THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO IS A NETWORK OF ANCIENT PILGRIMAGE ROUTES THAT BEGIN FROM POINTS THROUGHOUT EUROPE AND END IN SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA IN NORTHWESTERN SPAIN, IN THE PROVINCE OF GALICIA. OUR WALKS BEGIN 8 TO 11 DAYS OUT FROM SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA AND TAKE PLACE ENTIRELY IN GALICIA, A LUSH GREEN LAND OF SOFTLY ROLLING HILLS SACRED TO THE CELTS AND ROMANS BEFORE IT BECAME A MAJOR CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE DESTINATION IN THE 9TH CENTURY.
FINDING YOUR WAY CAMINO IS THE EXPRESSION OF A DREAM OF TWO WOMEN WANTING TO BRING OTHER WOMEN TO THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO IN A WAY THAT IS DEEPLY TRANSFORMATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL. WITH ONE OF US, REINA, BEING A GESTALT THERAPIST, ARTIST AND RESIDENT OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA WITH DEEP FAMILY ROOTS IN THE REGION AND THE OTHER, PATTI, BEING A NORTH AMERICAN DEPTH PSYCHOTHERAPIST WHO HAS LIVED IN AND FALLEN IN LOVE WITH SPAIN, WE ARE ESPECIALLY EQUIPPED TO FACILITATE A CAMINO THAT IS RICH IN THE SPIRIT OF PLACE. RECENTLY, A THIRD WOMAN HAS JOINED OUR TEAM. JOZEFFA GREER HAS BEEN A PARTICIPANT ON THE LAST TWO CAMINOS WE HAVE ORGANIZED AND THIS YEAR IS JOINING PATTI TO LEAD A CAMINO DESIGNED FOR PSYCHOTHERAISTS WHICH HAS BEEN APROVED FOR GRANTING CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIS. JOZEFFA HAS BEEN A PSYCHOTHERPAIST IN SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA FOR THE PAST 35 YEARS.
PATTI AND REINA
Patti and Reina first met during Patti’s 2017 trip to Santiago de Compostela, and, impressed with Reina’s presence, values, and knowledge, Patti asked Reina to facilitate an integrative art workshop for the women in the first Finding Your Way Camino group in the fall of 2018. The participants loved the experience so much that Patti and Reina decided to get together to lead the second Finding Your Way Pilgrimage Retreat in October of 2019. This year, Jozeffa Greer, who was a participant on the last two Caminos led by Patti and Reina, is assisting Patti when in leading our 2025 Camino designed for psychotherapists. Reina will lead a 2 day excursion at the end of this walk that will take us to pre-historic sites on the Atlantic coast as well as to Finesterre and Muxia, the ancient, pre-Christian ends of the Camino.
PATTI
I fell in love with Spain when I lived in Barcelona for two years in my twenties and fell in love with the Camino when I first walked a portion of it in 2012. In 2018 I realized a decades-long dream of bringing together my desire for meaningful work and my desire to return to Spain when I co-led the first “Finding Your Way” pilgrimage retreat for women on the French Way. In 2019, I led the second one with Reina on the Portuguese Way.
I have been a psychotherapist in private practice in Davis and Berkeley, California, for over 30 years, helping women and men find undiscovered strength and wisdom as they open to increasingly deeper parts of themselves. I have also been a teacher, teaching writing at the University of California Davis, relational psychotherapy at The Women’s Therapy Center in Berkeley, CA., and Jungian and Feminist psychotherapy at New College in San Francisco.
Although my first love affair with Spain in the 1970’s was centered around Barcelona and Cataluña, in the last 7 years I have found myself returning over and over to Galicia and the Camino de Santiago, drawn to the natural beauty, fascinating history, ancient spirituality and music of that region.
About the same time that I first walked on the Camino, I also began studying the Medieval harp and have been especially drawn to the Medieval music of northern Spain.
REINA
I live in Santiago de Compostela where I work as a Gestalt therapist and artist. I have deep family roots in Santiago de Compostela and have lived there myself since 1998.
For the two years before that I lived in Haiti, where I learned the healing power of art. Since then I have continued my training in art and personal growth in the context of theater, contemporary dance, painting, and Non-Violent Communication.
Since 2002 I have led workshops in creativity and mindfulness, and in 2018 I led an integrative art workshop for the women in the first “Finding Your Way” Camino experience.
Today, I am continuing to accompany individuals and groups in the reintegration of their creativity and deeper resources and the acceptance and integration of internal contradictions, all of which lead to better intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal relationships and a better quality of life.
Contact with nature is one of the reasons why I live in Galicia, a region that offers me the opportunity to have regular “forest baths,” discover places full of history and culture, and meet pilgrims from all over the world.