Going on a retreat can be a great place to develop a meditation habit. Carving out a portion of your day to practice can seem more feasible in a retreat-setting. After you've set a foundation for your practice, it will be easier to access when you are at home. If you're specifically looking to learn more about meditation, find a retreat that places some emphasis on the practice
Mindful Balance Retreats is excited to announce that we will donate 10% of each retreat's profit to one organization of choice. So far for the upcoming year we have chosen to help support the Chanda Plan Foundation, Live + Breathe, and The Barrio Planta Project. By supporting their efforts, we hope that we can help to fill a need and put some love and light into the world.
"The wisdom is in the trees, not the glass windows" ~Jack Johnson
At Mindful Balance Retreats, connecting people with incredible experiences is our mission. When you lead a retreat with us, we take the guesswork out of planning. You'll get a website where you can advertise your retreat and we offer support throughout the retreat-planning process. Plus, we're always happy to answer your questions!
Save $200 for the Ojai Valley, CA Retreat April 13-17, 2018. Join Erika and Dragan for 4 days of Body and Soul Integration. Discount valid until Feb 13th sign up today!
Make 2018 the year you lead an adventure of your own! Sign up to lead a retreat by midnight PST on January 31, 2018 to receive a special bonus.
Whether you want to spend your time relaxing in a hammock, meditating, ziplining through the jungle, surfing, or exploring town, Santa Teresa is sure not to disappoint. Hiking waterfalls, enjoying a sunset, and gazing at the stars are a few of the ways that you can spend your days.
As a holistic nutritionist, I stock my travel first aid kit with natural remedies. I find that using essential oils is more effective than over-the-counter medication in most cases, and they don’t have nearly as many side effects. Nature can give us everything we need to take care of our bodies and minds.
How you fuel yourself influences the way that you feel. The way that you eat impacts your energy level, inflammation in the body, and gut health. Since many diseases originate in the colon, being thoughtful about what and how you eat can improve your long-term health and quality of life.
Yoga can be an excellent tool for teaching people to reconnect with their minds and bodies. Classes and retreats remind us how it feels to be in the present moment. Meditation invites us to explore bare attention. The practice reminds us how to focus and resist the constant mental chatter and static that causes stress and inhibits creativity
“When I think of the word retreat, I think of cultivating an opportunity to drop further into myself for exploration and contemplation, as well as an opportunity to connect with like minded souls.” Erika Lee
Take a peak at all the amazing destinations on the agenda for Mindful Balance Retreats
This November 13-19 2017, I am leading a retreat back to this WILD place. I will teach 2 yoga classes per day, one gentle/therapeutic and one vinyasa so all levels are welcome. Treat yourself to 3 healthy meals a day prepared by the local chef using fresh ingredients. Dinners are 3 course meals which often include fresh baked homemade bread. You can chose to have a romantic private dining experience or family style dining. The lodging is tucked away in along the tropical garden paths, all have top quality mattresses, linens, lights, fans, private bathrooms and hot water. The patios and balconies are set up with rockers and hammocks for your relaxing pleasure. The optional activities for the week include: yoga (included), spa treatments, waterfall hike, Corcovado National Forest guided tour (included), surfing, horseback riding, sport fishing, and zip-lining. For all the details visit the Matapalo Retreat, sign up before July 13th and save $100!
I grab my yoga mat and head over to the ocean-view yoga deck, the path through the jungle is led by the electric blue wings of the Blue Morpho butterfly, that seems to know exactly where I am going. Did that just happen? My practice is therapeutic and nourishing to my body and mind that's adjusting to this new environment, I'm patient with myself and enjoy the process. After I've allowed for ample time in stillness, I thank my lucky stars, as well as my teachers, family, friends, lovers and Mother Earth for making this dream of a life a reality.
A meditative walk back to the lodge is met with a family of Spider Monkeys, swinging gracefully through the trees. over to the poolside restaurant where breakfast is served. A plate of fresh papaya, watermelon and pineapple awaits while the chef prepares the main course. I enjoy my leisurely breakfast and stroll over to the pool for a dip.
Since I haven't quite seen my lush surroundings I opt for an exploratory hike up the local stream, their is no one else around so my partner and I have the jungle to ourselves. Well not exactly, with all 4 native species of monkeys, tapirs, pumas, frogs, lizards, sloths, macaws and so many more animals of the Osa Rainforest, you're never alone. This abundance of life is what makes this place so special, the National Geographic has coined the Osa Peninsula "the most biologically intense place on earth". So among our friends, we take a dip in the waterfall, find a seat carved into sandstone to rest in as the cool water washes over us, Heavenly!
In the afternoon, after a healthy filling lunch served by super friendly staff, we grab our boards to play in the bay of Pan Dulce. Oh what sweet water is it, the perfect temperature and uncrowded. I'm happy just being in the water, while my partner is catching wave after wave and having a blast! Time to paddle in and nestle in by the pool with an afternoon cocktail.
Avocado Margarita please! I know sounds weird, but it's amazing and it's frozen and I am happy. Phew.... what a full day, as I lay under the sun and sip my drink a pair of Scarlet Macaws fly above me and squawk, reminding me that I am in a truly spectacular place. Already, I am thinking of when can I return. Well the time is near, and I am so excited to go back and bring friends and family, it's just too incredible to not share!
This November 13-19 2017, I am leading a retreat back to this WILD place. I will teach 2 yoga classes per day, one gentle/therapeutic and one vinyasa so all levels are welcome. Treat yourself to 3 healthy meals a day prepared by the local chef using fresh ingredients. Dinners are 3 course meals which often include fresh baked homemade bread. You can chose to have a romantic private dining experience or family style dining. The lodging is tucked away in along the tropical garden paths, all have top quality mattresses, linens, lights, fans, private bathrooms and hot water. The patios and balconies are set up with rockers and hammocks for your relaxing pleasure. The optional activities for the week include: yoga (included), spa treatments, waterfall hike, Corcovado National Forest guided tour (included), surfing, horseback riding, sport fishing, and zip-lining. For all the details visit the Matapalo Retreat, sign up before July 13th and save $100!
I've seen it far too many times, I've done it a few times myself, getting enough people to sign up for a retreat isn't as easy as it seems. We have this dream to lead a yoga retreat and end up with only a couple people who submit a deposit. So many of our lovely students, friends and family express interest and have intentions of going but that's not enough to make this dream a reality.
Here are my top 7 suggestions to help build interest and increase guest registration:
1. Talk about it all the time
Make it known that you offering this amazing trip by mentioning in all your classes, people you meet, connecting with old friends, new friends etc. Be descriptive, be excited! Make sure to mention any discounts such as early bird pricing as well as the end date to that promo. The majority of people that will sign up will be people that know you and want to travel with you, focus on these personal connections.
2. Send out a monthly newsletter
Begin by collecting names/emails of all students that attend your classes, friends, family etc and send them an invitation to receive these newsletters. MailChimp is a great program that has easy-to-use templates and offer a variety of very clean and professional emails.
3. Make it known your legit
Sign up with Mindful Balance Retreats and have a professional plan your trip for you, allowing them to handle all the logistics, financial transactions, legal documents, AND provide your own website where your guests can find all information about the retreat. Not to mention, make a profit!
4. Create promotional material
Having some sort of flyer to hand out with the website address and a great photo is a nice reminder to embrace this amazing opportunity. Inexpensive printed options can be found on Vistaprint or choose a digital version and use an app such as WordSwag to post on Social Media and send as a text.
5. Internet Marketing
Post a couple times a week with a captivating photo of the retreat, including the website link, tag friends and anyone that’s coming or has expressed interest (ask friends if they can share it on their page too). Boosting your post will get you more exposure outside your circle. If you have a website consider using google ad words to direct more traffic to your site. You can also create an event on Facebook, invite everyone and anyone, you never know who will say yes or tell someone else about it. At the very least it's a friendly reminder.
7. Write as a guest blogger on Mindful Balance Retreats website or other relevant sites
Opportunities are endless here but a few ideas are: share the type of experience one would have on your retreat, a sample day, yoga practice or any other specific happenings that you will offer. Providing pictures, links to sign up and easy ways to direct them back to your site.
1. Travel nourishes the soul: I’ve never felt so inspired and alive as I have traveling around the world. Whether it’s Europe, Japan, Costa Rica or Australia, seeing how others live and taking in completely new environments has a way exciting my spirit. If you like to travel and are interested in yoga, why NOT bridge the two? Nourish your body/mind with a daily yoga practice and explore a new city to enliven your soul.
2. Set the studio aside: I love the safety of a homey studio as much as the next yogi, but there’s something really special about practicing in a place that is unfamiliar and exotic. When embarking on a yoga retreat, we get gently nudged outside of our comfort zone as we take our practice somewhere foreign and seek a way to wholeheartedly embrace the unknown.
3. Meditation might happen: Retreats have a way of permitting meditation to become a whole lot more accessible, even easier. While detoxing digitally and briefly putting the “real” world on pause, we can drop in to a deeper state of awareness. One that is unaltered by stress, screens, or the ever-flowing stream of messages into your work inbox.
4. Intimacy is awesome: Not only do you receive more direct attention from your teacher while on retreat with him or her, but also there typically remains plenty of down time to intimately connect with your Self. I have found that some of my most profound reflections and meditations have surfaced during quiet time on retreat. It’s in these moments of thoughtful seclusion where I’ve received a clearer understanding of who and how I really am.
Join Kellie on her Yoga and Meditation Retreat to Bali in July 2017
I'm going to share a little history of how I got to be the proud owner of Mindful Balance Retreats.... it all started with my fun loving parents. They were young when we started our family, but they worked hard and played even harder and my sister and I got to benefit from it all. My love for travel, adventure, and nature started early, I was surrounded by beauty growing up in Colorado and I was a very fortunate child to have both loving parents together and willing to take their kids anywhere. Whether we were camping in our home state or snorkeling in Belize, our family adventures were the best, they still are!
Belize with the Fam
In high school, I planned the infamous "Senior Trip" and got to go for free since I got enough people to sign up. In college, I worked for the company as a tour leader for the summer down in Cancun, both crazy but educational experiences. In college I chose to study what I loved and earned a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management and Tourism from Arizona State University. I did my internship in San Diego, I was ready to live by the sea. I was an intern for a yacht charter company as a cruise director. Shortly thereafter, I began to travel, first I did a 3 month trip solo to the South Pacific. Next up was Central America, where I fell in love with Costa Rica and ended up staying for over 3 months. Then my sister and I went to Europe for five weeks and explored London, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Greece. South America was a trip of a lifetime with a climb up to Machu Picchu and cruise down the Amazon River to spend time in a nature jungle lodge. I spent about a month in both Thailand and Indonesia where I learned about the culture, foods, massage and of course myself.
Interlaken, Switzerland with my sis
At the beginning of all these journeys I found yoga when I was 23 years old. It was before it was popular and I had no idea what it was, someone I worked with had talked me into going to this class she thought I'd like. It was in the back of martial arts studio in a partitioned space, with a space heater and the Dave Matthews CD playing. Weird but cool I'll give it a try and I walked out of the class feeling better than I ever had. Something happened...physically and mentally, It was a natural high and I knew I was hooked.
pure joy
I love to travel, I love to plan travel, and I love yoga. So naturally I dreamt of leading a yoga retreat and so I planned it and it happened. Well not that easily but I did it over and over again, all of which provided many lessons. I didn't make any money at first as there was quite a learning curve, even with all my experience and training, it took doing it a few times to really get it. Now that I've got it down, I lead amazing yoga retreats and I want to help other yoga instructors that have these same dreams. I'd like to give them this opportunity to teach in exotic locations, make money and to avoid having to go through the years of learning that it takes to make these retreats profitable and stress-free.
Inaugural retreat, Kauai
