Great Places
Spirituality & Health|January/February 2023
TO PAUSE, REFLECT, AND RENEW
MARY BEMIS
Great Places

One of my favorite times of the year is when I get to compile this annual Retreat Guide. In the eight years since it first launched, there’s one constant that has remained true: Our quest to be one with our natural surroundings, to meld into Mother Nature, and to come out of that experience with a lighter way of looking at and being in the world around us. As Colleen Inman, Wellness Guide at Castle Hot Springs, once shared with me, “A well-timed retreat is a right move to restore energy to persevere.” I couldn’t agree more.

In the big wide world of retreats, nature beckons like never before. We’re all craving more time and space in the great outdoors—and retreats, both here and abroad, are heeding the call. We’ve rounded up topnotch experiences that celebrate nature in all her glory. There’s something here for everyone, from those seeking solitude and silence to those who want the camaraderie of community. Fair warning: lots of sunshine, water, and mountain views ahead.

EUPHORIA RETREAT

 SPARTA, GREECE

In the heart of the Peloponnese, in a valley on the edge of the Byzantine town of Mystras, is a unique retreat founded by Marina Efraimoglou. Euphoria Retreat offers a creative approach to living a holistic and happy life. As Efraimoglou explains it, the method “converges varying healing philosophies and marries East and West, ancient Greek and Chinese health approaches and science with naturalism.” The staffhere includes a team of doctors,

This story is from the January/February 2023 edition of Spirituality & Health.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the January/February 2023 edition of Spirituality & Health.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM SPIRITUALITY & HEALTHView All
ONE WORD TO BEAT WINTER BLUES: BIOMIMICRY
Spirituality & Health

ONE WORD TO BEAT WINTER BLUES: BIOMIMICRY

CREATURELY REFLECTIONS

time-read
4 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
THINKING ABOUT RESTITUTION
Spirituality & Health

THINKING ABOUT RESTITUTION

THE HEART OF HAPPINESS

time-read
5 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
WAITING IN LINE
Spirituality & Health

WAITING IN LINE

OUR WALK IN THE WORLD

time-read
2 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
ENTER THE SAUNA
Spirituality & Health

ENTER THE SAUNA

Journalist Emily O’Kelly shares some uplifting research on the benefits of sweat bathing, a global healing practice not just limited to Northern climes.

time-read
2 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
the trail of ATONEMENT
Spirituality & Health

the trail of ATONEMENT

One Ashkenazi Jewish family escaped pogroms in Russia and then flourished in South Dakota, but the “free land” of their new homestead had been unfairly taken from the Lakota by the United States. Generations later, a celebrated investigative journalist set out to tell the truth of the Lakota and her family, calculate The Cost of Free Land—and pay it back.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
STALKING YOUR Mind
Spirituality & Health

STALKING YOUR Mind

Stalking the Mind is part of an ancient Indigenous American Medicine Way to tame your guilt, fears, and shame. What we’re “stalking” are our thought patterns and beliefs that seem to create the opposite of happiness and wellbeing. It’s a powerful psychotherapeutic journey of healing without the diagnosis or labels.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
LEAVING MESA VERDE
Spirituality & Health

LEAVING MESA VERDE

After 21 years of service at Mesa Verde National Park, RANGER DAVID FRANKS recently guided his last tour of the pueblos and cliff dwellings. He says he was fortunate to assist the archeologists with a variety of work and never lost his amazement with their ability to figure out how and when things happened. The question he still wrestles with is much deeper: Why they left?

time-read
5 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
BECOMING YOUR OWN LEAD RESEARCHER IN HEALTHCARE
Spirituality & Health

BECOMING YOUR OWN LEAD RESEARCHER IN HEALTHCARE

PEGGY LA CERRA, PHD, downloaded a health app to aggregate her medical records and was stunned to see the phrase \"aortic atherosclerosis.\" What she did next is a helpful model for all of us.

time-read
6 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
ARCHETYPAL ASTROLOGY
Spirituality & Health

ARCHETYPAL ASTROLOGY

\"Is astrology true?\" is the wrong question, writes RABBI RAMI SHAPIRO. He suggests that the truth is out there, but out there is really in here.

time-read
6 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023
WELLNESS IN THE WILD
Spirituality & Health

WELLNESS IN THE WILD

Spa aficionado MARY BEMIS takes the [cold] plunge at Mohonk Mountain House.

time-read
3 mins  |
Sep/Oct 2023