Rooting & Rising

Your Host & Guide: Paula "We often identify with our life story—the places we’ve been and the roles we play—but at the heart of it all is the soul journey. That is the essence I invite you to explore with me." My path has been one of vast landscapes and deep human contrast. For many years, I served from a place of searching, growing yet also inner lack. Growing up in a multicultural tapestry and working with terminally ill children and survivors of trafficking in the States, Europe, Uganda and India, I was a social worker trying to heal the world to find my own sense of "enough." In my early 40s, the shift began. I took flight through AcroYoga, discovered my "inner wild," and moved from Seattle to the hills of Israel, where I founded a retreat center ‘Play Zen’, where I ran acro retreats and hosted many other mindful and movement retreats. But it was there that life handed me my most intense initiation. When the war began, I was thrust into a "bunker experience" that fractured my reality. With only 60 seconds to reach safety, I faced the unimaginable: the choice to bring myself and my daughter to refuge or to keep searching for my son, knowing we might all be too late. I escaped with my three children, traveling like gypsies from one temporary refuge to the next. I thought I was escaping the war, but the deeper lesson was waiting for me: you cannot escape what is. No matter where we run, life meets us there. The task is not to flee, but to be present, whole, and non-resistant to the moment as it unfolds. This journey of "ripening" led me to the North of the Netherlands. At a local language school, our children became friends, leading me to meet my soul sister, Emmeline. In her reflection, I saw a parallel journey—someone who had also traveled the world, lost herself in deep suffering, and awakened through plant medicine and a fierce dedication to healing. During Rooting & Rising, we hold the space at Motherland together. Today, I no longer serve to fill a void. I serve from a place of groundedness, sharing the wisdom of the "NOW" that I’ve gathered in my soul searching journey and from the teachings of Osho, Tolle, and others and the clarity of plant medicine. What I bring to our playground: Acro Yoga (9 years practice, 7 years teaching): Using flight and laughter to return to our natural state of bliss. Deep Body Healing: As a massage therapist, I offer deep tissue, relaxation, and 4-hand energetic work. (Personal sessions are available as extra bookings during the retreat). The Breath: My current passion and a direct portal to the non-resistant self. I don’t just want to teach you; I want to play with you in this great paradox of existence. Let’s find the truth together: that we are not separate from life—we are life.

THE Maestro is a ceremonial from Peru sharing traditional Andean practices focused on personal growth, connection, mindfulness and healing. His work combines ceremony, music, nature and guided self-reflection to support participants in meaningful transformational experiences. He joins Motherland in Drenthe for this intimate retreat experience rooted in community, presence and connection with nature

Emmeline is the founder of Motherland in Drenthe, a sanctuary dedicated to healing, connection, nature and sacred ceremony. Through retreats, plant medicine work, music, ritual and community, she creates spaces for deep transformation and reconnection with the self.