Bali holidays: The women’s retreat that’s restoring joy

Sunset beach bonfire with Champagne at Escape Haven. Photo / Supplied

Janine Hall is the “Chief Happiness Officer” at Escape Haven, a luxury women’s retreat based in Bali.

Escape Haven came to be because I was a burnt-out corporate exec and I wanted women to avoid facing what I did. Stress, overwhelming anxiety, poor sleep and little time to enjoy things that matter are common trappings. I desperately needed a place where I could recharge, so I decided to create my own. I also wanted to help other women whose lives were leaving them exhausted.

Retreats weren’t around back then so I created my own concept with the tools I knew worked: a caring and compassionate well-being team, well-being experts, delicious, clean food crafted by private chefs. As well as yoga, meditation, endless spa treatments and luxury accommodation.

The lagoon pool fire pit is a popular hangout at Escape Haven Bali. Photo / supplied

Pre-pandemic, our guests were all about physical fitness: surfing, yoga or fitness packages. Post-pandemic, our Balinese healing package and the Ayurveda healing package make up about 80 per cent of bookings.

It’s wonderful to see women’s stress dissolve during their week here; seeing their shoulders relax and a beautiful glow return. Guests definitely come to us to return to themselves; to get back that sense of lightness. We find a way for guests to re-activate the childlike sense of joy that comes from shrugging off the heaviness of responsibility.

Escape Haven founder, Janine Hall, says Ayurvedic healing is now the most popular treatment with guests. Photo / supplied

For 2023 and beyond, we have now finished building our brand-new wellness resort in Canggu. It’s been a labour of love to build during a pandemic but we had a beautiful opening fire ceremony in our fire pit, in the middle of our lagoon pool and under the stars with our local shaman. It was most memorable; a real pinch-me moment.

In addition, we have boat-based off-grid diving, hiking and yoga adventures lined up for 2023. There’s also a Sleep Retreat and one lined up for grief. We are expanding our healing packages to include more modalities and we will be reinvigorating our detox and weight loss package. I will also be running three signature retreats which are designed as entrepreneurial mastermind weeks. It’s going to be a busy year!

Bird's eye view of the swimming pool at Escape Haven. Photo / Supplied

Of course, it’s been a very tough two years for Bali but everything is back to normal now. Better yet, the pause enabled Bali to open up even more amazing and creative ventures - beach clubs, eco-resorts and numerous cool new adventures. Visitors will come back and feel the excitement and gratitude of the entire Balinese community.

For more, see escapehaven.com