Join me on this “how to” experience. Are you ready? Getting excited? How to fully immerse yourself in a Wander Home retreat. What is Wander Home? I’m glad you asked. It is the inspiration of Pravassa, a transformational travel tour operator that incorporates wellness while seeing the world in a local, sustainable way. This virtual vacation is intended to increase our well-being allowing us to escape while within our four walls. Let’s get started.
The Boutique Level of Grounding In is a two day retreat. Forty-eight hours to myself… sounds like pure bliss. It’s certainly not something many of us have been able to experience in 2020. My husband, our tween daughter, senior citizen Toy Yorkie, and I share a two-bedroom apartment in Boston. We choose this space as city lovers who prefer to spend our time exploring. Our priority is being in walking distance to the perks an urban environment provides. Then comes the puzzling 2020 and these walls never felt closer, thinner, and at times unbearable. But I digress…
Very different from my virtual retreat with Healing Hotels of the World, I did not have a spare apartment to escape to. Instead, I had to be creative and set up a calming space in our bedroom while David, Love, and Gucci carried on outside of my haven. Can this be relaxing? I guess we’ll see. Taking the advice from the Pravassa gurus, I lit candles and incense and prepared the room with extra pillows and blankets for comfort. Yoga pants on, ready to go.
Beginning to Wander
The first activity of the day is a guided meditation. Yes please. Towards the end of the beautiful vision quest, I had this sense of calm I’ve only experienced during Shirodhara. I did not see that coming. Next was smoothie making using an anti-inflammatory recipe inspired by Ayurvedic medicine. When I find new healthy recipes, I try it first and then have David taste. He’s a carnivore through and through who pretends not to like vegetables. The man was a fan of the smoothie. And this is why I’m always prepared with enough for both of us.
Moving on to a vigorous yoga practice. During registration, Pravassa gives you a choice between “beginner” and “advanced” yoga. Based on the years I’ve invested in my practice, I chose advanced. This was exactly what my body needed. Then came Guided Writing, which I fell in love with. I’ve never done anything like this and was thrilled to see the creativity it sparked in me. It actually motivated me to sign up for another Mindful Writing class. And I had David join me during this session the next day. Big hit.
Retreat Inside
Time to make the vegan lunch packed with fiber and vitamins to boost the immune system. This was the moment of truth. David was watching something with car crashes, Love was being a tween, Gucci was yapping at my feet. Can I keep this feeling of relaxation while out in the open? I popped in my AirPods, put on a soothing podcast, and cooked away. Success! Another surprise in store – my handsome husband loved this dish. I’ll confess that I only bought enough ingredients to make two servings for one of the two days. I love my vegetables and was concerned this would not be something I wanted more of. Admittedly, I was dead wrong. We plan to make this, again.
The rest of the day and night continued to exceed my expectations. This had been a rough week for me personally and I went into the weekend grateful for a break. I was processing something that brought up not one, not two, but a myriad of emotions competing for attention. While at the same time I was feeling silenced again when I fought so hard to find my voice. During scheduled downtime, I was able to write through this and release. With the help of Pravassa’s Wander Home retreat, I was able to breathe.
How to Achieve Rejuvenation
The mystery has been solved. You can absolutely achieve virtual wellness while your chaotic world continues to swirl. This was tested by a lover of wellness travel and received positive reviews from a sometimes wellness fan, always healthy food skeptic. (Shout out to my handsome husband, the harshest critic I know.) Would I spend time and money doing this retreat more than once? Yes! And I would gift it to the people I love. If you choose to Wander Home (which I recommend), here are my summed up tips of how to achieve the most rejuvenating results:
- Pick your dates and commit to them
- Clear your calendar and distractions (you wouldn’t answer a text while ziplining, so don’t do it during this holiday)
- Set up a space that brings you joy and calm
- Have headphones handy
- If you live with someone, communicate the silence you need during this time
- Reinforce that silence by keeping your headphones in when in shared spaces
- Turn your phone off or on Do Not Disturb
- Commit to 48 hours of disconnecting from social media and email (I kept my phone in another room and didn’t check it until Monday morning)
- Set an intention for how you want to feel
- Follow the virtual retreat schedule as designed – it was created that way for a reason
- Be brave and try the recipes
- Stay open minded
- Allow yourself the time and space to be present
We may not always have time, funds, ability, or the comfort to get on a plane and go. But we can always wander. Because the thing about wellness, healing, and transformational travel is they give a chance to journey within. Wander Home celebrates that journey without the mileage. If you have any questions, I’m happy to help.