We wanted to do this post to update you on the recovery efforts in the wake of the recent earthquake in Morocco and how you might be able to help out.

A portion of our South Africa retreats will go to supporting the efforts of the CAPTURED IN AFRICA who’s motto is “GOING ABOVE & BEYOND TO WORK, RESCUE OR RELOCATE – ENSURING BIG CATS ARE PROTECTED”.

The recently shared a recap video of what 2021 looked like for them here, and as you can see, they are giving these young women the space and tools they need to further their education and become future leaders.

As part of our Give Back program (where we donate a portion of the profits from our retreats to local non-profits), we support Threads of Life in Bali.

We got an update from the recipient from our Give Back program for Croatia, Erika from the Croatian Scholarship Fund. Erika has been in college, and is nearing the end of her degree, preparing for final exams.

While most of us are stuck at home and being bombarded with depressing realities, we thought we’d share some uplifting news!

This week, we got an update on life in Croatia from our Give Back scholarship recipient, Erika, on life in Zagreb. If you think things are bad here, they got an extra dose of hardship.

If you have been following us for a while, you know that as a part of our Give Back program, we sponsor a student through the Croatian Scholarship Fund. Our scholarship funds all go to one particular student, Erika, who is just the best source of inspiration and joy to our team. She updates us from time to time on her life, and she is the embodiment of what we believe adds up to a full life.

As many of you know, a portion of the profits from the retreats we run go to charitable organizations in the areas we visit, and our Give Back partner for our Marrakesh, Morocco retreats is Project Soar. A non-profit with a mission to empower teenage girls in the developing world, Project Soar is “based off the 5 Pillars of Empowerment, which embody our beliefs that every girl should have the opportunity to know her Value, Voice, Body, Rights and Path.”

We just got back from our annual time in Bali, and it was just as refreshing as we expected. We always find the culture and people to be a breath of fresh air.

While in Bali, we were able to visit Threads of Life, our Give Back partner for the location. (For our retreats, we donate a portion of our proceeds to local non-profits to offset our traveler footprint and engage with the community we are visiting.)

As many of you know, our Give Back partner for our Croatia retreats is the Croatian Scholarship Fund. We were lucky to sponsor a student named Erika, and we never fail to be delighted by her joy and energy for life. She recently sent us an update, so we wanted to share what she’s been up to and what it looks like to give back to someone who is doing good in the world. Erika embodies what we at EPM believe creates a full life: her love of travel, movement, relationships, time in nature, meaningful work and giving to others always inspire us.

We are so happy to share this article from The New York Times profiling Maryam Montague, owner of Peacock Pavilions and founder of Project Soar, a non-profit that offers girls academic support, empowerment coaching, health education, sports and arts classes. Project Soar has been our Give Back partner for Marrakesh for years now, and we are so happy to see it getting this coverage.

We just announced our new Venice New Year retreat, and along with that exciting news, we have decided on a Give Back partner for our retreat: Save Venice. 

We were lucky to return to Bali for two retreats this year, and we were fortunate to go back to visit our Give Back partner for Indonesia, Threads of Life. Threads of Life is a fair trade business that works with culture and conservation to alleviate poverty in rural Indonesia. In addition to education us on the artists and foundations they work with, Our guests took a natural dye batik class, which offers a unique insight into the botany, dye processes and practice of Indonesia’s textile traditions.

We were so excited to get to revisit our beloved Project Soar while we were in Marrakesh and catch up on the amazing things they are doing. Plus we were able to work on some projects! 

We have been working with Project Soar for years now, and it's an incredibly powerful organization, working to empower Moroccan girls, giving them an open space to study and be, as well as educational tools, health resources, empowering affirmations, the chance to play sports and take art classes, and so much more. They strive to give these young women a voice and a chance to complete their education. 

If you've been following our Give Back program, you may have seen that for our Croatia initiative, we partnered with the Croatian Scholarship Fund to donate to a student named Erika. She is studying at the Teacher's University in Zagreb, the largest city in Croatia. We get regular updates from Erika, so we thought we should share what she's been up to! 

Hi everyone! It's been a while since we written to you about our Give Back Initiative and we had some exciting new updates. Since the beginning of 2017 we've donated several thousands of dollars to our Give Back partners in Bali, India, and Morocco! Thanks to our guests who've helped make this possible. We believe that we can all "Do Good & Travel Well" and also connect in a meaningful way to the cultures where we visit.

Earlier this year, through our partnership with Magic Bus, EAT.PRAY.MOVE was able to provide notebooks and school bags for 120 children. Many of these children go to a government-run school in Baina, one of the areas most in need in the state of Goa. Here, there is little money to support a child’s education as government-run schools are generally under resourced. Because of this, contributions like ours can go a long way in making a difference in the lives of these children. 

This is a new series written by our Give Back coordinator, Eugenia. She's in charge of being a liaison between our Give Back partners around the world and we are so happy to have her on board as this program, which is so close to our hearts here at EPM, grows. Follow our journey in getting to know our partners through these updates - and see how our guests are making differences in people's lives on a global scale. DO GOOD + TRAVEL WELL.

During our last two back-to-back retreats earlier this month in Goa, India we were able to arrive a few days early to meet with our Give Back partner in the area, Magic Bus, and see one of their current projects...

Happy holiday season everyone. We can't believe it's already that time of year! It's been an amazing past few months for us at EAT.PRAY.MOVE and we're ever-expanding and planning some exciting new things on the horizon. 

Well happy summer to you all. It's been quite a season so far over here at EPM and we're looking forward to some amazing more retreat weeks ahead this year - Iceland, Marrakesh, Croatia, and our newest in Venice, Italy!...

We had such a wonderful time on our two back-to-back retreats last month in Marrakesh. This completed our 14th (!) week there and what a pleasure it's been ...