A magical healing place

I had to make a radical change.

Therapy and treatments hadn’t eliminated the mental and physical pain that lingered due to some traumatic events I had experienced. So my therapist and I developed a multi-pronged plan of attack. It involved a women’s empowerment group through the organization Safe Horizon, psychiatric help, and another therapist with whom I would do experimental treatments.

Things seemed hopeful, but I felt I needed to do more.

Then I remembered the retreat on Lake George: Wiawaka Center for Women. I signed up for two workshops with Bonnie Olsen, who trained with Oprah Winfrey’s life coach, Martha Beck. After hearing about Wiawaka for years, I was finally going to answer its siren call.

Riding the bus from my New York City home to the Adirondacks, one Friday in late August, it was almost unbearable—not pain, but the anticipation. I couldn’t wait for an