“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ― Hippocrates
Holistic Health Retreat
I had a program designed that mashed programs for me. The resources and insights provided will most definitely help me navigate my journey ahead.
The space was welcoming, comfortable and accessible. Loved the warmth and openness. ✨☮️
- Angela C
As we align with greater health we eat to fuel our bodies rather than feed our emotions
Health Retreat Blue Mountains
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The first wealth is health.” As the Western world has prioritised material wealth, our physical health has declined.
What food we eat determines how we feel, look, and think. Having moved away from relying on growing our own food we now have to navigate an industry that often exploits our cravings and emotional responses in order to maximise profits over our wellbeing. Eating mindfully improves our energy levels, brain health, and moods, fosters a clear mind and supports a healthy weight range while reducing the risk of chronic health conditions.
Poet, Maya Angelou said, “When women take care of their health, they become their best friend.” Good health is intertwined with rest, balanced stress levels, social connection, exercise and many other facets of life. Our approach is to offer insights that will help you nurture a healthy body, mind and emotional state to live more integrated.
Healthy Retreat
Suitable for:
Those looking to take a holistic approach to their health and wellbeing
People wanting to explore how their beliefs and conditioned habits lead to health behaviours
Those wanting an approach to weight loss that is much deeper than focusing on diet and exercise
People looking for a health reboot and space to detox and get practical help designing a better future
People committed to personal and spiritual development
After a debilitating journey in her 20s with gluten and dairy intolerances that led to a breakdown of gut health, Magdalena sought answers from every kind of health practitioner.
Along the way, she acquired a wealth of knowledge and found her vocational calling in the field of health.
Having trained as a reflexologist, Magdalena focuses on the physical aspect of health, particularly nutrition and the importance of knowing one’s body type.
In the process of discovering how we can heal ourselves through food, she developed a passion for healthy cooking and the importance of combining great-tasting meals with the nutritional elements of living foods.
About Marcus
Having battled with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Marcus learned the importance of diet, regulating stress and cultivating emotional wellbeing in order to return to wellness.
Through his time training to become a Waldorf teacher, he realised the importance of a holistic approach to not just education but in all areas of one's life in contrast to the compartmentalised approach of institutions.
Having worked with hundreds of people through his retreat programs and individual counselling work, his focus is upon the mental, emotional and psychological elements of health. As Plato pointed out many centuries ago, “The part can never be well unless the whole is well."
Health Retreat Sydney
Work inside or outside in the elements
Tranquility within and outside the retreat space
Chase waterfalls after dark on a local spectacular floodlit night walk
our retreat centre is within walking distance of healing Mini Ha Ha waterfall
Weight Loss Retreats NSW
Nutrition Wisdom
All of our retreat programs can be tailored to suit your individual needs. For some people, when they think of how they wish to improve their health, their primary motivation is around weight loss. In this case, we focus on practical aspects around eating patterns, eating routines and meal planning. You’ll gain nutrition education and learn how your body type responds to certain foods and affect your energy, how you feel, and your biology. There are numerous endocrine disorders that can affect your weight: thyroid conditions, insulin resistance, PCOS etc. As important as it is to eat well, diet alone isn’t enough to correct hormone imbalances. You’ll explore the alternative mindset to exercise as a chore or punishment to contemplate a range of physical activities that produce joy while also extending your comfort zone.
These small things – nutrition, place, climate, recreation – are inconceivably more important than everything one has taken to be important so far. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Mindset & Psychology
Having worked with countless people as a psychologist, Carl Jung asserted: “The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate.” Taking the focus off one’s weight allows you to understand the thoughts and feelings that lead to behaviours and habits behind binge eating, overeating, lack of exercise, stress and other factors that are negatively impacting your health. Living in harmony with the universal principle, ‘As Within, So Without’ is instrumental in assisting with weight loss.
The separation of psychology from the premises of biology is purely artificial, because the human psyche lives in indissoluble union with the body. - Carl Jung
Self-Love & Self-Acceptance
Disordered eating is very common, increasingly so as our culture grows more unhealthy and stressful. Improving our self-concept assists with expectations around our health, helping to decrease perfectionist tendencies when it comes to our bodies and habit change. Healing our relationships with food and bodies includes addressing potential weight stigma you may have experienced. This program will increase your awareness around WHY you’re eating the way you eat while not vilifying eating out of emotions occasionally. Using food as a coping mechanism tends to be a common issue that needs to be worked on gently.
Holistic Psychology focuses on the mind, body, and soul in the service of rebalancing the body and nervous system and healing unresolved emotional wounds. - Nicole LePera
Blue Mountains Health Retreats
Program Outline:
Morning Session
Medicine looks at just one dimension - the body. Much of the self-help model looks at just one dimension - the mind. Wellness involves an all-encompassing paradigm shift. The integrated approach unites each of the major life areas — the physical, emotional, social, intellectual, vocational and spiritual spheres. Wellness is not a piecemeal approach. The program begins with an exploration of your lifestyle, relationship with stress, mental diet and outlook as well as environmental factors relating to your health.
Lunch
Afternoon Session
When people think of nutrition many people picture the Food Pyramid devised decades ago by the US Department of Agriculture. Heavily influenced by lobbying efforts from the grain industry, the base of the pyramid consisted of grains, leading people to overvalue carbs, not differentiate between simple, complex, and processed carbs and undervalue good fats and vegetables. Similar misinformation saw refined sugar as preferable to fat. As rates of obesity, cancer and disease escalate it is crucial to understand your nutritional habits and determine what you’re better off without and what you’re better off introducing. As the longevity of the Mediterranean diet has revealed, our health doesn’t require stoicism, endless discipline and austerity but rather a rediscovery of the joy of fresh, well-prepared meals. This session will delve into nutrition and your relationship with it.
There is an optional waterfall walk for you to do at the end of the day. Exercise and time in nature allows you time to contemplate the days’ learnings.
Dinner (or the option for you to take in one of the local dining facilities)
There are a range of optional evening activities for you to enjoy, such as listening to or reading poetry, life stories, or enjoying a thought-provoking film or inspiring documentary.
Day 2
Breakfast
Morning Session
Our physiological state is determined in large part by the way we respond to the circumstances of our life. A calm response generates “soothing” biochemicals. An angry or fearful high-stress response generates toxic biochemicals. Over a prolonged period, unchecked psychological stress can contribute to illness by creating physiological turmoil. This session will explore your relationship with sleep and rest, helping you discover impediments to attaining high energy levels and a calm mind.
Afternoon Session
Ask the average person to state what good health is and you'll frequently hear that the basic issues in wellness are (1) disciplining ourselves to eat well and (2) exercising regularly. The single overriding objective in wellness is creating constant personal renewal where we recognise our joie de vivre and surround ourselves with friends, work colleagues and loved ones who replenish us on an emotional level. Considering someone like David Attenborough who despite being 97, is in remarkable health. Perhaps we has avoided any major health troubles due to being gifted with stellar genes. The likelihood is that his passion for his work and the company of like minded people has been the major contribution to a long, healthy life. This final session will look at your emotional health and social connectedness.
Included in your package is an optional stand up paddleboarding session, mountain bike ride or bush walk at the end of day 1 of your program (weather permitting).
NSW Health Retreats
Health Retreat Specials $590 for our weekend 2 day health and wellbeing retreats *$50 discount on a weekday retreat. Compared to some centres who charge many thousands a night, we believe in the importance of affordable health retreats.
Health Retreat Packages: Inclusions - accommodation, meals, workbooks, counselling and activities.
Optional session with a bibliotherapist. Learn more about our bibliotherapy service.
Deepen your experience by completing an extra day with us.
Day 3
Breakfast
Morning Session
Having covered physical, mental, emotional and relational aspects of health, our 3 day wellness retreat looks at the soul or spiritual element to our health.
Spirituality can be defined as the way individuals seek ultimate meaning, purpose, connection, value, or transcendence. As organised religion fades in relevancy, it involves discovering ultimate meaning through connections with a community of seekers, nature, practices and a philosophy that elevates our thinking.
Research has shown that holding a spiritual worldview is associated with healthier lives, including greater longevity, less depression and suicide, and less substance use. Carl Jung came to believe that the majority of patients he saw who exhibited neurotic tendencies after midlife did so primarily due to feeling spiritually disconnected.
Having that sense that you’re not in the world alone, that you are part of a power larger than oneself, can give us confidence to deal with the issues of life. Biologically, if that reduces stress, then that means you’re less likely to have high blood pressure or diabetes or things that can increase mortality. Spiritual traditions typically inculcate values such as respect, compassion, gratitude, charity, humility, harmony, meditation and preservation of health.
In this session, you’ll explore the Jungian concepts of ego, soul & self in relation to your psyche.
Afternoon Session
For an embodied experience of soul connection you choose the activity that most appeals to you out of the following options:
● meditation and contemplative readings
● art therapy
● breathwork
● reiki / energy healing
● tarot and intuitive counselling
● soul blueprint readings (numerology or astrology)
● an introduction to the soul's journey based on the tarot archetypes
Cost: $870 for our 3 day health retreats *$50 discount on a weekday retreat
The retreat was exactly what I needed as someone at the start of their journey. My facilitators were calming and knowledgeable. I felt completely heard and understood. The round dwelling house is filled with heart warming art, books, cards and yoga/meditation items. I decided to switch off from the outside world and found a wealth of various teachings on my health journey. The fresh wholesome food provided was delicious. I was also given plenty of time to myself to soak everything in my own time. I will definitely be back for many of the other events and retreats available here. I highly recommend it. ~ Sage M
With everything that had been happening in the world, this time last year I found myself turning inward, looking at what was important to me, how I fitted into the world and ultimately, who was I. During this time, I connected with two beautiful humans. They welcomed me into their home for a 2 day retreat that ultimately changed my outlook and path in life. - Chelle M
Instead of gaming love, master the game of love by understanding your core needs and the stumbling blocks between you and a lasting, enriching connection.
Our self-love retreat is ideal for singles working on relationship patterns and for those who could use some self care and greater appreciation for who they are & what they have to offer the world.
A holistic retreat involving creative expression, life guidance, relationship exploration & a range of activities such as astrology/numerology readings, tarot, breathwork, transpersonal counselling & more.
