Retreat, Relax and Then Repeat

A yoga and wellness retreat. Have you ever been to one?

To be quite honest, yoga and I have had a rather rocky relationship over many years. Time and again I have been so discouraged with my ineptitude that I lost all hope of the relationship going anywhere beyond a downward dog. There was certainly no zen to be found in any of our encounters. I tried courses. I tried programs. I tried just going. And yet, so many of the poses continued to be unavailable to me on a regular basis.

After throwing my mat out on the front verge, yoga and I decided to separate for a few years of much needed separation. Years later, one of my friends invited me to join her for a yoga class (yes, that is you Rin) with a teacher she described quite simply as fabulous. Naturally I was wary of rekindling something that so far had produced only angst, suffering and anti-zen. But you know what? As I walked out of Mia’s cosy, calm and welcoming studio that day, everything had changed.

I Got Me Some Zen

As a Performance Specialist and Accredited Dietitian with more than 25 years of experience, I show people how to weave movement, healthy food, sleep and less stress into their lives to enable them to access their best performance on a mental and physical basis. Of course, I can advise people how to do this in person, over the phone, in an online course or through sharing the written word but these are all delivered over short periods of time.

My friend Siobhan, a fellow Australian, had moved to Italy seven years previously and had been running amazing yoga retreats in the ever popular Tuscan region of Italy. We have much in common in the wellness arena and ironically fuelled by many a caffeine driven conversation, I quickly realised that bringing people together for an wellness retreat was something I would love to do. My mission was to incorporate all aspects of wellness and health in addition to amazing food, local wine full of antioxidants, a spectacular and restful setting, a spot of culture and a healthy dose of fun all underpinned by oodles of zen in the form of yoga incorporated into each day. Tall order you say?

Three years in, COVID lean’t on the pause button for which gave rise to the inception of a joyful series of retreats based in Western Australia.

Our Italian retreats resumed and now, seven years after running my very first Yoga and Wellness Retreat in Tuscany, Italy, my dream is very much alive and bursting with positivity. 

I have been privileged to host and hold a safe, comfortable and peaceful space for around 150 people on retreat since 2017.  My retreats have attracted people from all over Australia,  the UK, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the US, all looking for a slice of wellness.

By bringing people together from various corners of the world with unique personalities, outlooks and different life experiences, is no snap of the fingers. It requires experience and passion. I initially worried that my retreat goers wouldn’t like each other or they wouldn’t enjoy what I had planned or the yoga would be too hard or too easy or they wouldn’t like the food. The list goes on. It became obvious within the first few hours of my very first retreat back in 2017  that I needn’t have spent a single second wasting energy on creating those elaborate scenarios. I have always had the most delightful human beings along for the ride and let’s face it – anyone making the effort to travel to a yoga and wellness retreat a four hour drive away or across the other side of the country or even in a foreign country, requires a positive mindset and willingness to be open to new experiences.

On the first night of my first retreat, we enjoyed our welcome dinner of authentic Italian lasagne overlooking the shimmering pool under the stars. This was accompanied by the wine grown around us and fireflies drifting between the garden foliage, and in that moment the week stretched deliciously ahead.

I have learn’t a lot since that starry night.  Time and the lovely people that trust me to look after them, have allowed me to craft alterations here and there, some big and some small. Just in case you are wondering, this is how it goes.

Our Day

Each morning starts with freshly brewed coffee or tea followed by 60 minutes of yoga. 

An activity marks each day and includes – a bike and walking cultural tour of Lucca with the talented and entertaining Federico, a day trip between the villages and over the mountains of the Cinque Terre with all its spectacular views and scrumptious seafood, a night out at the Puccini opera in one of the oldest churches in Italy and a delectable cooking lesson making pesto, gnocchi and tiramisu with Sarah, our talented chef.

It is totally reasonable to say that the food is one of the highlights. Sarah makes the food each day with love, love, love and it shows in every single dish she creates. There are ooh’s and aah’s around the table at every mealtime and animated discussions about whether we could recreate these delights back home. I say yes, we can indeed.

Our Instructors

Let’s be clear from the outset that I have not performed miracles and become a yoga teacher. No, no, no.I have been so very lucky to have a couple of wonderful yogi’s that I work with regularly.  Enter Athanae who hails from Perth but is married to a Tuscan and exudes calmness from her pores. Her words and actions resonate deeply with everyone that is lucky enough to spend time on and off the mat with her.

Vicki on the other hand was a New Yorker but has been living in Italy for the past sixteen years. Along with everyone else in the group, I have never experienced yoga like this before. It is difficult to find the right words to describe Vicki – her way of teaching, her life lessons and the way that she instills the love of yoga into every single person over seven special days is truly unique. The yoga experience in the room varies hugely, all the way from never having done a single move through to occasional yoginess and then right up to getting bendy every other day. Somehow Vicki caters to each level, making it comfortable yet challenging for each and every person and with gentle firmness throughout the session, she reminds us that we could do better or we could do more in particular poses and encouraged us to imagine what could happen if we held a pose for just that bit longer. Vicki makes us all want to go that bit further and reminds us not to forget that time and space are essential for anything to grow. Namaste Vicki and Ath.

How do you know if a retreat has been successful? It’s in the little and the big things and just like beauty, I think it is in the eye of the beholder. It’s having time and the space to check in with your physical and mental wellbeing, the opportunity to create a plan for how you could implement positive changes in your day to day life, feeling that sense of increased flexibility and strength in your body, the joy that comes from making new friendships and laughing a bucketload, the increased energy that results from putting the freshest, healthiest ingredients into your body and your senses being taken to another level by being soaked in Italian history, culture and countryside.

As retreat leader, I take so much away from the wonderful people I spend time with. I know that the conversations that are had and the fact that each of my gorgeous group of attendees always refuse to entertain the idea of leaving EVER, are pretty clear indicators that they too, take much away back to their corner of the globe. 

I truly believe that we all need something to look forward to and with that in mind, check out my 2024 retreats, in Tuscany, Italy and in the gorgeous south-west of Western Australia.  

If you or anyone you know would like to find some zen, click here or drop me a line at julie@juliemeek.com.au for a brochure and further details.