RegainingBalance Retreats
our mission
Our mission is to help women veterans diagnosed with PTSD learn and practice skills that they can use to help themselves to reduce post-traumatic stress. These skills include:
Meditation
Learning basic meditation skills which can be applied in both silence and motion
Being with others
Being with others who understand their experiences
the Natural World
Learning to use the natural world, art, and physical exercise as mediators of emotional challenges
Journaling
Journaling through writing and art
My name is Kristine Herrera. I am a retired army veteran who served 24 years with multiple deployments. I have struggled with finding peace since leaving the military and finding support to heal from the residue of trauma related to the military. I first discovered the RegainingBalance retreat in Northern New Mexico in 2016 and have since had the opportunity to participate in 4 retreats as well as sharing yoga and breathing techniques that have helped in my own healing. Every retreat is unique for each participant and is a chance to share with other women veterans the suffering within in a safe space. The commonality we share from serving in the military is unique and can provide a sacred place for other women veterans to unfold deep wounds that are carried in our cells and tissues. In working towards healing ourselves we can help other women veterans who have served and suffer to create a collective group consciousness that dissolves our sorrow and guides us towards inner peace. As women veterans we need each other to heal our trauma which can help every person connected to each veteran, healing humanity one woman veteran at a time.
In my experience after attending multiple retreats I have found that more healing takes place in the body. I feel like a new person after every retreat. It is an opportunity to just let go and surrender in a safe space surrounded by nature and held with love and support.
RegainingBalance is a non-sectarian outreach program of Mountain Gate-Sanmonji, a Zen Buddhist community in northern New Mexico. The program is free to both women veterans diagnosed with PTSD and women partnered with veterans with PTSD.
Retreats are small, and staffed by women volunteers whose training and professions make them especially qualified to be of service in these healing retreats.
During each retreat, participants learn meditation practices specifically shown to help calm the nervous system, take part in quiet, grounding day hikes in the nearby wilderness, have a chance to practice art as healing therapy, and have the opportunity to be with other women vets and women partnered with vets diagnosed with PTSD.