MEET JOSÉ ANTONIO
Therapist. Surfer. Freediver. Someone who has done this work from the inside.
He built this retreat because he needed it.
José Antonio arrived at therapeutic work through a deeply personal search. For years, despite a life that appeared full, he carried an inner sense of emptiness and disconnection that he could not fully name.
He later came to understand that some of this feeling had roots in the very beginning of his life. Born prematurely at six and a half months, his first weeks in an incubator left a subtle emotional imprint connected to abandonment, disconnection, and the longing to feel safe, wanted, and genuinely known.
Rather than seeing these experiences as damage, they became the beginning of a different kind of curiosity: a desire to understand how emotional wounds silently shape the way we relate to ourselves, others, our bodies, and the world.
Transformation does not only happen in conversation. It happens in experience.
THE PATH
In university, José Antonio stumbled into an elective on cinematic analysis and therapeutic processes — and something opened. He pursued therapeutic training, earned his degree, and before finishing his master ’s program, was offered the opportunity to work in Puerto Vallarta supporting international participants in intensive 30-day therapeutic processes.
He accepted and spent three years accompanying over 100 participants through some of the most significant experiences of their lives, while working entirely in English.
During that time, he returned to surfing, began freediving, completed a diploma in Dance Movement Therapy, pursued training in energetic release work in water, and found salsa unexpectedly transformative. Movement became a teacher in ways conversation alone had never been.
Warm, direct, grounded in his own lived experience.
Today, José integrates Gestalt therapy tools, somatic awareness, emotional process work, surfing, freediving, movement practices, and nature-based experiences. He facilitates in both Spanish and English.
He does not offer this retreat as someone who has figured it out. He offers it as someone who knows what becomes possible when the right conditions are created — and who has spent years developing the skill to create them.
He has accompanied approximately 100 individuals through intensive personal processes and participated in 27 intensive 30-day retreats.
TRAINING AND BACKGROUND
The work behind the work
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Degree in Gestalt Therapy and Experiential Therapeutic Facilitation
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Master's level training in psychotherapy and human development
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Diploma in Dance Movement Therapy
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Training in somatic and energetic release work in water
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Certified surfing and water safety supervision
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Freediving certification and practice
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3+ years facilitating intensive 30-day therapeutic retreats in Puerto Vallarta
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Bilingual facilitator: Spanish and English
