How to Choose a Soulful Destination for Your Personal Retreat

Part 3 of the four-part How to Plan a Personal Retreat series.

You've checked in with yourself. You've thought about what you're craving and how you want your time away to feel. Now comes one of the most fun parts of planning a personal retreat: Where should you go? The right destination isn't necessarily the place at the top of everyone's travel list or the wellness resort you've been seeing all over Instagram. It's the place that supports the kind of experience you want to create for yourself.

If you need to, go back to the intention you set in Part 2. Do you want to feel inspired and curious? Rested and cared for? Adventurous and energized? Peaceful and grounded? Clear and spacious? Let those feelings help you narrow down not only where you go, but the type of setting that might feel right.

You may discover that what you're craving isn't a traditional retreat destination at all. A personal retreat can happen in a city hotel, a quiet coastal inn, a wellness resort or somewhere surrounded by nature. That's the beauty of designing the experience yourself.

Let the Feeling Lead to the Place

Here are some examples for you to explore:

For a Creative Seeker, a city can make a wonderful personal retreat. The Library Hotel in New York City is a perfect example. Surrounded by books, museums, architecture, cafés and endless places to wander, it offers plenty of opportunities to follow your curiosity. Your retreat might include a morning with your journal, an afternoon at the New York Public Library or Morgan Library & Museum and plenty of unscheduled time to explore. If your intention is to feel inspired again, being surrounded by ideas, art and energy may be exactly what you need. Read More →  https://www.soulretreatspace.com/post/the-library-hotel

A Renewal Seeker, on the other hand, may want her surroundings to make slowing down almost effortless.

BodyHoliday in St. Lucia offers a completely different kind of retreat experience, with wellness, spa time, movement and the Caribbean Sea all woven into the stay. If you've been craving rest and the feeling of being cared for, choosing a destination where well-being is already part of the experience means you don't have to work very hard to create it.

Read More→ https://www.soulretreatspace.com/post/body-holiday-st-lucia

And sometimes what you need is to get outside, move your body and experience somewhere completely different. For an Adventure Seeker, a stay at Asticou Inn in Maine, with Acadia National Park nearby, can create a retreat filled with coastal walks, hiking, fresh air and exploration. Your quiet time might happen overlooking the water in the morning, while the rest of the day is spent discovering somewhere new. A personal retreat doesn't have to mean sitting still.

Read More → https://www.soulretreatspace.com/post/the-asticou-hotel-maine

Choose a Destination That Supports Your Intention

As you begin looking at possible destinations, try not to start with a long list of hotels. Start with the experience you're trying to create. Think about the setting. Would you feel better near the ocean, surrounded by mountains, tucked into a cozy small town or right in the middle of a city? Consider how much stimulation you want around you, whether you want activities easily available and how much effort you want to put into planning once you arrive. Even the hotel itself matters. Look beyond the thread count and pretty lobby and ask yourself whether you can actually picture yourself spending time there. Is there somewhere you'd want to sit with your journal in the morning? Can you walk outside and explore? Is there a spa, pool, library, garden or beautiful view that supports the experience you're craving? You aren't simply choosing somewhere to sleep.

You're choosing the setting for your retreat.

Looking for a little inspiration? Explore the Soul Retreat Destinations for hotels and places chosen for more than just a change of scenery. Each one offers its own opportunity to slow down, explore and create meaningful time for yourself.

Explore Soul Retreat Destinations → https://www.soulretreatspace.com/destinations

Once you've found a place that feels right, there's only one thing left to do: decide how you want to spend your time there.

Continue the series →Part 4: How to Plan a Personal Retreat: Create a Simple Retreat Plan