Rare is the opportunity to truly get away for retreat. For many, it’s close to never. We can create our own little at-home getaway over 24 hours. Here are five steps to create a bit of refuge from the world, and an opportunity to create the conditions to allow your body to find it’s way back to balance.

1. Decide on your timeframe. Do you have 12 hours? 24? Know your start time and end time. Having this boundary of time will allow your brain to feel safe enough to begin to drop in.
2. Bookend your retreat period with yoga classes. Maybe a more fiery practice at the beginning, a restorative practice at the end. Also – decide on two meditation periods.
3. Tell friends and family that you’re going offline for a day. Put your phone in a drawer and notice the urge to get it and check Instagram. Surf the urge to check email and apps, and that wave will eventually fade away.
4. Spend at least 2 hours outside for every 12 on mini-retreat. This could be walking, hiking, reading under a tree or on a couch outside in your backyard. If possible, get outside without sunscreen for the first 20 minutes of the day to help build melatonin and reset your circadian rhythm, and get outside for sunset. Your biorhythms will thank you and sleep will be deep.
5. Hydrate hydrate hydrate, eat whole foods only, enjoy your morning coffee but skip the afternoon cappuccino, and avoid alcohol.

You deserve this. You CAN do this. And if you have children at home…you can do all this anyway, it will just have a different energy to it. Invite them into the mini-retreat and show them a mama/papa who believes in the importance of self-care.