Beyond the break
surf Therapy retreat
Popoyo, Nicaragua
Nov 21-28
Trauma changes your relationship with your own body. This retreat is about rebuilding it — through the ocean, through the work, through surfing and through the kind of safety that lets real change happen.
Retreat is hosted in collaboration with the Hopewell Foundation and Joyride Surf Retreats
AS SEEN IN
Surfing didn't use to feel like this...
A quiet sensation the night before, an underlying current of something you can’t put your finger on.
Like your body and mind is always bracing for impact.
Some days it’s there, some days it’s not, but you feel your world quietly shrinking.
What once felt familiar, fun, exciting now feels scary.
You don’t recognize yourself out there.
Your body has reactions your mind can’t explain.
This is what's going on...
Something happened that your body hasn’t forgotten.
Your nervous system learned to stay on guard.
It did that to protect you. It’s still doing it now.
Your sense of safety was lost along the way
and now you constantly doubt yourself.
You lost trust in your body and in yourself.
Rebuild trust in your body, rebuild trust in yourself
This retreat is built around one idea: that healing trauma means working with the body, not just the mind. Talk alone doesn’t reach what lives in the nervous system. So we don’t rely on it.
Over the week, you will work with the ocean and surfing as a genuine therapeutic tool. The water creates conditions your nervous system can’t intellectualise. It requires presence. It surfaces fear, and then it gives you somewhere to meet it.
Alongside daily surf sessions, the week moves through structured group sessions with me, somatic work, and evening nervous system regulation through breathing techniques, relaxation exercises and hypnotherapy. Each element is designed to work together — activating, processing, and resetting — so that by the end of the week, something has actually shifted.
Phase 1
Reconnecting
The first two days are about coming back to your body, beginning to feel again, and slowly opening up to what you carry.
Phase 2
Release
Day 3, with safety established, what has been stored in the body begins to surface, allowed to arises without becoming overwhelming.
Phase 3
Recover
Day 4 the body needs recovery. The mind needs space to breathe and relax after releasing what has been carried for so long.
Phase 4
Rebuild
Day 5 & 6 the focus shifts to rebuilding, a new relationship with your body, a renewed sense of self. To experiencing trusting yourself again.
“I have made more progress working with Lisa than I did through years of therapy. I am experiencing so much more calm and peace in my life now. I feel like I am finally starting to be the real me.”
– H, 54, Australia
” I used to suffer anxiety and panic attacks in the water after a traumatic incident. Now, for the first time in years the tension was gone. I have finally reconnected with the joy of surfing and feel like myself again”
– K, 52, California
“I didn’t realize I could feel this much peace surfing. This week has been transformatinal for me. What I lernt this week will ripple out into the rest of my life and work as well. I am so grateful I had the courage to try this.”
– J, 48, USA
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE RETREAT
Pre-retreat session with Lisa
5 surf coaching sessions + in-water coaching by Lisa
Daily afternoon group therapy and coaching sessions
Daily evening group hypnotherapy and nervous system regulation
Post-retreat follow-up integration session with Lisa
Mid-week day trip, Airport transfer and more
PRICE Starting at $2595
Does not include flights and travel insurance
Shared Room (4ppl) $2595
Early Bird Price until July 31st after that $2795
Private Queen Room $3295
Early Bird Price until July 31st after that $3495
Shared Queen Room* $2795
Early Bird Price until July 31st after that $2995
*Suitable for friends and couples
A DEEPER PURPOSE
This retreat is created in collaboration with the Hopewell Foundation who’s mission is advance regenerative medicine for facial reconstruction surgery.
Katharine their founder reached out to me wanting to create a surf retreat that supports the unique recovery of patients navigating the mental and emotional aftermath of facial reconstruction. She knows this experience firsthand, surfing was how she found her way back to herself and her body after going through the same journey as the people her foundation now supports.
This is our first retreat in a series of many to come. All proceeds from this retreat goes to the foundation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is this retreat for?
This retreat is open to anyone who feel like their nervous system is running the show more than they would like. It’s for anyone who needs to rebuild trust in their body and in themselves and who want’s to do so in the ocean and througy surfing.
What level of surfers is this for?
All levels are welcome. Considering the place and the season it’s more enjoyable for advanced beginners to intermediates. Complete beginners are welcome but spots are limited as we will have to split the groups.
Do I need to bring my own board?
No, board is included but if you do want to bring your own board that is welcome too.
Still unsure if this retreat is for you?
For anyone who has experienced a trauma or lost confidence in theemselves and their body, making decisions can become really hard. Especially when it comes to your recovery, the vulnerability and the challenges that comes with it. I more than understand that and I would happily talk to you about it. Please book in for a retreat consultation and we can discuss if this is the right retreat and the right choice for you.
About Me
I’m Lisa Davidsson — a psychologist, hypnotherapist, and surfer.
I didn’t grow up surfing. I found the ocean as an adult, after years of studying the human mind and working in mental health. But long before I ever picked up a board, two threads were already shaping my life: a deep curiosity for the human mind, and a love for sport as a path to self-mastery.
As a child, that path ran through horses. Riding taught me that growth isn’t only about skill, it’s about presence, your relationship yo yourself, and who you become in the process. Surfing became that same practice with the ocean. A place where fear, freedom, humility, and joy meet in real time. A place where inner patterns are revealed without negotiation.
Surf psychology was born at that meeting point.
My work brings together two decades in psychology with lived experience in the water. It’s not life coaching dressed in surf language. It’s clinical depth applied to a world I know from the inside — the waves, the lineup, the culture, the quiet inner battles that unfold out there.
I don’t teach surfers to override themselves. I help them understand what’s happening beneath the surface and change it where it actually lives. So surfing becomes a place of growth instead of struggle.
This is not about becoming fearless.
It’s about becoming free enough to choose.
WORDS FROM PREVIOUS CLIENTS
Trauma Recovery
“I’ve been surfing since my mid-teens in Santa Cruz, Hawaii, Mexico… But years ago, an incident with a complex rip current left me anxious in the water. I kept surfing, but whenever the rip started pushing me around, the tension took all the joy out of it.
After just one hypnotherapy session with Lisa I regained my confidence and can now manage the anxiety. I have reconnected with the fun of surfing. Lisa’s calm guidance and supportive approach made all the difference. This week I returned to Mexico for a surf trip, and for the first time in years, the tension was gone! Even in conditions that once would have stressed me out, I was able to focus on catching waves and having fun again.”
Kevin, California
Retreat Participant
Lisa’s retreat was a powerful blend of surf progression and deep inner work. She gently challenged me to take on waves I’d normally avoid, but the real transformation happened afterward, when we unpacked the fears that came up.
I came in thinking I was afraid of the big waves, but quickly realized it was about self-doubt, confidence, and the fear of being seen. Lisa helped me uncover the ways I hold myself back and the inner dialogue that surfaces when I feel like I’m failing.
Her guidance created a space where I felt safe to explore uncomfortable truths. I left the retreat not just a stronger surfer, but with a deeper connection to myself and a renewed sense of self-belief.
Bianca, UK
Program Client
Lisa’s surf pychology program was a transformative experience. As a surf physiologist, she brings a unique and deeply informed approach that helped me understand the roots of my fear in the water—and more importantly, how to work through it. Her thoughtful guidance, compassionate insight, and the way she asks just the right questions created a safe space for growth. She holds you accountable in a way that’s both supportive and empowering. Through this program, I not only began to shift my relationship with fear, but also developed a deeper sense of self-compassion that has carried into other areas of my life.
Kimberlee, California
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Address
Everywhere All at Once 101
90210, In the World
Social
Contact
+46-768-765416
lisa.davidsson@theonlinetherapypractice.com