By Jody Eagen

When I talk to people about our retreats, they sometime hear ‘spa’. They are expecting hot tubs, massages, fine wine and gourmet meals. Many of our retreats and others I have attended are much more rustic. Which raises the question, why are some retreats rustic while others are posh?

It really depends on what the intent of the retreat is and, ultimately, our intent in going.

A luxury retreat may be geared to pamper us. The objective may be to take us out of our normal daily routine and put us in a very luxurious environment where our every need is looked after. We can forget about the challenges of life back home or at work during our stay. The underlying intent could be to create a therapeutic retreat.

A rustic retreat could have the same objective but with a different approach. With having to supply our own bed linens, sleep in dorm rooms and eat basic foods, we again step outside our normal daily routine. Such a retreat can be designed to be therapeutic and will definitely allow for an opportunity to learn about ourselves.

Some people opt for an outdoor adventure retreat. Here the body, mind and spirit are put to the test by taking on physical challenges. Can we face Mother Nature and come out victorious? Can we drum up the courage to face our own fears and apply our wit and dexterity to meet the challenge? This too may be therapeutic and also allows for personal insights.

All retreats share one common intent and that is to take us out of our daily routine. Why? Because it is our routine that create our patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour and ultimately our comfort zones. In these comfort zones we know what to say, do and react in such effortless ways that we can find it hard to step out of them.

At a retreat we can step out of our comfort zones in safe and controlled ways. Sometimes even with guides holding our ropes! With each step we can observe and understand ourselves better in hopes of learning new ways to step out of the comfort zone by our self.

With time to reflect on our actions, thoughts and emotional responses we can uncover our true intent behind our behaviours. We can learn about what is truly important to us, what motivates us and even what is truly our passion in life.

If that sounds too grandiose, then be assured that at a minimum we can observe some of our learned patterns of response. It’s what we don’t know about ourselves that controls us. Knowledge of our learned responses is the first step to replacing them with more effective responses. This is one reason for attending a retreat.

But what is your reason? When you are looking for a retreat be sure to understand your intent – therapy? physical challenge? time to reflect and learn? something all together different? And then be sure you understand the intent of the retreat.