Check in for Deborah Caulf ield Rybak HOTOGR A HS BY Marco Garcia I WAS DRIVING UP THE HALEAKALA Highway on the slopes of one of the largest dormant volcanoes, fazzled fom a strenuous business trip and 15 hours of travel, when I encountered one of the fattest, most luminous rainbows I had ever seen. Mesmerized, I hoped the experience was an omen of success for my retreat on the Hawaiian island of Maui. I am a veteran of alternative healing, spas and spiritual retreats (afer all, I am a Californian), WHAT TO EXPECT but SpiritQuest Mind Retreats?the company that Katherine Body Preston-Lash and Ed Spirit Preston founded in Views a highly personalized experience that intrigued me. Rather than supplying a menu of treatments, Katherine and Ed conduct an hour-long interview with each client, then tailor a program using a variety of local practitioners and approaches. I told Ed and Katherine that lost two parents and lef a newspaper career in the past few years, changes that had turned me, with my already busy life, into a whirling dervish, barely hanging on. I thought I could use some grief counseling, plus techniques to help me navigate my own future path, rather than being herded by circumstance. Their customized itinerary introduced me to some of the most gifed and personable healers, therapists and practitioners ever met. I had three or four one-on-one appointments each day. They ranged fom pragmatic to otherworldly. Spiritual counselor Jonia Merrichild deepened my understanding of the grief process. I learned breathing techniques fom Sareya, a bouncy sprite in harem pants who had me breathing so deeply that by the end of our session I swear I felt air coming out my feet. Sophianada Rowan helped me my personal one-note musical (the fequency at which my mind and body function the best) during a session where she massaged me with vocal- November 2010 deltaskymag.com