It’s less than 10 weeks at the time of writing this, until we fly out to Portugal.
Hard to believe it was a whole year ago that Jonny & Vera sat me down to ask me to go along and help out on last years retreat.
Not that I was ever going to say no, but what a decision it proved to be, to agree to be involved.
I’ve been thinking recently about trying to put into words, what Inspirit actually does, for the people that chose to commit 5 days of their annual leave to attend.
On the face of it, it may look like a few days in the sun, with some healthy food, great people and lots of walking and exercise.
Truth is, it is all that. Yet, it’s so much more at the same time.
As much as those things are amazing to experience, those are just the tip of the iceberg as far as I’m concerned.
(Not that there would be much of an iceberg left in that Algarve heat..)
For me, having gotten my first taste of Inspirit last May, it’s more about what the retreat removes, rather than what it offers.
It simply removes the “need”.
“I need to exercise..”
“I need to send this email..”
“I need to eat healthy food..”
Need. Need. Need.
Whether the majority of us say this out loud or not, we’re more than likely saying it to ourselves within our own thinking.
5 days with Inspirit Retreat takes all of that away.
And with it, removes all traces of pressure, worry & stress that can often be associated with the feeling that we NEED to do something.
The “I Need” is simply replaced.
It becomes..
I Will.
I Can.
I Want.
I Choose.
The power of words..
This very subtle change in thinking is felt from the very second we touch down in Portugal.
We unfortunately can’t bring back the sunny weather, the beautiful sights, or the locally sourced great tasting fresh food.
We can however, bring back that exact subtle change in thinking.
So yeah, Inspirit does provide a week in the sun, a chance to meet amazing new people, amazingly tasty fresh food and an environment where you can enjoy exercise.
But that’s not my first thought when asked what It does.
It offers 5 days in which you can fully live through and experience a way of thinking, that you can adopt to any “stressful” situation you ever face on these shores, long after the tan has faded
In terms of how you approach health, fitness, wellbeing, (whatever you want to call it), it’s the first week in changing your outlook in the most positive way imaginable.
Mike
You can find out more about Mike and his work at https://www.michaelmclaren.co.uk/
