How to Create a Staycation-Style Retreat Experience

We all know how important self care is to our overall well-being, but how often are you taking the time to make wellness a priority? While joining in on a fitness and wellness retreat is an ideal immersive experience for a mind, body, and soul reset, sometimes neither your time nor your budget allows. Thankfully, there are still several ways you can create a retreat experience at home during a weekend staycation!

Before your staycation-style retreat begins, eliminate as many distractions or obstacles as possible. Inform work that you will be unavailable to answer emails over the weekend. If you’re a mom, arrange for childcare for a few hours each day of your designated staycation to take some time for yourself. If you want to take a solo staycation, tell your friends and loved ones you will be checking out for a few days as well.

The basis for a wellness staycation is first ensuring that you will get a good night's sleep. Avoid alcohol the night before; go to bed at a reasonable hour; eliminate social media, smartphone, and other electronic distractions (looking at you Netflix); and ensure both quiet and darkness (a sleeping mask is a small cost but can make a huge difference in sleep quality). 

Set your alarm because part of a retreat experience is waking up for a morning wellness activity! Upon waking up, begin with a morning meditation to center yourself to begin your day. (There are some great apps you can download like Headspace to guide you through this.) Another idea is to journal each morning to set your goals and intentions for the day.

One of the important themes of a wellness retreat is escaping your comfort zone to experience personal growth. There are many ways to escape your comfort zone without leaving your hometown! Perhaps there is a new fitness class you've been wanting to take? Or maybe there is an activity you've been wanting to try? A self-care retreat is a great time to try something new. Finding new activities or self-care routines and taking that back to your normal life is a common occurrence during a retreat and something you can easily replicate at home.

Nutrition is also an important component of a retreat experience, but you don't want to spend your weekend cooking for yourself. You can order a wellness-based meal service like Sakara or try a juice cleanse through a local juice bar. Or one of your activities could be taking a wellness-based cooking class.

Wellness retreats often include at least a spa treatment or two, so a self-care staycation should include this as well. Go beyond just the regular massage, though, and find someone who specializes in a more wellness-centered treatment like Reiki, acupuncture, cupping, or even energy healing. This is also a great way to get out of your comfort zone and try something new that is also beneficial for your mind, body, and spirit.

A weekend of concentrating on wellness and self-care will leave you feeling refreshed and ready to tackle a new week!