I’ve been dreaming of hosting a wellness retreat ever since I first got my yoga teacher certification back in 2018 and this June, I was able to finally turn that dream into a reality. For months prior, my co-host and I spent hours brainstorming, planning and organizing what would be a 4 day, 3 night retreat in Breckenridge, CO. There truly is nothing like Colorado summers and we felt that the intentionality of hosting during the Summer Solstice and International Yoga Day would be such a meaningful way to infuse a sense of celebration within the retreat itself. We imagined bringing a group of women together to enjoy days filled with yoga, nature walks, journaling, meaningful conversations, meditating, nourishing food and other wellness modalities.
We called this experience, the Summer SOULSTICE Wellness Retreat and in February shared our vision with the world. By March we had sold all 12 spots to women who would be traveling not only from Denver but also places as far as Portland, Boston, Las Vegas, and London! With so much excitement and gratitude, we began the next steps of planning and finalizing details as we anxiously awaited for June 20th to arrive.
Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
With any new experience comes a certain level of trepidation. So it’s probably no surprise that I had quite a few limiting beliefs and fears going into this retreat. Since it was my first time co-hosting an overnight event experience, my concerns ranged from “will we sell any tickets?” and “what if we have horrible weather” to “will they think I’m a bad yoga teacher?” and “what if all these strangers don’t get along?”
When it comes to working through limiting beliefs, it’s important to focus solely on things that are within your control. In this case, that meant putting extra energy into marketing the retreat, flushing out the itinerary, ensuring we had necessary brand and vendor participation, practicing teaching the yoga flows, creating back up plans for bad weather and creating a run of show for the weekend.
After selling out the retreat and working through the above details, I started to feel my fears dissipate. I was still nervous to see how the retreat played out but focused on cultivating an abundance mindset, believing and praying that everything WOULD fall into place exactly as we envisioned.
Working with Aligned Brands
I’ve been working with brands for years and am so grateful to have built up a large contact list of wellness companies that I love. When it came to this retreat, I knew I wanted to make it extra special by having a few brands participate that I felt best aligned with the experience we were trying to create for our guests.
There were several opportunities for gifting including our morning breakfast station, retreater goodie bags, and sips & snacks. Thankfully some of my favorite brands stepped forward willing to gift product and I’m so grateful to have been able to share them with our retreaters!
Breakfast Bar Sponsors:
- Purely Elizabeth: Known best for their delicious, healthy granola, they sent us a full stock of oatmeal, cereals, and granola flavors to add to yogurt and milk
- Truvani: My favorite plant-based protein brand supplied us with their chocolate, vanilla and matcha protein powders along with their collagen peptides for smoothies (discount code: Melanie20)
Sips & Snacks:
- Mush: The only ready-to-eat overnight oats I think are worth buying, they sent over a huge box of 8 different flavored gf/df oats for our guests and quickly became a retreater favorite!
- Gruvi: My favorite NA wine brand supplied us with several different mocktails including their award winning sangria, dry secco, and dry red blend
- Gorgie: A sparkling, no sugar energy drink made from green tea, I’m obsessed with their fun branding and was so happy that they sent over a case of different flavors
Retreater Goodie Bag Sponsors:
- Popflex Active: Loved seeing all the retreaters wear their “Go with the Bow” hats on our hike!
- Tula: Sunscreen is a MUST in Colorado so we were thrilled to share their Protect & Glow sunscreen with our guests
- Move Co: Props for a yoga class are always a nice addition and these recycled straps are beautiful and functional
- Intelligent Change: Journaling was an important element of our retreat and the Five Minute Journal is a lovely structured journal that makes it easy to stay consistent every day
- Liquid IV: My go to electrolyte brand came in handy for our guests to stay hydrated at 10K ft elevation and in the dry mountain air
Setting the Tone
When my co-host and I were discussing the overall purpose of the retreat and what we wanted guests to walk away with, we knew that as the retreat leaders it was up to us to set the right kind of tone. Aside from the obvious elements of having fun and being able to take time for self-care, we really wanted to place an emphasis on creating a safe space for meaningful connections, deep introspection and even a transformational experience.
In other words, our hope was that retreaters would walk away saying “wow, that was even more than I thought it would be.”
It seems like a daunting task for sure, but in reality it wasn’t as challenging to facilitate. By establishing community guidelines (like not being on your phone during group conversations) and multiple points of open and guided conversations, listening exercises, journaling prompts, “Get Closer” game, and through the various wellness activities themselves… we were blown away with how open and vulnerable so many of the women were throughout the entire retreat experience.
This fostered such a feeling of trust and support throughout the few days we were together and is such a beautiful reminder of how quickly people can bond in such a short time.
Balancing Group & Solo Time
One thing I really loved when creating the itinerary for the retreat was that we took a very balanced approach. As someone who typically plans more adventurous vacations, busy schedules give me a really nice thrill. However, my co-host reminded me that “we would run these women into the ground” if we didn’t balance out all of the activities with enough free time.
In the end we followed a simple format of morning rituals and evening activities. Throughout the multi-day experience we taught yoga both morning and evening for a total of 6 classes, went on one group nature walk at Sapphire Point Overlook, facilitated night time vision boarding and painting, led meditations, explored downtown Breckenridge, experienced a beautiful sound bath with reiki, had group dinners made by a private chef and led several community conversations.
The afternoons (at least several hours each day) were dedicated to free time where retreaters could “choose their own adventure.” Some spent the time solo journaling or reading. Others went on walks in small clusters or enjoyed the hot tub. The balance of group and solo activities not only was good for the guests but also helped give some moments of much needed downtime for us as the hosts.
Feedback from Guests
In the end the retreat was everything I could have hoped for and more. Our mountain villa was absolutely gorgeous, the activities and wellness experiences went as planned and seeing just how much the retreaters got out of it was incredibly fulfilling. I’m so grateful to have had this experience and I left the weekend feeling simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated.
Here are a few kind words that some of our guests shared in our anonymous retreat feedback form and publicly on social media:
What I’d Do Differently
There are a few things I’d do differently next time based off the feedback and planning experience. Hopefully this provides a little insight for you if you’re hoping to plan your own wellness retreat!
- As much as I loved our airbnb, hosting at a retreat center would take most of the heavy lift off of us as hosts (things like doing dishes, setting the table, tidying up, food stations, etc)
- A private chef was a good idea in theory but in order to cut back on time spent at dinner having catering from a local restaurant would have been better suited
- Even though the retreat went from June 20-23, it ended up being more like 2 1/2 days. I think one more full day would have allowed us to not feel as rushed and would have given us more time to enjoy a longer hike in the area
- We priced the retreat at market value for a long weekend ($1500-$2500 per person) but based off feedback it turns out we could have priced it higher! I guess that’s a good problem to have and something I’m definitely taking note of for the future
I just want to give a shoutout to my co-host Sheila for leading this Soulstice Wellness Retreat alongside me and to all the women who took a leap of faith and joined us. I’m still not over how wonderful the whole experience was and I know this means that I’ll be hosting more wellness retreats in the future.
Leave a Reply