Is this retreat for me?

If you were invited, you're being called to say yes, even if you don't know why. Are you ready to step into more self-love, release some stress, and heal some old hurts you tired of carrying? The best part is, it happens almost magically through transformational experiences, deep connection and moving moments you didn't know were possible.

If you would like to spend a week with truly special, authentic, loving people in a magical setting away from the distractions of daily life, where you can immerse yourself in deep relaxing, growing and playing with a community of other like-minded professionals, this retreat is for you.
Relax, Play, Grow & Connect ​in Paradise
​​As you gently glide from your first amazing night’s sleep, you awaken to the sounds of locals starting their day - local monkeys, that are celebrating a new morning in the giant Guanacaste tree shading your casita.​

You notice this is not another boring hotel. Maybe your room has round or angled walls or looks directly out into the treetops or filters the morning light through stained glass windows.
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​​​You're almost reluctant to leave your casita, but a kaleidoscope of butterflies beckon from your window. As you meander the pathways through lush gardens… you feel the peace in your body, and know you are already different than you were. You revel in the lightness from the feelings of the arrival ceremony the night before.

You remember the feeling of tears, laughter and hugs you've already had with your new friends. You can sense the excitement building for the special day ahead. ​This is a special place. These are special people. You are special. You find yourself arriving at breakfast, connecting with the other beautiful souls who are your classmates and future lifelong friends. You belong here.

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What You Get
As a guest at this special, one-of-a-kind friends and family retreat, you'll co-create your own experience.

You'll experience retreat activities like group RIM (Regenerating Images in Memory), RIM infused yoga classes, breathwork, sound healing, meditations, and magical surprises designed to take you deeper than ever before. You’ll fall more in love with yourself as you slay your saboteurs and discover your own new growth edge or stretch area. Perhaps its to stand in your worthiness. Imagine the joy you’ll feel as you create more loving self-talk and more life successes!

Get ready to own your boundaries, speak your truth, ask for what you need, attract the respect you deserve, and you'll probably do some other healing you didn't expect, without even knowing it! Imagine the connection and love you’ll feel as part of this creative, fun, and supportive community this type of retreat attracts.
This is Different.  Deeper.  Primal.  Subtle.  Nuanced.  Powerful.  Gentle.  Magical.
​You know you belong here.
The Venue
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​Welcome to a special place to nurture your mind, body, and soul. The perfect place to cultivate the magic for your business and life.

Start by greeting our turtles (Julia and Stevie Gonzales) and rest your feet in the lobby pond if you want to be tickled by the minnows - a spa treatment in itself! Allow yourself to just BE.
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​​Your room is as individual as your own thumbprint. Every special and unique part of you feels invited and welcomed as the unique shapes, colors, textures, scents and sounds of Con Smania.
 
Con Smania sleeps up to 30 guests, but we limit our class size to a max of 18 to relax completely in unique splendor. Spread throughout lush tropical gardens, each unique casita with a private bath, sleeps 2-4 guests. Some casitas have a single sleeping area with two XL twin beds and others have multiple sleeping areas with one or two beds in each area. Very limited single rooms available.
​Costa Rica is soulful, alive, vibrant and real, just like you! We love the Pura Vida attitude here and we love our jungle, river, and our completely undeveloped beach, Playa Buena Vista. All easily found by our shuttle drivers, and perfectly hidden from traffic, tourists, and distractions.

​Con Smania (means with passion) Retreat Center is located on the west coast in the Nicoya peninsula of Costa Rica. It is one of 5 Blue Zones in the world where more people live past 100 years, and for good reason.

Just a ten-minute stroll to the Pacific Ocean, nestled in the shade of giant Guanacaste trees filled with monkeys. Your unique and artistically created oasis awaits.
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Most beds are XL twins and are outfitted with new luxury mattresses and linens. All rooms are air conditioned and offer ceiling fans, tea kettles, safe drinking water, and a mini-frig. Fussy about pillows? we have a vast pillow library; bamboo, copper, memory foam - whatever your pillow fantasy is!
 
Wander the garden paths and delight in this feast for the senses. We won’t tell you exactly where to find all the places to rest and ponder life… we believe you will magically come upon them right when needed.
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Along the way, you'll find hammocks and loungers, chat spaces and meditation platforms. You won't be able to resist dipping your toes into the pool and connecting with your new soul brothers and sisters.
Meals
​Con Smania Style
The name Con Smania means with passion and so does mealtime. Your senses come alive as you take in the brilliant colors, textures, tastes, and scents of simple and delightful homemade meals. Ingredients are farm to table, fresh and organic. Exotic fruits are grown on property and eggs come fresh from the farm next door.
You’ll bond with new friends as you explore consciously prepared meals inspired by the ingredients that make this one of the world’s five Blue Zones.
​Can't eat this or that? Dietary restrictions are celebrated here. The bountiful buffets are very vegetarian friendly, plus fish. Your culinary adventure includes traditional homemade Costa Rican food and surprises to delight the adventurous foodie.

​We believe in honoring the land through connecting closer to source in all ways. Buffet style, we encourage you to take what you need knowing you can always return for more.
​Breakfast and dinner are included every day. Anytime you need more nourishment, blend yourself a smoothie at the included all day smoothie bar. You'll find local fruits, greens and nutritious add-ins. Also, grab a snack – you never know what we may conjure up that day.
Itinerary
​Always subject to change, most likely due to monkey visits or a beautiful summer storm.
Wednesday Day 1 - Your Arrival
Your retreat begins as soon as you clear customs. We take care of everything. Relax and connect with new friends on your scenic shuttle ride through the countryside enroute to the Con Smania Retreat Center.
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Upon arrival, settle in and explore the grounds or even take a dip or nap. We’ll bond over a group dinner and a special welcoming ceremony weather permitting, perhaps a fire or a sacred circle ceremony.
Thursday Day 2 - Immersion Day
Enjoy a leisurely morning followed by a group breakfast and a day of immersion into living the work. Today, we can blend the new RIM student activities with everyone, as you immerse yourself into several experiential RIM-Infused activities today, you and your group will be creating a safe and sacred space for the week. This is often where spouses discover and appreciate our work, while surprising themselves with their own capacity for personal work. We all will discover our own custom growth path for the week and beyond. Create group agreements, (in a RIM way) for how you will be growing, and playing together throughout the week.

Group Dinner then evening at your leisure.
Friday Day 3 - Learning, playing and Growing
Don't set an alarm, the monkeys will tell you when it's time to get up. Start with an early morning walk and beautiful guided beach meditation designed to expand your worldview of our planet, and the inner-scape of how you think, feel and work.

After breakfast you have freedom and choice! Pool time? Reading? Writing? Connecting with others for a walk on the beach? A Massage? Clear out your emails because you just can't stay away yet? 
​You’ll also learn unique ways to create greater safety for your clients to easily move from their stories to the root issues and hidden blocks they don’t even know they have. 
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Group Dinner and evening at your leisure. Maybe an impromptu fire circle, or sunset walk to the beach?
Saturday Day 4 - Farmers Market in Samara & Afternoon Flex time
Start the day right with a special RIM-Infused yoga class with Jenn, then after breakfast, we'll shuttle to the farmer's market in Samara, where locals and your chef shop for groceries and unique artisan products. Maybe opt for free time, book a massage or other healing treatment.​

The afternoon will bring some choices for you. Maybe we figure out staying in town after lunch if you like. Or beach time. While the RIM class is busy, you and your fellow retreaters will have your own activities or free time. You choose.  
​Evening - Dinner and a quiet evening to relax, socialize, or contemplate your personal journey to the sounds of nature.
Sunday Day 5 - Breath work & free time or other activities
After a morning beach walk or free time, and breakfast, experience a special healing journey through the power of breathwork. Our breathwork masters will gently guide you into a deeper state of consciousness, where healing, spirit, and love reside.

After lunch, you'll be free to relax, choose or make your own fun to share or be alone.
​You'll be facilitating your practice client through gentle, yet powerful dialogues, releasing the things that keep them stuck. Then you’ll take your turn as the practice client, releasing more of your own stuck-ness!
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Your clients (and you) will literally create new neural pathways toward greater health, love, and success.
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Enjoy dinner and a well-deserved quiet leisurely evening.
monday day 6 - Choose your own fun & evening sound bath
Morning beach walk or yoga class anyone?  After your leisurely morning and group breakfast, you’ll step into another morning of choosing your own adventure.

Maybe let a new RIM student practice on you?
Maybe join a workshop or fun activity being put on by one of you fun and weird new friends? Whose idea was it to invite these wacky creative people to come together anyway?!

Or maybe its reading or writing time. You choose.
The evening brings local sound healers who will create a special Sound Bath Journey with a vast array of sacred sound instruments and multi-dimensional voice toning. You'll be guided into deep meditative states to connect more fully to your energy body.
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Enjoy a Light dinner/dessert and sharing circle.
tuesday day 7 - leisure & Fun with Friends
Enjoy a morning beach walk or free time, then a group breakfast before we dive into fun activities created by you or your friends.  Or, just relax, journal, reflect on your week. Walk miles on the beach, or hike to the waterfalls!

It's been a big week, and this is your time to integrate and rest. 
​​Spend the afternoon free, sign up for a massage, or enjoy some pool or beach time, socializing, or journaling and packing. 

We’ll have a group dinner followed by our closing circle and fire ceremony, weather permitting.
wednesday day 8 - goodbyes & departure
Saying goodbye is easier knowing we will be connecting again soon and sensing new lifelong friendships forming.
​Morning free time and breakfast at your leisure. Departures as scheduled.
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​​By the end of this magical retreat, you will have deeply connected with other beautiful souls, slain some of your own biggest saboteurs and refreshed yourself in mind, body and spirit. Here are some scenes you might picture yourself in.
​​Meet Your Hosts
Michael J. Kline
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​I was drawn back to Costa Rica by my spiritual growth and healing journey. Answering the call to “be the Fire” as a teacher, healer, and human, I walked into the retreat center and instantly embraced the next step in my evolution and became an owner/member of the Con Smania Collective.
 
I am the 11th of 12 children born into poverty on our abusive, alcoholic father’s junkyard. After losing my mother at age 7 and being adopted by an emotionally abusive aunt and uncle, I spent the next forty years discovering that I am worthy of love and life.
 
At my first Jack Canfield retreat, Jack facilitated a redo of the death of my mother, where I was told “don’t cry” and that I had to be a grownup now. My entire life changed when I learned that men can cry and play and feel and express emotions.
 
Jack introduced me to Dr Deborah Sandella, creator of the RIM method, who provides emotional processing support at his retreats. I’ve been studying and working with her and Jack ever since. My personal growth through RIM taught me to love myself, connect deeply, and to give and receive love and support from others.
 
As a six-time successful entrepreneur, I was successful at life’s “shoulds” but I wasn’t truly happy. All that changed as I grew into a passionate transformational trainer and facilitator of healing.
 
Now as part of Jack Canfield’s Train the Trainer faculty, and the Senior Trainer at The RIM Institute, I teach trainers, coaches, and retreat leaders in deep healing work. My passion is creating safe and sacred spaces with love, connection, and always, a questionable amount of humor. I can’t wait to introduce you to the RIM work that healed my heart and the the retreat center that captured it.

I live in Sarasota, FL with my husband Sal (of 34 years) and our labradoodle Luke.
Jenn Schaefer
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Jenn has been helping clients with health and wellness issues since 2011.  She enhanced her practice by training under Jack Canfield and John Maxwell Leadership as a Coach, Speaker, Trainer in 2018 and expanded her business connections into the Corporate Wellness space and international outreach.  With a thirst for knowledge, Jenn shares generously with her clients and maintains her education and training in unique methods that set her apart from other practitioners.
 
Jenn is a Master Certified RIM Facilitator and RIM Institute licensed trainer.  She has served hundreds of clients worldwide and studied and worked directly with Dr. Deb for over 3 years.  She plays an instrumental role in the Project-Heal.org Program bringing emotional safety to classrooms.

Jenn’s training includes specializations in Mind-Body modalities, including E-RYT Yoga, Y12SR Yoga, Trauma Informed Yoga, Reiki, Meditation & Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zin, The Energy Codes and Body Awake Yoga with Dr. Sue Morter, National Academy of Sport Medicine CPT, CES and CNC. 

She is extensively trained in Conscious Coaching as a Deep Transformational Coach with the Center for Transformational Coaching, and is a Certified Master Jungian Life Coach & Mentor and a member of the International Jungian Coaching Association. 

She is a wonderful and caring professional whose main interest is in helping people overcome emotional and physical struggles.  Her clients voice great appreciation for her immense degree of compassion and effectiveness.

Certified Deep Transformational Coach, Center for Transformational Coaching
Certified Master Jungian Life Coach, and a Certified Member of the International Jungian Coaching Association
Certified Trainer & Facilitator of RIM® Regenerating Images in Memory
Certified Canfield Trainer of The Success Principles
Certified John Maxwell Team Member & DISC Trainer The Leadership Game
Certified Facilitator of The Energy Codes®
National Academy of Sports Medicine, Certified Personal Trainer, Corrective Exercise Specialist, Nutrition Coach
Certified E-RYT 200, Yoga Instructor & Y12SR Yoga Instructor
Meditation & Mindfulness Practitioner
Coco sorensen
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I fell in love with Costa Rica last summer when I was part of the first group to experience Con Smania. I immediately bonded with Stevie the turtle, the little fishes who nibbled on my dry heals, the monkeys and big iguanas who periodically say hello from a distance, the dogs and horses who calmly roam the property, the land crabs who bask in the sunlight alongside the road to say good morning on my way to the beach, and the lush landscape that I can hardly wait to reconnect with again.

I have spent the past decade working diligently to heal my childhood trauma. On this quest, I have explored a variety of modalities including talk therapy, sound baths, foot zones, aromatherapy, plant medicine, breath work, cranial sacral massage, nature walks, journaling, meditating with horses, enrolling in trauma series, studying everything about big and little traumas, ACES, mentors, podcasts, rocks and crystals, RIM and plenty of meditation, just to name a few.  In the end, it was a series of RIM sessions that allowed me to speak the voice of that little girl inside of me who never asked for any of it that finally allowed me to forgive and be at peace.
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When I found Jack Canfield’s book “The Success Principles”, I had no idea how much my life would upgrade, nor the amazing people I would soon call my dearest friends and fellow trainers. I jump at any chance I can get to play in the same space with Mike Kline and Jenn Schaefer.

My passion is to meet people where they are on their quest to find healing, happiness, and to reignite joy in their lives. I look so forward to spending time with you at Con Smania, a place I know to be a magical space for learning, growing, connecting, and transforming.

Coco has been a testing center administrator and university professor for thirty years. She is a Certified RIM Facilitator, 7 Habits Trainer, Canfield Methodology Trainer, Barrett Consultant, and as a lifelong learner, brings incalculable knowledge and wisdom everywhere she goes.
Even More Details
Frequently Asked questions
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Is this retreat for me?
The initial retreat was created for coaches, retreat leaders, counselors, and other helping professional who want to up-level their emotional processing skills.
This special friends and family retreat will share many of the activities, the meals, and the property and have lots more freedom to do as you please and to co-create your own experience. If that sounds like hell to you, it may be an invitation to check into whatever you're avoiding. Or stay home and wonder. but if you were invited, you're being called to say yes, even if you don't know why.

If you would like to spend a week with truly special, authentic, loving people in a magical setting away from the distractions of daily life, where you can immerse yourself in deep relaxing, growing and playing with a community of other like-minded professionals, this retreat is for you.
 
Can you help me find a roommate? Yes! This is the most popular way to participate. In fact, we offer very few single occupancy casitas at an additional cost. We are happy to match you to a roommate. If you have a friend coming who you want to share a room with, just let us know.
 
Can I bring my kids/partner? This is the special page for this special spouse/partner retreat. Some spouses do well, some don't. Many participants find it best to focus on themselves and their work. We encourage social time deepening the friendships you will create here, some of which may last a lifetime. That said, if it feels right for the participant, we do have a spouse program for this particular retreat, so we invite a conversation about how that might work for you (or not). This retreat and the retreat center is definitely not set up for children. ​

Where do I fly into? Liberia International Airport in Guanacaste (LIR), aka Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport

Is there transportation from the airport to the retreat venue? Yes, included. You will receive a questionnaire for your flight information, and we will arrange shuttles from the airport to the retreat center with your classmates.

Can you accommodate dietary restrictions? Absolutely, all special diets are welcome and celebrated here.

Is it safe to travel to Costa Rica? Absolutely. Costa Rica is the safest and lowest crime area of Central America. As a stable democracy, Costa Rica abolished its military in 1946, in favor of investing in free education and a public health care system. Crime in Playa Buena Vista is not even on the radar. At our own beach, we will likely not see anyone else even there. When traveling to town or public beaches, like any tourist area, it is recommended not to wear expensive jewelry or carry valuables, and never leave valuables in a car even if locked.
 
What is the weather like? Typical high is 83 F and lows of 73. During the green season, we expect a lovely rainfall most afternoons and if we're lucky, an amazing storm/nature show. 
 
What do I pack? Casual and comfortable, with shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops being the norm. Most participants abandon any concerns about hair and makeup after the first day. Even going into town is very casual. If you plan to take advantage of a photoshoot, bring what you need to prepare for that. Irons and hair dryers are available on site. 
 
Still have a question?  The trip is amazing, and we also know the training has to be a good fit. If you're not sure, book a call with Mike to chat using his online calendar.
Location
​Con Smania Retreat Center
at Playa Buena Vista
Sámara, Costa Rica, 55235
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There are two nearby towns, Nosara and Samara to connect with community while enjoying the solitude of a very special remote setting.

The closest airport is in Liberia (LIR), Costa Rica
Scenic shuttle ride to/from airport is included.
WHat's included and what's not
What's Included
* Round trip Shuttle to/from Con Smania Retreat Center
* 7 Nights shared Casita Accommodations
* 2 Buffet meals daily and all-day smoothie bar and snacks
* Sound Healing Journey
* Breathwork Healing Experience
* Outing to Samara or Nosara, and Farmer’s Market
* Beach meditations, circles, fire ceremonies and other activities
What's Not Included
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* Your round-trip airfare from home
* Extra Insurance Policies
* Fees for excursions not on agenda
* Shopping, phone calls, spa services
* Local transportation, Photoshoot
* Horseback rides, ​Gyrocopter Tours
​* Kayaking, Massages, etc.
All Inclusive Cost for Friends and Family Retreat
​​Maximum of 18 Participants

$5297 - Regular Price, Shared Casitas for New Students

$500 - add on for single occupancy if available. Contact us, very limited. People who share casitas have a richer retreat experience.

$1497 - Friends and Family Shared Vacation Retreat
(Only 10 available) Shared Casitas. $1542 if you pay by credit card.
This is the "Heck-yeah, I know I wanna play" special price. When it's gone, it's gone, and it's non-refundable.
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​This is a very special training retreat, which has to be a good fit for you. If you are unsure or if you have further questions, please book a call with Mike here.

Your payment and registration does not guarantee acceptance into the program. Although rare, we reserve the right to refuse any participant who is not a fit for the personal work we will be undertaking. RIM is specifically contraindicated (not for) for those with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and/or paranoia, or any condition that interrupts the ability to discern reality.

If we cannot match you with a roommate we may switch you to a single occupancy room, in which case there will not be any additional charge.
Cancellation Policy
​Due to the special nature of this event, and that this is for friends and family sharing the rental of the retreat center, this is non-refundable.

We reserve the right to cancel the trip if it does not meet the trip minimum, resulting in a total refund of amount paid.

​Trip cancellation insurance is always recommended whenever making travel plans. Two popular providers include Travel Guard Insurance  and World Nomads  where you can choose from several policy options.