Nine Reasons to Go on a Yoga Retreat

The craziness of the holidays and settling back into your hectic work and home routine in the new year may leave you feeling like you need some time away from it all.

One way to truly get a break is to go on a yoga retreat. If you enjoy a lifestyle of health and wellness, you can greatly benefit from attending one.

What is a Yoga Retreat?

There’s a few ways you can go on a yoga retreat including:

A yoga resort: With this option you go to a resort and create your own retreat. You choose the number of classes or activities based on your preferences. There is no pressure to attend yoga classes but on the other hand if you were looking for a more rigorous schedule you can always add in more activities. You can also choose to interact as little or as much with people around you.
Yoga retreat with a teacher: These retreats are organized by one or more teachers, who often create a theme or experience for their retreats. A typical day has two yoga classes per day, but the second one tends to be more relaxing. Usually, meals are included and you get free time to relax or hang out with people.

Why Should You Go on a Yoga Retreat?

There are many benefits to going on a yoga retreat:

Deepen Your Yoga Practice

Given your day-to-day busy schedule, you may not have time to practice yoga regularly. When you go on a retreat, most likely, you can take two or more classes a day. Practicing every day can help you progress and further deepen your yoga practice. You may notice positive changes not only in your physical body, but also in your mental state.

Learn from New Experiences

Going to a new place can help you see the world, including yourself and your loved ones, as well as your coworkers and peers, in a new light. Having new experiences allows you to grow and learn.

Meditate

It can be hard to get even a few minutes to meditate when you’re on the go all the time. When you go on a yoga retreat, you’ll have extended free time, which makes it a lot easier to meditate. On retreats, it can feel a lot more natural to breathe deeply and be present in the moment.

Meditation can benefit your health is several ways including:

Better focus
Less anxiety
More creativity
More compassion
Better memory
Less stress

Detox Digitally

You may find it liberating to completely shut off technology. While many retreat locations offer wifi, you might not feel the need to constantly be on your smartphones, especially when no one around you is using any technology either. It feels good to unplug every once in a while.

Relax and De-stress

Sometimes even when we know we really need a break, we don’t give ourselves permission to totally relax because there’s always another priority to-do on the list.

When you go on a yoga retreat, you allow yourself to listen to your body, rest when you need it, and be free from stress.

Eat Well Without Having to do Any Work

If you choose a retreat where meals are included, you’ll likely get three healthy and delicious meals a day without having to do any work. No need to find recipes, go grocery shopping, prepare the food, or clean up. That sounds like a pretty good deal.

Replace Old Habits

You may have a bad habit you’ve been trying to break. Sometimes the best way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a new healthy one. When you get out of your regular routine for a few days, you may have the opportunity to replace unhealthy habits with conscious new behaviors that can help you be your best self.

Make New Friends

When you go on a yoga retreat, you have a chance to meet new people with similar interests. You’ll have an opportunity to potentially make friends with people from around the world who you might know for the rest of your life.

Appreciate Your Life

A week away from home, may give you a new appreciation for your life. You may feel happier, healthier, and re-energized to jump back into your job. For example, you may even come back with new and creative ideas for your big project at work.

As you can see, there are several health and wellness benefits of attending a yoga retreat. If you’d like to go on a yoga retreat, ask your yoga instructor for recommendations or research the many options online.

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