By Laura Torrabadella
There was a time in my life when I needed someone to walk a few steps ahead of me.
Someone who could remind me — gently, clearly — that the path existed, even when I couldn’t yet feel it under my feet.
I don’t regret seeking guidance. In fact, I bow to it. Because at certain moments, having someone to lean into — someone who could reflect my light back to me when I had forgotten it — was a necessary grace.
But the teachers I value most are the ones who never asked me to follow them.
They didn’t hold answers. They held presence.
They didn’t create dependency. They created space.
They reminded me of this timeless truth:
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
When the student is truly ready, the teacher disappears.”
This is not a romantic idea. It’s a rhythm. It’s the natural unfolding of real growth.
From Trusting Others to Trusting Yourself
We’re not born doubting our intuition. That’s something the world teaches us — to override our bodies, to silence our feelings, to submit to external authority.
So yes, for a while, we may need someone to say, “You’re not wrong.”
“What you feel is valid.”
“I see you.”
That reflection can be incredibly healing. And if that teacher is truly aligned with life, they will not keep you there. They will invite you back to yourself.
They will disappear — not because they’ve abandoned you, but because you no longer need them.
And that is beautiful.
The Medicine Doesn’t Teach — It Reveals
In our retreats, we work with entheogens in a way that honors this same principle. These sacred substances are not here to feed you answers. They dissolve what’s in the way of your own knowing.
When the noise clears, when the masks fall, you may find that the deepest voice — the one that has been waiting all along — has always been yours.
As facilitators, we don’t stand between you and that voice.
We hold the space. We trust the medicine.
We trust you.
The Sacred Role of the Temporary Teacher
There’s no shame in seeking. No weakness in needing guidance.
But the purpose of every true path is freedom — not attachment.
So if you come to me, I will sit beside you, not above you.
I will remind you that your body is wise.
That your tears make sense.
That your silence is full.
And when the time comes, I will step aside.
Because your next step will be yours alone.
If something in you is ready for this kind of space —
where you’re not led, but witnessed…
not taught, but remembered…
Then I welcome you. Not to follow us.
But to come home to yourself.
Because the teacher has appeared, within you. For now, you can see the reflection of what is inside, outside in the form of a person, a team, a community, a plant.
And one day, when you’re truly ready —
only the teacher within you will remain.