There are so many fantastic benefits of wellness retreats, from taking time out to prioritise your own health to learning a new wellbeing practice.
In our experience, a retreat is the perfect opportunity to recharge, rejuvenate, and meet lovely like-minded people along the way!
Hi! I’m Caroline, your wellness retreat travel guide. I’ve worked in the wellness industry for 15+ years & been lucky enough to stay at amazing health resorts around the world. Let’s get you inspired & prepared to go on your own retreat…
Benefits Of Wellness Retreats
While every retreat offers its own unique advantages, there are some key benefits that are universal. Here are a few of our favourite reasons to go on a wellness retreat…
- Improve your wellness
- Opportunity to reset and recharge
- Learn new wellness practices
- Easy solo travel option
- Explore new places
- Enjoy some ‘me time’
- Experience local culture
- Luxury wellness experiences
- Actively relax
- Less touristy travel experiences
Let’s explore each of these in more detail…
Improve Your Wellness
Probably the most popular reason to go on a retreat is to simply improve your own wellness. You can take a dedicated amount of time to focus on your own health, fitness, mindfulness, or any other goal you may have.
A retreat is a space away from your usual routine where the main thing you’re focusing on is your wellness. And that’s not something most of us get to enjoy during a typical day.
And this is a benefit that has scientific evidence to support it too. A study of wellness retreaters found that one week-long retreat resulted in significant physical and mental health improvements. Participants lost weight, decreased blood pressure, and improved psychological health too…
- Average weight was reduced by 1.6 kg (from 80.4 kg to 78.8 kg)
- Average waistline was reduced by 2.7 cm (from 90.7 cm to 88.1 cm)
- Average systolic blood pressure was reduced by 16.1 mmHg (from 142.2 mmHg to 126.1 mmHg)
- Average diastolic blood pressure was reduced by 9.3 mmHg (from 83.8 mmHg to 74.4 mmHg)
Of course this is just one study of a single retreat, so it’s not necessarily representative of every wellness experience out there. But what is interesting is that these wellbeing benefits were maintained after 6 weeks too, which suggests that retreats can offer longer-term health benefits in addition to immediate ones.
You might also like… What exactly is a wellness retreat?
Opportunity to Reset & Recharge
Going on a wellness retreat is an opportunity to reset and recharge yourself. By going to a different physical location, you’re taking a break from your typical routine. It’s can also be a reprive from your usual responsibilities or a detox from bad habits that have become ingrained into your daily life.
Everything about a retreat will have been designed with your wellness, relaxation, or rejuvenation in mind. From the physical practices like yoga or boot camps to the healthy meals and nourishing drinks, it’s all about supporting your wellness goals. Everything will be taken care of with your wellbeing in mind.
Retreats are a really lovely opportunity for someone else to take care of you for a while.
Learn New Wellness Practices
Going on a retreat enables you to learn new wellness practices too. You can develop new skills and habits, or improve existing ones by taking them up a notch in some way.
This might involve learning a new breathing technique, mastering a new yoga pose, or trying a fun acroyoga balance! Stepping away from your typical routine, standard wellness practices, and usual classes gives you the opportunity to learn something new. People almost always come away from wellness retreats having learned something or improved themselves in some way.
Easy Solo Travel Option
Another key benefit of wellness retreats is that they’re perfectly suited to solo travel.
If you’re someone travelling on their own, but not necessarily wanting to go alone the whole time, then retreats are perfect. This is because once you arrive, you’re instantly part of a group with similar interests.
Sure, there’ll be opportunities to do things independently and have your own space if that’s what you’d like. But retreats usually involve workshops, group meals, and some kind of social element that allows you to build connections with like-minded people.
For people who are daunted by the idea of solo travel, or want to go on holiday but don’t have anyone to go with, retreats offer the perfect solution.
Explore New Places
Travelling to a wellness retreat also allows you to visit new places. You can choose to travel to a different country or a whole other continent. You could simply visit a new region of your own country that you haven’t explored before.
If you’re someone who loves to travel, then going on a retreat can be the excuse (like we need one!) for visiting somewhere new. You can use it as a springboard for exploring somewhere more thoroughly.
You’ll get to experience staying at a retreat that might be a traditional building, enjoying local food, and spending time in that country’s nature. But you can also tag on time before or after the retreat to explore the wider area.
For example, if you’re flying into the capital city but the retreat is an hour outside it, you could arrive a couple of days early. Then you can have a city-break before going on to your retreat and focusing on the wellness and relaxation aspects.
Enjoy Some ‘Me Time’
Another benefit of going on a wellness retreat is that it gives you permission to enjoy some ‘me time. They’re a break from your usual daily routine where you can just focus on yourself – and that’s totally allowed and okay!
If you’re someone who is often busy taking care of other people, then a wellness retreat can be a welcome opportunity to treat yourself for a little bit.
Whether you’re a busy, stressed-out professional working long hours or a busy parent working equally long hours, retreats offer a little ‘me time’. They’re an opportunity to enjoy a change from your usual routine and maybe even expand out of your comfort zone.
Experience Local Culture
Going on a retreat can also enable you to experience the local culture (in a way that going on a normal holiday or package trip doesn’t). Retreats that are run by local hosts often reflect cultural aspects that can be unique to that location.
This might be in the type of wellness practices that you get to experience, such as yoga or Ayurveda in India, or Tai Chi or Chi Gong retreats in China.
The culture can also come through in the food that you enjoy as part of the retreat. Meals will often be made from locally sourced ingredients or seasonal produce that’s prepared in a traditional way.
You may also get to experience elements of the local culture in the retreat accommodation. Many retreats are hosted in beautiful traditional buildings with plenty of history associated with them. These are unique benefits that you wouldn’t get to experience if you were just staying in a standard hotel or Airbnb.
Luxury Wellness Experiences
Many wellness retreats also offer a little bit of luxury as part of the experience. This might be because the accommodation is something special or because the setting is unique. It could simply be because focusing on your own wellness, even if it’s just for a day, is something luxurious to you.
There are a wealth of wellness resorts, spa hotels, and retreat experiences that offer a taste of luxury while also working on your own health and well-being.
Actively Relax
‘Actively relaxing’ might sound like a contradiction in terms, but hear us out…
If you’re someone who wants a relaxing holiday, but you don’t want to lie on a sunlounger for the whole time, then a wellness retreat could be the ideal solution.
This is because you’re ‘active’ in the sense that you’re doing activities, from different physical practices to meditations and mindfulness. But you’ll be doing all of this in a relaxed environment with wellness as the end goal. It’s the ideal middle ground really.
You get to enjoy a relaxing holiday but still feel like you did something and saw the country or region you’re visiting.
Less Touristy Travel Experiences
Going on a wellness retreat can also offer you a ‘less touristy’ experience of a place than a typical package holiday would.
Rather than ticking off tourist sites and attractions, you’ll often be getting off the beaten track. This is because wellness retreats typically take place in quiet, tranquil, secluded areas. So, they’re less likely to be in a main city or a tourist resort and more likely to be somewhere out in the countryside.
You may find that you discover hidden gems because you’re not walking the same path that other holiday makers or backpackers are. This makes for a truly unique and authentic travel experience.
Top Wellness Retreat Benefits
These are just a few of the benefits of attending a wellness retreat. They’re what we’ve experienced over the 10+ years that we’ve been wellness travellers and heard from other retreaters too.
It’d be great to hear your thoughts on this topic… What are the benefits you’ve experienced from attending a wellness retreat? Hit us up on Instagram to let us know – we’d love to hear from you!
