How can we help with your retreat?
– Locations –
We partner with a variety of beautiful retreat venues, each offering something unique and special. Our intimate knowledge of these venues helps us suggest the right location for you.
– Planning –
We can take care of all the planning for your event, integrating contemplative practices and physical movement in order to enhance its transformative healing powers.
– Content –
We love working with people to organize and deepen their retreat content to ensure powerful programming that is nothing less than life changing for everyone.
Why Retreat?
The speed and intensity of our world often propels our nervous systems into states of fight, flight, and/or collapse without providing safe outlets to release those protective instincts. While other animals instinctively shake off stress, we have little opportunity to regulate our nervous systems. Resting returns our bodies to a healthy state of awareness, so we can do our best thinking, learning, creating, relating, and enjoying in solitude and in community. Slowing down to find and nurture our inner stillness is a great way to give our bodies a break from the constant stress of day-to-day life.
There are many health and healing effects of rest and retreat.
According to a 2009 National Sleep Foundation study, sleep is the third piece of the puzzle for sustaining mental and physical health and well-being, along with exercise and nutrition. This message has been picked up and carried throughout the media, school curriculums, and sleep campaigns so that now most people consider all three as key factors affecting health and well-being.
The Scientific American recently featured an in-depth reporting on mental downtime containing many surprising revelations about the benefits of retreat, which we have listed below for reference.
Better digestion.
Clearer thinking.
More energy.
Increased sensory awareness.
Increased coping abilities.
Enhanced creativity.
Relaxed muscles.
Reduced pain.
Lower blood pressure and better blood flow.
Decreased heart and respiration rates.
Better sleep patterns.
- Rest -
When we step back from our busiest lives and land somewhere beautiful, we have the opportunity to rest and reflect from a place of enjoyment and relaxation. Taking care of ourselves and each other in community means taking the time to retreat. When we are relaxed, we are better listeners and more relational. We have the space and time to reflect deeply.
- Restore -
We work with a lot of people who integrate contemplative practice, physical movement like yoga, and meditation into their retreats and events. Studies show that people learn best when they are in a relaxed state. Contemplation and meditation are best practiced in and help cultivate, a relaxed state in body and mind. We believe that contemplative practices help us embody the inner work of change that supports our capacity to create lasting outer change.
- Practice -
We are always practicing something. Everyday we practice brushing our teeth, eating certain ways, or maybe it’s daily road rage or feeling sorry for ourselves. Most of the time we don’t notice out habitual behavior, but when we slow down and observe ourselves, the patterns of thinking and behavior begin to light up. Retreats teach new tools and practices that help to create healthy habits.
So, what are you waiting for?
Book a free 30 minute consult–tell us about your dream event, and we’ll tell you how we can help make it happen.