Spurred by an allergic reaction in my twenties that resulted in a visit to the emergency room, I started exploring ways to cleanse and detox my system. After treatment from a naturopath, my lifestyle evolved to embrace clean eating and holistic healing, which I am now facilitating to other women through my Ocean Soul Retreat.

The most powerful retreat I experienced included holistic healing as part of its program. The experience left me feeling completely renewed and restored. I left the retreat wondering why I hadn’t done this sooner and in the same thought process, I promised myself that I would make this a part of my life going forwards.

At Ocean Soul Retreat we offer week-long retreats focusing on the four key areas of wellness, nutrition, yoga and surf. These four main pillars to contribute to women’s overall health and wellness through bodywork, body manipulation, breath work and nutrition, all which help to realign the body.

The point of difference with our retreats is our emphasis on the holistic elements of wellness, which includes acupuncture, craniosacral therapy and traditional Balinese healing. The benefit of incorporating holistic healing in the retreats is to help the body to restore its natural state of balance, which enables us to deal with everyday stresses of life much more effectively.

The bodywork and body manipulation experienced in the retreats encourages the open flow of energy throughout the body, along with opening of the joints and muscles. The methods we use can benefit a range of health conditions and can alternatively be used as another method of relaxation and calming of the nervous system.

Nutrition plays an important role in the retreats as it is the foundation for how we function on a daily basis. We need to fuel our bodies with the right food to create energy for our body to function at an optimal level. We have worked with a holistic naturopath, Meg Thompson from My Wholefood romance, to design the menu for the retreat.

The wholefood philosophy is based on eating foods as close as possible to their natural state, in order to retain nutrients. By eating wholefoods you are flooding your cells with all the nutrients, which encourages optimal functioning physically and mentally. As Hippocrates stated a long time ago ‘Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.’

We focus heavily on breath-work in yoga, which is known as Pranayama in Sanskrit. Pranayama can be practiced whilst doing the movements or just sitting quietly. The benefits of Pranayama start with deep breathing, which brings fresh oxygen into all our cells. You will notice that on a daily basis we all get by on shallow breathing and as soon as we get stressed, the shallower our breath becomes. The breath is one of our key resources it is our bodies internal pharmacy.

The incorporation of surfing in the retreats brings an element of fun. Whilst we are challenging ourselves on a physical and mental level; surfing also boosts our endorphins, as well as reaping the calming benefits of the salt water!

Taking yourself away on a retreat rewards provides you with time out from your daily life and an opportunity to hit reset and to implement some healthy changes. The trip away can help with your mind, your relationship to food and your relationship with yourself. It allows for uninterrupted self-reflection time, where you can see your life from a bird’s eye perspective and gain some clarity.

Ocean Soul Retreat was created as a space for women to be amongst like-minded people, in a supportive and serene environment, whilst they embark on a journey of inner and outer discovery.