Retreat with intention
“Your home environment doesn’t need to change. If a retreat is done with intention, it’s you that changes. So when you come home it feels different because you’re different. That’s the idea behind all self care and mindfulness.”
- Ericka Thomas
Transcript
Ep 181 Retreat with intention
Yoga retreats sound so nice. Full disclosure, I’ve never been on a retreat per say and I have all the excuses to prove it. I’ve done yoga teacher training that lasted a week but I’ve never had the time to take away from my family, my job for anything like that that didn’t have some purpose to it. Shoot I can barely bring myself to take time off on holidays with my family. But I understand the appeal. I like the idea that you completely step out of your everyday life to rest and repair, recharge, maybe learn something new or simply take a full time out. I sometimes fantasize about running away like that. That seems like an awfully big privilege if I’m honest. And what is the point if nothing changes about the life you come home to?
Today our work IN is all about how to use retreats in intentional, mindful ways for practical, long lasting stress relief and resilience and an opportunity to try one without the big time and money commitment.
I love the idea of a yoga retreat. Actually it doesn’t have to be yoga. For me I’d probably want something that didn’t have yoga associated with it because I do yoga all the time. Just a week somewhere beautiful where I can let someone else take care of all the details and I can let go. It sounds magical.
When I was at the height of my own chronic stress I used to dream about doing that and then almost immediately reject the idea because A. those things are typically very expensive. B. I was stuck in the perception that I was the only one who could keep my life running. C. There was no way I could find an entire week to take off and abandon my responsibilities. D. I couldn’t see what good it would do if I was going to come home to the same stress drenched life.
Here is the flaw in that logic. Your home environment doesn’t need to change. If a retreat is done with intention, it’s you that changes. So when you come home it feels different because you’re different. That’s the idea behind all self care and mindfulness. I’m not sure we do a great job of explaining how that works and why it’s so important, otherwise more people would take better care of themselves. It wouldn’t be so woo woo for folks.
Retreats can be amazing. They’re touted as complete rest and relaxation away from the hustle and bustle in some exotic locales. Great food, beautiful locations, peaceful people, different things to do. Perhaps time to rediscover yourself outside of your normal life and all you normal obligations. And that can feel really good. But what about that is different than any other vacation?
For women, the major difference is we do retreats alone. No men, no kids, no responsibility, no logistics beyond getting ourselves there. That’s a huge ask for many of us to let go of all of those things, because so many of them contribute to who we are, and just do something for ourselves and ourselves alone.
On the surface the cost of retreats often outweigh our perceived benefits when we’re looking at a retreat opportunity. Those costs show up as money, time, and purpose.
Retreat obstacles
Money
If you’re anything like me you probably have a few money hang ups. We’re pretty much programmed with those. But one of my coaches shared with me, that I say all the time now is “it’s either time, or money.” She was talking about business building but it’s true in everything.
Money is a form of energy exchange. So the question isn’t “how much is this thing I want ”It’s “what is it worth to me?” Worth is all up to you, your perception of the value.
Sadly when it comes to self care investments like retreats the true value is lost behind the price tag. We have to put a higher value on ourselves before we can click that purchase button.
Time
People say time is money. That’s because time has an energy cost. We don’t want to waste our time and energy on anything that we aren’t getting something out of. Just like money is an energy exchange so is how we spend our time. Again we might come up against some of that programming around time. The need and drive to be productive and busy, to account for every moment of our day, is one of the contributing factors in chronic stress and the resulting nervous system fatigue. Shifting our thoughts about productivity can poke the perfectionist mamma bear. We define so much of who we are by what we do, it’s difficult to let go even for a moment.
Purpose
Purpose is where value and energy collide. When you live in a constant state of stress activation that has begun to bleed into physical dysfunction, mental distraction and emotional dysregulation, that’s when the cost of not taking care of yourself begins to outweigh the immediate benefit of overriding your nervous system to carry on.
Our system can handle a lot but when we ignore those whispers, that’s when the trouble starts.
High blood pressure, metabolic dysfunction, chronic pain, IBS, insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks are some of many ways the body sends an SOS.
Chronic stress keeps that SOS, that silent alarm stuck on until something changes.
While you still may not have the time or the money to do some big exotic retreat, there are ways to get the benefits of a retreat in a bite size package with intention and purpose.
I wanted to create something that would allow students to step back from their day to day without stressing their calendar or bank account. Something that feels like a retreat and at the same time offers practical body based tools that can be used anytime anywhere to calm the nervous system and build resilience to stress.
I figured if I have a hard time taking a week to go on a retreat other people might too. But what about one day? One day I can handle.
I created S.O.S. is a Trauma release day retreat coming up on Saturday August 3 from 9 AM - 3 PM
Hosted at The Loft Yoga + Wellness in Spring Valley, OH.
We’re going to learn how to flip that switch and reset your body and mind with a no sweat way to Shake Off Stress.
Trauma release day retreat called S.O.S. (Shake Off Stress)
This is a day long opportunity to nourish and heal from chronic stress using trauma informed principles in yoga, somatics and trauma release.
Relieve deep physical tension
Reduce anxiety
Reconnect with yourself
We’ll spend the day learning how to reconnect and befriend our own mind and body in the company of other amazing women. Lunch is included in your registration.
We’ll be exploring…
How the tremor acts as a self regulation technique that builds awareness without judgment.Guided trauma release yoga practices based on David Berceli’s TRE
How to use somatosensory tools to create new responses under stress. Guided somatic and energetic awareness based on the chakra system
How to use journaling, meditation and yoga to literally shift our mood.
How to use guided yoga nidra to rest the nervous system and improve sleep.
Your day of no sweat stress reduction and self care is only $97.00.
I think you’re worth it!
Registration closes on August 2nd at noon EST and space is limited.
All of the links to join our in person retreat are in the show notes at savagegracecoaching.com/theworkin. Thanks for listening today
Thanks for listening today! If you're looking for ways to handle the effects of stress, physically, mentally and emotionally through the body head over to savagegracecoaching.com/theworkin you’ll find all the show notes for this and other episodes plus lots of free resources. And if you’re in a place where you are ready for more and you live in the Dayton Ohio area I’m taking private clients for trauma informed yoga and trauma release exercise in person and online. So you can book a discovery call and we can have a real life conversation. And of course I’d be ever so grateful if you would take a moment to like and subscribe to this podcast wherever you’re listening.
Thanks again everyone and as always stop working out and start working IN.
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Hey there!
I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a health coach and trauma informed yoga professional bringing real world resilience and healing to main street USA.
I offer trauma release + yoga + wellness education for groups and individuals…regular people like you.
Book a call to learn how I can help.