A new organization has opened an event space in the Koral Center that was previously Nao Restaurant on the corridor – Cabo Sagrado. With a vision from its founders, Ana Beck and Gabriela Richer, the organization is offering workshops and events designed to help the people of Los Cabos build and maintain important connections with their family and friends throughout their lifetime – from birth to death. This seems like a challenging vision but in the short time that it has been since they launched, they have demonstrated that they can have an impact.

Ana Beck, a psychologist who has written books with her mother on containment (maintaining a close relationship with your children) and worked with families facing challenges and Gabriela Richer, a Paraguyan, hypnotherapist have created impressive workshops in the short time together. For Ana, this started 18 years ago when her first child, a son was born. At that time, she designed a baby wrap to help make children feel safe feeling their mother’s heart beats. The product has been on sale since that time. Based on this experience, one of their ongoing weekly events is for pregnant women and young mothers to help them build connections to their children. She noted that Mexico is second in the world in unnecessary C-sections, which tend to make it harder for mothers and their children to immediately connect. This group provides not only tools but the opportunity to meet with other mothers who are facing similar challenges. As children grow and parents want to give them independence, it often also results in less of a connection between parents and children. Therefore, Cabo Sagrado offers Sunset Session where one week is mothers and daughters, the next is mothers and their sons, the next is fathers and their daughters and finally, fathers and their sons. Having a hour together to focus on connecting or reconnecting helps build close relationships. As the sun is starting to set, everyone goes out on the deck to watch the sunset and then a DJ plays music for each pair to have some fun with each other and the other participants in Sunset Sessions. Related to this connection between parents and their children is their program called Life on Airplane Mode, where everyone must turn off their phones during dinner or travel and connect with one another rather than been isolated by the all-pervasive technology.

As children become of college age, one of the biggest challenges for families in Los Cabos is that the children have to go away to university. For many, it will be the first time that the children are away from home and it may also create empty nests syndrome for the parents. A common result is that parents become overly protective of their children – calling every day, asking question about when they will be home and what they are doing. This is often less about protection and more about loneliness. Cabo Sagrado, created a workshop to help prepare both the teens and their parents for this separation and the anxiety that goes along with it.

To help people relax and laugh, Cabo Sagrado has staged several comedy nights with a series of local comedians to entertain the guests. We attended a recent evening where four different comedians entertained the audience hosted by John Stein. One of these comedy performers was his mother.

Equally important to the birth experience is preparing for death. Cabo Sagrado offers a series of workshops to get people of any age to prepare for their passing and the passing of love ones. One of the organization’s first events was last year on the Day of the Dead. People in Mexico don’t like to talk about death when it is about to happen or has just occurred. This lack of communication can often prolong the grieving and the ability to come to grips with their own or someone else’s passing. The first workshop is a discussion of death; the second is the Legacy of Love – what you want to physically leave to those close to your as your legacy – photos, videos, letters and more; and the third workshop focuses on getting all of the paperwork done well in advance to prepare for death – even if it is likely years away.

Cabo Sagrado is open in the mornings with great coffee for people to gather to connect and talk. The space is also available for rental for special events, which they will help to produce. Speakers from mainland Mexico and the United States are often invited to give special presentations, day-long or multi-day workshops that are consistent with the organizations them of maintaining connections through every stage of your life. To meet the needs of both the local and expat communities, these workshops are often presented twice – once in Spanish and once in English.

So, if you would like explore how to build or maintain connections with your family, friends or to make new friends facing similar issues and experience as you, consider exploring what Cabo Sagrado has to offer.