Untangling® Retreats
with Ann Weiser Cornell & Barbara McGavinDo you long for life to change but keep getting tangled up when you try?
Does what you want for your life seem impossible?
It sounds like you might have a Tangle…
We Know,
We’ve Been There
It all started in 1994…
…when we happened to be confronted with our own most challenging life issues (addiction to alcohol and suicidal depression) just as we were about to teach three workshops together. We were both professional Focusing teachers… but years of Focusing (as we knew it then) had not helped us with our toughest issues – which seemed impossible to shift.
Somehow the urgency of it and the combination of our unique strengths resulted in our developing a new form of Focusing that did work to bring change in those most challenging, tangled life issues.
We thought our new discoveries could be kept to ourselves until we got a lot more sure about them. But the questions that people asked us about their own problems and issues kept calling for answers out of our newest learnings. We found we had to share what we were discovering, raw as it was. People loved it, and wanted more.
Yes, our own life issues shifted. But we found there is so much more to life than just not being addicted or not being depressed! That’s why we began to talk about finding a treasure map — because we found that the very places where life feels most painful and hard are the maps to more ease, flow, and connection… to fresh new possibilities that just weren’t there before.
What We’ve Discovered is…
Inside a Tangle, no road leads to freedom.
There are dead ends everywhere. Resolution is literally impossible at that level. Everything you try just keeps you even more stuck. But there is a way to shift outside of the Tangle so that new possibilities open up.
There is some kind of trauma underneath.
Underlying any Tangle is a “stoppage” of life forward energy – in other words, a trauma. Transformation and resolution come when you can be present to the stopped energy (and the pain of it) without falling in. When you can do this, you begin to get back your own life direction and your own resources.
Exiled parts play key roles.
The key player in the Tangle may be an exiled part of you that you can’t feel or hear. All the Focusing in the world doesn’t help until you invite the missing player. Having a “map” lets you know what missing part to invite… so your inner work is effective and brings real change.
You are not your Tangle
Inside a Tangle, it’s hard to access your full, aware, freely acting Self. But you are not your Tangle. You are a resourceful, resilient, flexible Self who can be in Presence with every aspect and part. Wouldn’t it be great to really experience that? You can!
What We Want for You
What You Can Expect From This Program
Join us to Untangle your Tangles.
The Program
The retreats are advanced in-person programs led by Ann Weiser Cornell and Barbara McGavin.
Our Fundamentals retreat is suitable for Focusers who have completed our Inner Relationship Focusing Training Program (Path to Lasting Change) or all four Levels. Our Advanced Retreat requires previous attendance at an Untangling Fundamentals (previously called Treasure Maps) retreat. We offer our retreats a few times a year in beautiful places in the world. Our schedule includes times to rest, relax, regenerate, and play… and go deep.
The group gathers on the first night to connect with each other and share our hopes and intentions. Over the next five days, we go on a journey of inner exploration that begins with Getting to Know Your Tangle… and then one by one we show you the Five Powers and how to apply each one to your own Tangle. On the last morning, we have three more hours together before journeying home.
There will be breaks, movement, and Focusing partnerships within each of those three-hour sessions. We want to offer you an intensive, immersive experience that supports you in going deep into the process.
We teach through stories from our own lives and demonstrations of each of the Powers. There are specially designed paired exercises to do with each other. After your practice partnership time, you’ll come back to the group to share your experiences and receive support.
The spirit of the retreat is respect and safety for every part of yourself. Expect to feel deeply understood and accepted… even for those parts of yourself that you don’t accept (yet).
What Happens at the Advanced Retreat?
We start with a quick review of the Treasure Maps method – the five Powers, and the three Parts. If you’ve been away for a while, you’ll get up to speed and be ready to go deep.
You’ll encounter your Tangle in a new way, from the perspective of what is impossible… to do, to say, to think, to believe.
In the Advanced retreat, we teach you our method for working with a tough Tangle over time, by writing after every session and then reading those notes before the next one. (We’ll give you a Workbook formatted for just this kind of support.)
Get a free taste with a mini-course
Barbara and Ann would love to tell you more about Untangling and about our upcoming retreats
They also talk about what’s special about learning Untangling in a retreat setting.
Upcoming Retreats
Please note: the prerequisite for our Untangling retreats requires completion of
Your Path to Lasting Change Parts One and Two or the equivalent. Click here to get started today!
$1,400–$2,750
Last Day to Register: April 19, 2025
Plus Room + Board.
Room + Board will be paid directly to the venue during the retreat.