Guest Blog Post – Yoga Retreat With Wellness Defined

When Leslie first told me about the Yoga retreat I was thrilled at the idea.  Although I have been doing yoga off and on for a couple of years, I had never been on a retreat before. I decided to register both myself and my 77-year-old mom, thinking it would be a wonderful way for us to have a trip together…just the 2 of us…something we had never done before!

Leslie had told me about how wonderful Sanctum Retreat is and she was not wrong.  We decided to make a day of it, heading down early Thursday via the old Highway 2 to enjoy the ride, stopping in Red Deer for lunch, and doing a little shopping (Their Winners is fantastic!).  The drive from Red Deer to Sanctum is lovely and it was just a really nice way to start our weekend.

Everyone started to arrive around 4:00 p.m. so that gave us some time to meet each other and visit before we all gathered for dinner in the main dining room.  The food was amazing!  Sanctum had a variety of items to choose from and served us individually from a buffet they had prepared.  Due to the  Covid 19 issues, all of their staff wore masks and served the food from behind a glass barrier, and over dinner, their owner gave us a quick rundown on all the things they were doing to keep us all safe.

After dinner, we all gathered in their great room and we were able to bring our yoga mats, towels, straps, and anything else we needed and set up our spot for the weekend.  The evening ended with our first meditation practice.  It was a wonderful way to end our evening and we all headed back to our rooms for the night and fantastic sleep.

Two Full Days Of Relaxation And Learning

We started the day early with a 7:00 a.m. meditation.  Everyone was so relaxed, basically just coming into the great room in whatever they were comfortable in.  With each of the yoga and meditation practices we did throughout the day, Leslie would educate us on how important it is to be mindful as we go about our day, how to set our goals and intentions for the day and how to honor ourselves.  The day was really laid out well because we had lots of free time so we were able to go for walks and just enjoy the beautiful grounds that Sanctum Retreat has to offer.

The weather was gorgeous all weekend so we even had the opportunity to do one of the yoga classes outside and it was a wonderful experience!

Lots of Ladies = Lots of Laughter

I wasn’t sure how it would be going to a retreat with a bunch of people I didn’t know but to be honest, it was pretty incredible.  There were about 15 of us in total and everyone had a different reason for attending.  Some shared their stories, some didn’t and we all honored each other for just being there and sharing our company.  We had mothers and daughters, sisters, girlfriends, and ladies who traveled solo to attend.  As you would expect, where you have a group of ladies together, there was lots of laughing and camaraderie.

An Incredible Ending To An Incredible Weekend

On our last day, as we had our last practice of the weekend, we were sitting in a circle and sharing our thoughts on the weekend.  For some of us it was emotional because we were just so thankful for the weekend.  As we were sitting there we notice 2 small deer right outside the windows of our main room.  They couldn’t see us watching them so they got up quite close to the building as they ate away.   It really was the perfect way to end our weekend.

It really was an amazing experience because, by the end of the weekend, there were so many great connections that were made.  As we said goodbye to everyone, lots of us hoped we would meet each other again at Leslie’s next retreat.  The drive home was my mom and I just sharing our thoughts on the experience and I felt so thankful to be able to have the weekend with her.

My journey with Leslie has been for about 5 years now.  She is an incredible teacher and I have learned so much from her over these last 5 years.  I am so thankful I went outside my comfort zone a bit to go to her retreat.  I look forward to going again in 2022!

Lorena