Women' Wellness Retreat - Ficus Boutique

We are sitting in comfortable chairs and couches, some of us covered in blankets for extra coziness, while the fireplace is gently warming up the room. Each one of us with a notebook on our lap and deep in thought. The room is full of natural light coming in through the large windows in this open floor space. I look around the room and smile. This is actually happening! My first retreat with a wonderful group of ladies who have made the trip here from different parts of the country, one of them while on leave in the US from her work overseas.

A couple of months before this, the idea of a women’s mountain retreat came to me while on a plane. I wanted to create a space for women to connect, relax, enjoy the outdoors, and support one another in pursuit of their goals. I wanted to give women a space to recharge, take a step back and reflect while enjoying the beauty of Colorado mountains. I thought about it for a while and then decided to give it a shot. I was so nicely surprised with the level of interest and the positive responses I received when I shared the idea and invitation with a group of my girlfriends. This was a go!

Fast forward two and a half months, and I am sitting in a pretty mountain house near Breckenridge with three smart, kind, and accomplished ladies, thinking through our challenges, goals, and action steps. We have just completed our morning yoga and finished our breakfast. We will share our goals and action steps with each other and receive advice from another. Later in the day, we will do a short, pretty hike to the Rainbow Lake near Frisco before visiting Vail for the afternoon and having a nice dinner and drinks in the town.

Over the course of those four days, we start our days with short gratefulness practice and daily intention setting, do yoga for 30-45 minutes, and take time to think through our individual goals and action steps towards them. In a safe and supportive environment, we share our goals and planned action steps with each other and receive advice from the group. In the afternoons, we do short hikes and visit mountain towns in the area. We have dinners in a few nice places in the area. In the evening, we drink wine and continue to reflect and discuss, where we have dinner.

Some challenges appear such as light altitude sickness for one of us (we are above 10,000 feet the whole time) and unexpected snow on Sunday morning, but we adjust our activities to accommodate this while still keeping our mix of relaxing and active time. I structure our activities so that everyone can participate within their abilities – morning yoga is light and doable whether you practice regularly or it has been years since you were last on the mat and our hikes are reasonable length for everyone to enjoy. We all choose to work on and share challenges and goals we feel comfortable sharing with and discussing with a group, without feeling pressured to share things we would consider too personal.

We have moms and ladies with no children in the group, we have professions from a variety of areas, we have American and foreign accents, we came here from four different states, yet, we often share similar challenges, sentiments, and goals. We also share a commitment to work towards our goals and share genuine advice and ideas with one another. We learn from each other.

As we are packing our bags to head home, I am so happy how this long weekend went. I took a leap of faith and so did these ladies and it was so wonderful to connect. On the way back, we discuss what could be adjusted and improved for future gatherings to ensure a great experience for future participants. The conversation is open and honest, also providing a space for all of us to dream about future getaways we would like to take.

I hope that everyone brought the good energy from this weekend home with them. I know I did. I also know that this will not be the last retreat I am going to organize. There will certainly be more in the future.