I need to break free. I need to indulge in all the most lovely pleasures. I need someone to think through all the details for me, so I can just enjoy myself. I need to eat glorious food and have someone guide my practice. I need to be someplace beautiful, inspiring, and comfortable. I need for every moment to be filled with grace. I need practices to help me stay connected in the seat of myself. I need to be re-inspired.
I need a yoga retreat.
Does this sound like you?
Here’s why just a holiday isn’t enough for many people, and investing in a wellness holiday is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Remember
Like the frog slowly boiling to death, our stress built up gradually. We don’t always notice how taxed we’ve become. We are overloaded, over-acculturated, and under-souled. We have to jump out of the pot for a moment to realize how hot it was getting in there.
Indulge in Bliss
How often do we put the needs of others before our own self-care?Are you always last on your own to-do list. Those moments when everything is right with the world are so fleeting and priceless, but they can rejuvenate us for years to come.
Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.
-Maya Angelou
Do New Things with New Friends
The best retreats will balance activity and rest against things to experience while nurturing community. We can form supportive relationships and have expansive experiences. We get to giggle, laugh and have just plain old fun in a gorgeous place full of wonderful people.
Do No Things with No One (if you want)
We pack vacations full of activities and sightseeing, and make them just as frantic as our lives. On vacation or otherwise, I’m an expert at getting wrapped up in endless activity and to-do lists.
A good retreat won’t overschedule; it will allow flexibility for alone time, spontaneous adventures, or rest. Whatever strikes one’s fancy.
In the first moments of retreat, it can be a little uncomfortable to abandon all that doing. But being still enough to connect with what’s underneath is vital to one’s wellbeing. We all must make time for the deep work.
Deepen Your Practice.
Even a few days of commitment can provide enough boost to really see gains in one’s physical practice. Practicing yoga multiple times a day will allow our bodies to restructure themselves around healthy, balanced movements. The gains will long outlast the retreat itself.
Actually Meditate
For many of us meditation is high on the list of shoulds, the things we mean do more of that get pushed to the back of the list. On a retreat we see what is possible when it comes to meditation. Knowing how good it can feel will inspire us to actually keep meditating at home.
Create New Patterns
Taking space from our lives affords us more clear seeing on what really matters and what doesn’t. We only have so much energy to give, how can we allocate it more powerfully to support what feeds our souls?
A yoga or wellness retreat will do more than relax us and take us on adventures. They also give us tools to take back into the trenches of the day-to-day. They empower us with the skills to bring our retreat with us everywhere. Retreats are investments in a more nurturing, blissful, connected life.
Who’s joining us this year?
You can see all of our upcoming retreats in the Calendar section of our site.
This excerpt was taken from Spirit Yoga Retreats
Watch this space for exciting news about future collaborations between Domaine de Mournac & Lauren Duker from Spirit Yoga Retreats.