Who doesn’t love going on a retreat, right? Whenever I’m away at a retreat, I always find that my mind is clearer. That’s probably because I’m away from the daily responsibilities of life, my computer, the phone, and a whole host of other daily distractions. Sometimes a change of scenery in and of itself can prove to be restoring. But do you have to leave home to get the benefits of a retreat? Not necessarily.

While I love retreats, I know that my wallet takes a hit (typically a big one) every time I indulge. And while a change of scenery is nice, you have to go back home eventually — so why not get away in your own home and build a solid foundation for which some new healthier habits can stick? I asked myself that very question and answered back with a “I can and I will” a little over a week ago. I had three days all to myself (a long weekend) and I knew that I needed to treat myself to a healing retreat.

Because I had been sick with a sinus infection for quite a while before my three-day self-care extravaganza, I decided to center my retreat around health. I decided to do a 7-day cleanse, which I launched on my first retreat day. I found two amazing programs — The Ultimate Energy Cleanse and The Cleanse (if you like Kundalini Yoga, then this one is definitely for you.). I chose The Ultimate Energy Cleanse (which is quite wonderful and very reasonably priced) but I’m continuing on with a 30-day follow-up from The Cleanse.

Then I did something that I don’t normally do — I wrote down a schedule for myself. I choose a bunch of activities that I enjoy and I put them into a loose schedule for follow during my 3-day at-home retreat. I practiced yoga 2-3 times a day. I read books I’ve been “meaning to get to,” I meditated, I walked, I ate some amazing food (I morphed into my own personal health food chef), I listened to online yoga courses, I took lots of baths (candles included) and a whole host of other wonderfully indulgent things (all while sipping freshly prepared juices — yum!) — basically I spoiled myself rotten and took extra good care of myself.

Now I know that it’s not easy to turn your home into a place of serenity and healing. There are roommates, children, spouses, animals, etc. But if you can carve out 2-3 days, you’ll feel as rejuvenated as you would if you went to a 5-star spa retreat. If you can’t swing an at-home retreat, there are plenty of wonderful places to go. A few of my favorites — which center around healthy lifestyle modifications — are:

• Kripalu — their selection of Healthy Living Programs are just wonderful. They are pricey though, but being unhealthy is even more costly.
• American Yogini — this eco-conscious, sustainable retreat center is somewhat local for me, so it’s a favorite. They specialize in raw juice cleanses/fasts.
• Kushi Institute — this is the cheapest of the bunch but not at the sacrifice of quality. They have a number of wonderful programs throughout the year that educate folks on healthy dietary lifestyle changes. And you can’t beat the location!
• If you’re specifically looking for weight loss, I suggest taking a good look at Green Mountain at Fox Run. 

If you can manage the home-turned-retreat-center transformation, then I suggest the following:

• If you need a little help in creating your retreat, check out these two retreats in a box — The Detox Box and The Yoga Bootcamp Box. Both can help you jumpstart changes that you can continue for long after your retreat is over.
• Schedule your time — that’s right — don’t just wake up and lie on the couch doing nothing. Schedule in 1-3 hour chunks and you’ll avoid monotony and enjoy a number of fun things during your retreat time.
• Choose whatever type of retreat you want — your retreat can have a yoga focus, or a meditation focus, or a dance focus, or a health focus — or whatever it is that floats your boat. It’s your retreat, so make it into what will best serve you.
• Learn something — get together a pile of books that you either want to read but haven’t have time or new books that spark your interest. During my retreat, I listened to a number of wonderful teleclasses from Yoga Spirit. Even though I didn’t leave my house, I studied with the likes of Mark Whitwell, Srivatsa Ramaswami, Amy Weintraub, and Mukunda Stiles.
• Stay away from the computer and the TV — enough said.
• Spoil yourself rotten — before you start your retreat, go out and buy a selection of bath salts, some candles, and stock your fridge with healthy, delicious food. You might want to get yourself something that reminds you of fun from childhood — my favorite is Play-Doh. 

I loved every minute of my at-home yoga/cleanse retreat. I’ve kept up some of the rituals that I started on the first day so that I still feel pampered. It felt to spoil myself. Self-care is a wonderful, beautiful, rejuvenating thing (after all, if you don’t care for yourself, who will?).

Even if you can just take a day, I highly recommend it. You’ll be glad that you did.

Namaste!