Why A Retreat Is Good For YOU
(And Therefore Essential For Your Business)
Ok, so your business is busy. And as a female business owner, you’re busy. Juggling, spinning all the plates, having too many tabs open on your laptop and in your head. Trying to hold space for all the things…. which might include being a CEO of your ‘empire’, perhaps mothering or supporting others in your life, being a partner, a friend, an administrator of your home and social life, health and fitness practices, carrying the bulk of the mental load, and, and, and…, (need I go on?!)
So why, then, would you even contemplate taking time OUT, when you’re already swamped in busyness and time is a valuable precious commodity in which to ‘get things done’? And why especially, would you head to a retreat to participate in something so often seen as just a ‘luxury’ – rather than a necessity?
Here’s Why Taking Time Away On A Retreat Is An Essential Personal AND Business Activity:
A 2022 resurgo report on the state of female entrepreneur mental health revealed that women are disproportionately affected and lack support, impeding their success. 70% of respondents said they regularly experienced overwhelm, and a whopping 22% experienced feelings of wanting to “escape life”. As women, when we factor in unpaid labour, the third (beauty) shift and labour involved with self-employment, entrepreneurial women work the equivalent of three jobs and get paid for about 50% of one. 1
Also, I’m sorry to have to break this to you, but “no-one’s coming”.
Despite the Hollywood movies consistently trying to persuade us otherwise, no-one is coming to rescue us. (Especially not a man on a white horse, thanks Disney). If we are running a business as a woman in these current times, we must treat ourselves as we would our best employee. And that means nurturing and supporting ourselves as an individual in our own right, as well honouring our own needs like our lives depend on it.
I’d go as far as to say that our business success wholly depends on how successfully we nurture ourselves as a human, first and foremost. Without us, there IS no business in solo-led entrepreneurial spaces.
How Can A Retreat Help?
I’ve been running retreats since 2020 in the UK, mainly in a beautiful Anglesey village on the coast. A large proportion of women attending my retreats are involved in running their own business, and the retreats have been a safe place to step away from the capitalist, patriarchal narrative that still surrounds us (even if we don’t subscribe to it) and press pause. To take a breath, create space, to rest, nurture and really tune in. We go all in to connect with our divine feminine energy and create the balance we are constantly aiming for.
Which paradoxically is exactly when the insights, creative business downloads and new ideas come flying in.
Why Is A Soul-Based Retreat The Answer?
My retreats are a blend of nurture, space holding, group coaching, wholefood nourishment, meditation, emotional release, energy healing and spiritual nurture. I carefully create the container so that women arriving enter a clean, clear, and beautifully comfortable space in, which they instantly begin to loosen their tight grip on what’s happening in the rest of their lives. It’s exactly this release that brings about the clarity we’re seeking.
Me and my team take care of meeting everyone’s basic needs – we feed you plentiful, balanced and plant-based food to fuel and nourish you. We clear up, we won’t let you lift a finger, we guide you through group experiences and self-reflection, we listen HARD to what you’re voicing (and also to what you’re not saying), we encourage you to see and be seen in your wholeness, we encourage you to move and rest every day and we make sure that sleep is a priority – which is easy in such a luxurious venue. The hugs are abundant (and all consuming), and the laughs are belly deep.
My purpose is to hold space for you until you are ready again to hold it for yourself.
My guests are encouraged to allow themselves to be nurtured, to honour their own needs, desires, and boundaries, and to opt in or out of whatever they feel intuitively is right for them – not just on retreat but as they integrate back to their world. Taking this opportunity to get still, quiet, and really hear yourself (above the gently crackling fire in the hearth) is an experience that reaps the biggest rewards physically, energetically, emotionally, and mentally.
How Can That NOT Be Good For You And Your Business?
About The Author
Ali is an Intuitive Soul Coach and Empowerment Alchemist, guided to work with people who want to tune in to their inner truth and live in alignment with who they are.
She is passionate about helping people to unapologetically create a life they love, to step fully into their truth, and to show up for themselves with the same love and compassion as they do for others.
Ali is an expert in helping clients reach down to the roots of their inner world, heal any challenges that have brought them to this point, and take the inspired action needed to become the very person they came here to be.
She loves nothing more than encouraging you to step out of the shadows where you were feeling lost, anxious, full of self-doubt and wracked with uncertainty, and into a life lived fully expressed and wholly on purpose.
Connect with Ali on Instagram @ali_knight_coaching or aliknightcoaching.com
Ali’s next retreat is 12th-15th May in Rhoscolyn, Anglesey. CLICK HERE to learn more.