Audio Podcast: Planting the Seeds – 2026 Coralus Retreats

Harley: Hello, everyone, I’m Harley and welcome back to Ripples of Radical Genrosity. Azul, so happy to have you here. Do you wanna start by introducing yourself? 

Azul: Sure. I am Azul Carolina Duque or just Azul works. They or she pronouns are good. Born and raised in Colombia and currently live in Lekwungen territory. Colonially known as Victoria, BC, Canada. 

Harley: Amazing. So, as we head toward the end of the year, we’re starting to talk more about what 2026 might look like for Coralus. And one of the biggest things on the horizon is a series of in-person retreats happening around the world. So let’s go back to the beginning for a moment.

Can you walk us through how the idea of the Coralus Retreats came about? What were you sensing in the community or maybe in the world that made this feel like this is the next step? 

Azul: To be fully honest, I think the retreat idea came from Vicki and MJ together. And the way the retreat idea came to… I was brought into it, was when MJ and I were at the airport after the gathering of the 10th anniversary of Coralus, and MJ and I hadn’t met until then really.

And we serendipitously met at the airport when we were leaving. So our gates were basically next to each other and we started chatting, and MJ asked me about this thing that I had been working on neurochemistry, and different neurochemistry that is needed for us to show up to our current poly-crisis, basically – to the current changes that are happening in the world, to the multiple collapses that have been happening in our happening and are coming.

And so I started sharing with her and when I finished my sentence, she said, “You should be the person to design the retreats with us.” And I just got goosebumps because I had been wanting to design an embodied pedagogical experiences, so in-person experiences with people to go through these teachings, through the body and through the collective body.

So how can we learn together experientially? So basically all of it is to say practices. How can we practice these things… this language, how can we bring it into the body? Bringing into the emotion and bringing into relationships, not just the cognitive. And so from then, we just started… it just flowed, it flowed so easily. It was like the three of us came together, Vicky, MJ, and I, and it was like, it was already written. We just had to, bring it into paper. 

Harley: Amazing. So the word retreat gets used in a lot of ways from wellness getaways to strategy sessions. But now that you’ve given the opportunity to design it on your own, what are these retreats really about?

What makes them different, from how you designed it? 

Azul: Yeah, that’s a good question. I think retreats often are about, finding a space of relaxation. They could be often a space of escapism from the complexities of the world. And I would say these retreats are a way to practice how to stay and be with the world as it is right now, and engage with building the futures we want to build.

So I really think that in order for us to be in the future as we dream of, we have to be able to practice those things in the present now. And in order to practice those things, in those ways of relating in the present now, we need to do a lot of unlearning. We need to do a lot of internal mapping because those external systems that are no longer working live inside of us, perhaps they live inside of us even more than they live outside, so we keep reproducing them unconsciously.

And so, what a big part of what makes this retreat different, these retreats different from other retreats that you may encounter, is that it is about being with reality as it is, not as we want it to be. And practicing the tools that can help us unlearn from within and practice… or practice outside.

Harley: My next question actually is about deep diving more into those practices. Not maybe the, not the sessions or the topics, but the ways of being, we’re inviting people into these retreats.

Azul: Wonderful question. So the ways of being, we’re inviting people… As I said the retreats started from, or I was brought in to the retreats from the inquiry of neurochemistry, a different neurochemistry. So it’s a way to approach reality, not as consumers, but as people that are deeply entangled with a living web of relationships that we’re a part of, and that is a very different paradigm of reality.

We are used to encountering reality as consumers, as clients, entitled to a particular way of feeling. A particular way of being treated.

I’m consuming everything, not only stuff, but also consuming relationships, consuming knowledge, consuming experiences. And so that way of being no longer serves us.

In fact, it never did. But it’s the systems that were created from this way of being no long are no longer holding. They’re collapsing. Internally and externally, like we have the mental health crisis and a bunch of other crises interlocking. So we are working with how do we practice a way of being that is, as I said before, that is walking a path that knows that you are deeply entangled and responsible for life in this world.

And the approach we’re taking these retreats for that orientation is to look at yes, the macro, the current macro level systemic analysis of where we are. So that includes sitting with the reality of the planetary boundaries that we have crossed and will most likely cross very soon. Sitting with the reality of rising fascism, sitting with the reality of Genocide and climate refugees, and all of the… the list goes on, right?

And what we’re what I’m really talking about with this list is how the systems that we were promised we’re going to endure are no longer holding, right? So we’re sitting with that, and then the next layer that we’re sitting with is the approaches to reform.

Because we have become addicted to this system, a lot of us have been training to the mentality that all we need to do is tweak a little thing here and there, tweak little things here and there in the current system to make it work the way we want it to work. But the reality is the current system is working exactly the way it was designed to work.

It was engineered to work in this way and it is a leak of energy to try to tweak this system. What we need perhaps, is an orientation beyond reform, not even radical reform, but beyond where we’re able to sense into possibilities beyond the system. Imagining possibilities beyond the system. And in order to imagine we have to deconstruct, or as I said before, unlearn a lot of the internal systems working that we’ve carried.

And so that leads me to the third layer that we’re working with, which is the intrapersonal, the interpersonal layer. So I’m just throwing here a few examples. Of course the retreats will cover much more, but in the interpersonal layer, we’re working with MJ’s framework of the three energies.

So in the current system, within capitalism with a patriarchy, a lot of us work with excess dynamic energy. Dynamic energies when you go get it, you go make it happen. This is very active energy. But there’s other two kinds of energies that we are perhaps not aware of, and that one is magnetic and receptive.

A magnetic energy is where you tap into what you’re bringing towards you, what you’re calling in, right? And it’s a very, it’s still an energetic practice, perhaps with the same amount of quote unquote work than the dynamic, but a very different sensibility. And then the third one, the receptive, is a pattern tracking, pattern noticing.

So where you notice what has come into your way, what have you heard today or in the last month? Who is showing up in your path? What questions you keep hearing. So you start noticing what is already here, as opposed to coming from a place of scarcity, of there’s nothing here. I need to make it happen.

What is already here? And how can I work with that? And so most of us are going into burnout because there’s an excess of dynamic energy because capitalism thrives on scarcity mentality. And so does patriarchy. And so to learn to work as a practice to embody, for example, these three energies is already shifting the paradigm of what it means to show up.

But also in these retreats, we’re gonna do a lot of work with the field, with Coralus Field, with the collective. So they’re gonna be very personalized. It’s gonna be about 10 people per retreat. And we’re gonna be able to go deep into how we relate to each other because that will be the blueprint for how we build this new iteration of Coralus.

So not as consumers, not as clients, but as active members that are nurturing the field of Coralus and who are being deeply nurtured by the field back into the communities that we all work through within transformation.

Harley: You’ve tapped into the practices. Now I’m curious like, ’cause we’re doing this in a lot of regions from here in North America, and then we’ll go to Australia and other more places. After all this, all the retreats – what are we hoping for the outcome after these retreats? For the community, individually or as a community as a whole.

Azul: Yeah. I think because these retreats are about embodying practices, it requires, like a practice needs to be practiced. In fact, I had a teacher, a mentor who once said, the practices, the practice of the practice. So what I mean by this is the sustained commitment to the practice is what changes structures and what changes systems.

And so yes, the retreats will happen in the Spring, but we will have… Every moon cycle will have a gathering, an online gathering where we’re going to check in and check in on how those practices are going. I keep maybe adding more elements, taking out elements. And so it’s going to be a scaffolded pedagogical path to embody these practices.

And I think it’s hard to predict the outcomes. And I’m I’m a little resistant to try to predict outcomes, but I do sense that it will not only give us shared language, but a shared way of showing up. And so the coherence with a Coralus field that is spread throughout the world is huge.

When we have all the members that are part of this new iteration of Coralus have gone through that almost a rite of passage, right? Have gone through this experience that helps us map and track what are we here to do and how are we being invited to show up? And it’s not like we’re determining the answers to those questions, but we are sitting with those questions together.

And so I think one of the outcomes is perhaps, or one of the seeds – I like to think about is a seeds. One of the seeds that perhaps can sprout from these retreats is a shared sense of responsibility for what Coralus is. Which then naturally ripples into a shared sense of responsibility for our planet and life as it is.

And so Coralus being a container to practice that and to be nourished in that. And then we go out, into our communities, into our projects, into our ventures, into our whatever. And we practice that. But we have a community supporting us in that practice. So it’s like a sacred container.

It’s a lab, it’s a field. It’s a bunch of things at the same time, but it is deeply needed, I think. 

Harley: Yeah. I love that. So we know the recommitment is open right now and that not everyone feels ready, but what would you say to someone on the edge of that decision? What are these retreats asking of us or maybe just offering.

Azul: I trust that those who need to be here now will be here. And if you’re listening to this and you’re on the edge, I invite you to listen deeply into your heart and into your belly and sense, is this the place for me? And if the answer is yes, then I would love to see you at the retreats.

And if the answer is no or not yet, then that’s fine too.

Harley: Azul, thank you so much for being here, for everything you’re bringing to this community. I’m so excited for the retreats and what’s ahead. To everyone listening, if someone’s stared in you in this conversation, take a moment with it.

Maybe it’s your own invitation to recommit. Maybe it’s not, but we’ll see you next time on Ripples of Radical Generosity. Thank you, Azul. 

Azul: Thank you, Harley. Bye.

Episode Summary
In this episode of Ripples of Radical Generosity, Harley and Azul dive into the origins of the 2026 Coralus Retreats and the need for new ways of being in a time of global complexity. Azul shares how these retreats center embodied practice, unlearning, and collective responsibility as we imagine futures beyond our current systems. The episode closes with an invitation to listen inward and sense whether this is your moment to step in.