling physically worn out, emotionally burned out, spiritually tuned out, and intellectually checked out. And then try to imagine what it is like to feel physically invigorated, emotionally energized, spiritually in-tune, and your mind is present and aware. There is a journey you can travel which can transport you from a place of disconnect to a place of engagement.
Healing childhood relational trauma wounds can lead you out of those difficult and disconnected places. The Green Shoe Retreat will point you to a place where you have longed to be, but never seemed to quite arrive. Green Shoe is a place of journeys, every individual experience’s their own unique journey of healing. The Green Shoe Team relishes the opportunity to walk that journey of healing with everyone who makes the commitment to attend.
This journey is not accomplished alone, but it is a shared journey with other group members and the facilitator. Each journey is as unique as the individuals who accept the challenge of walking their path leading to new insights, connections, and realizations of their inherent worth and immense value.
Is the journey easy, oh no, it is like the birthing process one fellow journeyer has said? This journey you take can be extremely challenging and painful in moments, just like real life. This pain, however, can become your teacher as you humbly allow yourself openness and vulnerability which allows the pain to create a healing place on your journey as you experience self-compassion for yourself and what you experienced in your childhood. What individuals can expect at the end of your journey is a rewarding and joyful experience, a place of great relief and resolution, a new connection to yourself and others.