Retreat - fashion, benefit or threat to health? How to choose the right program

People are rushing from cities to nature. Some choose retreats - “rest with sacred meaning.” They say that after such a trip they return home inspired and refreshed. Let's try to figure out why retreats have become fashionable, how much they cost and how they can be dangerous to HEALTH.

“Retreat” translated from English means “solitude”, “removal from society”. Such trips are widespread in many world religions and cultures. And in recent years, even among ordinary tourists, including Belarusians. From the advertising booklet of any retreat center, you will learn that its task is to create conditions for a person to get to know himself, calm his thoughts, reboot his brain and take a break from the bustle of the city. The retreat can be group, individual, silent, social or dark. The main thing is that for the entire rest period a person refuses to use any gadgets. ALCOHOL and energy drinks are also prohibited.

Some of the most popular retreats are related to yoga culture. The program includes spiritual practices, meditation, walks in the forest, swinging in a hammock, drinking tea, conversations at a common table with homemade cheesecakes and herbal tea. There are a lot of such proposals now. But, as the founder of one of the retreat centers, Ksenia Yakhimovich, notes, you need to choose such a special vacation wisely. The first step is to find information about the masters. Ask about their education, personal practice and teaching experience. Diplomas and certificates are usually available on the retreat center’s website. If you see that a teacher has completed a week-long yoga teacher course in all areas, but his personal practice is only three months, think about what he can teach you. The guru’s “quality mark” is a certificate from the international “American Yoga Alliance”. But the best thing, of course, is to find out

With a "psycho" twist

- Nowadays it has become fashionable to conduct various psychological practices at yoga retreats. If in the announcement you see names such as metaphorical association cards (MAC), systemic constellations, art therapy, psychodrama, holotropic breathing, transformational psychological games, nailing, and so on, find out whether the teacher has a higher psychological education with a state diploma ! - Ksenia Yakhimovich emphasizes. - During psychological classes and trainings, a person often finds himself in a light trance state, in which the deep layers of the psyche, unprocessed emotions, normal and pathological psychological defenses, as well as the sphere of the unconscious can be affected. Any careless phrase or action of a teacher can have unpredictable consequences. Certificate with qualification "Gaming practitioner.

Another tip when choosing a retreat is to pay attention to the composition of the teachers. It’s not bad if the same masters are responsible for the organization, draw up the program, and lead the practices. Then the process can be more smooth, and specialists are always close to the participants, giving them the right direction. A big disadvantage is if the teachers change at each retreat. In this case, their activities may have no connection with each other and there can be no talk of predictable results.

How much does it cost?

Ksenia believes that it is unwise to look for a retreat with the lowest cost. After all, its price includes many important components: taxes, Social Security Fund, advertising, SMM, accommodation, meals , all practices, often transfer and other expenses. The three-day yoga retreat format, popular in Belarus, will cost from 350 to 450 rubles. If you find a retreat for 220 rubles with the stated all-inclusive format and a large teaching staff, rest assured: you saved on something important here. Think about whether you are ready to find yourself living on a mattress in a yoga room or learning from a “master” without any education?

Non-standard retreat

Yoga, of course, is not the only direction in the retreat sphere. There are also quite non-standard proposals. For example, recently Grodno residents presented an unusual retreat route. Let us note that all of them have a national flavor. Driving a tractor along the mysterious paths of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, receiving energy from giant trees, weaving straw to develop perseverance, contemplating ancient mounds - this is the Belarusian interpretation of the concept of retreat holiday.

After such unusual tours, travelers are happy to share their impressions.

- We lived in a cozy tourist-hotel complex in the Svisloch region. The place is very colorful; once upon a time there was the estate of Count Tyshkevich. Then we drove around the neighborhood in a trailer attached to a mini-tractor. And the next day we set off to wander along the “Pagan Oak Forest” ecological trail. Lots of impressions! We were shown an oak tree with two large holes. According to legend, if you enter one and leave another, you can change your fate. Everyone, of course, lined up. True, when someone from the group philosophically noted that fate could change and not for the better, the activity died down. Then they washed themselves with water that collected near a large boulder with a depression - this altar dates back to the pagan period. The leader of the group promised that after such a procedure we would all look younger. Now, we are waiting for a miracle,

Perhaps such leisure is not a retreat in its pure form, but, whatever one may say, it is an excellent way to escape from the bustle of the city.

| Elena NIKOLAEVA, newspaper "7 days", photo from open Internet sources.

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