Walking Your Soul Story: How Confidence Is Built One Step at a Time with Dr. Sandra Hamilton

In this episode I sit down with Dr. Sandra Hamilton, Confidence Builder and Rapid Transformational Therapist, at the site of her retreat in Portland, Jamaica to discuss her transformational retreats, where she helps people uncover the stories that shape their lives, break through limiting beliefs, and create lasting change.

Dr. Hamilton also shares her own walking journey and how it has supported her physical, mental, and emotional well-being. 

Join us as we discuss the healing power of movement, the importance of self-discovery, and how confidence is often built through the small steps we take every day.

Link to connect with or learn more about Dr. Sandra Hamilton

Check out WhyWalkingMatters.com Blog! Share Your Walking Story Listen on YouTube 

Email us at: Kaydoscope@gmail.com to share topics you'd like to learn about.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome back to Why Walking Matters, The Science Explained. I am Tatiana, your host, and this is the podcast that explores the many benefits of walking. If you're new to the podcast, welcome. And if you're a loyal listener, welcome back. On last week's episode, we talked about walking versus hiking and making the leap from walking to hiking. And today you join me as I talk with our third guest on the podcast, Dr. Sandra Hamilton, an educator, therapist, healer, and walker who leads weekend retreats here in sunny Jamaica. First, Dr. Sandra and I take the hour-long hike up to her land in Portland, Jamaica. Then we sit down for an interview where she describes the vision behind her retreat and her plans for the future. Dr. Sandra, welcome to the podcast. So I'm here with San. What should I call you? Sandra. Sandra. Um at your retreat. Uh this is my future retreat. Teddy. Yes. Um, so tell me about your vision.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

So it's 12 acres. So I'm gonna set up a retreat. It's gonna be a site for women who have been or are in abuse, abusive situations. So I'm a therapist, I'm a rapid transformational therapist. What does that mean? It means that I work with my personality and I heal you really, really quickly. Oh. So whereas normally you would go say to a psychologist or a counseling session for months or years, yeah. I guarantee you that whatever you come to me for in three weeks, we're done. In three sessions, we are done with you. And you can move on to the next challenge in the next challenge.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

Okay, we'll talk more about that. But continue telling me about the vision. Yeah. Because we're sitting here and we're looking at this beautiful land. You've started your farm.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I've started my farm. So what you can see now are bananas and plantains and cocoa. Okay, and when you go over to maybe another acre or two over, I have five acres of coconuts.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

And then nice coconut water. Yes, and then I have lumber, I have mahoe, and cedar and uh teak.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Oh, so these are all kinds of wood.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Okay, and your is your plan to use the wood to to build.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah. So this is this is also my plan for my pension.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Okay. Alright, and you're a teacher.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

I am a teacher. I'm an educator.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

You're an educator.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Right now you teach at I teach at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education in Jamaica. In Jamaica, in Portland, and I teach research. Research. Education subjects, uh, hospitality and tourism subjects and sociology. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

What are some of your interesting research papers that you had this year?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Because you're winding down the school year. Right. So, in terms of interesting papers, I've had students looking at mastitis, and there's the California test that you use to check, you know, do these cows have mastitis? So, what we've been looking at is what is a way that farmers could do it at home?

SPEAKER_05 4:22

What is mastitis?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Mastitis is a disease of the breast.

SPEAKER_05 4:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

So for dairy cows. Okay, or for if they have uh but I want y'all to continue drinking milk. So I'm gonna leave it right there. But if you know, if the breast is diseased, then you can't melt them, you know. Right, right. So there is a way to test you every time before you milk the cow, you want to test.

SPEAKER_05 4:47

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

So we've they the students came up with another way of testing using just dishwashing liquid. They tried it with Dawn and looking, did it test the amount of pus that was in you know each tit and so on.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

So it was that's some serious work.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

That's real life, practical, you know, yeah, because I'm solving a real problem. And that's exactly what research is. Research is about seeing a problem and saying, How do I solve it? Yeah. So my personal research right now is in Balaclava because after the hurricane and losing all, you know, the roofs and your lands, there in St. Elizabeth, which is our breadbasket, a lot of damage was done there. So I went in and kind of said, How can I help? I cannot provide roofs, that's not going to happen. But I can provide psychological support. My background is in nutrition, so I can tell you how to feed your family with the limited food that's available.

SPEAKER_05 5:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

And in addition to that, we looked at finance and I provided maybe 53 farmers or so with seeds and seedlings.

SPEAKER_05 6:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

And yam heads, and they are now reaping.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

I am over the wor over the Yeah, I was gonna say, and so the even though um the place was almost demolished almost, um the ground was still you could still plant, like it was still plantable.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

What the farmers told me, it they were so depressed because they go out and one farmer said, Yesterday one said to me it's nine acres of sorrel I just put in and I lost everything. Wow. Or five acres of yam, and he says, What do you do? And because my main interest is in women who and abuse, you know, when the men are frustrated, that is going to increase the level of gender-based violence. So hence I wanted to work with the men so they didn't get there. And they were very honest in saying, you know, we're so frustrated, there's no light, it's not like we can play dominoes or play football, the ground is soaking wet still. And it was they were just so, so frustrated. So I started them off with mental health sessions. How do you cope with stress? What are the other things you can do? What about the family? Your children still have to go to school. What kind of role model do you want to be? And try to lift them out of that.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

How long did you stay there?

SPEAKER_01 7:39

It is now nine months. I'm still there. I'm still there. They're just reaping now. One of the farmers reaped 17 bags of sweet pepper, and each bag is 45 pounds. So yeah, they're happy.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

Okay. How often do you go?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

I try and go down every two weeks.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

So I'm in the community with how far are you from there? Five hours drive.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Ooh. No, but you know, you're dedicated. Just like you're dedicated to doing what you you're to making your vision come true here. So continue telling me about your vision. You know, you said it's going to be a retreat. It's gonna be a retreat site. What do you see here? You know, like what kinds of how do you plan to set it up?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

So right now we camp here, and I I do bring people up to camp.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Oh, okay. How often do you bring people up?

SPEAKER_01 8:47

It depends. How did the weather has changed a lot, and so that has affected it.

SPEAKER_05 8:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Okay, hence the need to now put in buildings. Okay. So before it would just be tense. But with the climate change and the unpredictability, we do need to have some buildings put up.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

How often do you bring people up?

SPEAKER_01 9:10

At least three times a year. Okay. At least three times.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

And walk us through that then, because it sounds to me like what you're doing now, bringing people up to camp, is basically what you intend to continue doing, but just with like more structured place.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

So right now I offer retreats at least three times a year. But usually, so other than the camping, I do offer retreats. So I have one coming up called Soul Story. And on Valentine's Weekend, I do one called Healing Hearts, and that's for women only who have been through sexual abuse. It's very specific. And there are others I do as people ask for them to be done. And I'm gonna do this one I told you about for menopause.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

It's called Baya. Okay. Have you thought that one through already?

SPEAKER_05 10:10

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Okay, okay. So tell us about Soul Stories and Baya. But yeah, I just want to know how many people usually come up with you each time.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Here when I'm tenting, at least I can take 20 or so. Okay. So we'll have 20 people.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Wow, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah, but it's fun because we hike up, we do bird watching, so we're up at five doing bird watching. We go to the river to bathe. There's no running water here.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Where's the river? I haven't seen the river yet.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Because it's down the bottom where we hike from. There's a stream there, but also across, maybe we can stop there. Okay, there is a river and the beach. Okay. So when you're camping, we go down to the river, we go down to the beach, we do the bird watching, we are cooking on wood fire, they're eating from the land. So there's ginger here, there's the bananas, planting, cane. I don't know what they find lots of stuff here. The yam is here.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

How long do you usually stay when you come?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

We stay three to four days.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

I will camp for a week. If I'm alone, I'll stay a week up here.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

And is it usually all women that come with you?

SPEAKER_01 11:25

No. Not necessarily. I do a lot with children.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So June is environmental month.

SPEAKER_04 11:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

And so in June we tend to do a lot of camps. And we try the the challenge with it is June is environmental month. So I usually try and get the children out, but it's also exam time.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

So we're always doing this balancing act.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

And when you come up with the groups, um, your therapy work is that part of the experience?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Therapy, and I do a lot of leadership if I'm bringing children. Okay. Especially training in leadership and just learning to love the environment.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

And appreciate what it is.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

And learning how to speak. How to speak. We do public speaking because they have to then I'll do something like a scavenger hut. So go find a national flower. And then come and tell me up, tell us about it. And you have to stand and speak. What age groups typically. They start as young as five. Oh, that's when they fall.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Okay. So tell me about Soul Story. So coming.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

So Soul Story happens July 24 to 26. It's gonna be in Chilani. Amazing view in the mountains. I'm a mountain girl. Kind of obvious. I'm a mountain girl.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

Oh, so it's not going to be here.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

No, this one is is going to be rich. Rich. In this one, you actually, it's a great house.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Okay. And it's in July, you said.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

It's in July. And you have a pool outside your door so you can swim. And the property is 2,000 acres. And you have a river. So I get everything I want. I get my mountain, I get my river, I get nature. Uh-huh. But then the therapy is and the healing is that most of us carry stories that do not belong to us. What do you mean by carry the story of your grandparents, your great-grandparents, your current stories that people have told you and have told you who you are and who you are to be and how you should live. But I think it's time that we begin writing our own story consciously. So we begin by looking at what are your core values. What are the values that you espouse? This is what you say is important. But is that what you're living?

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

And do they align? Because if they don't align, you are not happy.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Because you're a divided person.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yes, so is it living?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

And so having looked at that, then we look at, okay, now what are your dreams? What do you want? Not your parents or society or your husband or your children, but what do you want? If you had a choice and could do anything in the world you wanted to do, what it would it be? And why aren't you doing it? What's stopping you? And if you could, how would you feel? And we go through all of that and then we begin now. I help you to remove the blocks. What's stopping you from living your own truth? And most of us live a life. We want to admit it to others, but we know there is so much more that we have to live, so much more that we have to offer, but we feel very confined by society or relationships or job. We feel like you should do. Yeah. And maybe if you had the courage to step out, you'd be so much happier. So many of us pretend that we are okay and we're holding everything together. But underneath it, we're not happy. So this is the space that you come and weaken all that joy and find out who am I? Who am I really? Who do I want to be in the next season of my life? So then we write your story. We look at the history. We leave it. You write your story going forward. You only take what you want with you. So I help you get rid of the the junk. You don't need it.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Leave it here.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

You leave it. Yeah, you leave it right there. We go to the river, you leave it, let the water take it away. And then what do you want going forward? What's the joy? What's the peace? How do you want to feel? And what's the path to get there? And so you write that story. You're gonna summarize the story with a song, lyrics of a song or poetry, and then I'm gonna help you find music to put on top of that. So you leave me with a song in your heart. That's perfect. You leave me with a lot of clarity around what do I want to achieve just for me. I'll also have a musician with me.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

And you're a drummer too. And I'm a drummer.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

So he's a must grave bronze award winner, medalist, and international musician.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

And what instrument does he play?

SPEAKER_01 16:55

He plays several instruments, but for this I use the drums because it's your heartbeat. So we we do a lot of body movement and helping showing the body how to release stress. Because your body remembers when you've been hit, when you've been abused, your body keeps that memory. So we do movement and I show you movement, I give you the tools to release that tension from your body. And this is something you can take with you. So we're gonna be doing a lot of drumming as well as we go through. Wow. I think I might be at this retreat. You are welcome. You are very welcome. My retreats are intentionally small, yeah, so that I am available to each person who is there because it's not generic. Each person has a different story, a different struggle. So you get the time to sit with yourself, but you also get the time to come and say, Hey, this is what it is. How do I work this through?

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Have you done this one before?

SPEAKER_01 18:04

This is the fifth one.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Oh, okay. And what is the um space in Slani like? Is it cabins or rooms?

SPEAKER_01 18:14

It's room. So it's you can either have your own room or you can share a room.

SPEAKER_05 18:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

But it it is a beautiful great house. Seven rooms in each house.

SPEAKER_05 18:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

So we're looking at 14 people.

SPEAKER_05 18:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

So seven rooms in each house, and each house has its own pool.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

So that's surprising. That is you're looking out so it's a plateau.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

So we go up into the mountains, but then it's totally flat, and there's the river down below you, and you're looking out onto the mountains. It's when you go up there in the morning, you know. You know that exists. You know the universe is there to support you. That's like the definition of peace, probably. It is amazingly beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Yeah, that's lovely. Okay. Yeah, that sounds really good. And so you were saying that you're also there's a farm up there too?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

There's a farm. We're eating fresh food from the land.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Is there like a chef that prepares?

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yes, yes, yes. You you you come and you're going to be pampered. Okay. You do absolutely no physical work. It is for you to relax. Here's the thing as females, and this is for males and females, but those of us who care deeply, we tend to take care of everybody else except ourselves. On this weekend, I take care of you. I pamper you, I cater to your every need. You tell me what you want to eat, you will have it. Okay. You want fresh coconut water, you're gonna get it. Fresh fruit juice, there's a citrus farm, you're gonna get it. Fresh pineapple, you're getting fresh, fresh farm to table. There's a river, you can get your fish.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

What how do people find you? Like, how do you get the word out about your retreat? I'm on Facebook. Okay, what is your Facebook candle?

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Sandra Hamilton. Dr. Sandra Hamilton Confidence Builder.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Okay. Dr. Sandra Hamilton Confidence Builder.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

And my website is Dr. H the Confidence Builder.com. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

All right.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

You can find me there. And that's how people can reach out to find out about the response. Or they can WhatsApp me. Because I and I respond to every single call. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

How do they get to your WhatsApp?

SPEAKER_01 20:39

So WhatsApp is 1876 849 7067.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

And feel free to WhatsApp me.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Yeah, sounds good. So tell me about Bayer, because that's fire, fire, fire. Oh, fire. Fire. Oh, I understand the fire. We did a I did a podcast episode on walking and menopause. So it's already out there.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

So what happened in talking to people for this retreat? A lot of the women were saying, Can't you do something for menopause? I do not want know what's happening. The brain fog, the heat, and like, okay, no, nah. But there is such an overwhelming demand. And people are so confused, not only by physically what goes on in the body, but mentally, you're right, you begin to change.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

I think there is less tolerance for foolishness. Well, there's this lady on Facebook, she's she's the we don't care club. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

We we don't care, burn it up.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

I gotta tell you, sometimes I just feel like I just don't whether he

SPEAKER_01 22:04

So that one we're gonna do here in Portland on the beach. Frenchman's call. Again, I have beach and river. So you will be cool. And I am also bringing down my brother, who is a myomaning specialist.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

So you for this one, it's not just mental, but you will get the physical therapy. And we're going to be showing you what to do for yourself. Because a lot of times you go to the doctor and watch your givenness medication. You don't know what's wrong. So on this retreat, we are going to be telling you this is what your body has been trying to say. This is what you need to do to fix it. And it'll be individualized. And it will be individualized because again, the symptoms vary. You know, some people are always crying, some people are always hot, some are some just don't want to be touched, don't want to be like, I wouldn't care if you come near to me. So it will be individualized. And when is that one? That one is going to be the end of October. I haven't decided the date. So I'm speaking with the hotel to record when it's available.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

But if if anyone's interested in this, and then they will most likely have to sign up pretty early or university.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Oh my goodness. Well, Dr. Sandra, I this is a very lovely conversation. Um let's walk up and see what's on the other side of the link. All right. Be sure to check out why walking matters Instagram page, why underscore walking underscore matters, where I'll share reels of Dr. Sandra at her site in Portland, Jamaica. You'll also be able to get a glimpse of our hike up to the site and share in the spectacular views we saw along the way. Definitely check that out. You can also connect to our Instagram page through our website whywalking matters.com. Now to close out our interview with Dr. Sandra as we walk down from her site.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

So you're from New York.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Yeah, and up here it's called like this area is called New York. Okay. That's what the locals call it. I don't know why. So my question for you is how do you is walking part of your personal lifestyle, journey, retreat, everything you do?

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Where does walking play a role in that? So walking is the way that I connect with walk with nature and with the universe every single day. So I can walk for at least I say 10 minutes, but it's usually an hour or more than 10 walk. That's a big difference from 10 minutes to an hour. Remember, as 10 minutes earlier, I never used to be able to walk. Yeah. So my goal was to be able to walk for 10 minutes. So I can walk and fall each day. Sometimes I don't sometimes I go up to I've done 11 miles, but that is not the norm.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Okay. Wow, like all together, 11 miles.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Yes, I've done 11 miles one.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

One way and 11 miles back.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Okay. But there is no sensible reason for it. It was like, oh god, the place is so gorgeous. Because as I walk, I'm meditating, I'm praying, and it brings such clarity when you can walk in nature. So I walk a lot. Now on the retreats, you start your mornings with qigong, which is station. And you usually have like a qigong specialist or something? I have somebody who specializes in qigong. The master. And so the qigong is not just the art of walking, but it's a lifestyle. It is again looking at the body and how it relates to nature and the things you can do to heal the body naturally. And then we do a walk. So Saturday morning, for example, there's a walk that you do where you're looking for the key. And the key really is the key to your own happiness. I love the thing that you're looking for. And I I give you a series of prompts. So when you go downhill, you do this, when you play this rock, you do that. Okay. So as you're walking, that is your medication that gives your mind because you have to train your mind how to think. And so this walk trains you. This is what freedom feels like. This is how I want to feel. What do I really want to be? What am I feeling as I'm doing the morning walk? So on the retreats, there's always walking. There's always some way of getting in touch with your own body and listening to what your body is telling you. And I will tell you, people say to me, Oh, I can't walk. My mother is 92 and she also does the walks with us in the morning. So everybody can do this walk.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

So but for you and your personal walking. It's meditation. It's how I find peace. Where where? Where do you go?

SPEAKER_01 28:28

I don't care where I am, I walk. Yeah. If there's no bush, I still walk. Because walking also releases stress. So if you make me very upset, I'm gonna be walking. That's how you relieve your walking walking wood. And alone is usually your staff. I prefer to walk alone. Because you're walking. I find when I walk with people. Like walk with walking walk.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Yeah. And you're and you're kind of almost forced to try to keep up. Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Okay. So it's stopping to smell the roses. I went to the Himalayas. You went to the Himalayas? Wow. The guy that was with me.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

He said, he says, you don't want to go to the Himalayas. You did this wrong. You should not come.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Stay with some of the surfers and just relax because you are more interested in the plants and the people. And you could see everybody else was walking to a destination, and I'm saying, you're missing the beauty of the journey. You're so focused on the destination that you've missed the entire journey. I enjoy every step of the journey. I walk, I look, I see the colors, I see the different shapes, tones, I wonder about things. My mind gets really creative. Yeah, it's open, it's free. So that's what walking does for me on a daily basis. Alright.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

I hope you enjoyed that, listeners. Thanks so much to Dr. Sandra for sharing her vision and her story with us. Be sure to check out Dr. Sandra's Facebook page, Dr. Sandra Hamilton, Confidence Builder and Rapid Transformational Therapist. You can also check out drh the confidence builder.com and you can email her directly at Sandra at Dr H theconfidence Builder.com. Her retreats are intentional and healing. Remember listeners, if you're enjoying this podcast, be kind, share with a friend. Until next time, happy walking.