“So, what can a private, custom, EIW retreat look like?”
Part 3 of 3
While enjoying her morning coffee, Amy takes a few moments to record reflections.
After a heaping serving of fresh fruit and a warm bowl of oatmeal, we found ourselves on our way to the beach. With an obvious emphasis on water element, paddleboard yoga began with a seated, guided meditation with the client facing the horizon. Keeping in mind the day’s water conditions and the clients’ comfort level, I offered a series of gentle yoga stretches and poses including Ocean Flow. Following a concise lesson on stand up paddleboarding, each woman engaged in free time to explore her version of this activity. This water sport was a brand new experience for both women. Jen’s water conditions were wavy, so she preferred paddling on her knees, while Amy found her beach day complete with flat water, so she made her way to standing. The paddleboard session closed with savasana (corpse pose) on the board, as I guided the women into a final meditation/reflection.
For her first time with paddleboard yoga, Jen embraces the wavy water conditions with non-judgement.
Some of Amy’s yoga and paddling moments.
“I LOVED the paddleboard yoga and experience! I have done some yoga and tai chi and that was the most profound with the sun and face and the hands in the water!” Amy
“Paddleboard yoga was a delightful combination of elements of air, fire, and water. It was at a perfect time of day with lots of privacy and the sun rising – a beautiful, picturesque outer landscape while doing healing work for the inner landscape through the yoga and affirmations. Together I felt the connection to the world/elements.” Jen
After the paddleboard adventures, clients found their largest block of free time – 3 hours - which allowed them to move more deeply into any activity of their choosing. At this point in the retreat, they had cultivated a greater connection to their inner wisdom that lead them towards the most productive/healing activities, and the decision was theirs to make as their toes squiggled in the sand, their hair blew in the wind, their skin warmed in the sun, and their ears drank in the soothing sound of lake waves ebbing and flowing along the shoreline.
“The area here around the lake is spectacular. There is so much for everyone!” Amy
“I appreciated the slow, beautiful drive, good food and a lot of amazing SILENCE and reflection [during my free time].” Jen
We reconnected after lunch at 1 pm for our final two hour session – one designed to “lock-in” the insights the client had intuited in her expedition through her internal landscape. As the client arrived back to camp, she found the gazebo set back up for restorative yoga. These resting, rejuvenating poses were, once again, accompanied by guided meditations that incorporated elements from her retreat journey including excerpts from the Native Spirit cards that she had selected the evening before. We followed this activity with another life coaching session while seated comfortably outdoors on the deck, and then I added a few further gentle yoga movements before we found ourselves seated one last time for the final dialogue that invited comments, questions and any other conversation that the client felt was needed to feel complete as the retreat drew to its conclusion.
“We definitely will be back with family and, for me, for another Expedition Inner Wisdom [retreat].” Amy
“The final restorative yoga delivered powerful healing body work in deep relaxation. [When Linda] tied in the card reading, it helped pull together the retreat experiences and also the paddleboard yoga connections. The guided journaling reinforced ideas/feelings that had surfaced. Questions were open enough to offer the same impact regardless of what the focus was. Asking how to lock in the retreat experience was a powerful question that encourages positive movement towards goals. My ah-ha moment came together and left me saying to myself, ‘I have to do it. I am doing it. I can keep doing it’. I feel empowered to consciously frame life experiences in a positive way, confidently and consciously decide what to do and what not to do and to appreciate the times in between.” Jen
Expedition Inner Wisdom Inc. specializes in customizing retreats for individuals and for groups. The length, content, and venue of the retreats vary according to the needs, desires, and budget of the clients. This particular 24-hour retreat, for one, cost $500. If a person decided to provide their own accommodation (i.e. in this area, that could mean staying at a local bed and breakfast, or grabbing their own campsite in this particular park or the provincial park close by), the fee would be reduced by $200. If one provided his/her own snacks and meals, the fee would be reduced further. Retreats that have two or more individuals participating at the same time also have clients experiencing additional savings. For instance, if the two women had completed this “Expedition: 24-5” together, the fee would be $270 each, and for three clients participating in “Expedition: 24-5” at the same time, the fee would rest at $195. The paddleboard yoga component increased the price of this retreat as well, so one could consider eliminating it from the retreat agenda or skipping the retreat altogether and signing up for a private, paddleboard yoga lesson at $40 an hour. Of course, fall, winter, and spring seasons present other delicious options for adventures with and in nature; at Expedition Inner Wisdom, we know the magnifying and enhancing effects connecting to nature can furnish people in their pursuits to deepen their relationship to the empowering vistas that lie within them. Perhaps our paths will cross as we co-design an empowerment retreat for you and/or your group/organization.
Namaste.
