Healing Trauma in Connection with Frank Anderson, MD

Wisdom & Wellbeing Week 9: Healing Trauma in Connection is a six-day healing retreat led by Frank Anderson, MD, at Blue Spirit Costa Rica in Nosara, Guanacaste. It is open to mental health professionals and to anyone who wants to work with their own healing. The week is experiential, built around guided practices, embodiment, reflection, movement, time in nature and relational experiences, and it asks how healing unfolds through deeper connection with ourselves, our bodies and one another.

What to Expect

The retreat moves gradually. It begins with slowing down and creating safety, then turns toward understanding the patterns you carry, experiencing compassion and connection, and exploring what may be ready for healing. It closes with integration into the life you return to.

- Day 1, Beginning the Journey: arriving, slowing down and creating safety, so that everyone is present, grounded and connected to themselves and the group.
- Day 2, Coming Home to Yourself: listening to the body, emotions and inner experience, and noticing what protective patterns may be communicating.
- Day 3, A Kinder Way of Being With Yourself: compassion, choice and inner connection, with a different way of relating to difficult emotions, inner conflict and the ways you have learned to protect yourself.
- Day 4, Healing Happens in Connection: trust, belonging, boundaries and authentic relationship, and the experience of being seen, heard and supported.
- Day 5, Meeting What Needs Healing: gentle, compassionate exploration of what may be asking for attention, and what you may be ready to understand, experience or carry differently.
- Day 6, Carrying the Healing Home: reflecting on what has shifted and naming the relationships, practices and intentions you want to bring into everyday life.

The work is grounded in the Internal Family Systems model and in relational approaches to healing.

About Frank Anderson, MD

Frank Anderson is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and a leading global expert in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation. His work bridges neuroscience with the Internal Family Systems model of therapy. He is a lead trainer at the IFS Institute and a longtime collaborator of Bessel van der Kolk. He is the author of Transcending Trauma and the memoir To Be Loved.

The Setting

Blue Spirit sits on the Nicoya Peninsula, one of the world's recognized longevity Blue Zones, with private access to Playa Guiones. This three-mile sandy beach is protected as a turtle nesting refuge. The property has an infinity pool, meditation spaces, yoga halls, walking trails and Wi-Fi in most areas.

Accommodation ranges from open-to-the-jungle options without air conditioning to rooms with air conditioning:

- Eco Cottages, a short hike up a stone stairway from the main building, with two twin beds and an en-suite bathroom.
- Platform Tents, with a queen bed and a shared bathhouse nearby.
- Ocean View and Superior Ocean rooms, Mountain View rooms, Pacifico Cottages, Nature Suites and Garden Suites, with air conditioning and en-suite bathrooms. Several have balconies or outdoor showers.

Meals are served buffet-style three times a day. The cuisine is mostly plant-based and ovo-lacto vegetarian, with vegan and gluten-free options always available, eggs at breakfast and local fish on three evenings of the week.

Before You Go

The stay runs seven nights, from Saturday arrival through Saturday departure. The rate covers your room, the full program of teachings and workshops with faculty, all meals, the pool, meditation spaces, yoga halls, trails and beach access. No prior experience with Internal Family Systems is required.

Not included are massage and bodywork, which are booked on arrival, and treatments at the Nosara Longevity Center, such as epigenetic testing, ozone therapy and IV vitamin drips. Blue Spirit's optional 7-day detox cleanse, airport shuttle service from Liberia International Airport (reserved in advance), purchases at the café and gift shop, and travel insurance are also extra, and the retreat strongly recommends insurance. Rooms provide towels and toiletries, but beach towels are not supplied and can be bought in the gift shop.