I have just had the privilege and honour of attending a four-day retreat to immerse myself in the “Resilience Retreat” held in the picturesque and serene Tamborine Mountain Glades in the Gold Coast hinterland.

The retreat was facilitated by an amazing, humble, authentic and engaging team of ex Special Air Services Regiment (SAS) operators, performance psychologist, comedians, raconteur/key note speaker, mentors and an angelic meditation practitioner, dare I say guru.

The stellar line up included:

Dr Dan Pronk. Ben Pronk. Tim Curits, Mark Wales ( all former SAS operators). Dr Kate Baecher, Erin Hoey, Merrick Watts, Rob Redenbach and Nicky Wilkison ( nutbush anyone?)

The Resilience Shield framework is structured around their book:

“The Resilience Shield” – SAS resilience techniques to master your mind and adversity

The ex-Special Forces operators and authors (Dan, Ben and Tim), have utilised their experiences along with insights from psychology, neuroscience, and personal development to create a framework called the “Resilience Shield.”

The retreat was built and facilitated in a holistic, open and entertaining structure based on the core concepts of the book which revolve around the “Resilience Shield” concept, which is made up of different layers that individuals can strengthen to build resilience. These layers are:

• Innate: Personal traits we are born with (genetics, temperament).
• Mind: Mental health, emotional regulation, cognitive strategies like mindfulness and stress management.
• Body: Physical health, including exercise, nutrition, sleep, and how these elements impact resilience.
• Social: The importance of relationships and social connections in bolstering resilience.
• Professional: Career-related resilience, including purpose, job satisfaction, and personal development.
• Adaptation: The ability to learn from adversity and apply lessons to become more resilient in future challenges.

The attendees were an amazing and eclectic group across broad domains and backgrounds which also made the retreat all that more fulfilling and allowed participants to interact in an open, safe and proactive manner.

Lessons learned were life tweaking, enhancing and enriching and I can only urge people from all walks of life to buy this book and if you get the opportunity attend a retreat.

Highlights were many but my key takeaway was “Always a little further” I would like to thank all that made this experience so enjoyable, transformative and an enduring memory and have equipped with me tools to run at life.