Four Rivers Healing Retreat - Costa Rica

The Four Rivers Healing Retreat is a six-day healing retreat in San Jose, Costa Rica, built around Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work, shamanic soul retrieval and embodied practice. It is for people already on a healing path who want to loosen the protective layers they have built over a lifetime and reconnect with their Authentic Self. It is led by Everett Considine, Sam Garcia Jr. and Heather Cole Gatto at the AmaTierra Retreat & Wellness Center.

The group is deliberately small: 14 spots and three facilitators. That ratio is what makes private one-on-one IFS sessions and personal soul retrieval work possible, rather than a large room with one teacher on a stage.

What to Expect

The retreat starts from a simple idea: everyone has been wounded, and most of us have developed a sophisticated system of masks and shields in response. That system can cut us off from joy, intimacy and connection. Over the six days, the facilitators use ritual, IFS, body movement and embodied healing techniques so this protective system can relax.

The program includes:

- Internal Family Systems work
- Exploration of the seven core emotions
- Soul retrieval work
- Guided healing rituals
- Transformation movement processes
- Group processes and one-on-one work with the facilitators
- Time and space for art and journaling
- Group excursions

There is room to connect with the others in the community, and the pace allows for both group work and private attention.

About Everett Considine

Everett Considine is a meditation teacher and Level 3 certified IFS practitioner. He has practiced and taught meditation and mindfulness for over 30 years, and his background spans technology, business, spirituality and psychology. He came to IFS as the piece that reaches the emotional patterns other forms of personal growth can bypass, and he now teaches IFS classes and offers one-on-one sessions. He is also a certified Cross-Cultural Shamanic Practitioner.

About Sam Garcia Jr.

Sam Garcia Jr. has spent nearly two decades as a shamanic practitioner and ceremonialist. His work includes Sacred Heart Readings, soul retrievals, spiritual mentorship, land and home blessings, and rites of passage for the transitions from adolescence to adulthood to elderhood. He is rooted in a daily practice of prayer and meditation, and he brings warmth and humor to the group while holding space for ceremony and private sessions.

About Heather Cole Gatto

Heather Cole Gatto, also known as Sukrutha, has taught classes, workshops and retreats integrating shamanism, yoga and art since 2002, and she keeps a private practice as a healer and mentor. She is trained in IFS and brings it into her client work. She is a professional artist, a yoga instructor and a certified cross-cultural shamanic practitioner, and she has meditated daily for 23 years. She describes her calling as serving with love.

The Setting

The retreat is held at AmaTierra Retreat & Wellness Center, a boutique wellness sanctuary in Costa Rica that offers yoga, meditation, herbal medicine, bodywork and fresh spring water. Meals are made from fresh, organic ingredients sourced locally, and every meal is Bright Line Eating compatible. AmaTierra follows food allergy guidelines, and participants fill out a food form before arrival so individual needs can be honored. Meals are shared together as part of the retreat.

Before You Go

Lodging for six nights, all sessions and ceremonies, every meal, one-on-one work with the facilitators, the included excursion and airport transportation are covered in one price. Participants arrange only their own flights. The center has many stairs between the casitas and the lodge, though physical restrictions can be accommodated. Because the deposit is non-refundable and payments are final, travel insurance is strongly recommended.