Thrive Yoga & Fitness is once again hosting an incredible retreat. This time, they’re keeping it right here in Bradenton — which means no travel headaches for the locals! We recently sat down with the studio’s owner, Erin Geraghty, to learn more about what she has in store for this year’s event.

Heal Your Body Retreat

During the retreat, which runs May 24th through the 26th or May 27th through the 29th, participants will enjoy an impressive collection of workshop activities, all aimed at easing the anxieties in your body and in your mind.  Some of the topics they’ll cover include: navigating body image, emotional eating, and body pain. There will also be several other activities aimed at changing your overall relationship with yourself.

You’ll learn a few mind-body techniques and a lot of related information that may be quite new to you… unless you’re already familiar with Erin’s work.  Even if you have worked with Erin before, many of the things she’ll present are completely new and fascinating. One of the things that makes Erin’s events so great is that she’s constantly evolving her toolset.  And since she’s always her own first student and client, she’s experienced for herself just how effective these tools are, from the inside out.  

Tension Pattern Release

One major focus of the retreat is a process Erin calls “Tension Pattern Release.” It’s used to find patterns of holding onto stress and tension in your body, and helps you to work it out from a yoga-therapy perspective.  For those who are hip to the “chakra” model of energy centers along the spine, this plays a part in the release process as well. The work often starts at the base of the spine and moves up, covering important transit centers of spiritual and bodily energy and mobility.

Erin is also a certified life coach, and she brings many techniques and tools from that discipline into the group setting.  The workshop activities will frequently allow the group to audit the journey their emotions will take throughout the mind and body and pay attention to the path of their thoughts.  Through group support and guided activities, participants can learn new tools to navigate the labyrinth that we can create when our thoughts and feelings get tangled together.

Unblocking Stuck Energy

The Heal Your Body Retreat also teaches you to breathe through it all.  In a very literal sense!  The retreat includes workshops on yogic breathing techniques, some of which have been described by past participants as literally life-changing.  Chances are, despite breathing since the day you’d been born, you still have not learned to breathe in these technically precise and profound ways.  

While going through the process, you may want to have a box of tissues handy.  We don’t always just breathe out carbon dioxide, sometimes we breathe out stuck energy that’s often been there for far longer than you realize.  When you go through some of the workshop activities that may encourage you (for example) to confront a shadow-side of yourself that you’ve been avoiding or projecting onto others, that conscious breathing will come in handy.    

Ultimately, this what this retreat is all about: find the stuck patterns of bodily tension and energy, and getting everything moving again. Including (of course) the help of yoga postures!  It wouldn’t be much of a yoga retreat without asana practice.  And if you’ve ever been to Erin’s classes, you know she has a flavor (and technical contribution) all her own, which you won’t find at many other studios. 

Hard Work + Rewards

Are you thinking this all sounds hard? Well, you may be right… But don’t worry. Some of the work is hard, but not all of it.  And the rewards are well worth it! 

While some of the processes in this retreat can go pretty deep, it isn’t just about hard work. You’ll also enjoy plenty of fun and some delicious Indian-fusion culinary rewards (plus a tea bar!) at the end of each day as a reward for all your effort.   

That’s actually another one of the best takeaways from this retreat: doing the challenging work also includes learning how to enhance your enjoyment of life.  After all, what’s the point if it’s not helping you savor your existence?  You’re not just trying to get to the next level of machine-like performance (from your body, or otherwise); you’re trying to get to the next level of experience.

Experience the Journey for Yourself

If you’re ready to experience this life-changing retreat for yourself, you’re in luck! Thrive Yoga & Fitness is currently accepting registrations. The retreat will be held at the Thrive Yoga & Fitness studio, located at 8819 Cortez Rd. W. Bradenton, FL 34210.

There are two sessions, the first running May 24th through 26th and the second running the 27th through the 29th. Each day’s sessions run from 12:30 pm to 5 pm. The cost is $399 per session or $750 for the entire week. This also includes a two-week unlimited class pass to Thrive Yoga & Fitness.

Also, everyone attending the retreat will get a free Facial Analysis from Erin (valued at $199) to get a quick — but revealing — peek at potential mineral deficiencies that attribute to overall cellular health. She’ll also provide formula recommendations to address any deficiencies uncovered.

To learn more about the retreat, call (570) 497-7801 or email info@thriveyogafit.com and don’t forget to tell them you heard about it on Discover Bradenton!