We are so excited to announce a new retreat to our line up next year in Tuscany, YOGA + CREATIVITY + CUISINE! This retreat will be lead by our amazing guide Mindy Johnstone, you can read more about her HERE. Mindy sat down with us to tell us a little bit more about how this retreat came to be and what you can expect on this week of wellness, cuisine and travel journal creation.
“Artist in Italy” : This is what I typed into the search bar just before my 40th birthday. A few years before, I was having a conversation with a woman at my yoga studio about art and she recounted to me her favourite experience was spending time in Italy restoring frescoes in old churches. The visual ignited in me a yearning to experience something similar especially for a special birthday celebration. The first link to pop up on google was www.artistinitaly.com promoting week long art retreats in a Tuscan farmhouse. The images are so picturesque and exactly what I'd imagined. Thus began the beginning of many trips to Italy and the serendipitous collaboration with Eat.Pray.Move.
It fills me with such delight to lead retreats again in Tuscany. An integration of wellness, creativity and cuisine is the best way to experience the most of the area. There is something so serene and timeless about the landscape that is like no other place I've traveled. The pace of living slows down and you'll find yourself gazing into the distant fields as you watch the colours change with the warmth of the sun. The intention for me is to offer guests an opportunity to capture the essence of la dolce vita through different creative projects during their retreat. This is as simple as travel journaling with a few strokes of colour weaved into your words or collages of fallen leaves stamped onto your pages. You'll even have a chance to try your hand at painting en plein air as many master painters have done in the past.
A wellness retreat in Tuscany that focuses on awakening your creative nature is best met in the elements. Start each day with a gentle yoga class designed to heighten your awareness so on our day trips you'll develop your capacity for retaining details to record in your journal. This may come in the form of sitting in a piazza and sketching a lamp post that has ornate details, or admiring a narrow cobblestone street with colourful shutters and especially the feeling you get when gazing into the distant fields from a hilltop town. Each of these moments gives you a chance to translate your experience into something artistic. You'll be guided in mini workshops throughout the week on different techniques you can use to capture a scene. All art material is provided and projects are easily packable with traveling in mind.The most valuable thing to remember is there's great joy in the creative process. It can be deeply meditative, expressive and best of all, a beautiful keepsake to add to your collection.
If you're seeking an experience that connects you to Italy and to be a part of the rich history that has inspired artists throughout the centuries this is the retreat you've been waiting for. I look forward to sharing these moments in time to create and paint a beautiful week together. Learn more and sign up HERE.