10/06/2025
How do we do it? ⬇️
We’ve heard it at every retreat we’ve hosted. “Maybe one day when I can afford it.” “I wish I could do something like that. “Must be nice.”
So let’s talk about that, with love, honesty, and a little financial truth. Because I get it. I didn’t grow up with money either. My parents worked hard, blue-collar jobs, and nobody ever sat us down to explain saving, budgeting, or credit.
When I was younger, I wasted money, nails, eating out, Starbucks daily, brand names, trying to look like I had it together. Once sobriety came into the picture, my priorities changed. I stopped trying to keep up with the Joneses and started keeping up with myself.
Now, we live simply and intentionally. Our family lives out of a camper by choice. Our cost of living is about a third of what rent would be for a two-bedroom place nearby. We do that to live lighter on the earth, consume less, and spend more time outside together. Our kids don’t need plastic toys, they play with rocks and sticks and imagination and us.
We don’t buy new phones every year. We don’t buy new clothes unless we truly need them, and even then we try to thrift, borrow, or buy secondhand. We watch where our money goes, because it’s not about how much you make, it’s about how you spend it.
Before this chapter, there were years of learning. I waited tables, I bartended, I worked doubles and triples. You can make good money doing that, but if you don’t know how to save, it doesn’t matter how much you make. When you’re paid every day, it’s easy to say, “It’s just $20… it’s just $40…” and before you know it, every dollar is gone.
For four years, I lived out of a van.
No rent, no unnecessary bills. I traveled for work and couldn’t justify paying for an house that sat empty most of the month. It was the most financially freeing time of my life, not because I was making a ton of money, but because I wasn’t wasting it.
When the calling came to go to India for yoga teacher training, I sold everything I owned, jewelry, clothes, gear, books, furniture. I started a GoFundMe and saved for over a year. Because when something truly calls you, you find a way.
That’s how we want people to approach retreats. These aren’t vacations. They’re not luxury getaways or “nice hotels.” They’re experiences built to change your life, spaces for healing, reflection, and connection.
If what you want is simply a nice place to stay, Airbnb has plenty of options for a weekend away and that will absolutely be more affordable. But that’s not what we create.
We bring in chefs.
We rent entire properties with space for multiple people to have their own sleeping spaces.
We coordinate facilitators, workshops, and ceremonies.
We hold space for people to unravel, heal, and rise. That’s not a vacation, that’s medicine.
And we’ve done everything we can to make this medicine accessible:
• Our first retreat in Panama was sliding scale.
• We’ve offered payment plans.
• We’ve given away spots for free.
• We’ve offered discounts for those who teach or guide a workshop.
• We’ve priced our retreats at half of what most retreat leaders charge.
And every single time, we’ve reinvested every dollar right back into the company, to build community, to grow the mission, to make each experience more intentional and more accessible than the last.
Because Satsang Project isn’t about profit, it’s about people.
That said, we can’t keep pouring from an empty cup. So here’s the new reality:
We’ll always offer a sliding scale if you come talk to us early enough. We’ll always try to help you find a way. But you have to meet us halfway.
Here’s how:
1️⃣ Start your retreat jar.
Drop $25 a week in there. Skip takeout meals and coffee runs and add that too. Watch how fast it adds up.
2️⃣ Audit your habits.
Track what you actually spend money on, nails, hair, lashes, drive-throughs, tv subscriptions, apps. Add it up for a month. Most people spend more on convenience than on growth.
3️⃣ Name your priorities.
You can buy temporary comfort, or you can invest in long-term healing. One of those things stays with you forever.
4️⃣ Plan ahead.
We announce retreats months, sometimes a full year, in advance. Start saving now, even if you’re not sure which one you’ll attend.
And remember, there are always early-bird discounts for those who say yes first, and sometimes late sign-up discounts if we still have space toward the end. But those spots go fast.
We’re not here to shame anyone, we’re here to remind you that you’re capable. If you really want to come, you can make it happen. Maybe not overnight, maybe not this round, but eventually, absolutely.
Because money isn’t the only energy exchange happening here. Every dollar you save with intention is saying, I choose myself. I choose growth. I choose to rise.
And that’s what Satsang Project is really about.
We live simply so we can create this work from the heart, not from greed.
Our mission has always been to make this kind of healing accessible.
Yes, Rising Through the Muck will have walls and beautiful beds. But that’s because many of you said, “I want walls.” And that’s okay. Walls cost more than open air huts, Safari tents or primitive camping but they also hold new kinds of medicine.
If you’ve got a birthday or holiday coming up, ask for this instead of “stuff.” We’ve had people attend because their loved ones pitched in to make it happen.
And if you don’t know where to start, reach out. We can sit down together and look at your numbers, see what’s coming in and what’s going out. We’re not financial advisors, we’re just people who’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) that abundance isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about how you use it and where you place your energy.
Because when we live in scarcity, in that mindset of “I’ll never be able to…” we stay stuck in the muck. But when we live in abundance, in “I’m calling this in, I’m making this happen, I’m creating the space for it”, we rise.
Go to www.SatsangProject.com. Look at what’s coming. Even if it’s not this February, maybe it’s Bali in 2026, or something that hasn’t even been announced yet for 2027.
Start dreaming now. Start saving now.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
And when we come together with intention, the way always shows itself.
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Up coming Retreat:
“Wild Roots Rising:Returning to Appalachia”
SOLD OUT (22 participants)
WNC | November 7-9th 2025
Details: satsangproject.com
Questions: charleen@satsangproject.com
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Photo By: WanderKin Photography
Location: Puerto Viejo Costa Rica
Retreat guide: Charleen-Stokes Satsang-Project
