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.

Following Your Instinct – Alicante, Spain

I have always been an avid global traveler with the last five years shifting my focus to wellness travel as an important part of my healing journey. I simply wanted more from my travel; a good old all-inclusive resort would not do it for me anymore. I wanted something more, to experience body, mind, and spirit rejuvenation, meet new like-minded people, eat and drink healthy and be inspired.

In February 2019, while casually talking to someone I just met at the social gathering in Canada, I learned about Alicante, a true hidden gem, a picturesque port city in Spain’s southeastern area of Costa Blanca. I’ve been to Spain a few times while living in Europe many years ago, but never heard of it. The more I’ve learned about the place and its surrounding areas, I instinctively knew I had to go there. And go Alone.
Well, it is important to mention that I am happily married, a mother of two, almost grown-up kids and I don’t normally go on vacations alone since…well actually, never. However, I was in desperate need of some Me Travel Time, self-reflection, and journaling while exploring a new wellness idea in Spain. Moreover, I was determined to go on a budget but have a grand time. The power of manifesting my future proved to be true in my life, once again.
Fast forward, two months after the above-mentioned conversation, very excited, I have arrived at the Alicante airport, via Zurich, Switzerland. I took a short public transit from the airport straight to my rented room at the shared  apartment located in one of the oldest buildings in the city center, a few steps the famous Mercado (Food Market).

The accommodation was decent and I met some interesting people while staying there. Since I was determined to practice my newly acquired Spanish language skills, I started chatting right away with a friendly staff at the next-door café, while waiting for my accommodation check-in time. That cute little café-bar became my hang-out place for a daily espresso, late afternoon meals, a place to journal, connect with family via free WIFI, or just talk to locals.
The next seven days I spent relaxing, letting go of any worries and schedule, planning my next day, just the night before, and allowing days to unfold as they may. I walked the small city many times, enjoying a huge palm tree-lined plazas, wonderful parks and its old town, Barrio de la Santa Cruz, its narrow streets, colored houses, and fantastic scenery. I loved a slow lifestyle, very relaxing. I even got to know a local hairdresser and her staff and decided to do my hair there. I saw a local wedding and observed some new unusual customs.

Check out some of my favorite local attractions in the beautiful Alicante:

• Explanada – Promenade by the see where I walked and people watched almost every day. A great exercise too.
• Cathedral San Nicolás -a 17th-century church that’s known for its Spanish architecture, marble stairways, and sandstone façade; I participated in a magnificent Easter evening mass there.
• The Canalejas park with impressive rubber plant over 100 years old, I have never seen anything like this.
• Marina Deportiva del Puerto, a city marina, is great for people watching and cocktails at the ‘Sotto’ restaurant.
• I walked up long stairs to the top of the hill some 160 meters above the city to the fortress:  Castillo de Santa Bárbara, with 360-degree breathtaking views, the special place of history to contemplate life.
• I loved my morning daily walks along the Playa del Postiguet, a city beach, and enjoy local artists and Spanish coffee, while listening to live Andalusian guitar performances. All of this is for free.

• I even dared to take a local tram out of the city and visited a nearby San Juan beach, scenic stretch of 7 km white sand and local restaurants. This is where I had the pleasure of taking the wellness course in Spanish, offered by the wonderful local Mindfulness Yoga Teacher and Holistic Life Coach. I was super proud to be able to follow most of the class in Spanish and only had to take a peek around a few times when I didn’t understand instructions to see what other participants were doing and try to mimic. Ok, it was more than a few times and the instructor spoke English too, but still, it was quite an accomplishment I thought!
• My final excursion was about 1.5 hours outside of Alicante on the tram along the sea coast to the Altea, a gorgeous old town. I loved its medieval cobbled streets, its palm-aligned seafront, and the famous Church of the Archangel Saint Michael, situated up in the hills. The magnificent church is built largely from wood and was designed to be a copy of a 17th-century church in Russia. It was a very deep spiritual experience attending a mass with the local people. I felt so much at peace.

My 7-day trip flu by fast and I managed to stay on my small budget, getting the most of the experiences for free or at a low cost. For example, enjoying a local flamenco show for the price of a drink, with a drink actually included; eating a fresh food bought at the local supermarket or taking advantage of daily ‘tourist special’ 4 pm dinner offered in most restaurants. That mid-day meal for me was a fantastic 3 course Mediterranean fresh food and a drink for the price of one regular meal.
Traveling alone in Spain, as a woman has been nothing but a positive experience for me; with respectful, warm, and helpful people who seemed to appreciate my open heart and attempt to speak the local language.
It was a memorable and fulfilling Me Time! I do plan to return to the gorgeous Alicante and share my experience with  people who dare to follow their instincts.  Click here and fill in the form, if you are interested in joining me next time!
Happy Travels!