Jasmine was our yoga instructor on the June Yoga Retreat. Jasmine came to the retreat ready to make friends and be a friend. She was full of life and kindness. Not only did we all love her teaching style but we also all loved her personality. She was such a light on the retreat and I will always be grateful she came.
“One of my favorite things about the retreat was getting to know other inspirational women. We were all so different and in different stages in life, but I felt like we were all cheering each other on.
Sometimes it’s easy to judge when we see each other from a distance on social media. It’s easy to compare, to put on a pedestal, or to criticize unfairly. When you are up close and personal with other women, you see we are all the same inside. We are all just doing our best to live this life, to speak our truth, and to make a difference in our own unique way.
As I hiked with different people, I heard different stories…different voices…but I realized we are all one. Unity does not mean sameness, unity means supporting others to be who they were meant to be.
I asked Brittany what motivated her to create “Get Out There Girl,” as I had not heard her story before. As soon as she answered, I knew she had the vision of unique women supporting each other that I had witnessed at the retreat. I knew that she knew how important it was to connect with each other, to connect with nature, and come back to the core truth that we are all in this together, and the fact that we are alone is just an illusion. Thank you, Brittany, for being willing to step out of your comfort zone and create a space (both digitally and physically) where women can experience growth and healing by forming connections with each other and with nature.”
It is the nature of women to look at our hearts, minds, and physical appearance and only see the flaws. We examine the pieces of us that we consider to be imperfect or broken and focus on them so much that we ultimately view ourselves as less valuable. At the Yoga Retreat we learned that although we all have weaknesses and have faced hardships in our lives we are indeed, not broken. It is natural that we feel pain, worry, heartache, fear, insecurity, and all the negative emotions that pass through our hearts and minds. They are a part of life and feeling them is not indicative of being broken.
The Wind Caves
We had a total of 16 women on the retreat and stayed in a beautiful brick laden AirBnB in North Logan. We kicked off the retreat with a 4 mile hike to The Wind Caves. The sun was shining, the women were brave, and the views were spectacular! After settling in at the house we enjoyed a delicious and healthy dinner prepared by Chef Lindsey followed by a workshop taught by Niki Olsen, a licensed therapist. We learned tools used in Mind and Body Bridging, a therapeutic approach that helps women understand that their pain and emotions have a powerful effect on their physicality. She taught us that we can, with practice, lessen that effect. Doing so can leave us feeling more powerful and in control of our emotions and negative thoughts leaving our bodies and minds relaxed and available to connect with those around us and feel joy in our lives. We finished the night off with an outdoor yoga session with Jasmine and cleared our minds with peaceful meditation as we watched the sun set over the beautiful Cache Valley.
On day two we prepared our minds and bodies for the day with early morning yoga under the clear blue sky. In this session we learned about the meaning of chakras and offered gratitude to our powerful bodies and the gift they truly are. We followed it up with a 3.5 mile hike up Richards Hollow where we stopped and had lunch at the bottom of a waterfall, giving us the opportunity to chat and connect with one another. Upon returning we were treated with a follow-up workshop with Niki, furthering our skills in bridging the gap between our bodies and minds. After another delicious meal from the chef we enjoyed a sunset yoga session and finished off the night with chatting, connecting and a lot of laughter!
Get Out There Girl retreats are intended to empower women. The Yoga Retreat did just that! Women from all walks of life made lifelong friendships through adventure, pushing ourselves physically, emotionally and mentally. We spent time together crying, laughing, and most of all learning that we are not broken after all and that none of our so-called “flaws” have anything to do with our value as women. We also learned that we have an indelible power to manage our negative thoughts and utilize them as fuel to bring improvement, peace and joy to all aspects of our lives.
