A Solo Retreat At Home In The New Year

Happy & Healthy New Year!

A great way to refresh, recenter, and rebalance yourself is to schedule a solo retreat at home once in a while throughout the year. It’s simple and inexpensive, yet a very efficient way to reset while reconnecting with yourself. It’s a wonderful self-care practice to prevent or treat overwhelm and burnout. How about planning on doing this a few times this year?

But first off, why solo?

Being on our own is the only way to truly be with just our own energy system, without interference from the energy system of others. It also allows us to access more presence and self-awareness because alone we are not distracted by what others might say or do. Because the purpose of this retreat is to refresh, recenter and rebalance our self, it’s really essential to be just with our self. And with that said, you will find another way of doing a home retreat at the end of this post; another type of retreat with a different intention and purpose.

How to create a solo retreat at home?

1. Schedule your retreat day with the members of your household

The first step is to get everyone in the household - partner, kids, housemates - on board, either by asking them to give you a dedicated space that you will be able to use by yourself for the whole day (without distraction), or even better by asking them to leave the house for the day. That’s why scheduling in advance is so important - in addition to making an intention and commitment to yourself, you will have a better experience if everyone in the household supports you. If it’s impossible to get some private space just for yourself at home, consider doing your retreat elsewhere, like in a hotel room or short-term rental.

2. Select your retreat’s activities in advance

The second step is to pick activities that will both engage and relax each of your Centers of Intelligence. Ideally, you will do something for your Body Center, Heart Center and Head Center. For each center, you could choose an activity that will engage it and another one that will relax it.

Examples:
* For the Body Center, an engaging activity could be doing some stretching, yoga, or a walk in your neighborhood. A relaxing activity could be taking a bubble bath with Epsom salts and/or essential oils.
* For the Heart Center, an engaging activity could be journaling about recent events and all the emotions you felt in connection to them. A relaxing activity could be doing some artwork, such as coloring, drawing, painting, playing music etc. or anything else that brings you joy.
* For the Head Center, an engaging activity could be watching an educational video about a personal development topic that you feel drawn to learn more about. A relaxing activity could be doing a guided meditation practice, or simply let your mind wander for a while.

As you can see, these activities do not strictly relate to only one center. The Centers are not separate, they’re integrated. However it could be useful to be intentional about engaging and relaxing each center, and observing how you move through these activities.

As you plan or engage in these practices, you might notice a resistance towards either a specific Center or in response to the action of engaging or relaxing. If you’re a very active and assertive person, you might not want to do any emotional processing and even relaxation might feel challenging. On the other hand, if you’re a more quiet, heady person, you might not be into physical activity. Notice what comes up, and gently challenge yourself even if just for 5 min. Bringing each Center of Intelligence “online” is part of rebalancing and recentering yourself.

3. Create a flexible flow

Finally, once you have an idea of the various retreat activities that you will do, create a flow for the day that will be pleasant to you. It does not have to adhere to a strict schedule. Make sure to add time for healthy meals and snacks, perhaps a small break to check your phone and deal with potential emergencies if absolutely necessary (thinking of you, parents of young children!), and a time slot with nothing at all. How about a nap? Please, be intentional but also flexible. Follow your instincts - it’s a retreat not a boot camp!

4. Get ready for your solo retreat

The day before your personal retreat, remind everyone of your intention, let them know that you won’t be reachable during the day, and tidy up your space in preparation. Make sure that you have all the food and supplies that you will need. Turn off your phone before going to bed. Your retreat will start when you open your eyes the next day.

5. After your retreat

At the end of the retreat or the following day, reflect on what you did and how you felt. Notice what was easy and pleasurable, and what perhaps caused some resistance. Reflect on how you reacted or responded, validate all of it, and enjoy getting to know yourself this way. And celebrate your day!

Other ideas:

This particular retreat is all about refreshing and nurturing yourself; that’s why it’s done solo. With more and more busyness and constant digital connection with others, unplugging and recentering with oneself is essential. Doing it at home makes it accessible and inexpensive.

Occasionally you could also consider inviting someone else to join you, and turn this experience into a couple’s retreat, friends’ retreat, or a parent-and-child’s retreat. When shared with another person, the element of refreshing and relaxing yourself is still present, but it will be more about getting to know the other person and bonding more deeply with them than connecting with yourself. If you invite a partner, friend or child, make sure to choose your retreat activities together so that it feels good to everyone.

Make time to refresh yourself in 2024! You need it, you deserve it, and you will reap many benefits from it.