Healthy vacation escapes help us do
just that. We regenerate, reconnect with ourselves and others and re-imagine our lives in a more satisfying context.
Personal Growth:
HEALTHY ESCAPES
Unplugged Getaways Rebalance Our Lives by Judith Fertig
W
hen Jeanna Freeman vaca- tioned at Earthshine Mountain Lodge, in Lake Toxaway, North
Carolina, she wasn’t sure what to expect. Touted as a “techno-amenity-free proper- ty,” it specializes in off-the-grid getaways (
EarthshineLodge.com), meaning no in- room TV and a chance to digitally detox. Guests are encouraged to ditch their cell phones and laptops in favor of a zip line adventure through the Smoky Mountains forest canopy and laid back log cabin informality.
“Honestly, it was exhilarating being
away from my cell phone,” admits Free- man, an interior designer from Collier- ville, Tennessee. “I hadn’t felt that good and ‘connected’ in a long time. I didn’t realize how much I needed that.” Her experience highlights the new
buzzwords and phrases in vacation travel: unplug, reconnect, digital detox and healthy escape. What is it about unplug- ging that seems so refreshing and like an ideal vacation?
16 NA Twin Cities Edition Nicholas Carr, author of The Shal-
lows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, explains that, “Using the Internet pushes us to a skimming and scan- ning form of thinking.” He occasionally unplugs to recover his attention span, noting, “A lot of our deepest thoughts only emerge when we’re able to pay attention to one thing.” For memoirist Pico Iyer, author of
The Man Within My Head, “The urgency of slowing down—to find the time and space to think—is nothing new.” What is new is figuring out workable definitions of stillness and movement when we spend a lot of our time physically still, but men- tally in motion. A noted travel writer for 20 years,
Iyer likes to stay at monasteries around the world. He concludes, “Wiser souls have always reminded us that the more atten- tion we pay to the moment, the less time and energy we have to expend to place it in some larger context.” We can just simply be.
natwincities.com
The Mind MJ Goff was on a magazine writing assignment the first time she visited the Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York (
eOmega.org). As a student of New Age theories and a potential yoga teacher, Goff says she welcomed the opportunity to learn more. Once she attended the wom- en’s retreat she was researching, she was hooked. “Every year since, I find myself being drawn to Omega for its promotion of meditation and overall encouragement of ‘staying in the present,’” she says. “All the programs stem from one mission: to keep us on the right path.” Talks by internationally known
speakers such as Joan Borysenko, Eckhart Tolle, Harville Hendrix and Daniel Amen are complemented by sessions in nurtur- ing creativity, holistic health, and yoga practice. “People smile, but also keep to themselves,” explains Goff. “It’s a place for quieting your mind.” For shorter getaways, Hay House, headquartered in Carlsbad, California, sponsors weekend I Can Do It! seminars in various cities (
HayHouse.com). Speak- ers such as Louise Hay, Gregg Braden, Wayne Dyer and Caroline Myss help at- tendees nudge closer to making milestone transformations, consciousness shifts and progress on their healing journeys. Sometimes, personal growth simply
involves sufficient quiet time to walk, con- template and reconnect with our muse. “The real meaning of the word ‘retreat’ in the spiritual sense,” says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, “is step- ping back. When one steps back, one gets a better view of the world, others and our deepest self.” Iyer finds solace at New Camaldoli Heritage, a Benedictine community amidst the rugged terrain of Big Sur, California (
Contemplation.com). More than 2,000 monasteries and other spiritual com- munities throughout North America offer off-the-beaten-path retreats at reasonable prices and generally welcome guests of all religions and spiritual practices. The one requirement is that guests not disturb others. At Ghost Ranch, in the high desert of
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