Community Highlights: Meet Tamara Herl of Wild Divine Retreat Center

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamara Herl.

Hi Tamara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I worked in the corporate mental health industry for 25 years. During that time, I saw my colleagues struggle. The productivity expectations were very high, which made it hard for employees to have good work/life balance. The length of stay at inpatient facilities kept decreasing, which made it difficult for staff to help patients get to the root of problems that brought them there.
I tried to support my co-workers by creating employee wellness programs. One of them was called “Inviting Creativity and Spirituality into the Workplace.” We met for 12 weeks, using expressive therapies to give voice to both our concerns and possible solutions.
One week I had participants create a group mural to depict the organization as a forest, including all the creatures that lived there. One of the psychiatrists who worked at the organization added a picture of a dinosaur she’d cut out from a magazine.  “We have a dinosaur mentality,” she exclaimed. I’ll never forget that moment, because it illustrated so clearly why the mental health industry, like so many other systems in the United States, is struggling.
We had done pre and post testing for people who took part in the project, and the results were great. They showed increased productivity, stronger relationships with peers, and more optimism and motivation for employees who’d participated.
That project really fueled my passion for helping systems transform. It helped me define my niche of supporting visionary professional women who feel discouraged and overwhelmed about their ability to influence positive change in the world. It inspired me to create a step-by-step process to help women do their inner work and awaken their hidden potential, which helps them feel more hopeful and confident that they can contribute effectively to creating a world that works better for everyone.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way is that as a change agent, you have to do your inner work. The change process itself can be like a long ocean voyage, and it’s easy to get lost if you don’t have tools to help you navigate the process. Getting anchored in your values is one important tool, because the change you’re trying to create may not show up as soon as you expect, or in the way that you thought it would. I found myself getting discouraged when I was in the corporate world, because the changes I was trying to create weren’t showing up. I still feel that way sometimes, but instead of giving up, I focus on my “why.” I think about all of the people who are impacted by the “dinosaur mentality” of systems. That fuels my passion for supporting visionary professional women who are working to transform the systems in society that are struggling, like health care, education, and the justice system.

We’ve been impressed with Wild Divine Retreat Center, LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
As a society, in order to help re-imagine existing systems that aren’t working well, we’re going to need to create some things that have never been seen before. Knowing this, I’ve created a 6 month program, Elevate Impact, that helps my clients wake up their hidden potential. All of the modalities I use are outside of the box. My clients learn how to tap into their intuition and divine guidance by deeply connecting with nature. They take part in immersive experiences that include art and movement to help them gain new insight and tap into their ability to innovate. They learn how to create internal harmony and stop playing small. I’ve developed a special energy work process to help them enliven dormant abilities that are encoded in their DNA. People can work with me on-site, or we can do the work virtually for both individual and group sessions. I offer teambuilding at my retreat center, and I can also take the process to organizations at their facility.
This unique approach sets my work apart. As a result of our work together, clients have more confidence, clarity, and resilience. And they have the tools they need to create lasting change in society, without burning out in the process.

How do you think about luck?
I don’t really believe as much in luck as I do in synchronicity. Carl Jung described synchronicity as meaningful “coincidences.” For instance, we had a lot of trouble finding the kind of property we needed for our retreat center. I don’t even remember how many places we looked at, but none of them had all the “must have” components we were looking for.

I’m sure our realtor was ready to throw in the towel. But then she remembered that the owners of the property where she’d grown up wanted to sell their place. So she contacted them. The property wasn’t even on the market yet, but when we saw it, we said “Yes” right away.

Some people would say we had good luck. I think it was a powerful synchronicity, and I believe we can attract those meaningful coincidences when we are clear and persistent about knowing what we want. And I think it’s important to not settle for less when you’re trying to attract or create something important in your life, your business, or the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TheWildDivine.us
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tamaraherl/?hl=en
• Facebook: facebook.com/tamara.herl.3/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-herl-3164b68/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TamaraHerl
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfbD0LznBKd5iTPFY1MNUw