How To Pick An Active Vacation or Retreat (from someone who knows)

Lauren and I are no strangers to airplane rides or adventures. I’m sure our shared history traveling on Semester at Sea and desire to live FULL lives are two of the reasons we work together so well. This past year, I made it a priority to say 'yes' to as many escapes, adventures and retreats as my calendar (and bank account) will allow. Rather than having a Year of Yes (great book by the way), I think of it as only saying YES to things that make my body feel really good. Food, movement, and good people are my priorities.

(yogascapes Moab with Kerri Kelly + Jason Bowman) 

I should share that as an anti-type A person (more type Z), retreats are my favorite way to travel. After showing up in Thailand itinerary-less a few years ago, I’ve realized that planning, or outsourcing the planning, is in fact wonderful and necessary. Interestingly, Lauren is a self-confessed type A-person and likes outsourcing the organizing too. This way, she can obsess about something (or somewhere) else.

Here’s how to choose a retreat:

Pick your priority: is it to meet cool people, have some bootcamp and a little booze too? SurfYogaBeer is run by some of NYC fitness scene’s best, and they host worldwide fitness and fun retreats. I’ve met some of my best friends on these trips. But, if your priority is more to do “self work” and get a little hippy dippy with it, Kripalu R&R or YogaScapes retreats may be more for you.

(post bootcamp/hill sprints with SurfYogaBeer Amalfi)

Know your magic number: Everyone has their # of days that makes a vacation go from “best trip ever” to “I want to go home”. Mine is 5. Know your #.

(from an organic cafe we hunted down in positano, italy) 

Don't assume when it comes to the food: surprisingly even “health” retreats don’t always have the healthiest food. So do your research and ask questions – remember, you’re paying! You can request gluten free and extra veggies etc. Also, always pack your own safety snacks and search for local juice and smoothie bars. *But if you’re going to Italy, try the freaking pasta...

(my first time surfing w/ SYB Costa Rica) 

Try new activities: You absolutely do NOT have to be an avid yogi to go on a yoga retreat or have any surf knowledge to go on a surf retreat. Many people I’ve met on my past few trips are complete beginners. Don’t let your lack of experience keep you from trying something that sounds cool. For example, a retreat with a campfire cacao ceremony, anyone? 

(hiking the Path of the Gods, Positano)

Friends and family optional: when in doubt…. Pack up and GO! Go alone, go with friends, go with a love, go with your kids, just go. Recently I did this with a close friend on a trip to Moab, Utah with YogaScapes, not knowing anything about the destination or people (Type-Z strikes again), and it was one of the best trips of my life – and one of the least expensive ones, too.

(moab under canvas)

Cost contributors: Camping is a great way to save money (or glamping, Under Canvas is a cool alternative in national parks). There's something fun about going a little rugged, especially if someone else handles the tent set up.  Also, sharing rooms is not usually as creepy as it sounds and can make things much more affordable... but if we're being honest, Lauren pulled out of a meditation retreat at Garrison Institute because she had to have a roommate. Pick what's most important to you and pay for it.

(view from Capri)

Healthy vacations aren’t just for the 20 or 30-something or single! Lauren has done biking/hiking/camping trips trips with her husband and kids to Yellowstone, Zion and the Grand Canyon with Backroads. Many companies offer family trip options.

For me, my next “work” trip is a blueberry adventure with Lauren in Maine. And then I'm thinking a silent retreat – yup, no Insta AND no speaking… sounds terrifying, so I have to do it.

Where are you headed next? What have been your great retreat or travel experiences? 

So I started meditating…sort of

Our newsletter today focuses on healthy rituals. We culled top food and fitness experts for their daily rituals and the answers were inspiring (and funny).  Some responses were too in depth for our monthly newsletter and so we’ll feature them here this week. In the meantime, the newsletter also mentioned those rituals you wish you did which we call “wishuals”.

Meditation has been a wishual for me for some time. I think it’s been a New Year’s resolution.  I’ve polled my Facebook friends to find out their favorite meditation teachers,  I even went to an intro session on transcendental meditation (the twice a day requirement and weird cult-like infomercial ruined it for me).  This past summer, I registered for a meditation retreat at The Garrison Institute retreat taught by Jack Kornfield (who I had heard about as I own one of his books). But I didn’t go; I didn’t read the book or attend classes either.  And if New Year’s resolutions were superstitions, I’d be screwed. And maybe I am screwed because meditation changes everyone’s life and here I am unchanged.

So, earlier this month I signed up for a Deepak Chopra/ Oprah (their names sound so great together) 21-day online meditation course. The registration took two minutes and I was technically good to go. I sat down at my computer and clicked through to Day 1. Oprah does a little intro and then Deepak takes over. After a couple of minutes of talking, you’re encouraged to close your eyes and focus on your breath. This is much harder than it sounds. I, after all, am the person who had trouble with the savasana at the end of yoga class. You know, the corpse pose? You lie down and after a couple of minutes of silence you are supposed to be restored. Who can't be a corpse for two minutes? This is probably the most important part of the class and yet I regularly ran out to check Instagram (or email if that sounds more legit). You see where this is going.

Back to day one, I breathed in and out and in and out. When I was about to hyperventilate, I decided to repeat the mantra, as we were instructed, but realized I forgot it. I then opened my eyes to check how much time was left. I had been meditating for three minutes, so sad. By the time Deepak said, “you can now open your eyes” my eyes were long opened.  While I felt a little lame, I also felt somewhat proud that I had tried. I told myself I’d keep my eyes closed the next day. However, the next day I had early clients and my plan to meditate later in the day didn’t pan out.

So today marks 1 week since I started. I’ve “meditated” four times. I could say meditation is not for me but despite being sort of pathetic at it- I enjoy it.  And probably the people who check email during meditation are the ones that need it most. I really hope this wishual becomes a ritual. Namaste.

Do you meditate? Was it difficult when you first started? Or, is meditation a wishual for you? Any other wishuals?

A not-super-fit looking yoga teacher may have solved all your problems

Friday, I ventured back to yoga for the first time in two years.

Way back when, yoga and I didn’t have a casual relationship.

I joined Pure Yoga (membership based = unlimited classes) and approached yoga the way I do all things- obsessively. I swung toward hot yoga, sweat buckets and was even known to frontload my yoga with a run. I enjoyed the yoga, the music, the dark-ish room and eventually could bind and contort into some of the more difficult poses. However, this was not a mind/body journey for me. It was a body, body journey where I tracked by progress versus the yogi aficionados in the room and looked for physical evidence of yoga strengthening me. Simply put I didn’t get it. I questioned if I was sweating more than strengthening and defected back to barre classes as soon as they were offered.

Recently (some of you have commented on my posts) I have been more aware of my need for “mind” work. I always suggest it for others and believe in it. And one can only give so much money to the prepaid fitness pot before you feel like a total idiot. So I went back to Pure to one of their basics class last week. It was me, a bunch of ladies my mother’s age and a few inflexible men. It felt perfectly unintimidating but still I still dragged my bolster and blocks to the very back of the room.

In walks the instructor. If you’ve read my posts you know I judge. I don’t judge everyone but I judge fitness professionals. I like aspirational and if that means my “mind” needs more work I’ll tell my gorgeous (yup) therapist. This instructor didn’t inspire me physically BUT when she opened her mouth and addressed the class, she had me. Not a minute in, she mentioned something called Svadhyaya. I typed a misspelled version of this word into my phone (that was supposed to be in my cubby but…). Svadhyaya means self study.

We were told we’d be given suggestions and modifications but that we had to see where our bodies were. We knew best. As someone who doles out advice and loves receiving advice I know this is the case. I love when I make a suggestion and a client says, “that’s not going to work” whether it’s because they know themselves or have a gauge on a situation they’ll be in. One client last week told me he does better when he sets goals versus when they come from me. And one of our Summer Squeeze participants clarified “I can't whip out anything BYO in today's  work environment” on a business trip with the head of her company (I had suggested she BYOsnacks).

Chances are you know your body, psyche and tendencies better than any expert. So while we still need preofessionals (and FOODTRAINERS) any wellness effort should be collaborative and personalized.

Namaste.
Where are you on the mind/body spectrum? Do you do yoga, meditate or anything else? What do you think of Svadhyaya or self study?