Empowering Yoga Retreat
Earlier this year Lisa, from Free Spirited Yoga, contacted me out of the blue and said she had been following us on Instagram and loved our mission. She told me she had a dream of doing a camping yoga retreat and was hoping we could team up with her to pull one off. Of course I said YES and it turned out to be a retreat of a lifetime!
We met up Friday afternoon and hiked up to the Powerhouse Overlook in Springville, Utah. It was a steep 3 mile hike and it was worth every step. The views were incredible in all directions. It is hike I highly recommend. I could have spent hours up there soaking it all up.
After the hike we headed up Spanish Fork Canyon to a place called Beaver Creek. Remember how a week before the retreat I had to switch locations because of spring run off?! It was a lot of stress but it ended up being even better than I had originally planned. Isn’t it funny how life is like that sometimes? Sometimes we have one thing planned that we think is fantastic but then life has something even better in store for us. We just need to surrender and trust.
Beaver Creek was one of the most beautiful campgrounds we had ever seen. We are so grateful that John Pestana let us use his land for our retreat. It was magical.
After setting up tents we did our first yoga session. (We had 3 that weekend)
After yoga our chef, Bailey with undertheknife.cooking, made us an amazing dinner that we all loved! Eating good food during this retreat was the cherry on top. Bailey is amazing!
That evening we relaxed, connected and got to know each other. There were several women who came not knowing anyone. I am so grateful for brave women who step outside their comfort zone to try something new. We all made a lot of new friends.
Day 2 started out with a morning yoga session. It started raining on us during this session. It was just a slight drizzle and ended up adding to the magic of the moment.
After yoga the rain picked up. We changed some of our plans to accommodate the rain (another life lesson) and everything turned out great. We split into two groups and did a self compassion workshop taught by our yoga instructor Lisa, while the other group did a paint activity.
The Self-Compassion workshop was one of my favorite parts of this retreat. Lisa did such a fabulous job teaching us and facilitating a discussion where we all felt safe being vulnerable and authentic. Using self compassion in my daily life has changed my life. Not only am I kinder to myself but I am kinder to those around me. I am also able to accomplish more now that I am not so hard on myself. Having self compassion is a beautiful thing that I hope to spend the rest of my life sharing with others.
The paint activity was so fun. Robyn from @paintnightpallet helped us apply what we had learned about self compassion and chose a picture that would remind us with it’s symbolism.
Swag bags were a fun addition to our retreat. We are so grateful for the company’s who donated items for us.
After the workshop and paint activity the sun came back out! We were able to paddle board on the pond, get henna tattoos, do another session of yoga, a drum mediation and eat another fantastic meal.
Later that night several women headed home to sleep in their own beds. About a dozen of us stayed another night and spent the night chatting by the campfire. It was a wonderful way to end the day.
This truly was a weekend we will never forgot. Being in nature, connecting with other women and learning about self-compassion was the recipe we all needed and felt impacted by.
I’m grateful for so many women who shared their talents with us and helped make this weekend a reality. It is a beautiful thing when women come together.
Thank you for the photos Zion Adventure Photog.