When was the last time you felt truly yourself?
When was the last time you felt truly yourself? With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it can be difficult to allocate time for ourselves, whether it be for exercise, meditation, prayer, relaxation, or anything else. Often people with busy lives feel the need to escape the pressure. No matter how much you love your job or lifestyle, living up to a fast-paced rhythm puts a strain on your well-being over time. On the other hand, a very continuous routine can get very boring sometimes, dulling down your overall mood and happiness. Breaking the usual pattern will help you feel rejuvenated and energized. If you have particular health conditions you can’t seem to find satisfactory treatment for, you might be overlooking all the available options. Physical complaints often turn out not to be physical at all. The purpose of a retreat is to offer a secluded environment that’s completely different from your daily surroundings, receiving guidance in the area you wish to focus on.
This allows you to truly break away from your routine. Far away from all the distractions and responsibilities in your daily life. In this state of increased focus, you are able to devote yourself completely to your chosen goal.
On a zen vacation or retreat, you are committing to a setting away from home to concentrate solely on you, your thoughts, and your spiritual being. Though many of us don’t like to admit how technology makes us weak in the knees, it gives us a finite and desperately needed excuse to turn away from our cell phones and resist cyber-communication. This way, we can practice being more present and better take in what the experience at hand has to offer. Feeling like a fish out of water at a spiritual retreat triggers plenty of opportunities for personal growth. Working on self-awareness goes hand in hand with other benefits. It also helps you deal with emotional pain by coming to the realization of what is causing it. Traveling even deeper into the self, you might be able to deal with some intimidating inner demons. Even classes that seem more physical can do wonders here. Whether this helps to give the pain a place or facing it head-on, (childhood) trauma’s can be worked through in many ways.
Once the retreat is over and done with, and you go back to your grind. The lessons you’ve learned from the retreat stay with you. You will be able to express more gratitude, from anything as simple as saying “thank you” more often, offering genuine compliments to others every day, or by keeping a gratitude journal. The people around you will take notice of the progress you have made in your spiritual journey, which will open a door to deeper and more meaningful conversations and allow you to exchange the pearls of wisdom discovered and practiced at the retreat. The holistic benefits you gain from the retreat will creep into your every day life, aiding a clearer perception and balanced perspective, helping keep stress overload at bay. You will possess the needed skills to factor in healthy relaxation without feeling guilty about taking time out for self.
An amazing benefit of a retreat is its power to put your current life on pause: your beliefs, events and experiences – and to look at them with a renewed mind. You will get the solitude that you need to take you away from the daily grind and routine.
Moreover, retreats are usually situated in beautiful natural locations that help you connect with yourself and with the earth. Nature lets you relax, and it has a natural healing and rejuvenating power. The first thought that comes to mind when you need a rest: I need a vacation!
But vacay’s still come with semi-stressful responsibilities such as planning activities, looking up directions, arranging transportation, waiting in lines, deciding where to go for dinner, and so on. If you’re really looking for total relaxation, another great thing about retreats is that everything is pre-arranged for you. All you need to do is show up at the location, where everything you need is at your fingertips.
There are many specialized retreats that focus on the correlation between physical and mental health, alternative healing, and body and mind fitness. If you feel like you have tried all else, you can always give it a shot. The first step in seeking medical advice is consulting with your doctor, with full autonomy over your further decisions. We’ve all heard of couples therapy, or even family therapy perhaps. Talking with a professional about how to heal your relationships on a regular basis can unleash a long retrospective process into where it went wrong. If you want to speed up this process, you can also choose to go for the total dive-in. Spending multiple days at a counseling retreat together, perhaps with interactive exercises and assignments, might bring you to a breakthrough much sooner. Opening up to new things isn’t easy. You are pushing your boundaries and extending your horizons by doing so. Having a purpose or goal is not always necessary. It could also be an option for those who are not keen on weekly therapy sessions, but want to give it a proper try at least once.
Still can’t relate to any of the benefits? If none of the above reasons appeal to you, consider visiting a retreat as a personal challenge.
Note that new perspectives come with a bunch of welcome side-effects! Thinking outside of the box is the key to new innovative ideas and solutions to problems. But it’s not that easy. Even those with the most creative minds can feel uninspired and run out of ideas now and then.
New perspectives give you a very much-needed boost in critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.
We are each unique, with individual preferences and needs. Indeed, a Retreat as a way of relaxing, de-stressing regaining equilibrium may not appeal to everyone. However, after reading this column, you may be drawn to experience the delights of a Retreat for yourself, and Travel Nomadika invites you to a life transforming retreat in Costa Rica where you will enjoy all of the holistic benefits that can be derived from a true zen retreat and more.
