Maurice Senter: The Gift Of Retreat

The beautiful Kelly Fielding of Bella & Bhakti wrote this gorgeous and inspiring piece titled The Gift Of Retreat after assisting at a Byron Bay Embracing Health Retreat last year. Kelly is an incredibly talented writer and her words are crafted with such delicacy – anything she writes is an absolute pleasure to read. This article takes you through her journey and experiences and the magical outcome of just showing up.

“There is something remarkable about being around people who are undergoing transformation of some kind- be that physical, emotional, spiritual or a combination of all three. Working in a retreat environment always ignites an almost tangible air of change and movement. It is a space where people are starting out on a remarkable journey and you are there witnessing their very first steps on that pilgrimage.

It isn’t an easy first step, taking time out of full and hectic lives to do something entirely for yourself. With work, family commitments, friends, finances and the other million and one things going on in most people’s day to day lives, it can seem next to impossible to take any time out at all.

Yet, the ability to gift yourself space and solitude is really a gift to the other people in your life also- allowing you the ability to fill your own cup, to nourish your own body and soul, to build up the depleted energy that may have escaped over time to allow you to return to day to day life, full and whole again.

People go on detox and cleanse retreats for various reasons and I have witnessed many of these reasons over the years- some come to try and heal lingering health issues, to break negative patterns in their lifestyle, to clear away stagnant emotional clutter, to drop a few niggling kilos, to unwind from stress or to find that vibrancy and zest for life that they know still exists somewhere deep within.

No matter the reason, people come together on a retreat, united by their shared differences and thread of commonality. The guests find stories that overlap in lives that appear remarkably different at the outset. People from all walks of life fall into step together- supporting one another, cheering one another on, being a shoulder to cry on or kind ear ready to listen.

Detoxing is likely to bring up all sorts of emotions and thought processes that the guests don’t contemplate when they arrive on day one. Sometimes the physical cleanse is the easiest part as the body releases that which it no longer deems necessary to hold onto. You experience people in a very vulnerable state and I have never taken that fact lightly. It is an honor to be with people as they dive into dark places buried deep within and shed the layers they have cocooned around themselves for one reason or another.

Last week I assisted on an Embracing Health Detox Retreat. It was the third time I was lucky enough to work with the team and what a remarkable and life changing week it was for everyone involved.”

Read the full article here:

For more details about upcoming retreats, go to Embracing Health Retreats

Leisa