Retreats are different from vacations, where you’re looking to just get away. They are time set aside from the regular grind and dedicated to practicing something—like meditation—that you don’t often have the time to focus on in daily life.
My upcoming movement retreat is May 17–19, at the Art of Living Center in North Carolina—'Healing Your Sole: A Stepwise Approach to Building Forever Functional Feet.'
- Care for your Achilles tendons and calf muscles
- Deal with stiffness related to hammertoes and bunions
- Improve your foot, knee and hip relationship
- Increase the performance of your feet and ankles
- Move for better balance and strong, stable walking
- Progress more swiftly through foot or ankle injury
- Mobilize stiff feet or stabilize hypermobile ones
- Evaluate your footwear for features that work for your body
- Safely transition well to minimal footwear
Watch the video below to hear me explain why I think retreats are important, and a bit about what we'll cover, and why foot health is important to whole-body health.
Tell me about the schedule…
This 3-day retreat starts with you arriving and getting settled Friday afternoon. After dinner (more about the food below!) and a group orientation, you’ll be brought to the movement hall for your first movement session where we’ll de-travel our bodies and prep the spine, hips, legs and feet for the rest of the weekend.
You’ll meet me back in the movement room on Saturday after breakfast for our longest, 3-hour session. We’ll break for lunch and a short rest, then back at it in the afternoon. There’s a book signing with me Saturday night if you’d like to come hang out.
We meet for our final class after breakfast Sunday morning. When we’re done, you’ll pack up and head for a final delicious lunch before departing for home.
Movement session times:
Friday 7:30-9:00p
Saturday 9:30a-12:30p and 2:00-4:00p
Sunday 9:30-11:30a
When you’re not in class or at meals, you have access to the amenities and activities at the campus! Included in your tuition are yoga classes, kirtan, hiking trails, a campfire, workout and steam room, plus a host of classes (ceramics, herbal healing, etc.) for a small additional fee.
Tell me about the classes…
On-the-mat time is 90% movement, with a little time dedicated to Q&A. You’ll get lectures sprinkled in, but plan on moving—stretches, stretch exercises, plus some walking outside—for all of our class time together. All equipment is provided for you, and you’ll be taking home a goodie bag full of items for your feet.
Tell me about the footwear mixer…
Are you a minimal footwear aficionado? Do you have gently used minimal shoes you’d like to sell or swap? Bring them to the retreat! We will have a table set up where you can put them out with a price tag of your choice, and/or try on shoes you like. Don’t want to buy or sell? Just check out in-person all the different brands people are wearing. There will also be samples provided by some of the top minimal footwear brands in the world. This can save you lots of time when shopping online in the future.
Tell me about the FOOD…
The food at Art of Living is nutritious, delicious vegetarian cuisine, served cafeteria-style. As someone that makes a lot of meals and washes a lot of dishes, perhaps the most restful part of a retreat is getting to show up at the dining hall three times a day to be served amazing meals that you don’t have to make or clean up after.
Eat inside or on the gorgeous patio overlooking miles (yes, miles!) of Blue Ridge Mountain forest.
Tell me about the accommodations…
The registration page has all the details about your room options, along with pricing and photos, but the general concept is this: you pay a single rate for the workshop, and a second amount for your room and board depending what option you choose for lodging. They’ve got shared and basic as well as posh.
Ready to sign up? Register through the Art of Living Retreat Center website here.
My next retreat is this September at Omega Institute in New York: ‘Pages & Poses: A Movement Retreat for Writers.’
Want to check out other live events? Browse them all here.
Can’t make the retreat but want to learn foot exercises to try right now? Read Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief and Whole Body Barefoot, or get both along with video instruction and a half dome in our Fix Your Feet Kit.