Why Skeptics Have the Biggest Breakthroughs at Our Retreats

Heidi Jaffe has a soft spot for skeptics.

Not the cynical kind who want to debate. The curious skeptics, the ones who book a reading but raise an eyebrow, stay quiet in the group circle, or say, “I’m not sure I believe in this, but…”

And yet, those are the very guests who tend to leave her retreats the most transformed.

Why? Because skepticism often comes from protection. A guarded heart. A mind that’s been taught to override intuition in favor of logic and control. These guests aren’t closed, they’re cautious. They’re craving something real enough to break through the noise.

That’s why every Nissa Retreat begins with the body.

Breathwork for Intuition: Why We Start With the Body

Before any intuitive training, before psychic readings, before energy work, we breathe.

Heidi leads a Conscious Connected Breathwork session on Day One because the body doesn’t lie. It holds emotional residue, stored trauma, fear, and the quiet truth underneath it all. 

All the moments you didn’t cry when you needed to.
The tension you held in your shoulders instead of saying what you really felt.
The heartbreaks you talked yourself out of, the instincts you dismissed.
They don’t vanish. They live in the body - tight in the chest, shallow in the breath, clenched in the gut.

For skeptics, this is often the first time they feel their inner knowing in a way that doesn’t need to be explained.

Breathwork is how we make space again.

The breath does what the mind resists. It slows you down. It opens you up. It gets you out of performance and into presence.

Skeptics, especially, benefit from this grounding because once the defenses soften, the intuition can rise.

And it always does.

Heidi’s favorite part? Watching someone who arrived unsure, arms crossed, leave with a heart wide open and a completely new relationship to their own inner wisdom.

Whether you’ve been seeing spirits since childhood or you’re just starting to wonder if there’s more to life than what you’ve been taught, there’s space for you at this retreat.

Let the breath lead the way.

 Learn more about Awaken the Wisdom Within at Broughton Sanctuary