1. Travel nourishes the soul: I’ve never felt so inspired and alive as I have traveling around the world. Whether it’s Europe, Japan, Costa Rica or Australia, seeing how others live and taking in completely new environments has a way exciting my spirit. If you like to travel and are interested in yoga, why NOT bridge the two? Nourish your body/mind with a daily yoga practice and explore a new city to enliven your soul. 

2. Set the studio aside: I love the safety of a homey studio as much as the next yogi, but there’s something really special about practicing in a place that is unfamiliar and exotic. When embarking on a yoga retreat, we get gently nudged outside of our comfort zone as we take our practice somewhere foreign and seek a way to wholeheartedly embrace the unknown.

3. Meditation might happen: Retreats have a way of permitting meditation to become a whole lot more accessible, even easier. While detoxing digitally and briefly putting the “real” world on pause, we can drop in to a deeper state of awareness. One that is unaltered by stress, screens, or the ever-flowing stream of messages into your work inbox. 

4. Intimacy is awesome: Not only do you receive more direct attention from your teacher while on retreat with him or her, but also there typically remains plenty of down time to intimately connect with your Self. I have found that some of my most profound reflections and meditations have surfaced during quiet time on retreat. It’s in these moments of thoughtful seclusion where I’ve received a clearer understanding of who and how I really am.

Join Kellie on her Yoga and Meditation Retreat to Bali in July 2017