5.0
How the MexiSoul Retreat Helped Me as a Military Veteran
After 20 years of military service, you learn to build walls.
You learn to compartmentalize — to push through pain, lead under pressure, and silence emotions that don’t serve the mission. It’s a survival instinct. But when the uniform comes off, the mission doesn’t end — it just changes. What used to protect you starts to weigh you down.
The MexiSoul Retreat gave me something I didn’t even know I still needed — permission to feel again.
As a veteran, I’ve carried invisible rucksacks full of things I couldn’t name — anger, guilt, loss, control, and the constant need to stay “ready.” But during the ceremonies and deep inner work at MexiSoul, I was reminded that true strength isn’t in control — it’s in surrender.
The experience brought me face-to-face with parts of myself I’d buried under years of service and survival. It wasn’t about escaping the past; it was about making peace with it. I learned that healing doesn’t mean forgetting — it means transforming pain into purpose.
In the military, brotherhood means having someone’s six. At MexiSoul, I found a different kind of brotherhood — one rooted in truth, vulnerability, and spiritual connection. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to lead. I just had to be.
Ayahuasca, the environment, and the people helped me shed layers of ego and control that the Army had built in me out of necessity. I came out of it not softer — but clearer, more grounded, more compassionate. I remembered that before I was a soldier, I was a man — a husband, a father, a servant of God.
MexiSoul didn’t just help me heal; it helped me come home to myself.
Now, when I serve — whether it’s my family, my business, or my community — it comes from a place of peace instead of pain.
You learn to compartmentalize — to push through pain, lead under pressure, and silence emotions that don’t serve the mission. It’s a survival instinct. But when the uniform comes off, the mission doesn’t end — it just changes. What used to protect you starts to weigh you down.
The MexiSoul Retreat gave me something I didn’t even know I still needed — permission to feel again.
As a veteran, I’ve carried invisible rucksacks full of things I couldn’t name — anger, guilt, loss, control, and the constant need to stay “ready.” But during the ceremonies and deep inner work at MexiSoul, I was reminded that true strength isn’t in control — it’s in surrender.
The experience brought me face-to-face with parts of myself I’d buried under years of service and survival. It wasn’t about escaping the past; it was about making peace with it. I learned that healing doesn’t mean forgetting — it means transforming pain into purpose.
In the military, brotherhood means having someone’s six. At MexiSoul, I found a different kind of brotherhood — one rooted in truth, vulnerability, and spiritual connection. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to lead. I just had to be.
Ayahuasca, the environment, and the people helped me shed layers of ego and control that the Army had built in me out of necessity. I came out of it not softer — but clearer, more grounded, more compassionate. I remembered that before I was a soldier, I was a man — a husband, a father, a servant of God.
MexiSoul didn’t just help me heal; it helped me come home to myself.
Now, when I serve — whether it’s my family, my business, or my community — it comes from a place of peace instead of pain.