The Return to You Retreat
Our Return to You retreat was an amazing experience,
with amazing people.
Friday night we started welcoming our guests in from all over Europe, we had attendees from Hungry, Spain and Zambia and of course, sunny England,
arrive in small groups throughout the evening.
A welcome introduction to the team and some healthy food set the scene for the next day's activities, some of the people knew each other so it was a great time for them to catch up, swap some stories and have a laugh before we all settled down for a night's sleep in our amazing accommodation.
With our peacock alarm going off we started the day with some refreshing hot ginger, turmeric and lemon tea, before breakfast and our first session of the day our signature breath and grounding session. with Daryl and Dana.
This was a good chance for everyone to be calm and present in our new surroundings and give themselves a chance to begin their day a little differently ... and a little surprise.
Dana is a big advocate of cold water therapy and we got the A-team together for our cold water bucket challenge. People were at first a little apprehensive before the ice was broken by Ben (almost literally)
Day Two Jason getting initiated
Once people got over their initial fear of the cold bucket challenge they fully embraced it and we're lining up for their go.
Breakfast was served in the amazing farmhouse kitchen where people had a chance to catch up further and talk about the start of the day with the coaches.
After a break, the A-team had their first Pilates class with Jessica and a chance to experience a class with one of London's top instructors.
Ben finished up our morning with a chance for the team to hear about Gut health and how it can affect you and some strategies around this. One of the highlights for the team was the box of Bottlebrush Ferments he'd bought along and some tasty nibbles to go with it. This particularly went down well and his ferments were a feature for the rest of the weekend come mealtime.
A Beautiful lunch cooked fresh by the amazing Jane and her sous chef Amy from The Wealden Kitchen, a bit of a rest in the sun and then it was on to the group fitness session. Jason, Daryl and Ben set up a circuit programme for the team to work in pairs and have a fun time doing some fitness work.
From lifting tyres and dragging weights to throwing sandbags over their shoulders and everything in between the team had an exhausting, but fun session (It was also a chance for the guys to see where everyone was in their fitness journey before the next day's session).
With the team having some time to themselves and getting in some fresh juices, Dana then took the stage with her Yoga to help iron out some of those kinks from the group fitness session and a chance to bring everyone back to earth, calm down and re-centre before a yummy dinner, and a talk around the fire.
Having a chance to connect with the team at meals after classes, and around the fire meant the coaches were able to do what they wanted and give people the attention and insights into how they could improve their physical and mental health at an individual level, everyone is different and has different needs and this was an important factor that the coaches wanted to address over the weekend.
The peacocks were much better Saturday night and Sunday morning, and everyone woke up after a good night's sleep ready for the new day.
The sun was out, the birds were singing and the peacocks were strutting about as the breath and grounding session got underway.
With no talk today, the team had more time for themselves in the morning and most took the chance after pilates (a good abs session from the feedback) to relax in the sun and enjoy the beautiful surroundings at Fair Oak.
Another amazing lunch outside today, the team took a long break before the group fitness session.
Now having already picked out some of the people who let's say may have had it a bit easier the previous day, Jason, Daryl and Ben turned up the dial a bit to leave them with some ideas for working out at home with no equipment and a few common home gym items.
Not everyone goes to a gym, and not everyone has lots of equipment, knowing how to move your body well and some ideas on how to make that easier or harder was the coach's plan for today ... I think we achieved our goal.
Dana finished up the sessions for the day later on with another relaxing Yoga class, and the coaches gave everyone a big thank you.
Dinner outside was the cream on the cake as Sunday finished up the retreat sessions officially.
Some goodbyes as some of the team needed to get home before the end of the weekend, and then the rest of us chatted until bedtime.
Some overnight oats were on the menu as the coaches took over the menu for the morning and checkout for the team members.
Lots of goodbyes, hugs and smiles were had and the end of a fantastic weekend has come.
The Analog Coaches would like to say that they had an amazing time with this group, everyone was brilliant and we loved that everyone got involved and was up for it. A big thank you to Jane and Amy our cooks for the weekend who flawlessly served healthy tasty food meal after meal, it was a big hit, and we have been inundated with messages from the team members for the recipes.
We hope everyone got something out of the weekend, we certainly did the coaches themselves talked amongst ourselves about how much we needed this, and
we want to send a big hug to everyone who came!
See you all soon!
Testimonial's
I have just returned from the Return To You Retreat run by Analog and can honestly say it exceeded expectations and has brought me back to a place of wanting to exercise and achieve my best potential from a point of view of fitness, nutrition, strength and flexibility. Not only that, but I have also met a wonderful team of incredibly talented and experienced professionals and a bunch of fascinating and diverse guests – all in the space of a weekend. What has completely blown me away is the depth of the ‘aftercare’ – we were not just drop-kicked back into our normal lives, we have access to the teams’ knowledge and lessons for a further three weeks. It has been an excellent experience all around that I would unreservedly recommend – thanks hugely to the Analog team. - Sarah Taylor