Guest Bio
Chelsea Ross is the founder of Goddess Retreats, a transformative women’s wellness and adventure travel company that has been empowering women since 2003. With over 23 years of experience leading retreats around the world, Chelsea creates spaces where women can reconnect with themselves through nature, culture, and meaningful exploration. Her work blends a deep commitment to holistic well-being with a passion for adventure, inspiring thousands of women to embrace the unknown, travel with purpose, and step into their power. Through her retreats, Chelsea has provided women with the opportunity to focus on self-care, personal development, and empowerment in a supportive environment.
Show Summary
In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, host Jason Elkins speaks with Chelsea Ross, the founder of Goddess Retreats, about her journey creating women’s wellness retreats focused on surfing, personal development, and empowerment. Chelsea discusses the evolution of surfing and how it has become more accessible to women, the importance of fostering a supportive environment for women to reconnect with themselves, and the life-changing impact these retreats can have. She emphasizes the value of connection, vulnerability, and authenticity, and how these elements contribute to personal growth. The conversation also touches on plans for future retreats, including a new focus on men’s retreats, and the courage and discipline needed to pursue one’s passions.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Goddess Retreats empowers women through surfing and wellness, creating transformative experiences.
- ✓ The evolution of surfing has made it increasingly accessible to women.
- ✓ Creating a supportive environment is essential for women to focus on themselves and their personal growth.
- ✓ Connection and vulnerability are key components of the retreat experience, fostering authentic development.
- ✓ Breaking stereotypes is a crucial aspect of empowering women in sports and beyond.
- ✓ Personal development is intertwined with the overall retreat experience, helping women grow on multiple levels.
- ✓ Self-care and balance are vital for women today, and retreats provide a space for these priorities.
- ✓ Retreat challenges often lead to personal growth and lasting change.
- ✓ Many women return to the retreats with family or friends, continuing their journey of empowerment.
- ✓ Courage and discipline are vital for pursuing passions and making lasting changes.
What You’ll Find at Goddess Retreats
- ✓ Women’s-only wellness retreats focused on surfing and personal development
- ✓ A nurturing, supportive environment where women can connect with themselves and others
- ✓ Opportunities for authentic personal growth through challenges and vulnerability
- ✓ Expert-led surfing and wellness programs that promote self-care and balance
- ✓ A space that encourages breaking stereotypes and empowering women in sports and life
👉 Visit Goddess Retreats Official Website to learn more about their empowering retreats and how Chelsea Ross is creating a space for women to reconnect and grow.
Learn more about Goddess Retreats and connect with Chelsea at:
https://www.goddessretreats.com/
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Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (00:01)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. Excited to have each and every one of you back, but also super excited to have my guest today. She’s actually calling in and she’s in Bali and I’m in Quito we’re clear around the world. I think it’s super early there. So Chelsea, I really appreciate you getting up early. We’ve got a Chelsea Ross. She is the founder and creative director at Goddess Retreats. Chelsea, thank you for joining us.
Chelsea Ross (00:27)
Hi Jason, thanks for having me on your podcast and we’re excited to be having a chat with
Jason Elkins (00:32)
Yeah, it’s super exciting for me. We just we had a conversation. I don’t know. was a month or so ago and just really enjoyed that. So I’m happy that you were able to come back and especially to deal with the time zone difference and be up so early. That’s it’s pretty impressive. So thank you so much. Must have something to share with us. So I look forward to getting into that. ⁓
Chelsea Ross (00:49)
But that’s okay. I’m a surfer. I’m usually getting up about this time,
not usually being interviewed, but.
Jason Elkins (00:56)
Well, I’ll do my best to make it just as exciting and just as much fun as surfing, but no promises. So let’s jump in. I really want to hear your story, kind of figure out how you got from, you know, kind of where you were to where you are now. But I also want to give our listeners a chance to just kind of get their head around, if we can do it in 30 to 60 seconds, but help them get their head around what is Goddess Retreats.
Chelsea Ross (01:18)
Goddess Retreats is a women’s only wellness retreat. And so we cater, obviously, exclusively to women. And the idea is to create a week where women can come and really get in touch with their…
Jason Elkins (01:30)
really get in touch
with their inner goddess, which is our kind of highest self, really connect with our authentic, true inner self, and come away with some being rested, inspired, and sort of ready to go out into the world and just ease themselves even more. And that’s where we feel like, I feel like…
Chelsea Ross (01:32)
we call inner goddess, which is our kind of highest self. Really connect with our authentic, true inner self and come away with some being rested, inspired and sort of ready to go out into the world and just be themselves even more. Like, and that’s where we feel like, I feel like women
express their highest self.
Jason Elkins (01:55)
very very cool should we touch on the surfing part of this right off the bat or should we get into that later because I it’s an interesting part and I’m excited to get there
Chelsea Ross (02:02)
It might make sense, yeah, because
Goddess Retreats originally started off as surf Goddess Retreats. So I was the first women’s only surf yoga spa retreat in the world. Before then, actually, it was just surf camp. I wanted to create a space where women could learn to surf because it was very inaccessible at the time. This is 20, 23, 24 years ago.
Jason Elkins (02:15)
Well then actually it was a surf camp. I wanted to create a space where women could learn to surf because it was very inaccessible at the time. This was 23, 24 years
ago. And God’s Retreats evolved out of that. So out of surf.
Chelsea Ross (02:29)
God is retreats evolved out of that. out of surf,
because there also wasn’t a lot for women in general, to be honest. And so.
I was doing the surf retreats for quite a while. And then women go like, I really want to go on this women’s retreat, but I just don’t want to learn to surf. And I was like, oh, OK, well, come along. And we created Bali Goddess, where women could choose all different activities around Bali. It’s such a wonderful cultural place. And it’s also creative. There’s lots of many things to do. All also tied into personal development, because I was a life coach way back in 1999. I became a life coach. So it’s always had those two elements.
Jason Elkins (03:03)
1999 became the life coach. So it’s always had those two
elements and then it’s continued to grow on and on as the years have gone on. So we offer a lot of different programs now to sort of cater for all different women. There’s a lot to discuss around that. And the first question that comes to my mind, you mentioned that surfing was inaccessible and I think you were meaning for women.
Chelsea Ross (03:08)
it’s continued to grow on and on as the years have gone on. So we offer a lot of different programs now to sort of cater for all different women.
Jason Elkins (03:28)
So tell us more about that. Cause honestly, I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t grow up around surfing and I have no idea what it was like 20 or 30 years ago for a woman that said, you know what, I want to go surfing. So let’s dig into that a little. Yeah. I mean, we can even kind of go back about 40 years. when I, I’m half Australian, half Canadian and that’s why I have Australian. And growing up in Australia, surfing was always more of a men’s sport.
Chelsea Ross (03:28)
Yes, yes.
Yeah, I mean, we can even kind of go back about 40 years. when I, I’m half Australian, half Canadian, and that’s why I have the strange accent. And growing up in Australia, surfing was always more of a man’s sport.
Chelsea Ross (03:55)
there was no surf schools and surfing was really just an oral tradition that was passed from one person to another. And primarily, unless you came from a surfing family where, you know, everybody learned to surf, usually it sort of passed from, you know, male to male.
So I’m half Australian, half Canadian, and I didn’t grow up in a surfing family. And it was really, so it was something that you sort of had to find somebody to teach you. And also notoriously sort of, guess, in Australia, like it was definitely a male sport and it was definitely not encouraged. It even sort of captured in a movie back in the day called Puberty Blues, which was all about this woman who bucks the system and you know.
goes and learns to surf in the horror of her friends. And that always stuck with me. And that was, think, the 80s. so I never learned to surf. I body surfed. you know, boogie boarded everything, but I just didn’t have the opportunity. And it wasn’t until I moved to Bali in 1997 that I came and there was these little umbrellas on the beach and they were rent boards. So I could have my access to a board too, because surfboards are expensive as well, especially. And again,
no schools, no place to rent them. So I was like, fantastic, I can learn to surf. And I went out and I tried and the guys there gave me a couple of lessons. I just felt really fortunate in that, at that time, friends of mine said, oh, there’s this woman who used to be a professional surfer back in the 80s and she’s coming into Bali and you
she’s available to teach lessons if you like. I’m like, oh yeah, I do. So I was extremely lucky that I actually had a female teach me. And of course she came from a surfing family, you know, that’s, and as I started to do it, I I loved it. And then my other friends, my girlfriends were like, oh, we want to try this too. So, you know, there’d be a little posse of us out there. And I always remember like one of the first times there’s about seven of us.
And this guy, a surfer, just looked across at us and the surfer was like, what’s going on here? Because you just did not see groups of women surf. Very rarely there might be just one. And I think that was because of accessibility, access to boards, access to being taught. And I mean, now you can see, you know, so when I, so I learned to surf and then it wasn’t even, it was about five or six years later when I started Surf Goddess.
that the first surf schools had just opened. And we’re still working with the original surf school that there was. So at that time, it was becoming more accessible, but it was more about bringing it into the minds of what was available for women to experience. And also at that same time too, solo, there was a lot of things that were kind of in their kind of infancy, like solo travel and that. So.
Definitely it’s been about, I feel about accessibility and creating these opportunities. That’s sort of been fundamentally at the heart of Goddess Retreats and originally Surf Goddess.
Jason Elkins (06:57)
You know what’s coming up for me as I listen to you explain this and you talk about kind of the oral tradition, you know, kind of maybe father to son or uncle to whatever and all this stuff. And I don’t know, I’m curious what your thoughts are as a guy from my perspective. You know, I’ve been married, I’ve been married twice. So I know a little bit about.
Chelsea Ross (07:10)
Mm.
Hmm.
Jason Elkins (07:20)
challenges between men and women. And I remember one of the things I worked in the fishing, the fly fishing business, and I was a fly fishing guide and I could take out pretty much anybody and have fun and teach them how to fish. And it was great. But boy, the minute I tried to take my ex wife with me to go fishing, it was a train wreck and, she didn’t enjoy it. And we would get in fights and I, know, would she go fish by herself? She was fine. But it was just, there was something about
Chelsea Ross (07:22)
Yeah.
Yeah.
yeah.
Jason Elkins (07:48)
having that dynamic between a man and a woman that know each other, or maybe it’s not just man and women, because I’ve had the same issues with my dad, I’m sure. But anyway, I suspect you have a lot of experience with this, having a bunch of women coming over the years and learning to surf with women. Does that resonate? Is that kind of the same thing in surfing, I think?
Chelsea Ross (08:05)
Yeah, yeah, that was the other thing. There’s so many boxes that it ticks. This is a funny one, because yes, yes. So men and women approach activities differently, you know? And so with surfing too. Obviously, this is very stereotypical, but men are very goal driven and probably a little bit more competitive.
Jason Elkins (08:27)
So, yeah.
Chelsea Ross (08:27)
Actually women can be competitive
with themselves. anyway, so this was a scenario that I used to get to. I I get a lot of guests, but one of the main ones I’d be like, if I had asked a guest like, have you learned to before? they’re like, yeah, I tried it with my boyfriend, my father, my brother, whatever. And I’d be like, let me guess the scenario. They handed you a very short board. They pointed at some very large surf and like, yeah, come on, let’s paddle out. You paddled out and they’re like, just go. And you’re like.
Jason Elkins (08:41)
Thank
You
Chelsea Ross (08:55)
just about to drown and you are like slightly traumatized and you want to try this again but not with them. They’re like, nailed it.
Jason Elkins (09:00)
Mm-hmm.
I get it so much. And it reminds me when I was, you know, doing the fishing guiding thing, we would, I would get couples quite often that would show up and maybe it was her first time or whatever. He’d draw, I don’t know if she wanted to go or not. Sometimes she did, but, and I’d get them in this little boat and I would be rowing the boat. So I’m in the middle of the boat, usually put her up front. And at the very beginning of the day, I would look at her, at her boyfriend, husband, whatever, say,
Chelsea Ross (09:06)
You
Jason Elkins (09:31)
your job today is just keep your mouth shut. Don’t say anything, unless it’s to point out an eagle or to say great job, sweetheart. Those are like the only two things you can say. You can’t say anything else. And inevitably, 10 minutes down, you know, we get in the water 10 minutes later, he’s like, you know, I’m giving her some coaching and he’s like trying to reinforce what I’m saying. And I just, I would turn around and look at him. I was like, shh, shh, shh. What do you?
Chelsea Ross (09:34)
Mmm.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (09:56)
What are you doing? What did I tell you? Keep your mouth shut. And if they didn’t listen to me, probably within an hour and a half of an eight hour day, you know, she’s reeling up the line and sitting back in the seat and saying, I just want to relax and look at the scenery. and he’s, he has, he’s clueless. He doesn’t know what’s going on. I know exactly what’s going on. I’m like, see? So yeah, I can, I can relate to that. Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (10:18)
Yeah!
So that’s one of
the things. you know, there’s a lot of great reasons why it is for women only. And that’s one of them, first of all, in when doing any activity, particularly surfing, I can talk about is that we really encourage the women to obviously, of course there’s the goal of standing up and riding the waves, but we do it in a really supportive way. And we really encourage to enjoy the whole experience. And obviously not get too focused on that goal because also too, it’s a bit like, probably like anything when you get too kind
of
focused in and that it tends to create a lot of tension. obviously we can, you know, being a woman and knowing what it’s like to serve, we really focus on the camaraderie. We progress people, I mean they start standing up in the first hour, but it’s just done in a way that is the way that women like to learn, I would say. And it’s quite different, you know, and I’ve
surf with lot of women and men. Men just tend to be very, very, they love a goal. I always think of like that arrow, they love that. And women, it’s more about like, cheering each other on? When we fall off, it’s like, it’s all right, let’s do it, let’s just enjoy the whole process. It’s just a slightly different process, that’s all.
Jason Elkins (11:30)
So the question I have Chelsea on that you mentioned women and men kind of do things a different way. And, and some of the women show up and you’re you mentioned, of course we’re going to, you know, try and get them to the point that can stand up and do this. But I suspect, I suspect you have a pretty good number of women that come that maybe never get off their knees. I don’t know. I know nothing about surfing. So I don’t know if that’s a
Chelsea Ross (11:55)
most of the guests actually do stand up within the first hour. It’s very, very rare. Maybe like one in a hundred doesn’t, you know, make it up past their knees. And that’s usually because they have more mobility issues on land or really, really, really self doubt. It’s the one of the strangest things I could, this one woman could do a stanga, yoga, whatever, but she just had a mental, like couldn’t seem to see herself up on a board. But one of the main things, so this is, this is also what’s different with
the instruction that I talking about earlier, is that we’re very technically focused and also really provide the right support. So rather than going in on a short board, which is how sort of people used to do it before, because they go in on really big boards, it’s a really stable base. We do it at a sandy bottom, a very suitable spot. So you need the right equipment, you need the right location, the right conditions, and you need the right instruction. Because also to a of other instruction,
you know, is that it’s more like just paddle, paddle, jump up. And there’s actually a lot more involved. It’s a bit more like golf. Your eyes have to be in the right place. Your hands have to be in the right place. Timing. It’s actually a really technical sport. So I would say in particular, that’s been one of the things that we offer that’s very specific. There’s different types of, and now the surf industry and surf tourism is huge. And I feel like it’s separated in, well,
There’s different types. I call it like vibe surfing and there’s a lot of vibe surfing where you go to beautiful spots and it’s a bit of that like paddle and jump up and you’re just really there to catch the vibe. We, I would say our program in particular is about technical surfing and of course it’s a great vibe. You’re at a beach, you’re in Bali in warm water. It’s beautiful. But my goal has always been about creating surfers that will go on for the rest of their life if they want to surf and know like.
how to do it and do it quickly. So yeah, no, they’re usually up within the first lesson. and you know, the other thing, sorry to interrupt, but the other thing I’d say too, that’s really great about Women Only and why I did it Women Only is that, you know, it’s lovely to do things with everybody, but when we put women in a Women Only spot, they naturally are able to really…
Jason Elkins (13:57)
No, no, no. Yeah, go ahead.
Chelsea Ross (14:15)
That’s the word, like kind of like.
Focus on themselves. You know, I hate to say it, but no distraction sometimes, in a good way or a bad way, you know? But they are either way.
Jason Elkins (14:24)
Well, sometimes,
hold on now, sometimes women are distraction as well. I’ve been here for 50 years and most of my distractions have been involving women.
Chelsea Ross (14:30)
Exactly, exactly. Exactly. And it works the same for women. So it’s lovely. You take away the distraction for the most part. I
mean, they’re at a beach, but it’s like they really, you know, and especially like we’re talking about that couple dynamic, you know, whether you and I really love that women travel solo too. That’s my favorite. mean, we have a lot of friends coming. We have a lot of family coming that that’s that’s definitely grown over the years. But originally, I would say
still about 80 % of our travels are solo. And I just love that for women and people because it really allows you to focus on yourself. You’re not wondering what the person you came with is doing, how they’re doing, how they’re managing their emotions or frustrations. You just get to just work on yourself. And that’s part of the retreat. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (15:18)
Yeah, let me
ask you this, because you definitely, you’ve got this figured out and I’m curious, did you have to learn some of this the hard way? Did you ever try and do mixed groups or did it start out at all like that? Or did you just kind of intuitively know that I’m not, I don’t need to learn that lesson the hard way. I think we’re just gonna go with what you.
Chelsea Ross (15:38)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. mean, I have my background. Originally, you know, I originally started. I’ve always been interested in psychology. I originally started off studying to become a psychologist and diverted into marketing. And then like saying, I did become a life coach. So I spent a lot of time thinking about, you know, how people work, how we process things, personal development, what space, doing a lot of retreats myself.
Jason Elkins (15:59)
Mm-hmm.
Chelsea Ross (16:06)
But actually there wasn’t too many women-only ones. But anyway, I’ve thought a lot about this and learning as a woman. So I’ve basically taken all my understanding of dynamics and gone like, let’s just create the perfect scenario that we can for women. And that’s fundamentally what I try to do throughout the whole and continues on through our other programs is to find these optimal.
Because what I actually did was too, is I took a lot of my life coaching workshops and fundamentally, even though I wanted to teach women to serve, the whole week was really at the time. So I’d never ever contemplated men, but I did contemplate before starting it. It’s like, do I want to do a life coaching retreat or the surf, know, surfing retreat? And I thought, no, you know, spending, especially back in that time, spending a week.
Jason Elkins (16:51)
you
Chelsea Ross (16:59)
know, navel gazing and doing deep workshops and all that. was like, that’s, that’s a lot. I want to have more like levity. And I felt like from my, from my experience of learning to surf, really, really empowered me. So not only is it quite, you know, it’s very physically challenging, but it’s mentally challenging. You know, as I said, you have to keep this kind of flow state to get in flow with the ocean. There’s so many wonderful actual real.
kind of almost, you know, spiritual lessons that surfing can teach you. oh yeah.
Jason Elkins (17:29)
would, I would think so because I mean,
you’re getting away from your normal stuff, whatever you were carrying with you when you came, you know, you check that in the bungalow and you go out on the water and you’re doing something that doesn’t feel maybe like going to a therapist, but maybe has a lot of the same benefits and it’s a lot more fun. And I’m curious about
Chelsea Ross (17:37)
Yeah.
It sure does.
Jason Elkins (17:54)
And I know maybe, or maybe this is an easy question for you to answer, but the typical woman who comes to the retreats, what kind of stuff are they bringing with them? Are you comfortable discussing that in general terms? then what’s it like after they’ve been with you for, I don’t know, three, four, five days a week or something like that? What do you see happening?
Chelsea Ross (18:15)
Yeah, we get all sorts of women. Like I say, about 80 % would be solo travelers. I’ve found over the years, and I’ll just talk about sort of the core. I mean, we just get all types of women. All of them obviously are interested in personal development and continually growing. I mean, that’s a beautiful aspect of the community that we’ve attracted.
And so they’re always interested in exploring and changing and growing and seeing where they can grow. So I think that’s fundamentally at the core of everybody because you just wouldn’t pick our type of retreat as a holiday if you weren’t interested in that. ⁓
Jason Elkins (18:54)
Are there any
stereotypes? I’m curious if there’s any stereotypes that you’d like to kind of address directly because I have stereotypes. I think a lot of people think, okay, a woman traveling by herself to Bali for a retreat, you know, and I’m not going to share what is rolling around in my head, but I know that’s why I’m asking this question because I’ve been to Bali.
Chelsea Ross (19:01)
We definitely.
It’s not going to be what you think it is. No.
Jason Elkins (19:19)
as a single divorced guy so maybe my stereotypes revolve around that. I don’t know. But you tell me.
Chelsea Ross (19:24)
Yeah,
there’s a lot of different aspects to Bali. The women we get are usually women who are A type women, who are professionals, who are very driven, who have a very short time to have a holiday. And because they’re very A and very, you know, A type, they want to have a really amazing week in one week and tickle the boxes and have
self-improvement, be healthy, do all the things and do all the things. So that’s the kind of women we get. We get lot of like lawyers, doctors, managers, nurses, teachers, just, you know, and I think that that, and again, this is just the core. We also get a lot of now moms and everything. we get a lot of, so the main thing again, no matter what their profession, no matter what their age or whatever, it’s usually women who are in a.
period of their life when they’re in transition. Again, this is a really appealing place to come when you’re transitioning into different things. It allows you a really good break from what was previous. It also allows a really great time for reflection, usually. And that’s why our line is awake and inspire and celebrate the goddess in you. And the inspire part is that it’s a beautiful place to kind of reimagine life, reassess life.
So things like changing careers, exiting maybe from uni to into a career, exiting relationships. Now it’s like we’re getting women who coming into retirement, empty nesting. Like they’re usually going through some milestone birthdays. It’s usually great. And that’s what retreats always kind of really were for. And that’s why I…
called the surf goddess retreats, not surf camp, because there was a lot of, well, there’s mainly men’s surf camps out there. And that’s what’s different between a surf camp and a surf retreat is that the idea of a retreat originally was that you would go on like a meditation retreat, a yoga retreat, and it would be a place where you would retreat from the world and have this introspective time to get in touch with your inner self.
and understand yourself and more about your life, the world, everything. That’s the original traditional retreat, you know? And we do bring that into our experience. And I think the word retreat is, you know, like a lot of things, it’s become very watered down and used everywhere these days. But that is what a retreat originally was.
Jason Elkins (21:54)
Right. know,
just, said something as you were describing, which you’re right, by the way, that didn’t really align with my stereotypes. and what you were describing and I don’t like stereotypes, but I’m honest with enough with myself to, I’m honest enough with myself to admit that I have them. they’re there, but, but you know, you said something interesting. You said a type.
Chelsea Ross (22:08)
That’s fine. Stereotypes.
They’re all there for a reason. They didn’t come out of a vacuum.
Jason Elkins (22:21)
personalities, women that, you know, C suites, executives, lawyers, doctors. And I, I’m just guessing, I’m not a woman, but I’m guessing there might be someone listening to this. That’s like, holy crap. That does not sound like fun going to hang out with a bunch of those types of women. Cause maybe they’re a little bit less, you know, maybe they’re more, not more anything, but it’s just, I’m going to just, I’m going to put out what I’m, what I’m thinking, right?
Chelsea Ross (22:45)
You
go for it.
Jason Elkins (22:46)
is
okay, let’s say I work in a corporate environment and all of my bosses and the CEO of the company are all these A type personalities that honestly, I probably want to get away from when I go on vacation. So I hear you saying, there’s a bunch of these people that remind me of maybe the people I’m trying to get away with. But I suspect that in this all women environment, something really unique happens that you don’t see in the corporate world with these
Chelsea Ross (22:56)
Mmm.
Jason Elkins (23:14)
these same women that are expressing themselves in one way in the corporate world, maybe show up and express themselves different. So what do you want to say to that woman who’s like, I don’t want to hang around a bunch of A-type personality women.
Chelsea Ross (23:25)
are they not all eight type first of all? ⁓
Jason Elkins (23:27)
And I know they’re not, and I’m not trying
to, you know, I’m not trying to create a controversy here. I’m just curious. I’m just like, you know, um, and of course guys have their own ideas about a type of, you know, sometimes, sometimes. Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (23:35)
Yeah!
Yeah, I understand, you know, and that
is, and so, you know, and I would consider myself probably an A type woman. And the thing is that they do like to holiday in a particular way, but the great thing is one of the things I created particularly, I put a lot of intention into our schedule and what we are doing. So it was really about creating enough balance to like, so.
First of all, A-type women are women. And the wonderful thing is that we create this very supportive, kind of like, very nurturing, so we allow a space for them to drop.
this potentially, you know, the shield that has to be up sometimes in the world and that’s just the way it has to be. And they can get in touch with their vulnerable side. you know, there’s a lot and one of the beautiful things is breaking that idea. One of the first sort of really big misconceptions that people had when I first started this, again, because there wasn’t really anything from like, oh my god, you get a bunch of women together, isn’t it? A bitchfest.
And I mean, but I mean, and I was like, actually, no, it’s not. You know what happens is if you create the right space where people can really be authentic, you know, there’s no makeup. You kind of most women wander around in their robes. You know, they’re just and they end up just chatting. And there’s a wonderful sharing of life experiences. There’s usually lots of tears. There’s lots of hugging because because they. What?
Jason Elkins (24:39)
you
Chelsea Ross (25:05)
The most wonderful thing that happens on the retreat is that women start to share their experiences and understanding that you’re not alone in the world. And some of the challenges that we face are also challenges other people face. So we’re not doing life wrong. We’re not struggling, thinking, oh my gosh. And being able to talk about it in a place where it’s fully accepted and there is empathy and compassion.
women are able to access this, you we even have women from the army, you know, come and, you know, they access this place in themselves and with other women. And it’s just all hugs and really deep sharing. so, you know, lots of comments have come away with like this, I’ve stayed in touch with these women for, years and decades. They do cultivate really deep friendships. And I think more and more that
is always been important, but now with the amount of technology and technological isolation and that.
Having this in real life connections and sharing and just hugging and stuff like that, it’s so magical. That’s the bit that they love the most. And at the same time, so I do understand, so A-type women, just like A-type, any people don’t like to sit around too much. So we give them activity, you have activities, and you have group activities. So whether we’re all doing yoga or having…
Jason Elkins (26:10)
Mm-hmm.
Chelsea Ross (26:27)
dinner and then there’s alone time and then there’s you know small groups so you also are able to balance out how much you want to interact with people during the week and one of the things I’ve always said from day one which is you know what I learned being left which is like there’s no shoulds so no shooting on yourself because that’s what a lot of a of a lot of everybody does is like I should be doing this I should be doing that and so we’ve set up the week and it’s like if you don’t feel like doing anything you know
Jason Elkins (26:39)
Mm-hmm.
shooting.
Chelsea Ross (26:57)
you don’t have to do it. So because I’d be like, we’re not going to wake you up for yoga. You’d be like, where are you? If you want to spend the whole week in your room, then sleep. That’s fine. If that’s what you need to do, just do it however much you want to do. so it sort of just allows people to also regulate how much interaction they have the group. Because I don’t know if there are.
Jason Elkins (27:04)
Mm-hmm.
Chelsea Ross (27:20)
know, experiences where we’re all doing everything as a group and that can just get like overwhelming and that doesn’t happen on the streets.
Jason Elkins (27:28)
Well, I love what you said
about that. The should thing. I’ve heard that before. you know, I’ve spent a little time in the personal development world as well. you know, both doing and receiving some coaching and I think what’s, you you, you bring someone to a place like your place and say, okay, you don’t have to do anything. like, wow, what a departure and probably really, really hard for a lot of the, I don’t want to speak for the women, but I suspect it’s hard for some women.
Chelsea Ross (27:35)
Yeah!
Jason Elkins (27:54)
you break that, you know, maybe they’ve been working for the last 20, 30 years and they finally go do something for themselves and they get there and someone says, well, you don’t have to do anything. They’re like, but I don’t know. I don’t know how to do that.
Chelsea Ross (27:54)
Yes. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
Usually, usually I have to, I have to stop, you know, the real a typist from actually cramming their whole week. They’re like, okay, I want to surf and also want to climb this mountain. I want to do the bike ride. I want to go down to here. I’m like, all right. And, and if they really, really want to do it, we do, but sometimes we’re like, okay, just let’s see how it goes. Let’s see how, you know, and that’s part of the, that’s part of the retreat. It’s part of the thing that we’re, you know, trying to educate or create this cultivate.
Jason Elkins (28:14)
you
Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (28:37)
is slowing down that feminine, we do unlimited spa treatments, which I think most women really love because they’re like, I’ve never been so pampered in my life because you know massages and everything are very, you know, it could be quite costly. having an opportunity where you can have multiple massages a day, facials, scrubs, they, maybe that calms everybody down too. They just come out like, I’m so relaxed. So it’s really about
Jason Elkins (28:45)
Uh-huh.
No.
Chelsea Ross (29:04)
providing that balance of like inspiration, relaxation, connection. There’s a whole bunch of things that I kind of throw into this so that we get this ultimately feeling very empowered by the end, connected with themselves, de-stressed and slowed down, reconnecting with women, sharing some of the deepest things that they’ve been carrying because
One of the things that I really learned a long time ago was whether they’re a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, know, Elon Musk, all those sorts of characters that are huge up there, as regular, you know, people, everybody is dealing with something. Everybody has challenges in their lives. Everybody has things that are going well. Everything has things that are, that are challenging them. And, you know, they’re trying to their heads around it and trying to live the best life. And
It’s very rare that we can find spaces where we can honestly talk about that honestly. And also one of the most important things I think is about being able to talk about it with people who don’t know you. Obviously we can go to therapists, but can you imagine having a space where you can talk about things where you’re not sort of carrying the bias of what your family members might think of you, your partner might think of you, your friends even might think of you, because we often get put into this box and it actually limits us. So that’s again, part of the retreat is coming.
and that’s why it’s a wake in the goddess in you. It’s really about finding that inauthentic self, maybe peeling away some of the shoulds that have been put on women over their lifetime and reconnecting to what really inspires them, what they really value. And that’s again, coming back from that coaching core background. I really want to get to that authentic person because I really, really believe that
ultimately your life happiness comes when you can live from the inside out from where your true values are what really sparks your spirit like you naturally are enthusiastic about and if we can live from that place most of the time maybe we can’t do it all the time but most of the time then that’s the for me that’s the key to a very very happy
happy life that feels fulfilling. So it’s really about using this time to do that. And one of the things that we do on the retreats, moving beyond surfing, we have wellness and healing and Bali goddess, is one of the most popular, is that they get to choose from about 16 different activities and I’ve broken it down into active things for the active women, like climbing mountains, whitewater rafting. And then we’ve got other ones that are more creative, boutique making, jewellery making, and then
spiritual ones, where can go to temples, can do these, you know, talk to healers, quantum healing, you can just, you know, there is such a broad sound bath. Part of my intention behind the retreats is to allow women to try out all different things that they might not try out in real, you know, in their normal life. So that they can go, I really, you know, this sound healing thing, I really like it. And I haven’t done yoga before and maybe I want to go home.
I’d actually just got a text message from a past guest and she’s like, I finally found a yoga practice that I like. I’ve, you know, I’m really, helping me just feel really grounded in the day. And that’s thrilling to me, cause I’m like, I’m so glad. And I say, I found something. Now I’m gonna, I’m gonna go see an acupuncturist now. Just opening up the opportunities and the possibilities.
Jason Elkins (32:26)
Mm-hmm.
I love that because the typical vacation, you go and you maybe do some cool stuff. But if you live in Iowa in the US and you go on vacation and you go whitewater rafting and you decide, man, I really like whitewater rafting, well, good luck finding that in Iowa for anybody that’s familiar with Iowa.
So I guess actually that was the question I was going to ask you is how do you help the women kind of set them up so that when they, you know, maybe it’s been 10 years since they’ve done something like this and they come and they’ve got a week and we all know that sometimes we go to these great things. We have a lot of fun. We feel like we’re connected with ourselves and then we go home and we’re right back in our normal routines. And then two weeks, we’re just as stressed as we were before we went. So you kind of, you kind of touched on that and I’d like to dig a little bit.
a little bit deeper into that maybe if you have any thoughts that come up around that.
Chelsea Ross (33:26)
Yeah, I think that is definitely one of the areas that I get asked about a lot. The idea for the week is, well, not obviously, but we give our guests a journal, like a life coaching journal with prompts. So they really can explore some of the things in their lives, what they like. So we really ask them to consciously connect with these things and make note of it. Ultimately, it’s their responsibility to…
to carry that on when they get home. ⁓
Jason Elkins (33:54)
You know,
you know, when you said that, Chelsea, I thought, wow, the next thing I want to ask you is, okay, how many emails and texts did you get from past guests and say, guess what, Chelsea, I went home and quit my job. Guess what, Chelsea, I went home and, ⁓ separate, you know, changed my relationship direction. Cause you get a, but well, no, that I don’t, I heard what I was going to get ready to say, but you get, you know, you get together and you start sharing ideas and dreams and all that stuff.
Chelsea Ross (34:09)
We get a few.
Jason Elkins (34:23)
gosh, things happen, right?
Chelsea Ross (34:24)
I mean, and those, know, I have had women who were contemplating ending relationships and finally go like, I found the strength to get through this divorce. lot of these women I actually stayed in contact with, been in contact with them for decades now, a few of them. And they, it’s about planting the seed. I think obviously if I had the time, I’d love to create a, you know, a whole.
coaching group you could keep going on for sure. And maybe that might be one of the things in the future. ⁓ But it’s really about what I’m really trying to do as much as we can on this. Obviously it’s about having a beautiful restful break. Really trying to teach these women to fish. That’s why I loved, let’s say surfing, but any other activity we do, we have fitness ones. It’s about feeling the empowerment. It’s about embodying.
Jason Elkins (34:51)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (35:14)
the thing while on the retreat because there’s one thing about doing a workshop and saying okay you know write down all the things you want to feel empowered about it’s another thing to go out and do it so another beautiful example a couple of weeks ago we have a testimony up it’s that
one woman, you know, climbing Mount Batu where they start at 2am and climb up this mountain to see the sunrise. She’s like, halfway through it. I was like, what am I doing? This is, you know, really hard because it is a, it’s it’s a tough hike. And she said, but I got to the top and this beautiful sunset. She’s like, and I did it. And
There’s a wonderful thing is that when you do the thing you say you’re going to do and that thing is hard and you manage to do it, whether it’s stand up on a surfboard, hike a mountain, travel across the world on your own, you own it.
Jason Elkins (36:01)
Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (36:01)
you
have you internalize it. And so we try to get as much internalization experiences happening that week so that it sort of registers, know, it registers as this new kind of, I don’t know what the term would be, you know. So if you’re going and you’re feeling inspired by what you’re doing, you go, I remember that feeling and I stood up on a surfboard. I can do this.
That’s one of my biggest mattresses myself whenever I’m in tough, I can do this, you know? So it’s, in that way, it’s very empowering. And then also remembering all the conversations that we have there, really deep conversations, usually, you know, about stuff that maybe they haven’t had a chance to talk about before. And it gives women the courage to approach their life in a different way and open up the possibilities of.
Jason Elkins (36:31)
Mm-hmm.
Chelsea Ross (36:50)
what’s available for them. So maybe they live in Iowa and they’re like, you know, and they’re like, but I’m going to find, I’m going to find a sound healing yoga class in, and inevitably, you know, they might find one, you know, and start that. And that might start them off on a completely different trajectory. So you never know. we, it’s up to them, but like I say, the best thing I found is to actually, instead of talking about it, we make women do it, experience it, and it’s theirs. And they take that away with them.
Jason Elkins (37:01)
⁓ huh.
Chelsea Ross (37:17)
they can, yeah.
Jason Elkins (37:18)
Okay. That’s, that’s
very, cool. I, and you know, actually I’ve never been to all women’s retreat go figure. ⁓ I mean, and, and I’ve worked in the experiences and tourism industry for a long time. So I have had opportunities, for example, you know, I managed a lodge where we had a lot of guys come to fish and their, their wives, girlfriends, whatever would come and didn’t generally fish as much as the guys.
Chelsea Ross (37:24)
That’s funny, really enough.
Mmm.
Jason Elkins (37:43)
So had a whole program where the, you it always feels weird saying this, but, where basically the ladies would go out and go snorkeling and look for manatees and do all this really, really cool stuff. Well, the guys are standing on the front of a boat all day with their feets or trying to, because they want to catch the biggest fish or whatever. And, but what I remember is when everybody was at the lodge together, there was kind of, atmosphere was totally different.
Chelsea Ross (37:43)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (38:09)
And every once in a while, I would go out with the ladies and they didn’t see me as a threat because I wasn’t anybody’s boyfriend, anybody’s husband. I worked there. I was there just to go have fun with them. And I saw a whole different side of them when we’d be out on the boat snorkeling and doing all this stuff. honestly, was more fun. Honestly, it was more fun to go with the ladies. But this has nothing to do with the question I was going to ask you. The question I want to ask is,
Chelsea Ross (38:17)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yes.
Jason Elkins (38:36)
I suspect that you have people that come and they go back home and they return. My question is, do they return with friends or family, know, moms, sisters, daughters, or is it just like, no, this is for me. I don’t want my mom there as I’m sharing stuff with the group. What, I mean, I know everybody’s different, but what do you generally see? Do people want their family members there or are they pretty happy to just be around a bunch of strangers?
starting out as strangers.
Chelsea Ross (39:06)
Yeah, we have. We’ve had, I’m just thinking of some guests, like one woman came with a friend and she bought a daughter, then she bought two other friends. We have other ones that just come back on their own because it’s their time.
Yeah, we’ve had a bit of a combo of everything and definitely for us a lot, a lot of our guests are our recommendations. So a lot of women are like, I went on this, you have to experience this, you know, like that. That is a lot of it. So I would say, yeah, a combination. But ultimately, do, I do, I do often recommend and I really enjoy it when people go like, yeah, I thought about bringing my friend, but then I thought, no, I just want to do this myself.
And I’ve had some who have come and have had friends go like, we’re coming, we’re coming. And they’ll be like, oh, you know, like I wish I had done this myself. And I’m like, come back, do it yourself. You know, I think it’s a, we’re getting, well, we’re getting a lot more mothers and daughters. So all ages, older mothers with grown daughters and mothers with even teenage daughters now, that’s been, I would say one of the biggest changes. And I think that that’s,
lovely because what I can and I actually funnily enough I just did retreat with my mum and it’s a wonderful thing to share with family members as much as I love the solo one but it is actually really another great thing because it’s obviously we’ve got this spiritual and personal development undercurrent that runs through it and it’s all very intentional and that’s what the one thing I was going to say too is that
I’ve been on group holidays and if you go on just like a regular group holiday, the conversation around a dinner table is extremely different when you get a bunch of women who have been, you know, that it can range from everything about shopping and laughing about, you know, everything to really switching down the conversation into really deep, vulnerable life experiences, thoughts, fears, all that.
Jason Elkins (40:55)
Thank
Chelsea Ross (41:13)
And think that’s the richness and that’s why again it’s a retreat. And that’s what makes it a treat and that’s what makes it very different from just a regular group holiday. Even if it was just a regular women’s group holiday. Because if you’re on a regular holiday and that’s wonderful and it’s very fun, you have to cultivate a place where it’s safer for people to access those different areas because otherwise it’s not appropriate or I recommend it. You know what I’m saying? Like we have to keep up.
Jason Elkins (41:36)
right?
Right. suspect
that if, if let’s say you’ve got a women’s group of traveling and, you know, maybe a woman, a woman trip leader, but they’re still, they’re having dinner in the restaurants at a hotel. They’re, know, they’re, they’re in, in shuttle buses going here and there. And it’s just not that opportunity, but it sounds like what are you saying is you need to be able to facilitate that and create a, it sounds cliche, but create a space, right?
Chelsea Ross (41:47)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Create a space. You too. You have to create a space.
And that’s, I think that’s one of the things that we do really, really well because obviously with myself and the women that I work with who help to guide the retreat because we have about three to five guides at each location to really hold that space to create that place where people can open up. It won’t just happen if you don’t really consciously go, I’m gonna create this net.
That’s one thing that’s unique for us.
Jason Elkins (42:35)
And, I recognize I’m speaking from a man’s perspective and I don’t know anything about this. And, I’ve been around, you know, I’ve got, have women in my life. And when I reflect, like, in my mind, the vast majority of women do not have a space. They, if, if the ones that I’ve been in relationship with, if they really needed space, they would go hire a psychologist and they’d go to therapy or something. Right. And, but that was kind of.
Chelsea Ross (42:58)
Yeah. Yeah. That’s right.
Jason Elkins (43:01)
In my experience, that was kind of the last resort, unfortunately. And if they had had that space ahead of time, things might have been a little easier. So I’m just envisioning a lot of the guests that maybe to come spend time with you, they really don’t have it. They’re around their husbands, their kids, their colleagues. And if they’re executive level, A type personalities at work, who are they going to?
Chelsea Ross (43:04)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (43:26)
be sharing that stuff with at work. And if they’re so busy with work and kids and family and how do they have a group of friends? And if they do have a group of friends, what do they do other than get together for coffee every once in while? You know, so.
Chelsea Ross (43:40)
Exactly,
coffee or cocktails, know, that’s sort of the stereotype that’s, you know, given to women. ⁓
Jason Elkins (43:42)
Yeah.
And you know, when they go have cocktails,
they go have cocktails together and then they get home and their husband sitting on the couch pouting because he’s lonely. It’s Friday night. And why are you out with the girls? Right. So I get it. It’s got to be really, really now. I also think that most men have some of the same challenges because I think most men don’t also have space and aren’t very good at creating space for each other. and they’re maybe a little bit more reluctant to go search it out, but anyway.
Chelsea Ross (43:53)
Exactly. Yeah.
Well…
I agree.
Great.
Yeah, well that’s one of
the things that actually that is one of the futures that’s coming on board is that I have a couple of male partners and friends and we are going to, we are currently trying to put together a men’s retreat. know like one of the things because there is that need now I think maybe men are ready a bit more to have that format. Definitely just
like most yoga classes you go in, it’s 90 % women, know, men, I don’t know, they, I’m learning. So, And yeah, and we want to put together again, something like what we’ve done at Goddess Retreats, we’re, we want it to go deep, but not, you know, too, like what, you know.
Jason Elkins (44:44)
Yeah, I’ve been there. I’ve been there. I’m usually that guy, that one guy.
Chelsea Ross (45:00)
bit too woo woo and bit too out there for most men. But we want a place where men can come together. But I’m really learning about what they might want because for me, Goddess Retreats really just was just an outpouring of the perfect experience holiday that I wanted to experience.
Jason Elkins (45:16)
Could you envision either like splitting your facilities? Okay, the guys on this side, the women on this side. And so like a couple can come and she can go do her thing and he can go do his thing for a week and they don’t even see each other for a week. And then maybe they do an extension to, I don’t know, somewhere else on Bali after that. Would that work or is that, I don’t know. Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (45:20)
Mm.
You know, might
be, yeah, maybe, maybe and definitely, I definitely have a
Jason Elkins (45:44)
or partner partner with
somebody else down the beach or something maybe I don’t
Chelsea Ross (45:49)
Yeah, mean, we’re definitely, think what we’ll do probably right now is we’re looking to maybe put in maybe one’s men’s retreat every quarter. Just, you know, use the facilities that way. I mean, one of the things that I do notice with a lot of women who are in couples is if they can both travel, oftentimes, and particularly in the beginning I noticed is that
the guy will go off on either, oh, where’s your husband? Oh, he’s on a fishing trip right now. He’s on a surfing trip. He’s doing the manly, know, manly trip where he’s going. And, you know, I’m here while they’re traveling together or he’s been on a trip and this is her chance, you know? So there’s a bit of tag teaming, especially if they have kids.
Jason Elkins (46:30)
G.
Right. I remember I went through some, some coaching programs at a point in my life as things were transitioning and it was mostly women in the groups because that’s just the way it is. You know, it’s personal development type of stuff, that woo woo stuff. And, and I remember most of the women that were in any sort of relationship with a man, which is most of them, it’s father, brother, husband, son, whatever. And most of them were like, I want my, I want my.
Chelsea Ross (46:43)
Yeah. Yeah.
Hmm.
Jason Elkins (47:00)
my guy to come do this as well. And they spend most of the, it was like a four month program. They spent most of the four months trying to figure out how to get their guy to come do the program. And then the next group would start and there’d still be 10 % guys. So it wasn’t always successful. Cause obviously not all of them.
Chelsea Ross (47:00)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, and
that’s reality. And I don’t know why maybe you can answer the question. Why women are much more open to this personal development, spiritual development, whereas this
Jason Elkins (47:20)
I don’t know, but…
think it’s because they have
permission. I think, I don’t know, I just talking out my butt, but I think it’s that they have permission to ask for help and guys are just, you know, women, women will say, I want my guy to talk more. want him to open up more. And what is, what happens when he does? shit. Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (47:29)
It could be, you and that…
I ⁓ think what you just
said, you just said something really interesting there. permission to ask for help. See, as a woman, I don’t see going on a retreat as asking for help.
Jason Elkins (47:55)
yeah, no, just take it, just claim it or whatever. mean, where, I don’t know, like a guy saying, you know what? I’m really stressed. Well, they, they do. They’ll say, I’m really stressed out. need to go somewhere. So we might go on a fishing trip or hunting trip or something. But, and it’s interesting because I don’t think, I don’t think society and culture realizes this, but I was a fishing guide in Montana for several years.
Chelsea Ross (47:59)
Yeah.
I need a break. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (48:20)
I can’t tell you how many times it was me and one other guy who was a banker, a lawyer, doctor, and we’d spend 10 hours on the river. You’d be surprised at how much conversation goes and how deep things get because we don’t talk about it. I mean, this is probably the first time I’ve ever mentioned it about the conversation, people talking about divorce. I let a group of anglers to Venezuela and I remember this guy once that
Chelsea Ross (48:26)
Mm-hmm.
yeah.
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (48:46)
boy, he was going through it and he was so, it was such a challenging thing for him. He bought like a little seashell necklace from a vendor on the street and he’s like, maybe if I give her this, you know, I can save the marriage. And it’s like, the pain and you know, guys go through shit, you know. ⁓ So I hope you do something. I’ll go, I’ll go.
Chelsea Ross (49:01)
Yeah. Oh yeah. But that’s what I saying. Everybody goes through. Yeah. I’ll have to chat afterwards because I think that’s
definitely it. It’s about and, know, obviously one of the things that I’ve been really understanding is how men share and they share side by side doing activities. And that’s how they open up. Not in like
you know, front facing therapy. So that’s what we’re trying to start to really, again, I really, you know, this is my thing. It’s like, how can we set this up so that it is like God is a treat, but obviously has to be different in the way that men want to share in a different way. And, you know, let’s say another difference, we have a night off because women would love to go and explore the restaurants. you know, we sort of give them recommendations. They go off either as a group or.
one thing and we’re like, for this men’s one, because we are deep in planning this right now. Like, how would they like to do it? And, know, this is like, no, men would all want to go together like they do. They would not want to go off on their own and maybe have do shopping like let’s do it all together. We’d all go to the restaurant and it’ll be, you know, and like just slight differences.
Jason Elkins (49:58)
You know.
But you gotta, you gotta have one, I think
you gotta have one-on-one time for the guys because you, yeah, you have more than, more than two guys together. There’s the dynamics get kind of weird and every real conversation I’ve had with a man has been one-on-one. And you know what I think like probably the best therapy for got two guys is put them in a pickup truck, towing a fishing boat and send them on a, send them on a six hour drive to go fishing somewhere.
Chelsea Ross (50:12)
definitely there will be,
to It’s one on one. Perfect.
Yeah!
Jason Elkins (50:36)
And that’s the stuff is going to come out. It’s, you know, side by side, like you said, sitting next to side by side to each other with nothing else to talk to, nothing or talk about. It’s, it’s just comes, you know, so anyway, so when you do that, I want to have you come back and we can, can discuss what your, what your learnings are.
Chelsea Ross (50:40)
Yeah, yeah, side by side. Fishing balls.
And that’s the dynamic. Yeah.
And funnily enough, that’s a little similar for women. It’s like the opening up that space. even though it sounds woo woo, but that’s holding space. That’s creating space. And that’s what we do on the retreats really. It’s not all about like, okay, we’re all going to like work on ourselves right now. We put a lot of it just in the experience. And I think that’s.
That is where people can feel like, I can open up rather than, right, share your deepest darkness in this circle now of sisterhood. mean, I know nobody’s, mean, some will, but it’s very challenging for us. So you cultivate these places. Yeah, yeah.
Jason Elkins (51:28)
Well, that it’s why, yeah, it’s like way
when, you know, when a couple maybe goes to therapy and, you know, a lot of times the guy’s like, I don’t want to go in there. Cause as soon as I walk in there, my wife’s going to be sitting next to me or what, and somebody, another woman’s probably going to be looking at me say, okay, tell us, tell us what’s going on. No, thanks.
Chelsea Ross (51:34)
Yes.
Maybe.
Yeah, yeah, maybe it’s better to go for
a walk together and have a chat, you know.
Jason Elkins (51:51)
You know, what’s, what’s
interesting that I, that I will share that, you know, maybe anybody that’s listening might find interesting is I’ve had a lot of conversations, one-on-one conversations with people through the course of the podcast. And sometimes we kind of dig into some stuff and I can’t tell you how many times after I stopped the recording, the conversation is like, you know, all the other stuff comes out that they don’t want to share with the world. And it’s, it’s been fascinating that connections that get created that way. So maybe it’s just.
Chelsea Ross (52:13)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (52:19)
you know, if we all just kind of make an effort to have conversations with people and hold that space for each other.
Chelsea Ross (52:23)
Yeah,
it is a human experience and that’s…
That’s ultimately the fundamental part of what we do at Goddess Retreats, is that it’s beyond a holiday. Obviously we make these beautiful experiences and do all the things that you want to experience on holiday. But for me underneath, I know what we’re doing is that we are creating these moments for them to connect with each other and themselves. And it’s really a, and that’s why I call it Goddess Retreats. It’s really about connecting to your authentic self,
your highest self and like for me, know, cause I’m beyond yes queen, it’s like goddess. And for me, the goddess is also just a woman who is very whole and complete and knows herself and can communicate that in a very, you know.
congruent and grounded, empowered way. And if women can be like that, then they can also start to help and embody that and help other people in society do that. we can, I don’t know, I just feel like it’s a better way of relating to everybody and ourselves.
Jason Elkins (53:32)
Yeah.
I got, I
got to ask you this, this question, because I, you’re clearly very self-aware and you’ve had some time to think about this. and I’m curious what you’d like to share with our listeners. How the heck did you really get into this? Cause you mentioned life coaching, you mentioned marketing and stuff. What, what happened in your, let’s go deep. What happened in your childhood or growing up that caused you to now be sitting here with me, having a conversation about women’s empowerment and, and.
Chelsea Ross (53:49)
What happened to me? ⁓
Jason Elkins (54:01)
these groups and creating creating space. Was there anything particular that might inspire someone else that’s listening to this to go take a similar route?
Chelsea Ross (54:01)
Yeah.
Well, I think yes. All these, of course, of course I am. No, I’d be very honored to share it. The thing that drove me into psychology or attracted me not drove me, attracted me to psychology and then, know, life coaching and then all this stuff was I was trying to fix myself.
Jason Elkins (54:09)
That you’re willing to share.
Chelsea Ross (54:30)
And I think that when I see a lot of people in the personal development space and the spiritual space, they are on a journey of fixing themselves. And when I was younger, had, I would say, very low self-esteem. I had an eating disorder. I struggled with…
all the things of growing up and the expectations of being a person, a woman or whatever, all these things. And I was really trying to find myself. So I went down the route of yoga and retreats, so spiritual retreats and workshops and I did all the things. I mean, I was a seeker.
And I’d probably say was essentially, because I feel like I’ve found it, like I’ve spent, so, and I started in my early twenties doing that. And I guess living in Bali, it’s another story. I grew up with a family that traveled in the expats, but I was a seeker and I tried all the things. I read all the books. I did everything. And particularly at the time when I started Surf Goddess Retreats,
I was still very much in that process of the life coaching personal development. I’d come out of psychology going, that’s not really what I want. Life coaching was really new and I was like, this is fantastic. It’s very, know, goal and just focus positive. Find yourself and…
over the time since like 1999, I started meditating and I started the yoga journey, which has been a very slow and long journey. And so this is a culmination of all that seeking. And I mean, the good thing about it is that I can say for me, because I’ve experienced it, I feel like I found out what works and what is fluff. So we just focus on what works.
Jason Elkins (56:15)
Okay. So I got to ask
you, right. And I think from my perspective, I think what works is different for everybody. if you were, if have you gotten to the point where you’re to boil it down? Cause we hear people say, follow your passions. We hear other people say, just pick something and stick with it. We hear, we hear so many different secrets to life and life coaches. It’s a lot. There’s a lot more life coaches now than there were when you were really into it. And especially, and
Chelsea Ross (56:40)
Yes, I know.
Jason Elkins (56:43)
and 90 % of them are on Bali. I know.
Chelsea Ross (56:46)
They are, there’s life coaching cafes that I drive past and I can just watch these people
coaching and I just look at them and they’re all 20 and I’m like, okay. I’m like, well, that’s good.
Jason Elkins (56:54)
They’re all 20 and they’ve got their laptop,
they’re working two hours a day and their mom sends them a of money so they can keep going. That sounds bad, but anybody that’s listening to this, I just lost some listeners. anyway, do you think there is, I mean, for me, and I don’t know if it’s working or not, but for me, really it’s just take action even when you’re scared. I think that growth is on the other side of comfort. That’s for me what’s been good.
Chelsea Ross (57:01)
Yeah, yeah.
Maybe.
Jason Elkins (57:23)
And I’m just wondering if you’ve come up with something.
Chelsea Ross (57:23)
Yeah,
it’s, I definitely have a lot of thoughts on this and all those things are true. There’s nuances to it though and that is the wisdom but it is. think ultimately if you, if it’s more, if I had to like really distill it down it’d be what you just said which is more of like principles or values. So think one of the best, best
characteristics you can cultivate in life is courage and discipline. So to do the thing that you might be scared of doing.
Jason Elkins (57:53)
Although
it sounds like two different things to me. Because I’m a little spontaneous. have probably a little ADHD thing going on. So I’m like, so courage? Yeah, I’m not afraid to take a chance, but I can’t. Yeah, that’s the problem that everybody in my life is, geez, Jason, okay, you’re doing this for six months and now you’re already changing direction.
Chelsea Ross (57:59)
Really?
Yeah.
But you have to then keep doing it. Take it, be successful.
Yeah, see,
I was like that too. I’m very spontaneous and I don’t like, and that’s one of the things again over 20 years I’ve learned is that discipline and consistency and that’s again with the retreats is like, there’s a lot of retreats these days, but people put them on and just expect it to be like easy and we’re just gonna do one and be fine. But it’s like to do it consistently week after week, month after month and to create that thing requires incredible discipline and focus.
Jason Elkins (58:18)
So yeah.
Do
you think that helps though, if what you’re doing is stimulating, stimulates those needs for variety? Cause that’s what I think is my, is what’s going for me is, you know, if I’m interested in what I’m doing and there’s a lot of variety, I’m living the digital nomad life. I’m traveling around and you know, I can, I can walk outside and go to the coffee shop and get all kinds of my, you know, dopamine fixes and all that stuff.
Chelsea Ross (58:51)
Yes. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (59:08)
So it helps me stay consistent with publishing and
Chelsea Ross (59:10)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (59:11)
the podcast conversations. Like every conversation is different. So that’s why I’ve been able to have done 120 episodes or so. Do you think that’s an important part of it?
Chelsea Ross (59:13)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, it’s an incredibly important part because again that idea of like you have to follow your passion. It’s like you have to follow what you’re truly passionate about what is and that’s what I’d say is getting in touch with what sparks your spirit. Like it’s a natural enthusiasm and curiosity for that thing.
to do and it really ticks those boxes. Because again, like for you, like I too, very similar, I don’t love sitting down in the same spot all the time, I don’t love doing the same thing all the time. So how do I create that sense of variety and spontaneity? And then I go away a lot and do things to satisfy that and come back and how do I come back fresh?
But one of the things too, because I get asked a lot about business and I watch a lot, it’s part of my kind of marketing mind, I love watching trends. And I’ve really seen this huge, huge, obviously explosion of entrepreneurship and da da da. But I see that it’s this idea of how do I make as much money as humanly possible? Before, what am I doing that I’m really passionate about?
Jason Elkins (1:00:10)
Mm-hmm.
Chelsea Ross (1:00:24)
Are you really passionate about drop shipping? know, I did the, you people are like, Oh, how do you spot these trends? was like, cause this is what I wanted for myself. I’m passionate about it. And so it just, I don’t look for trends. then as it evolved, I just, it evolved as I did. So it’s surfing and now we’ve gone right into healing goddess and wellness goddess, which is much more, but that’s the evolution that’s come out of a natural expression from now. Cause I was like, Oh, now I need to think about wellness. And of course wellness has become this huge thing, but it’s just lucky.
Jason Elkins (1:00:25)
Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (1:00:54)
because I’m a human and I’m interested in wellness, guess, just on time with everybody else. passion, like follow your passion. You’re gonna need discipline to keep it going. I think courage. Courage is actually would be my number one thing. If you don’t have the courage to do anything, you just won’t do it. And you have to get out of your comfort zone, whether that’s, know.
Jason Elkins (1:01:00)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Chelsea Ross (1:01:18)
signing up for a new class or whether it’s starting a new business, you can de-risk a lot of things. you know, but ultimately those are things. So those are the kind of characteristics and principles I like to talk about rather than just saying like, if you do this one thing, you’ll be successful. Cause there’s a lot of nuances to it. I mean, that’s one of the things I really love to share and probably what we had talked about earlier.
Jason Elkins (1:01:40)
Yes.
Chelsea Ross (1:01:45)
that I would love to share with people and maybe provide as a backup after our retreats because I feel like a lot of advice is given but they miss the nuances and so it tends to be not great advice. If you just follow it to the letter.
Jason Elkins (1:01:57)
I think you and I, yeah,
I think you and I get to come back and do a whole series of conversations, maybe just specifically for your group of ladies, whatever. So, so you can kind of stay in touch with them because you’re just so full of energy for one. I’m halfway around the world. I can feel it and I can see it on your face. Maybe all of our listeners aren’t able to see that, but it’s been a fascinating conversation. I think we need to do it more. And I’m curious though.
Chelsea Ross (1:02:08)
Yeah.
That’s great.
Jason Elkins (1:02:23)
Before we wrap it up, what did I forget to ask you or what should I’ve asked you or what do you want to make sure that our listeners know that we haven’t covered before we go?
Chelsea Ross (1:02:32)
I don’t know I think we’ve covered a lot
I really can’t think of anything, Jason. Nothing really comes to mind, no. We can leave it there.
Jason Elkins (1:02:35)
Nothing comes to mind. All right. Wonderful. Well, well, I will
mention to our, to our listeners, we’re going to have your website in our show notes. So if anything that you heard Chelsea say today, resonated, I’m sure if you were listening, it resonated because I don’t know how it could not. And if you’re still listening, I’m assuming that it’s definitely resonating. So I go click on the link, go to her website and whether you decide.
to go do this on your own or bring some family members with you. Just, yeah, do it. So Chelsea, thank you so much. I appreciate you sharing your time with us and getting up so early for this conversation. Let’s do it again soon. All right, thanks, Chelsea.
Chelsea Ross (1:03:08)
Thank you so much for having me on. My pleasure. My pleasure.
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