Published in Live and Invest Overseas Magazine and website: https://www.overseaslivingletter.com/pagoview.php?f=oll-august2023-yacht-living-JoP.pdf&t=XXXX-PAID-CONTENT-XXXXhttps://www.liveandinvestoverseas.com/
It is alarming and hard to accept that ALL countries have set up and increased the amount of mental health services and support centres around the world. A global issue that caused a 25% increase in depression, anxiety, and even suicide within the first year of Covid-19. Imagine where the numbers are now...
Can you really rely on this basic attempt government bodies are setting up to 'support' you with your mental health crisis?
No.
Just like learning, there are many ways to find a deeper sense of wellness and healing.
There is not just one way that works for everyone.
Retreats have been on a steady incline since the pandemic because they not only offer the opportunity to travel, they also are able to provide people with a safe place to process and release the suffering they have or still are experiencing from the pandemic and any issues they were experiencing even before lockdowns.
But what is a retreat exactly?
A retreat is about escaping the strains of everyday life and taking the time to focus on yourself. Offering the opportunity to reflect and learn healthier lifestyle practices, retreats often centre around improving health and wellness. Under the guidance of wellness professionals, retreats aim to heal the part of you that is most in need. Most retreats have a theme, as well as a series of presentations or activities to help you interact with each other and engage with the theme. From keynote speakers to group scavenger hunts, your retreat can be as serious or silly as you want it to be. At the end of the week, everyone who attends should feel recharged and inspired to take their lessons back to their lives and daily routines at home.
The highest googled keyword searches for retreats are: wellness, spiritual, writing, women's, mental health, and couples, with categories like luxury, and sun destinations. An interesting dive into the populous of searches tells us that humanity is shifting and yearning to face and resolve their issues, rather than an all-inclusive resort where they can drink away their woes on the beach.
That there is a deep need for healing and transformation.
I have been guiding my clients and retreat participants using the ancient practice of the
Healing Arts and newly coined Transformational Travel. What's that, you might ask?
The Healing Arts are creative practices that promote healing, wellness, coping, and personal change. The link between art and medicine goes back centuries, but only over the past few decades has science confirmed what humans have always intuitively felt— that the mere presence of art is proven to reduce stress, improve recovery time, decrease anxiety, and increase satisfaction.
Transformational travel is intentionally travelling to stretch, learn, and grow. It’s a chance to embrace new experiences which will have a positive impact on our lives, the people around us and the world, long after returning home.
Creative retreats can be the catalyst for amazing life changes, and maybe even a great awakening.
With many people showing up to these retreats with 'empty cup syndrome', a phrase I have developed from witnessing many arriving completely depleted; without confidence, and self love but with mental health issues, traumas, physical health issues and a host of other problems preventing them from thriving. They are experiencing being in a state of 'fight or flight' - basically wound up tighter than ever before. Completely disconnected with themselves and the world around them. How can you pour from an empty cup?
Creative retreats offer all the benefits of any retreat that focuses on wellbeing, however, the approach is unique; that healing and transformation doesn't always have to be so serious. That it can exist within a container of playfulness, joy, bliss, laughter, love, and of course, creativity.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
Albert Einstein calls on us to create our problems rationally and solve them creatively. To do so requires changing established thinking patterns, and switching into a creative state of mind.
The itineraries and programming at Our Song Retreats are designed to get you in touch with your inner child, remind you of your divine birthright to express yourself in all sorts of ways, and to unleash the power of creative manifestation.
For example, we have a couples retreat that not only offers all our established programming but integrates something special for couples to explore, and they receive a custom written love song about their love story provided by professional songwriters. A beautiful, priceless family heirloom to bring home and share with loved ones. Nikki and Rob May from Canada felt this would be an experience they would cherish forever after receiving their custom love song: "Our song is something that we will share with family, friends and even one day our children."
In all our sun filled destinations like Costa Rica, Greece or Spain, each retreat is nestled within nature, by or on the water and this is not by mistake. If you spend 20 minutes a day by water it automatically improves your wellbeing. The combination of nature, water and sunshine increases your happiness, mental health, vitamin intake and are natural mood boosters. Holly Amann, from the United States describes her experience: "I arrived with a body system that wasn't working right, with many other issues. I was surprised how I felt a sense of renewal and the feeling I left with was profound."
Just like our destinations are by design, as well as our programming, we want to remind you that everything in this lifetime is by design. Are you wanting to stand by while life happens to you, or co-create with the universe to make it so? Khiem Hoang from Canada felt differently after learning to co-create his life: "I'm a better human now. The practice of transformative and healing arts has helped me and I've embraced art to be an active part of my life."
After-all, life is an invitation to follow your impulses and intuition with a creative compass.
The possibilities are endless if you are willing to look outside the boarders of your home, or the ones you've created in your mind.
Going on a retreat can ______________ and improve MY mental health and well being.
Go ahead, go back, fill in the blank, because that was for YOU!
"Creativity is intelligence having fun - then the enemy of creativity is behaving."
Again, Einstein is correct. Ultimately, we were all living in a world of complying, forced lockdowns, doing what we have been told despite our human rights, and so many more limitations from our daily lives...
What we really need is to free ourselves, unleash our creativity, and misbehave a little!
If this article resonates with you, then perhaps you are ready to retreat with us: www.oursongretreats.com @our.song.retreats
I sincerely wish you love, light, and creativity!
Jacelyn xo
Article written by Jacelyn Holmes, Founder and Retreat Leader of Our Song Retreats
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