Amazing Alps Revive and Recharge Retreat

 How about that for great feedback!There’s really nothing like doing something you’ve never done before, in a place you’ve never been before, with people you’ve never met before to get you straight out of your comfort zone.And this is almost exactly what I, and a group of other women did in June.The good news is that it was a huge success and the feedback was that it exceeded many people’s expectations which you can’t really ask for more than that.I had been talking about running a retreat for a while and had done a mini half day one in Bath already but to take a group of women abroad was another level but I knew that it would be a great way for me to grow as a coach and expand the ways that I can help women over 40 to feel great.Our first retreat consisted mainly of bootcamp members or personal training clients so I knew everyone pretty well, although many of them didn’t know each other but by the end of the 4 days they were so many friendships and connections and that is priceless.Most of us flew to Geneva from Bristol and the first “incident” was when F (names withheld to protect the innocent!) suitcase burst open and EasyJet had to tie it up with some rope in order to get it safely onto the plane!We met our private transfer driver - Alison from Wales who took us the scenic way to our destination around Lake Geneva and past some very smart hotels and shops.Anyone who knows me will know that I love to take photos, a lot of photos, and videos for that matter so once we started to drive through the mountains I was going a bit photo crazy not realising that around every corner the view and scenery was going to get even better.This was my first visit to the Alps as I’ve not been skiing so quite a new experience, although I have been in the mountains before as I travelled around South America about 20 years ago.We arrived at the Chalet which had breathtaking views from nearly every window, as well as the outdoor hot tub and our host met us to show us to our rooms then we headed into town to go for lunch as we were hungry after a 4am start for most of us. It wasn’t long before the carafe of wine came out onto the table and everyone started to enjoy the start of their Revive and Recharge retreat.Yes, there was wine, if you wanted it, because this retreat wasn’t a juicing, fasting, colonic, detoxing, doing about 6 hours of exercise a day kind of retreat but more a wellbeing, time to take stock of life, self care kind of retreat.Infact some of the words used to describe people’s experience included the following:Enlightening - Inspiring - Restorative - Supportive - Stimulating - Energising - Relaxing - Beautiful - Safe - New - Funny - Friendly...What a variety of different things for different people.I’m not going to go through every single thing we did over the 4 days but another coach asked me where the magic happened and I said it happened everywhere - whether it was mealtimes together, doing morning yoga style movement, during the hiking outdoors, in the hot tub, during the workshops and even when we were delayed for several hours at Geneva airport on the way home when everyone seemed to want to buy chocolate or a tube of Pringles!People shared experiences, tips, an understanding ear and also we had some very funny stories over dinner on the Saturday night and there was even some knitting done for F whose daughter was expecting a baby soon so the knitting need to get done!During the retreat we enjoyed healthy, tasty vegetarian food that never left us hungry, especially as we had 3 course meals every evening, and “clean” sweet treats every afternoon.Just the fact that someone else has done the food shopping, thought about what to have, prepared it and then clears up afterwards is such a treat and break from what we do everyday. Also sitting down in a relaxed, unhurried, calm manner to eat mindfully can do wonders for our body and mind and that’s what we did for all our meals. One day’s lunch was sat outside looking at the most stunning scenery of a lake as we ate our picnic.Our other day was hiking higher up into the mountains to see the most beautiful views and one thing that I hadn’t expected was the amount and beauty of the wild flowers everywhere, apparently as soon as the snow goes they just pop up - isn’t nature amazing. We did feel like we wanted to burst out and sing “the hills are alive with the sound of music” in a Julie Andrews style but we refrained although we did hear some cow bells that reminded me of the programme “Heidi”  - anyone else remember that?Just being in the mountains and seeing waterfalls and running water is so cleansing and good for our “chi” energy, as well as being able to go to bed early, if you wanted to, and get plenty of sleep and rest, and some ladies had a massage or other treatments to add even more relaxation and rejuvenation to the experience.We covered a variety of topics during our workshops and it’s been great to hear how many of the ladies are using the tools, learnings and techniques since being back.To have been able to offer these women a safe space to learn, share and just “be” for just a few days and for it to have quite a profound effect is an honour and I feel proud to have stepped out my comfort zone to do this.We are even having a mini reunion next month, I’m hoping someone is going to make the vegan chocolate brownies and bring them along :)Even just 3 nights away in such beautiful surroundings with like-minded women where everything is done for you, can really boost your mind and body so if you are interested in joining us next June or September please drop me an email or complete your details in the box below. By doing so you will be kept up to date as we currently have 2 spaces free as I write this blog for June 2019.ANDI know that for some people 4 days away is a challenge which is why I am considering running some half day mini retreats in Bath and also perhaps a weekend away somewhere else in the UK. If you might be interested in any of the retreats please complete your details in the box below and you will be on our priority email list to get the dates once they are released. This means that hopefully I can offer even more women a chance to feel energised, enlightened, relaxed, restored, inspired and all the other words people used to describe their time on retreat.[ct_button url="http://eepurl.com/dztoh1" color="#000000" background="#52ffe8" gradient="#a3f0f0" description="Click Here" size="medium" position="center" icon="" target="" rel=""]Find out more about my next retreat[/ct_button]You can see more photos on my Instagram page HEREAnd finally I wanted to share something else I learnt on our trip... that one of the ladies I had known a while was a very talented poet and I didn't know it! Below is what she sent me a few days after we got back and I love it :)