7 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WELLNESS RETREATS

It is a Monday afternoon & you are sitting with a laptop in front of you. The endless task list, tight deadlines & uninterrupted meetings seem to be never-ending. The chaos around the home & office is giving you Monday blues in the middle of the afternoon. You wish for a pause for all the chaos & wish you could plan a fun trip. Suddenly, you see an ad of some serene location on your desktop with the tagline ‘Calm Your Chaos & Reconnect with You’.

Every time we feel like taking a break from our crazy hectic schedules. And, it is always a fancy trip or leisure getaway that comes to our mind. Instead, what if you plan a wellness retreat that provides a safe environment for a deeper physical and emotional withdrawal from the stresses and strains of everyday life.

A retreat filled with mouthwatering healthy delicacies, healing therapies, counselling, meditation, yoga and much more. A retreat is a healthy alternative to a fancy or a normal holiday trip.

While the reasons to plan a retreat are endless, here are 7 top reasons to look out for taking a wellness retreat. You will thank yourself for it in the long run.

1. REFLECT, RENEW AND RESTORE

A retreat is an experience that leaves a lifetime impact on your quality of life. It gives you an opportunity to reconnect with yourself, to bring back the zest, and to acquire clarity for making meaningful decisions in life.

JidduKrishnamurti, a famous spiritual leader and philosopher explain this concept in clear words, “I think it is essential sometimes to go into retreat, to stop everything that you have been doing, to stop your beliefs and experiences completely and look at them anew, not keep on repeating like machines whether you believe or don’t believe. You would let fresh air into your minds.”

2. Break from routine rituals

A retreat is planned with some blissful & natural locations which help to calm your mind & reconnect with nature. It helps you in leaving the everyday hustle and bustle of life & entering a world of self-exploration with mindful yogic & meditation practices.

3. Approach to a healthier lifestyle

The retreat gives you a healthy treat for your life. An approach filled with yoga, healing therapies, meditation, healthy delicacies and a serene environment makes people shift towards a more conscious and healthier way of living. The retreat gives you a souvenir of a sense of renewal, empowerment and clarity for your everyday life. The experiences taken helps you make more conscious & logical decisions. Healthy habits like yoga in the morning or short sessions of meditation imbibed from this retreat makes you take some time for yourself as a must ritual.

4. Circled by Nature

Humans are the natural sources of the environment. There is co-dependence of humans on ecosystems for our survival. The advancement in the technologies & lifestyles especially in urban areas has led to more fast-paced & stressful lives. Nature is a place where you feel at home for peace. And these retreat programs are planned in the heart of nature giving you a chance to rejuvenate your mind & body using healthy approaches like yoga & meditation.

5. Experience newer things

The most exciting part of any vacation is trying & experiencing new things. The challenge to do something that takes you out of your comfort brings so much thrill. The vacation is like leaving your home behind & marching out to newer adventures of life ahead for a few days like trying activities of bungee jumping or a ride in an amusement park, etc. 

A wellness retreat is similar to trying new things like some physical activities & exploring the mental and emotional cave of your mind. The only difference between the two is wellness retreats are planned with a vision of enhancing your personal well-being. The same is conducted with different types of yogic practices like Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Acro Yoga, some mindful exercises like meditation & relaxation activities like Thai Spa. These activities help you to reflect on your inner self or revisit your old self & renew your energies with utmost positivity and freshness.

6. Expertise

The retreats are planned under supervision & under the guidance of experts or professionals who help you find & learn to balance personal well-being using holistic approaches. The counselling sessions, healing therapies, yoga & meditation, etc. are customised based on your requirements & your condition which helps you improve. They also teach you the simple tools and techniques to take home with you to integrate into your everyday life.

7. Unplug & Unwind

The fast-paced lifestyle of urban cities has led to never-stopping your life & doing multitasking sometimes to not miss out on anything. The rapid emergence of digitalization has led to more sources for doing too much at a time. Recent studies have shown not taking breaks & doing something all the while increases the production of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the fight-or-flight hormone adrenaline.  It can overstimulate your brain and cause mental fog or scrambled thinking. These retreat programs help you unwind from such toxic habits, unplug from such unhealthy chaos of your lifestyle & try an approach to a healthy lifestyle.

The wellness retreat is a long term enhanced approach to a healthy perspective that can improve the direction of your life. When you take the time to individually evaluate the pros of a retreat, the list would be endless. Not only is a wellness retreat a life-changing event, but it’s also a refreshing vacation you’ll never forget.

By Riddhi Pandya