After a five year contribution to Urlings Cricket Club, where my partner Trevor Erskine was VP and Captain, I offer up a few musings on the ups and downs of a village cricket club and what’s needed for there to be a future for cricket in Antigua.
Trev and I stepped down because the executive want funds donated for Nets and a grassroots program for children to be misused for the Club House build. We can’t support that. Raise more funds to continue the club house build. Don’t abuse the generosity of donors and steal the opportunity to play cricket from children.
We leave Urlings CC with $EC44,000 for Nets and a grassroots program that can run for a couple of years. A deal with Neil Radford to provide professional nets at factory cost and 5 newly trained coaches. Laid out and ready to go, anything less than a thriving grassroots programme is a failure. We watch with interest.
Incredibly more than 500 cricket lovers gave money, love and encouragement to Urlings Cricket Club to raise a total of $EC135,000 EC or £42,000. Children in UK schools sold lollipops at their sports day. Cricket clubs hosted fancy dress parties. England cricket fans bought drinks from the Urlings CC bar at the West Indies Test Match. 140 people attended a dinner with Michael Holding and Andy Roberts spending £24,000 on auction prizes generously donated.
To all of you Trev and I say THANK YOU SO MUCH. You are awesome.
Trust is important. When a person gives money for children to play cricket you use that money for children to play cricket. When you give your word Mr President, keep it. When you give your written word Mr Treasurer, keep it. Walk your Talk. This is even more important in a country with a culture and reputation of corruption.
£42,000 is a lot of money. For that we all want to see kids playing cricket.
Cricket in Antigua, how brilliant you could be. Right now it’s full of old men talking about the glory days. Glorious they were, yes. 50 years ago. Current day facilities are non-existent or derelict. Clubs can barely get a team together and youth development is minimal. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Work with the men and women passionate about cricket NOW. Those on the cricket field with the vision, rolling the pitches, showing up to coach kids in their free time. Support them. Move away the men robbing energy because they want to be the ‘Big Man’. They are destructive. If they were going to contribute anything to grassroots cricket in Antigua, they’d have done it by now. Stop the culture of undermining. Celebrate achievements and learn appreciation. You will create and build this way.
Have some women at the table. There were times at committee meetings when men and Sir’s were outraged that I spoke on behalf of myself and Trevor. ‘Trevor, you can’t be a man and talk for yourself?’ They said. Embarrassing. What century are we in people? Women on the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Board, Women on the West Indies Cricket Board, Women at the wicket smashing a six in Antigua, where are you? You are long overdue.
Teach competent organisational skills to sports clubs. It takes 18 months to set up a Friendly Society in Antigua, to open a bank account and set up an Exec Committee with a constitution. After all that effort the Treasurer doesn’t have to submit accounts, the Secretary doesn’t have to take minutes, the president can do what he wants, the Executive Committee can dwindle to 3 people. There is no accountability.
Team with up with UK clubs and form friendships across the water, share ideas build relationships. Send players to the UK for the experience of playing on other surfaces and to broaden perspectives. Receive their players here in Antigua. Build an international community around coaching and leadership.
Work with the football community, unite instead of fight, build bridges not walls. While pitches are shared between football and cricket teams, co-ordinate so the football season finishes in time for the cricket season to begin. So that kids, youth and athletes can play both sports if they want to.
Right now, Urlings CC can just about make a team. This was beginning to change. Trevor nurturing a couple of youngsters onto the team and building the resources for a grassroots programme. Magnify this.
We leave you with few highlights of what was described by ‘The Big Men’ as the ‘Trevor and Kat Show’. Trev, I am so proud to be part of your show. A show all about the love of cricket, dedication to children and youth in Antigua playing cricket. I salute your heart, your vision, your patience and dedication. Put your sunglasses on if you can’t deal with people shining and sharing love.
A few highlights….
Setting up the Friendly Society, Executive Committee, Constitution and Bank Account, 18 month’s learning Antigua’s processes and systems.
The Urlings Cricket Club Emblem designed by George Williams
Trev setting up the Urlings CC Kids Club. Every Friday on the field, races, training, juice and ice, lots of fun, laughter and good times. Seeing two of those kids go on to play in the Urlings CC team.
Lord Taverners kit donation arriving for seniors and kids. Seeing the kids show up to the senior matches proudly wearing their first set of cricket whites, wanting to play.
Organising for Kofi James, Liberta to attend Lansdown Cricket Club, Bath, the club Sir Viv Richards first played at in Somerset. Kofi came back to captain the Leeward Islands. Playing cricket with my nephew and Kofi in Victoria Park and eating ice cream.
Organisng the West Indies Foundation Level Coaching for 14 coaches from Urlings, Jennings, Mahico, Rising Sun. They also received their child protection and First Aid and I remembered it’s the people playing cricket who love cricket that’s where it’s at.
Writing successful grant applications for Jumby Bay Foundation and Sir Andy Roberts Foundation both providing 10,000 EC for the Club House building, a home for training and learning of youth locally.
3 days, should have been 5! at the England v West Indies Test Match running the bar, meeting all the England fans supporting Urlings CC. Their G+T’s got stronger on day 3 drowning their sorrows.
Selling 20 copies of Simon Lister’s book ‘Fire In Babylon’, signed by Sir Andy Roberts to kick off the fundraising campaign, chatting with Simon Lister five years later at the London Fundraiser.
Organising a sold out London Fundraiser with a dear friend Paul Snudden. Michael Holding and Andy Roberts shared their stories and an auction raised £24,000. Michael Holding mentioned Urlings CC on the Sky TV Ashes coverage! Michael also insisted on paying for his ticket for the dinner too. We can all learn from this gentleman’s grace.
Fundraising over EC 134,000 – 90,000 EC towards the club house and EC44,000 towards nets and grassroots kid’s program.
For the Love of Grassroots Cricket, Community and Next Generation.
Come with me on a walk – 3 minutes of beauty
And listen to your heart.
When you listen to your heart in business you take a very different path.
A business that leads with your creative spirit, honours your heart and is in harmony with the Earth. A business with connection, compassion and kindness.
My productivity this week has gone out the window. Overwhelm, anxiety and scattered thinking.
My egoic mind wanted to push through, write my book, now you’ve got the time!
My heart invited me to go on a beach walk.
A walk into beauty, calming my mind, soothing my soul.
Returning grounded, peaceful, present.
Come with me into these little blasts of beauty.
Listen to your heart.
What does your heart want to share with you?
This week’s wisdom from the Sea.
Much Love x x
Create your True Business with Heart When I was working in traditional business as the global communications director for the Homeless World Cup, I wasn’t aware that I was disconnected from universal energy, source, our life force, nature. It was only when facing burn out, I turned to listen to the wisdom of my heart and it guided me to a month in Antigua. Here I walked barefoot on white sand, floated in the turquoise Caribbean Sea and ate mangoes from the tree. The life force of the island brought me back to life. Only then did I realise. Now it’s all about creating with this creative universal energy. Letting go of trying to work it out, get it relevant, right, perfect or contain and control it. This leads me back into anxiety, overwhelm, scattered. Instead it’s all about the dance. Listening, receiving, allowing, being with curiosity and wonder, letting go of any expectations. Whilst traditional business is cut off from our life force, nature, from this universal energy it will continue to hurt us and our planet. We need a new business model where we create with this universal energy. It leads us from stress, exhaustion, fears of survival, greed, devastation and destruction into regeneration, harmony, wellness, vitality, peacefulness, freedom, expansion and a new world of possibility. This is True Business. I’d love to invite you further into the dance with this universal energy in business, to explore and embrace the wisdom and creativity of your heart with a Live Webinar, Podcast, Online Course and Antigua Retreat coming up. Take your pick and please do share with your friends too. Free Live Webinar Create your True Business with Heart 22 August 2019, 8pm UK / 3pm NY / 12pm LA. Come and play with the True Business model and explore what wants to emerge in your business from the wisdom and creativity of your heart. Register here. True Business Podcast – Starts 26 August 2019 Inspiration for your True Business from all the interviews and conversations with business leaders for the True Business book. They generously share their experience, wisdom, insights, tools and visions to explore, inspire and co-create this radical new way of being in business. True Business School – 8 October 2019 A 6 month online programme to design and build your True Business for wellness, fulfilment, legacy and prosperity. You will identify your purpose (why?), audience (who?), product and service (what?) and financial structure all from the wisdom of your heart to create a whole, new business aligned with your true nature and purpose. Register here. True Business Antigua Retreat – December 2019 & March 2020 For women making a difference in business, a weeks retreat relaxing into Antigua’s natural beauty to open up your heart’s vision and pathway of the business you were born to build. Create your 2020 business vision and pathway with heart from 30 November to 7 December 2019 or from 21 – 28 March 2020. It’s beauty, inspiration, creativity and wellness for you and your business. More info here. Feel free to be in touch if you have any questions or would love to connect. I look forward to seeing you for the Build Your Business with Heart Live Webinar on 22 August. Much love, Kat x PS Look at this beautiful Caribbean sky after a storm this week. We are so privileged to have each day that we do on this planet and to dance with this divine buzz as Pam Grout calls it! |
Have you ever wanted to do a naked photoshoot in natural beauty?
Women coming on the True Business Antigua Retreat are gifted the beautiful invitation of a photoshoot with talented local photographer Yensa Werth as part of her self love series.
In a hidden place in nature, with a small group of women from the True Business Antigua Retreat, you are invited to embrace your true feminine essence, to experience being your whole and complete True Self and for it to be captured on film.
It is vulnerable, brave and beautiful.
It is transformative.
When you relax into your true feminine nature there is a powerful radiance, a beauty. There is also a creative liberation, a freeing of your spirit and accompanying energy that you can pour into your True Business. You experience the courage and power to lead from your True Self. The group relationship deepens too. And you end up with a stunning collection of photographs to take home with you.
Here’s my favourite photograph from my photoshoot with Yensa to trial and create the experience for the women coming on the True Business Antigua Retreat.
I’m terrified of the Atlantic Ocean. Its intensity is intimidating and overwhelming to me. This is how I can experience masculine power in business and within me – aggressive, destructive, running roughshod over everyone and everything without a care. In the absence of the feminine nurturing essence, in the absence of the wisdom of the heart, this masculine approach in business led me to burnout, anxiety and depression.
Here in this moment I went beyond this fear of masculine power into the experience of embracing both energies equally within me. A harmony, balance, union that created a calm, peaceful, soft power within me. It also burst forth a whole lot of creative inspiration.
I’m curious, what do you see?
We returned a few months later with the True Business Antigua Retreat women and recreated this photograph with five of us. This time the waves splashing over us from the ocean and it was wild and exhilarating.
Absolutely love the magic created in partnership with Yensa.
If you’d love to join the next True Business Antigua Retreat here are the dates:
30 November – 7 December 2019 (2 places)
7 December – 14 December 2019 (Sold Out)
21 March – 28 March 2020
18 April – 25 April 2020
www.katbyles.com/Antigua
Book a complimentary Antigua Exploration Session to make your decision: http://bit.ly/AntiguaRetreat
I’d love to invite you to Antigua.
To take the last place on the March True Business Retreat from 16-23 March 2019.
A special time to dive into the sunshine energy and turquoise Caribbean Sea to explore and create the next chapter of your business. To pour pure source inspiration into you and your business.
When you do you have an energy that can sustain you and carry your forwards; an energy that is attractive and opens up opportunities naturally in alignment with your true nature and purpose. This is the pathway of your heart – creativity, love, joy, vitality, fun and freedom, receiving rather than all that blood sweat and tears, leaning in, pushing and struggling we’ve been told business is.
Through the week we connect to your true purpose, your 3 prosperity pillars, your audience, the layers of your heart’s offering to serve your audience, and the financial structure to create confidently. You leave with a solid True business structure and plan aligned with your true purpose, your pathway forwards and a 5 year map that will bring wellness, fulfilment, prosperity and legacy.
We have our creative sessions in the mornings, giving you the afternoons to enjoy the beach, the pool, the sunshine and assimilate all the goodness before a sunset debrief.
There’s yoga, swimming, paddle boarding, beach combing and a very special photo shoot with Yensa Werth, a talented local photographer, designed to unleash your creative spirit, to set it loose to lead in your business. You will love it.
It’s a holiday with lovely women too. We visit lots of beautiful places on the Island, including some favourite beaches, a drive through the rainforest, Sheer Rocks, which was voted one of the best restaurants in the Caribbean, English Harbour and Nelsons Dockyard. On your day off your have the option to have a massage, Reiki, go on a boat tour or spend the day reading your book or writing at the beach, whatever you’d like.
It’s £2950 and includes 7 nights luxury accommodation in your own double bedroom with en suite bathroom, breakfast, all transport on the Island including to and from the airport, welcome dinner, Sheer Rocks celebration lunch, Yoga, Paddle boarding, photoshoot and all the creative time with me to design your True Business structure. Amazing amazing value.
Have a look at www.katbyles.com/antigua and give me a shout with any questions. If it is seriously calling you message me and we can do an decision making session together – kat@katbyles.com
Please do feel free to pass this invitation along to any women who come to mind that would love to pour all this goodness in to themselves and their business too.
Until then. See you in the turquoise!
Much love,
Kat x
By source inspiration I mean from, and in harmony with, the energy of life itself.
Here in Antigua you can feel the life force of nature strongly all around you. In the waves of the crystal clear turquoise sea; in a cloud burst on the corrugated iron roof; in the lush green plant life that growth spurts after the rains bring the Island back to life.
Just like a plant knows to turn towards the sun, to send it’s roots towards the water to get what it needs to be healthy and to grow, so do we, when we are in harmony with this natural intelligence, with the energy of life.
And if we allow the energy of life to create through us in business, where will it take us?
I’ve experienced a return to wellness, to vitality, energy and peacefulness. Wholeness, fulfilment, meaning and joy, an alignment with my true nature and purpose, a deep knowing that I’m in the right place at the right time. There is harmony, flow and connection where there once was struggle, burn out and depression.
It has transformed my entire life. It moved me from Bath to Antigua, from burn out as a global communications director working with the biggest names in sport to working with women to create their True Business. From traditional business, albeit with a purpose to the inspired, groundbreaking True Business Model serving over 200 entrepreneurs, teachers, change makers, healers, creatives, writers and artists in 14 countries to connect to source inspiration to discover their unique True Business blueprint. And this is just the beginning.
We know only too well where business without connection to source, without the energy of life, without the creative spirit, without heart takes us. The separation from the energy of life takes us into burnout, stress, illness, anxiety and depression. Business decisions are taken in concrete, glass buildings, in airless boardrooms or pods. We buy and sell the earths resources in concrete rooms on screens on machines. Decisions in the pursuit of profit pollute our bodies, our oceans and our seas and environments are destroyed. If the energy of life is not present in our economic system it’s completely logical that we head towards extinction.
I’m not interested in this way of doing business, nor this end result.
For me the new frontier that is exciting, hopeful and revelatory is creating your business from source, co-creating your business in harmony with the natural energy of life. With your creative spirit unleashed in business we and our earth environment are taken towards wellness, fulfilment, prosperity and legacy.
That’s the business frontier that I want to explore.
You can access source by being in nature. By going into the sea and feeling the freedom and expansion that it brings. Pour that freedom, expansion, energy and life into your business. By walking in the woods and breathing in smell of the earth, the inspiration from autumn leaves tumbling through the fresh air. Pour that fresh air and beauty into your business.
You can access source by listening to your heart. In the stillness beyond your thoughts and feelings you can listen deeply to the wisdom and creative energy of your own sacred heart. Here you are connected to what life wants to create through you now. You can open up to a whole new world of business within your heart. A business that offers a deep expression of who you are and what you are called to create, contribute in service to the evolution of life and humankind, your True Business.
Are you excited to explore this way of being in business that allows life to thrive?
If yes, I’d love to hear from you.
If you aren’t. If you are reading this thinking what is she even on about? Go stand under the trees and breath in the freshness of the earth. Ask the natural energy of life to direct you by listening to your heart, to your deep knowing, to your intuition. And soon enough you will find yourself opening your heart to a whole new world of your True Business, a business so natural to you it doesn’t feel like work.
—
Peace under a grape seed tree.
Reflecting after a remarkable December True Business Retreat in Antigua.
Creative spirits were set free into newly designed expansive True Business structures – True Business structures designed from our higher natures.
All four women signed up to return next year. WOW.
There are natural, heart-led collaborations emerging between all of us.
We are letting go of old collaboration stories that left us all frazzled, pissed off, burnt out from the lack of mutual reciprocity.
There is simplicity and strength, so much strength in each woman, in each business, in the group, in my business and in the True Business model.
I’m learning that as I connect to source inspiration, show up and serve, letting go of my expectations and any attempts to manipulate and control the outcome is way beyond my imagination.
That I love listening deeply in each moment to what is wanted and needed, choosing to go with the flow, and that the more I relax the better the retreat, the deeper the connection, the more powerful the experience.
All four women loved the delight of connecting to their hearts true purpose and the certainty of success, energy and desire they now feel around their True Business.
They loved too the simple True Business model with its 3 steps of connecting to source, receiving their unique true business blueprint and taking skilful action to bring it to life.
My relaxed flexible focused facilitation style and ability to create tangible end results from the heart, the insights that spring forth from that space for everyone.
That business can be feminine and a vehicle for the full joyful expression of their creativity, make a difference and create legacy – YES!
Antigua, the magic of the island and All the beautiful places we visited, the turquoise sea, butterflies, so many butterflies. The inspiration that pours into us from the Caribbean Sea.
The magical photo shoot with Yensa at Mermaid Gardens. I’d love to share so much more about this one day but for now want to hold the mystery for future women who will immerse in this beauty and liberation.
There is so much goodness from the week that my mind has a job to process it all to understand all the different levels of connection, benefit and impact.
And I noticed my fear rising that success in my business will lead to being publicly wronged, shamed, humiliated, that it’s not safe to win, and that Im ready to let this old limiting story go.
I fell in love even more with my True Business unfolding and with the True Business Model born of inspiration from the turquoise Caribbean Sea, a Business model that has the potential to serve thousands of people to create the businesses they were born to build, to create a new way of doing business that creates wellness and fulfilment and prosperity.
It’s going to be a gift working with these four powerful, smart women with a blend of true purposes that couldn’t be any more perfect to bring our businesses to life over the next five years.
Business doesn’t have to be blood sweat and tears, hard work and burn out. It can be a blend of beauty, truth, relaxation, creativity and joy. It can be so natural to you that it doesn’t feel like work.
Join me for the 16-23 March 2019 Antigua Retreat.Katbyles.com/antigua for more info.
Wellness. Inspiration. Fulfilment.
Set up an Antigua Exploration Session if you’d like to speak, tune into your end result and make your decision.
Antigua just got even more wonderful and expansive.
This year we are bringing business teams to the island to immerse in nature, connect with pure source inspiration and unlock all that hidden wisdom and creative power and potential of the hearts of the team to pour into the business.
I’m collaborating with leaders in their fields of marketing, leadership and philanthropy to co-host retreats focused on…
Leading with Heart for Corporates
Marketing with Heart for SME’s
High Harmony Teams for Global Change Makers
And I’m open to future collaborations too!
The combination of the immersion in nature and connection to the heart is a powerful tool for transformation and creativity. This will only be enhanced in a team benefiting from the synergy and synchronicity that comes in a high harmony team focused on the higher purpose and vision.
During the retreats for women founders, entrepreneurs, pioneers, change-makers, teachers, healers, artists and writers with their own businesses as they have listened to the wisdom of their hearts and stepped into greater harmony with their true nature and purpose and the flow of life, they have…
++ Aligned their business with their true nature and purpose
++ Designed innovative products & programmes with high value and impact
++ Quadrupled their business income doing far less
++ Become confident, creative, imaginative industry leaders
++ Opened international offices
++ Experience deep fulfilment, wellness, joy and happiness
++ Lost kilos, committed to give up alcohol, recovered from burn out
++ Got married!
If you’d like to know more about bringing a business team to Antigua to access the hidden creative potential of the heart in a beautiful nourishing place free of distraction and full of wonder let me know and we can arrange a time to speak.
Or join me for the next Antigua Retreat, 3-10 March 2017, an intimate retreat for just 4 women and experience it for yourself before you bring your team. Here’s a little more about it:
WHAT: A Business Retreat in Antigua, West Indies from 3-10 March 2018, pure source inspiration, beauty and transformation for you and your business.
MADE FOR: Women beginning a new chapter in your career or business. To take the time and space to listen deeply to what your heart is called to create now, source this next chapter of your business from pure inspiration. You want it to be deeply fulfilling and true to your purpose with far more grace and ease whilst you make a difference and enjoy wonderfully healthy financial returns.
INCLUDES: 5 days of creativity and business development with me. Seven nights accommodation in your own double room with an ensuite bathroom in a luxury hillside villa with 180 degree views of the Caribbean Sea, Five Islands, Nevis and St Kitts. You also have access to the facilities (pools, gym, spa) at Sugar Ridge Hotel. Breakfast, your welcome evening meal and celebration lunch at Sheer Rocks are also included, as is a yoga session and guided walk to a hidden part of the Island. Flights are not included but all transport on the island is, including your airport transfers.
COST: £2,950 (approximately US $4,000 / Canadian $5000).
TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE: Email me kat@katbyles.com or book a decision making session.
See you in the turquoise.
Much love,
Kat x
One month on it was a real joy to catch up with each woman attending March 2016’s PR with Heart Antigua to find out how they were doing now and the impact on their business. Here’s what they had to share…
Nikola King, Founder, Infinite Essence
“I arrived in Antigua with a temporary project and came back with a business.
I went to Antigua with a deep rooted belief that I was not a business woman. I came home with a business and owning that I was the Global Ambassador for it. This is a huge life and energy shift. It facilitated what I’ve been waiting a very long time for. I have clarity about my business and who I am within that. My whole life feels very grounded. I know exactly who I am and what I’m here to do.
One month on I have a crystal clear vision and assuredness I’ve seldom felt. I sense strongly that I can’t be moved from my centre even with all the external energies and influences in the world.
I’ve been very ethereal in the past. Antigua gave me the desire and knowing that I needed to ground my work. I want to be here and do this work. It gave me the vision of the impact of my work and other women around me who are here to make seismic differences from our creative hearts and I want to be a part of that.”
Thea Allison, Founder, Big Bang Creations
“One month on I am incredibly grateful. Both to you Kat, for having created the structure (PR with Heart Antigua) and to myself for getting myself there. The impact of it, the energy of the sun, sea and Antiguan vibes, is now a part of me.
The PR plan I created has landed and is the focus for my business. Knowing my market has brought a focus that excites me, and that absolute clarity of knowing where to put my energy is showing in results.
I highly recommend it to others, without a doubt. It’s very good value for money, a wonderful experience and if we are going to be women out in the world we have to give ourselves what we love. Otherwise we will be women putting ourselves out in the world in burn out.”
Jenna Yhearm, Founder, Gumption
“It was a perfect week of bliss and being focused.
One month on I feel calm and focused. Being at one with myself that week, with positive people, allowed me to remind myself who I am and why I am doing my business. This has stayed with me.
My purpose and message are integrated into every decision I now make in the business. I first stop and consider why I am making the decision and who will it affect. I’m much more conscious, it’s always there.
I’m hugely positive and confident about my future. I know exactly where I’m going in my business, so there is no day-to-day panic. I’m clear on my path and I’ll gently take the steps, I know what the end goal is.“
PR with Heart Programme…
“I loved the structure and your facilitation was great. You held the end result passionately and it was gentle, forgiving, open and you honoured the true agenda of each of us. We had the freedom to get there in our own way and own time and that gave it integrity and the end results real power. It was fun. You gave me blindingly valuable insights into growing my business.”
“The course quite simply and profoundly takes you on the journey you need to go on. I loved the way it all came together. You held the space beautifully. The simplicity and beauty of the work is that it takes you to the deep places you need to go in a safe and supportive way.”
“I had no idea what to expect I just knew I had to be in Antigua. Half way through I was genuinely surprised that the work we had done throughout the week was pulled together into such a clear, and such a simple plan. I hadn’t expected it to be so succinct. It was perfectly clear, perfectly outlined, no doubts. That was genius.”
Villa Amazing…
“I loved the villa – it held us in a safe space when arriving in a country you don’t know. To be up on the hill was wonderful. It gave us the platform to be together and to also have our own space. Perfect.”
“The villa was wonderful, perfect for what we were doing, a lovely space to be together, intimate, comfortable with space to be on your own as well when you wanted to.”
Antigua…
“I’ve completely fallen in love with Antigua. The people are so calm and chilled it allows the rest of us to be calm and relaxed. I want to go back.”
“Antigua is a place I’ll return to for insights, clarity and support in my business.”
“Antiguan people are so warm, down to earth and so unattached they are very freeing and relaxing to be with.”
“The energy of Antigua is incredibly supportive without it challenging you. It aligns you and brings you in tune with nature. The energies are beautiful facilitating a clarity, truth and strength to proceed. I believe that Kat, you’ve tapped into the energies of the island and are bringing their natural beauty into our lives and business.”
As I come away from the first PR with Heart Antigua Retreat with four brilliant women, the transformation is still full flight. And I want a Polaroid to capture the highlights; only the whole week was a highlight! The creative inspiration and connection to pure source; how everything flowed so effortlessly; the dedication and commitment of each woman to their true nature and purpose – what a joy; the clarity each woman received; the life-changing insights; the beauty, the nature, the innocence; the wonderful walks in nature, long swims in that magical sea, warm-hearted local people; the power each woman discovered within them; the stunning villa and how that came to me; the excitement the women had going home because they love who they are and what they are doing in their business. It goes on….
Creative inspiration and connection to source
During an early trip to Antigua I saw a vision that stopped me in my tracks – four blue phoenixes rising from the Caribbean Sea. This spoke to me of four women called to the Island to rise into their creative hearts, their true nature, purpose and power. PR with Heart Antigua was born. From here I made the choice to create it purely from source, taking action guided by my intuitive heart, letting go of the outcome. At one point the fourth woman was creating the money to attend. In the past I’d have frantically rushed about to get someone else just in case it didn’t come through. This time my heart clearly spoke ‘relax, it is taken care of’. The energy I used to waste and stress I caused myself because I didn’t trust my intuition. I learnt that when you receive, when you create from your higher nature in harmony with life, it is divine, it is effortless, it is who you are.
The impact before we even arrived
The impact on the women once they made the commitment to attend, before we even arrived, blew me away – their power ignited, one restructured her business; one healed and deepened the relationship with her father. I more than loved standing for their hearts, their higher nature with love, truth and compassion, no compromise. A privilege.
Life changing insights kept on coming
A few favourites came during the financial structure explorations. One woman’s relationship with money in her lower nature is ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ – masculine, driven, loads of money and most noticeably no children. In her heart, her business is providing for her large family. How many women miss out on the truth of their heart when they adopt this masculine approach to business?
Another woman, in her lower nature is working with clients that don’t belong to her with a pattern of them leaving. Because they are not her clients! In her higher nature she is working with corporate directors introducing a new creative technology into large corporate teams who go on to transform their lives and the business. With this energetic embodiment she received her first corporate client 5 hours after touching down on the runway in the UK. These are her true clients that she is here to serve. Effortless.
Resistance
Throughout the week one woman had an inner battle as she questioned, undermined and denied her true nature, purpose and power. The control set in as the ego rejected her truth and fought to keep her small, tightly contained, in hiding while her higher nature offers deep connection and expansion. The pain was evident, the realisation powerful and tearful. How often do you battle with or try to control a natural expansion? How often do you reject your intuition or heart’s desire believing you know how it will turn out and you’re not having that?! In doing so you shut down your whole life. Embrace your true nature, let go of expected outcomes, take the action as an offering of love, and this is life changing.
Clarity
Each of the four women went home with crystal clear clarity. Clarity is my true essence and what I love to bring into business. With clarity you can lean back, relax into what you are here to do on this earth. You have swift decision making saying an easy no when it is not in alignment. And you can enjoy mastery of your creative focus and the vitality, energy, fun and joy that comes with that. You can embrace and live your whole life.
The Magic of Villa Amazing
I’d been looking for a villa with four bedrooms with no luck. Until on a September visit my return flight was cancelled and I had to leave Antigua a day later. Standing in the check in queue I got chatting to a lovely couple scheduled to fly that day. They just happened to have a four bedroom villa and were considering renting for the first time. It was perfect – 180 degree sea views, infinity pool, beautiful bedrooms, and wonderful spaces for us to work in. When the world rearranges itself around you, when magic happens, you know you are on the right track.
Local Warm-Hearted People and Adventures
Walks with Vorn foraging for tangerines, coconut, and tamarind with stories about his grandma, knowledge of the plants and a tropical rainstorm. Taking to the sea to explore the beauty of the outer islands on our day off with Adventure Antigua, the lovely Trevor Erskine and a wind that turned the boat into flying log flume. Stewed Fish with Cavell ‘I put love in my cooking’ and pedicures with Tamara in Crab Hill, we were welcomed in as part of the local community.
Support from the Men
For me the new paradigm for women on earth is found where the feminine is seen, respected, held, loved and supported by the masculine. We all received this support from men in our lives to be in Antigua – be it financial, emotional or spiritual – it was deeply nourishing and appreciated.
Friendships Formed
I’m quite sure I’ll be life long friends with the four women attending keenly following their business growth with love and interest. Then there was Trevor Erskine who believed in me, and the retreat, encouraging me to create it; Kirsty MacAndrew who tuned in with me weekly to listen to intuitive guidance for inspired actions to take; Marianne Hartley, a business soul partner with regular check in’s; Victoria Player, a business consultant for women entrepreneurs who specialises in freedom based businesses who helped me feel my way practically into the new structure of my business to be based in the UK and Antigua; and Wendy Price who regularly pointed out when my ego was having a go and to return to my heart and what I’d love to create. It can take a team to create your dream. Thank you.
The next PR with Heart Antigua is 3-10 December. If your heart is called to rise in business message me kat@katbyles.com to reserve your place or book in an exploration session. I very much look forward to working with you in the divine pure source inspiration that is Antigua.
“A really big “thank you” for all the hard work and dedication you put in to the Homeless World Cup and for the way in which you have helped to change the lives of thousands of people through football.”
Rio Ferdinand, Footballer“’It is enjoyable to make things visible, which are invisible’ – Eric Cantona. This quote speaks volumes about you Kat. You are an inspiration now and always.”
Dave Cobban, Director, Nike Sustainable Business and InnovationWhen I aligned with my heart new financial partnerships came knocking at my door, my website traffic went up by 50% and my turnover up by 30%. Being in the Financial Times is the pinnacle for me as a personal finance writer.
Lynn Beattie, Mrs MummyPennyBy following the wisdom of her heart, Step created her True Business: “Your invitation to sit with the new vision of working with men during PR with Heart, Kat, opened up and clarified the direction for my work.”
Steph Magenta, Breathwork Facilitator and Teacher“The greatest gift from True Business has been simplicity. It has allowed my offerings to emerge and they are all things I never thought I’d be able to do as work. Photography and taking people into Nature feel so obvious as they are part of me. The business I needed to bring to the world has now been allowed to emerge.”
Edward Pike, Spiritual Mentor, Photographer & Writer