LIFE BALANCE ADVENTURE RETREAT

Escape for 10 days with us and we will provide you with the space and resources to learn new skills & provide tools that will help to transform your life.

Each day will begin with an open heart and mind & the endless possibilities to create exactly the life you want.

Lets get out and experience the joy in an everyday task like grocery shopping “French style”.

Stopping to chat to our regular vendors, discussing the options of how to plan & use their produce or suggested recipes.

Imagine yourself standing in the middle of a fresh food market exciting your senses with the aroma of flowers, cheese, breads, honey, fruit & vegetables.

The enthusiasm of the vendors for their products reminds us that the simplicity of life is essential to happiness and balance.

Listen to the distant call of birds and water lapping the side of our boat as we slide through the water with our very own guide quietly maneuvering us with a long pole.

This landscape is criss-crossed by a system of canals lined by willows and poplar trees and the serenity creates a perfect space to enjoy this magical experience whilst meditating on our breath.

Drawing on the connection of nature, stillness and our breath enables us to look more deeply into the imbalances we have and create the space to put in place that which is required to bring us back to balance.

After your retreat the real adventure begins at home. Feeling the rejuvenation of the body, mind & spirit with the tools we have practiced during our retreat. You return home to create your refreshed life vision and allow your true adventure to begin.

Retreat Dates

July 20 – 29, August 10 – 19, August 31 – September 9

What is included

10 days of daily guided meditations, yoga and teachings + lots of inspirational conversation all week!
Elegant accommodations at The Chateau Farmhouse
Nine fabulous breakfasts, nine evening meals with a glass of wine & seven lunches *Day 8 we are out on an adventure so you choose to eat, shop or sit in the park at your cost.
Welcome reception at the The Chateau Farmhouse
A retreat gift pack that includes some beautiful essentials for our daily sessions
Breath-taking boat trip on the canals of Marais Potvien
All guided tours in English
Dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the beautiful Chateau Pont Jarno
Transport to and from The Chateau Farmhouse from Niort Train Station or La Rochelle/Poitier Airport (at the designated times only)

What’s not included

International flights from your hometown to & from France – check your visa fees
Travel insurance (highly recommended)
Souvenir shopping, personal phone calls, laundry, alcoholic beverages.

Retreat France 2020

Payment for Escape the Everyday Retreat

€2,179.00

Our Journey – WHAT WILL WE DO EACH DAY?

Day 1: Saturday: Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life

The first day of your escape begins with sampling the laid back lifestyle of France & commences with an evening meal of locally sourced produce at Le Chateau de Ferme, situated in the village on the top of the hill in Le Beugnon. This beautiful restored farmhouse will be your home base for the next 10 days where you will be welcomed as a friend but leave feeling like you are family.

To begin our life/balance journey, tonight we will look at what is Gratitude and how it helps us bring the realities of our life into perspective. A fun and enlightening session.

Meals Included: Dinner

Day 2: Sunday: Mindfulness

Start the day with yoga in our studio with a ceiling that reaches to the stars and is literally a few steps away from your bedroom.

Today after breakfast you will take a guided tour through the historic quarter of Parthenay and along part of the path of Saint Jacques de Compostelle, a pilgrim route that is still used today by thousands of walkers. The perfect place to begin our own journey of mindful meditation.

Free time in the afternoon to relax in the gardens, take a walk, or sink into a wonderful French bath. Dinner will be served at The Chateau Farmhouse.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 3: Monday: Journal Writing

This morning we will look at the enormous benefits of Journal writing. Beginning with how writing each day will help you get to know yourself better. By writing your thoughts and emotions onto paper allows you to clear the space in your brain to create, feel and understand more instinctively who you are and what you want out of life. Also, by putting onto paper any issues that require resolution has shown to more easily give you the guidance and steps to resolve a situation more satisfactorily view both sides of the problem.

So let us explore the possibilities of daily journaling including choosing a theme for your day/month/year. How to get started and open your mind to the endless subjects you can include in your daily journal. Ideas on other aspects to include from pictures to recipes, drawings, pressed flowers…. the possibilities are endless..

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 4: Tuesday: Love & Self-care

Embrace the joy of another magical day in France with meditation and yoga before breakfast. After breakfast we will begin to look at loving and self care. How often do we care for others needs before our own? Well today we are going to look at loving ourselves and how to look after our bodies with massage, body brushing, essential oils & many other treats that we can easily introduce into our daily, weekly and monthly routine.

Sessions for beauty treatments that have been previously booked will be happening throughout the day, as well as our own mini treats utilising the products made available at the retreat centre. By the end of the day you will be feeling pampered and totally indulged.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 5: Wednesday: Stop to taste the wine

Life should be all about having time to stop and smell the roses. So today let’s see what all the fuss is about with French wine and have some fun !!!

After your Yoga & meditation session this morning your day will be spent at Loire Meridionale with a vineyard tour, lunch & tastings.

The Chateau Marie du Fou dates back to the 13^th century and looks over Mareuil-sur-Lay. The Mourat name has always been associated with wine: from wine makers and salt makers on the Ile de Ré until the end of the 19^th century, then as wine merchants on the Sables d’Olonne for three generations.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 6: Thursday: Your Life Vision Board

Today is all about the vision you have for your life. We have had a few days to clear the mind and allow some wonderful fresh ideas the space to form and mature. Working on our Vision Boards is like opening the door to our new life. Honing in on exactly what is needed to achieve the changes in your life & map a path to make these changes happen and bring them to life.

After lunch we make tracks to an unmissable part of any stay near the Poitevin Marsh, Coulon, the capital of Green Venice. A typical town with pretty houses, on the banks of the Sèvre Niortaise. Nestling at the heart of the Poitevin Marsh Inter-regional Park, between Niort and Aiguillon Bay, the Green Venice, or wet marsh, is a haven of peace to discover with a guided tour on one of the traditional flat bottom boats.

Located in France’s second biggest humid zone, this protected natural area, full of peaceful, mysterious landscapes steeped in fairy-tales and legends, is a lovely place for daydreaming, visualizing the changes, building the excitement … Its mazes of secret & romantic narrow canals lined with duckweed, as well as its rows of ash trees, willows and poplars, give it a unique & unforgettable charm!

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 7: Friday: Inspiration

What steps do you need to take to create your life vision. Drawing on external inspiration in the form of writing, art, yoga, walking, meditation, volunteer work let us look at how we can begin to change the way we look at our lives and simple steps to begin the change. For some of us that will mean stepping out of our comfort zone. But it does not necessarily have to be a frightening experience, as we look to the support that surrounds us.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 8: Saturday: Health & Wellbeing

You cannot come to France without going to the markets, buying your fresh produce and then heading home to cook it up into a wonderful meal. Except today, someone else will do the cooking for you!! We will choose our produce and it well be created into a spectacular French dish for your evening meal.

Today is about new experiences so for lunch you can choose whatever you wish. Wine & tasty morsels at the bar in the market, at one of the many restaurants, little samples of produce from the markets stall to enjoy in the park….the world is your oyster in food choice. Try something new & different.

Meals: Breakfast & Dinner

Day 9: Sunday: French Chateau

The Chateau looks for all the world like a fairy-tale castle, one that has stood the test of time, it is formidable and impressive. France has been hard fought over for many years by the French & English and the same goes for many of the chateaus. Enjoy a guided tour of the Chateau with all the quirks of Scottish/French history followed by lunch.

If you have ever seen a movie on the Kings & Queens of the French Court you will notice the rituals of almost every task undertaken by royalty. There were certain people in attendance when they woke, dressed, ate, bathed. Today gives time to draw on what you have participated in over the past week and work that into a ritual to take back to your daily life. This will help us keep the Life Balance each & every day long after we have left our retreat.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 10: Monday: Farewell Brunch

Your journey has just begun!! As you prepare to leave the retreat we will do your final meditation and yoga flow together followed by a session that will draw together all that you have participated in over the past 10 days.

This is just the beginning of your new Life Balance Adventure to take home, embrace and welcome into your new life.