Growing up, I would hear someone say “retreat” and I would think of a day spent at a spa with massages to facials. Today, the word has a completely different notion: It goes deeper than face and body treatments, delving into mental, physical and emotional well-being. As we navigate life, especially post-pandemic, mental health is a priority; learning how to take care of it is a must! People recognize this importance and are actively looking for ways to better themselves in this way.
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Growing up, I would hear someone say “retreat” and I would think of a day spent at a spa with massages to facials. Today, the word has a completely different notion: It goes deeper than face and body treatments, delving into mental, physical and emotional well-being. As we navigate life, especially post-pandemic, mental health is a priority; learning how to take care of it is a must! People recognize this importance and are actively looking for ways to better themselves in this way.
Retreat Overview
What I’ve found to be essential for hosting successful retreats is creating an environment where your attendees can feel safe to be vulnerable and allow themselves to dive into the work. Keeping a nice flow with breakaway activities allows guests to take breaks when needed and more easily jump back into sessions while curating an itinerary with the right experts helps keep attendees engaged and excited for what’s to come.
Retreats don’t necessarily need to be weeklong; what’s important is your programming and team support. Keep your guestlist at a manageable number, as you want to have enough staff on board so you don’t feel outnumbered by your attendees. I recommend not hosting overnight guests; this can be an added stress for you. Have guests stay at a nearby hotel, as it will allow your team to reset for your next day.
Healing Activities
Planning what your retreat will provide hinges on what your clientele is looking for. When I started 3d Wellness Retreats in August 2018, I wanted to focus on mental well-being, with spa treatments being the cherry on top. We planned a retreat in Hamptons, New York, with a group of 20 people who were all hungry for healing and allowed themselves to dive into the work.
We offered spa services and life coaching. I thought the treatments would book up immediately, but to my surprise, our attendees were all signing up to do the deep work rather than the pampering. So, our next retreats in California featured more mental wellness treatments as well as spa services; again, attendees gravitated toward the healing offerings versus the spa treatments.
That was all before the pandemic. What we thought would be two weeks in lockdown turned out to be two years! Once we felt it was safe to host our next retreat, we decided to focus solely on mental and emotional well-being. We curated impactful activations with top-tier experts, who flew in from all over the world to help our attendees heal.
This retreat started with a ceremonial opening of chakras. As our guests experienced what it felt like to open each chakra, coaches helped them navigate any emotions that would come up for them. After one-on-one sessions with our coaches, guests were taken through a journey of healing from past trauma. Attendees recognized their trauma and understood why certain things triggered them, and we provided tools for avoiding those triggers and moving past the trauma. This session is very deep, so we offered counseling with life coaches to help guests process lingering emotions.
We ended the day with introspective journaling, complete with prompted questions, to help them communicate better with loved ones and colleagues. This activity allows attendees to work on speaking up and using their voices. It helps them feel safe opening up and sharing their feelings.
The next day, we focused on self-image. Experts hosted one-on-one sessions with attendees to help them build their inner self-confidence, heal their bodies and learn to really love themselves. They enjoyed gentle workouts and participated in self-love exercises, including affirmations to themselves in a mirror and creating gratitude journals.
On the final day of the retreat, we focused on the benefits of essential oils. Aromatherapy experts helped attendees find the right oils for their specific mental wellness needs. We ended this retreat with a panel about the effects of social media on mental health. Influencers, psychologists and an expert on navigating bullying spoke and answered questions about the topic.
Quick Tips
- For those who are looking to host their own wellness retreats, consider the following questions:
- Who are your attendees? Parents? Business owners? Overworked employees?
- What do you want attendees to get out of this retreat?
- Do your experts offer the right kind of guidance for attendees’ needs?
- Does your programming have a theme? If so, is it consistent throughout the itinerary?
- Do you want to host overnight guests or just host daytime events?
- The answers will help you curate the right retreat. As you continue to host retreats, you will find that it’s an ever-changing landscape—but one that will always be rewarding. I still get emails and phone calls from attendees from my very first retreat, telling me that they are using the tools we taught them to better navigate their lives. Those results alone are worth all the hard work that goes into producing wellness retreats.
Dina Rezvanipour, founder and CEO of 3d Public Relations & Marketing, launched 3d Wellness Retreats in 2018. With her team, she curates transformative mental and physical well-being experiences. Led by renowned healers and holistic coaches, they leave attendees feeling enlightened and rejuvenated, with tools for living a more gratifying and purposeful life.
