‘Never to get lost is not to live, not to know how to get lost brings you to destruction, and somewhere in the terra incognita in between lies a life of discovery.’

– From A Field Guide to Getting Lost, by Rebecca Solnit

Fritz Loest founded Sacred River in 2018 after having practiced as a therapist and teacher since 2005. Fritz views the work he does as a 'creative psychological craft' rather than as 'therapy'. His focus is not so much on 'healing' anything that is 'wrong' with us, nor on 'analyzing' or 'making diagnoses'. But rather on crafting a life full of soul. Which, if properly done, leads for many to 'healing' as one of the by-products.

As part of his training, he spent thousands of hours with his teachers over a period of 12 years, starting in 2003. There he received intensive training in all the fields mentioned on this website. He completed numerous workshops, underwent several initiations and was involved in countless hours of intensive study and practice, including a six-year intensive therapist training-course. He also practiced under close supervision for seven years.

The training Fritz received was intimately involved with his own psychological and spiritual development. Note that this was not a conventional university training in Psychology and he is not a Psychologist. In fact, the kind of training he received is not available at any university. He was one of less than five percent of students where he studied to enter into full-time practice. Fritz has presented several group and one-on-one retreats to date.

It took a while for Fritz to find his way to this work, which he feels to be more a path-of-heart than a career. Earlier in life, he worked as a paralegal for Lawyers for Human Rights, a barista in cubicles at train-stations, a sommelier in a London five-star restaurant, a sales-consultant of financial products at a London firm, and as an assistant publisher, commissioning editor and managing editor in the book publishing industry. He edited, proofread and ghost-wrote several academic textbooks, has worked as accountant and financial manager of a small business in Cape Town, and co-founded a wine export business in the United States.

Fritz has been married and got divorced, has been involved in several long-term relationships and has made beautiful homes a few times over. In other words, he has wandered through multiple countries, jobs, relationships and endlessly shifting inner landscapes over many years. He holds B.Comm (Law) and LL.B. degrees, a diploma in Journalism and several certifications.