Just changing your environment and removing those demands allows you to relax a bit, to slow down. Your mind is freer, you can listen to yourself, you can open yourself up to new ideas.

 

At a retreat, someone else is taking care of your needs. There are no chores to do, you don’t need to think about planning meals, cooking, work, or family demands. There are no difficult decisions. You’re free to focus on what’s important to you at this moment in your life.

 

When we think of a retreat, we might tend to think about a yoga retreat, or a meditation retreat. Lots of people do choose these kinds of retreats if they love yoga or meditation and want to reconnect with themselves in a busy world. 

 

But really the point of a retreat is to step away from everyday life and spend time focusing on what’s important to you - and that could be almost anything. It could be yoga or meditation, or it could be creative writing, art, photography, cooking, learning Italian. I’ve even hosted a dog-listening retreat! 

 

Some of these might sound like educational courses or workshops, but the difference is that with a retreat there is space and time built in for you to relax, to think, the just ‘be’, and to connect with yourself. There is no forced learning, and no packed schedule. 

 

There is a structure (or I prefer to call it a ‘flow’) to the retreat, but it’s there simply to guide the day and help people feel at ease. Everything on a retreat should be optional.

 

The retreat environment is important. At a good retreat there should be a sense of calm, of positivity, of possibility, of acceptance. A supportive energy but one that also gives you the space you need. 

 

There is also a sense of connection with like-minded people. There is no place for politics in a retreat - it’s a place to connect with people on a deeper level. Shared interests and shared experiences lead to easy, natural connections.

 

Whatever the retreat purpose or activity, it’s the combination of the flow, the surroundings, the connections, the space to breathe and think, the pausing of responsibility and decision-making that make it so powerful for people. It allows you to have realisations, or ideas, or shifts in perspective that might not have surfaced otherwise. 

 

And you will leave the retreat feeling calmer, stronger, more grounded, or more energised, or with exciting ideas to take back to your everyday life. 

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