Wellness Retreats

For an impactful wellness experience, to prevent or treat a health opportunity such as fatigue, a chronic condition, or to detoxify, we may want to spend time at a  wellness retreat. The retreat may be for days or weeks at a time, where we can detoxify our body, mind, and spirit. It may be a place where a raw vegan plant-based diet and vegan cold-pressed juices are served. The program may have the option of massage therapy, chiropractic treatment, professional colon cleanse, and support from different counselors: nutritionists, therapists, and similar practitioners. You may be participating in regular exercises and sent home with tools on how to implement and sustain your program at home. There are many programs around the world and their offerings vary. These experiences can significantly impact your well-being. One amazing example of a wellness retreat is the Optimum Health Institute (OHI) in San Diego, California. Hundreds of people have benefited from the OHI healing center.

Mini Wellness Retreats

Global pandemic and imposed isolation taught us to be innovative and to redefine our travel goals and experiences. Now perhaps we have re-discovered our own communities and have found hidden gems. We have had to shift our thinking on how to experience the benefits of travel. Benefits such as that rush of changing the environment and letting your mind go with the flow, having a rough plan but allowing for a spur of the moment, unexpected turn, allowing ourselves to be surprised, or simply enjoying whatever comes along. A true letting go of stress and enjoying the moments despite the constraints of the global pandemic.

Wellness Journey is as simple as taking a day off, spending time on the local lake or river with a friend or a loved one, or re-discovering your own town, forest, beach or restaurant. If you are like me and live on a budget, bring your own food and enjoy sharing it with a friend while sitting by the riverbank or at the park, gazing at the sunset, enjoying company or solitude, and just living in the moment. Sharing food, thoughts, and experiences does wonders for our mental health while our happy hormones are dancing: our dopamine and serotonin are released and we return home a bit happier than we left and ready to face a new day.

Another wellness journey could be having a regular walking group in nature or urban areas with people you care about and can lean on to share your thoughts and feelings. You may finish your walking with a cup of tea, sit and chat in someone’s backyard or at the local park bench.

If we have more time and a bit more resources, we may want to book a few days away with a group of friends or family at the local charming small town, winery, national park, or similar. I have spent some great times with my friends on a budget, bringing our own food, walking everywhere, hiking the forest, checking out local farmers’ markets, swimming, exercising, or just sitting together and laughing out loud. Our souls were full.

Check out this interesting article, about the impact of travel on our mental health:

Five Reasons Why Travel Is Good For Your Mental Health – Forbes Life, Noma Nazish

You may be wondering is there anything in between those local mini-wellness gateways and longer wellness programs?

There are many different options,  search your local areas based on your needs, look for promotions, group discounts, rent a house and maybe organize your own programs, cookouts or potlucks, poetry, or art nights. Perhaps invite your own friends as “guest speakers” who may have valuable experiences in different areas and are willing to share. The possibilities are endless indeed, you just need to take charge of your own well-being. It will be truly rewarding!

Happy wellness journeys either on your own or with us! If you are interested in participating in any kind of wellness journey, click here!

What Is Wellness Travel?

The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.

They say that wellness is associated with an active process of being aware and making choices that lead toward an outcome of optimal holistic health and well-being. Wellness is multidimensional: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social and environmental.

To me, wellness is a state of feeling well, living fully in the moment and at peace with my inner self as well as my environment. A Wellness Journey is any kind of activity or experience that positively impacts our well-being. Wellness Travel experiences can act as catalysts to your wellness journey.

Why Wellness Travel?

How do you feel after your typical vacation? Do you feel rejuvenated physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually? Or do you sometimes come back from a vacation and feel even more exhausted and stressed out, and shortly after, you forget you have had a vacation at all?

For many years my family and I would take very popular “all-inclusive” resort vacations to beautiful sunny destinations where we enjoyed gorgeous beaches, pools, and other hotel amenities. We spent most of our time mindlessly eating and drinking, just because it was included in the price and unlimited.  We typically would not do much physical activity except for short walks between hotel rooms, beach and dining facilities.  We were so tired before vacation that we thought the best way to relax was a passive vacation in order to re charge before getting back to our stressful multifaceted lives.

We rarely came back fully rested, rejuvenated, inspired to live a healthier lifestyle or do something new and different in our lives.