Do you make time in your life to experience the benefits of BEing in solitude ? A healthy self-relationship enables us to have healthy relationships with others.

Activities such as a walk in nature, prayer, exercise, meditation, drawing, writing, painting, or playing an instrument are beautiful ways to deepen our self-awareness, creativity and can be done alone.

There is something very sacred when we commune with ourselves, it enables us to hear and feel more clearly our true heart’s desire and our soul’s yearning.

Retreats are a beautiful way to leave what is known, your home, your city and to take yourself to a new place, to gain a new perspective and self-experience.

Do you feel comfortable leaving your loved ones to be with yourself, all to yourself?

There are so many different types of retreats, one for every different type of person, from yoga, meditation and spiritual retreats to silent structured and unstructured retreats.

Did you know that the more you make time to prioritize self-love and self-nurturing practices into your life, the more EVERYONE benefits in your life?

Five benefits of going on retreats:

1. Connect to nature.

Places such as Pura Vida Spa and Retreat Center in Costa Rica are powerful settings for profound healing, deep relaxation and transformation, where one can experience themselves away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life stresses. Sitting, walking and hiking in nature all bring about a sacred opportunity for one to rekindle our inner connection. Swimming at the base of a natural waterfall and river bring us back to our truest nature and flow.

2. Unplug from your every day routine to plug in.

Retreats take us away from the usual distractions such as cell phones, computers, work and family. Letting go of distractions, gives us a whole new perspective where we may reflect on how we are living our lives and what is truly our heart’s desires. 

3. Nurture, pamper and love yourself.

Since you are the focus of your retreat, it is a great opportunity for you to strengthen the relationship with your body, mind, spirit. A retreat gives you time to harmonize and balance all the aspects of your whole human being. You can enjoy a massage, a yoga class, and quiet night’s rest in nature. You get to nurture yourself in which ever way feels right for you. There is no obligation or expectation from anyone, except yourself that is. Sometimes we feel guilty or ashamed if we take time out to pamper ourselves because it takes time away from our loved ones. A retreat is a great way to practice self- care, self-love and self-nurturing.

4. Enjoy every moment more fully without a tight schedule or routine.

Retreats can be a place where we can practice allowing and surrendering to the moment. We can make a decision to have no plan for the day, and allow ourselves to simply act upon what feels light and right for us in every moment. Some of us are so used to living according to a tight schedule which has us running from one appointment to the next. We get to slow down and experience the natural pace of nature when we are on a retreat.

5. Explore a new you.

The different activities, places and people you will interact with during your retreat will all expose you to a new way of BEing you. This experience will leave you feeling calmer, more present and connected to who you are.

If you are interested in taking a retreat this summer, I highly recommend you join Jennifer Grace and Myself from June 8-12 for Costa Rica Rejuvenation Retreat For Women. This 5 day, 4 night retreat includes healthy and delicious meals daily, daily yoga and meditation class, and transformational workshops all designed to teach you how to attract more peace, abundance, and balance in your everyday life. Information and registration HERE.

Are you living in the flow or does that word, FLOW, seem foreign to you?

How well are you at coping with your pain and suffering? Do you feel you are in a chronic state of fear and worry?

Many of my clients experience a chronic state of stress, pain, fear, tension-that is caused by physical, mental, emotional and spiritual reasons.

It is our nature to FLOW, to move, to die, to re-birth and to experience a whole spectrum of emotions, thoughts and sensations throughout our day.

What hurts us is when we stagnate ourselves, when we resist our true nature, which is to flow our feelings, and express them.

A cup or pond of water stagnates and collects dust when it simply sits there. Water is meant to flow. Just take a look at how alive and full of flow a river, waterfall and the ocean waves appear-so powerful, so animated, so alive!

Our bodies are made up mostly of  water. And our cells are constantly moving-vibrating as waves and particles. It is our inherent nature to move and flow physically, mentally and emotionally.

Too often we are too busy to rinse and flush out our stressful thoughts, beliefs and/or emotions, and we cause our body-mind to stagnate and decrease our natural flow.

The word suffering is sometimes used in the narrow sense of physical pain, but more often it refers to mental or emotional pain, or more often yet to pain in the broad sense, i.e. to any unpleasant feeling, emotion or sensation. The word pain usually refers to physical pain, but it is also a common synonym of suffering. The words pain and suffering are often used both together in different ways.

TODAY: Ask yourself, am I holding on to any past pain, suffering, beliefs, thoughts, or emotions?

Are they weighing me down or stagnating me?

Notice what sensations arise for you.

3 Ways To Increase Your Flow:

1. Awareness: Notice your bodily sensations throughout the day. This brings you to the experience of the present moment. Notice yourself through your five senses. Try this without any judgement, criticism or expectations. Take a SENSING Break, it will help you to clear your mind of any stressful thoughts. Awareness heals us and it also teaches us how to be “the witness” instead of a reactor.

2. Breathe: Diaphragmatic Breathing or belly breathing stimulates our relaxation response. This muscle helps us to process and release stored emotions and physical bodily tensions.

Get in a comfortable posture with your spine aligned in neutral. Inhale deeply allowing your abdomen, rib cage, and chest to expand fully. Exhale passively with a letting go sound. Try this throughout your day from the moment you wake up while still laying in your bed, while sitting at your desk, driving, and sitting on the toilet! Integrate deep diaphragmatic breaths and notice how your day changes, how your FLOW increases.

3. Move: Move your body rhythmically throughout the day. Activities such as running, walking, making love, dancing, and any repetitive movement exercise that brings you pleasure is ideal!

Move in ways that bring you passion and joy, don’t make exercise “work” or boring. This is not healthy for your soul and creativity.

Try at least 30 minutes of movement daily and notice how your FLOW increases.

Try these simple tips and let me know how they help you. Oh, and also remember to go with the FLOW… surrender more and allow things to flow into your life, sometimes we are so stressed we think life is meant to be forced, complicated or a struggle. Ahhhh, let go and notice how release of control actually paves the road to things falling into place for your highest good and also with more ease. Trust that this universe is truly magnificent at bringing you always what is for your highest good. Most of all, be patient and optimistic.

Is your life too busy for connection, love, romance and pleasure with yourself and your partner?

Do you feel a sense of loss of connection with yourself and your partner without knowing how to strengthen and reconnect? Do you make connection a priority in your life?

Did you know that feeling a strong connection with yourself and your partner such as being affectionate, gazing into your lover’s eyes, massaging each other and making love are all EXCELLENT ways to enhance not only relationships but also boost brain health, hormonal flow, immunity, sleep and state of overall well-being?

Yet many of us say “I am too tired” or “I am not in the mood tonight” to make romance, pleasure and play a priority.

Truth is, the type of relationship you have with yourself is a direct reflection of the type of relationship you are capable of having with a significant other. Improving your self-relationship will automatically enhance your ability to relate with others.

3 Ways To Enhance Connection, Love, and Romance

1. Get in touch with yourself: Cultivate awareness.

When we notice how we feel, we strengthen our inner connection and automatically open the doorway to a stronger connection with others.

The practice of mindfulness brings a deeper connection with how we feel. Mindfulness is present, moment to moment non-judgmental awareness.

Notice throughout your day your bodily sensations, thoughts and emotions and bring awareness to your 5 major senses. This exercise has an added benefit: It awakens your sensuality! Feeling more sensual also brings you to experience more fully the present moment, which also stimulates your sense of pleasure.

CONNECTION EXERCISE #1: EXPAND YOUR AWARENESS :

Breathe deeply and become aware of the “sense of expansion when you inhale.” Notice how your muscles feel in your body. Do you feel tense or relaxed? Do your feel light or heavy?  Do you feel soft or hard? Do you feel expansive or constricted.  Full acceptance of how you feel actually allows you to deepen your sense of self- awareness and brings you to the experience of the moment fully. This is the first step to enhancing connection.  Most of the time many of us are “in our heads” and not “in our bodies.” We are thinking and not Being which takes us away from feeling connected. We are so much more than our “to do” list.

Our bodies benefit from a “thought” vacation to recharge and balance. Awareness Exercises are a form of meditation to focus the mind on feeling and sensing as a way to to quiet our racing thoughts throughout the day.

2. Learn how to raise your oxytocin AKA the love, romance and pleasure hormone.

Oxytocin is the love hormone. It is the pleasure and connection hormone. When we engage in activities throughout the day that raise our oxytocin, we feel more connected and whole with ourselves and one another. One powerful way to strengthen connection is with eye gazing.

CONNECTION EXERCISE #2: EYE GAZING

Sit or stand in front of the mirror and look at yourself or if you have a partner, sit or stand in front of each other.

Gaze into each other’s eyes with non-judgemental awareness. Take deep and slow diaphragmatic breaths to connect your heart and mind into the present moment. Simply gaze into each other’s eyes for at least 3 minutes. Put the timer on. Notice how you feel throughout the exercise. Allow your eyes to continue to gaze upon one another and feel what sensations arise for you. I teach this exercise during lectures I give every week and I am amazed at how this exercise helps people to open up and release pent up emotions and stress. We are designed to connect, love and heal. Eye Gazing is a powerful tool to help us to grow, connect and love more.

3. Go on a date with yourself and your significant other.

Make a special day and time in your calendar to engage in an activity that brings you great joy. Choose an activity that you truly desire. This heightens our sense of pleasure and is a form of play. It brings us to a state of deep relaxation and is fun!

CONNECTION EXERCISE #2  Schedule a DATE NIGHT

If you need an idea or someone to plan a really fun and memorable event for you to enjoy with your partner, contact Victoria Babun, CEO and Founder of Cupiddates. She is a specialist in organizing dates for couples to rekindle passion and joy in their relationship.

Sometimes all it takes is a little spark to re-ignite your fire and make your relationship more hot and steamy. Victoria Babun recommends couples talk about mutual interests to ensure an ideal date. She creates “date packages”, she calls DATE IN A BOX which combines for example a sensual dinner, a fun and romantic couples activity, an educational component where couples learn connection exercises to apply into every day life and all with a fun mode of transportation.CLICK HERE To LISTEN TO RECENT INTERVIEW ON HOW TO RAISE CONNECTION and how CUPIDDATES got started featured on PASSION MUSE RADIO with Mia Saenz Whitmore interviewing Victoria Babun and Michelle Alva.

DATE IN A BOX enhances connection between couples from the inside out. For more details on how to create an unforgettable date night, link HERE. DATE IN A BOX makes for a great Mother’s Day Gift.

TRY THESE EXERCISES and LET ME KNOW HOW THEY BENEFIT YOU! Comment down below.