You’re tired.
You’re overworked.
And lately, you’ve been feeling disconnected from yourself.
You need some time out. A day, or a weekend dedicated to feel relaxed, present, rejuvenated…all those feelings you’ve been craving.
A wellness retreat would be perfect. A weekend dedicated to nurturing your soul? Yes, please! But what if you can’t spare the time? Or the cash? Does that mean you miss out?
Not necessarily. You can recreate the same experience in your own home.
… You might actually create a better experience, as it will be entirely customized to you.
How? Create your own mini soul retreat.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?!
Just like any retreat, you want to get the most out of your time – for it to be a truly soul nourishing experience.
You want to come out of your retreat not only feeling relaxed, but feeling exactly how you needed to feel. Motivated. In tune. Inspired.
To do this, you need to create a plan.
How much time do you have?
Ideally, you want a full day — to be in retreat mode from the moment you wake, till the moment you lay down to sleep.
Choose your day and clear it. That might involve a sleepover for the kids at grandmas, shifting any usual commitments and sending your partner out for the day.
What does your retreat look like?
Now that you have the date planned, you can work out your itinerary.
To start, decide what you want out of your retreat. Sum it up in one word. This is your intention.
Maybe you have a business idea floating around. Your word might be ‘inspired’.
You might be feeling sluggish or unwell. Your word might be ‘health’.
Maybe you’re craving to feel connected. Your word might be ‘spiritual’.
Or, ‘Creative’. ‘Beautiful’. ‘Present’.
Once you have your intention, you can sketch out the activities you’ll do on your retreat. You might like to follow an itinerary similar to this:
- Wake
- Light Exercise
- Shower/Pamper Session
- Breakfast
- Create/Move/Do/Write/Plan/Learn
- Lunch
- Meditate
- Create/Move/Do/Write/Plan/Learn
- Relax/Bath/Read
- Dinner
- Write/Create/Read/Movie/Meditate
Fill it with exercises and activities that fit your intention. Here are some examples:
1. Beautiful.
You might start your day with a slow and gentle pamper session. Dry brushing followed by a long shower and deliciously scented soaps. A facial. Clothing that makes you feel beautiful. A manicure and pedicure. A book like Beauty From the Inside Out by Dr Libby.
At the end of your retreat you want to feel beautiful, blissful and utterly relaxed.
2. Inspired.
Your retreat might start with a motivating podcast playing in the background as you prepare breakfast. Spend the morning brainstorming ideas for your business or your blog. Enjoy a nourishing lunch before creating an action plan to launch your project.
In the afternoon, choose an inspiring read. You want to end your retreat feeling pumped up and ready to bring your project to life.
3. Spiritual.
Yoga is almost mandatory in this retreat! If you’re a long time yogini, delve into a long, strong session. If you’re new to yoga, find an online tutorial to follow.
Create a spiritual shrine and meditate. Light candles. Pull cards. Write. Sit in a comfortable spot and imagine the universe expanding from your soul for as long as you wish.
Follow your intuition on this one; let yourself be free to do what your spirit wants to do. If you want to sit and chant for two hours, do that. Dive into your spirit without embarrassment.
Assemble Your Tools
Create a shopping list of everything you need for your retreat, and purchase the items beforehand. This includes tasty food and herbal teas, new body lotions, scented candles or incense, paints, the book you’d like to read or the movie you’d like to watch.
You want this retreat to be extra special, so splash out on a few key items. Even some new body wash can make the day feel different. Treat yourself.
Bookmark any videos or TED Talks you would like to watch. Have them ready to go, and watch only those. Don’t waste an hour of your retreat browsing YouTube for that perfect yoga tutorial!
Lay out your clothes the night before. Wear what fits your intention best. This might be a dress, it might be yoga pants and an oversized jumper, or it might be gorgeous underwear and a beautiful negligée.
Clear Your Space
Keep your retreat as blissful as possible by cleaning and clearing your space the day before.
When you wake in the morning, your dishes will be done, your home vacuumed, your room tidy, your bathroom clean and you’ll have fresh sheets on the bed. That will feel like luxury in itself!
Relax and Enjoy
Give yourself permission to forget about the world for one day. Switch your phone off, leave your emails, and put any worries to the side.
Enjoy every moment of your retreat without guilt. You deserve a day of nurturing your soul.
Can you imagine how amazing a mini soul retreat like this would be?
Choose a day.
Set your intention.
Book it in.
Enjoy.
Misty Sansom is on a lifelong mission to help people discover what their purpose is, and how they can bring it to life. She is the creator of Life, Designed, which is an online program to help people do exactly that. Driven, inquisitive and free-spirited, Misty has fostered a love of business, philosophy, creativity and new experiences into a life filled with adventure. She writes about purpose, business, health, personal development and everyday life from her home on the coast of New Zealand.
