Easy Ways to Treat Yourself To A Virtual Retreat At Home

The pandemic has encouraged innovation in some unexpected ways. One of the most joyful ones is personal retreats. While we wait for the vaccines to roll out and remain in lockdown for possibly another year, I would encourage you to take time off work to give yourself a proper staycation. I recently experimented with different ways to replicate a vacation, and am sharing them below to provide you with some inspiration.

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First, give yourself permission to take time off work and be really off. It can be one day, a 3-day weekend, or a week-long break. There is a strong case for doing Personal Retreat Days one day each month as a regular routine, but in my experience I need at least 3 consecutive days to fully recharge. Look at your calendar and identify a window of time where you can truly be off from work without stress. No Slack, no email, no work calls. For some of you, this will be hard but really good for your mental health. Here are some ways you can set tech boundaries with work so you can protect your mind space.

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Next, identify what you really need the most. Chances are, you don’t just need time to catch up on sleep. You probably have different needs: physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, spiritual. I’ve written about 7 types of rest we require and how to meet our needs for each. Check-in with yourself (maybe through a meditation) and see what your body and mind are needing in this moment. Be honest with yourself.

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Try an organized virtual retreat from the comfort of your home. I participated in a 3-day virtual online retreat on “Meditation for Reducing Stress and Burnout” with a community of like-minded people all over the world. It was incredible to have guided meditation, yoga, conversations with a monk in Thailand, and tools for how to live more mindfully. It was a different kind of Zoom experience, one in which we used the tool to be still. I have found a lot of different virtual retreats online through Google search, of which pricing varies around $100-200 for the most part. If you are able to afford it, consider giving it a try so that you can take the planning out of the day.

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Try a local experience while respecting COVID-19 measures. In addition to the virtual retreat above, I have also signed up for a local experience at a hotel called Zoku that is offering a package for entertainment (theatre parade performance), festival food, a silent disco party and an overnight stay. Zoku takes care of ensuring we are all physically distant while still being able to be playful and social. In other words, they take the stress away and allow their customers to just enjoy their stay. I am really looking forward to this.

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If you want to DIY your own personal retreat, that is also totally fine. This blog post is a great resource for how to design your ideal personal retreat day.

Wishing you a restful weekend!