GO NZ: Top wellbeing tips from luxury wellness retreats Melissa Carroll

Even in lockdown, you can bring home the practices learned at a Wellness Retreat NZ. Photo / Supplied

Melissa Carroll founded Wellness Retreats NZ and offers luxury retreats from Waipū to Franz Josef. Whether we're stuck in lockdown and unable to visit a retreat - or enjoying the freedoms of level 2 - there are many ways to bring wellbeing practices home. Here's how.

Our retreats and events are holistic in approach and cover our four pillars of wellness - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

As humans in the modern world, living very full and busy lives, with many moving parts and responsibilities, sometimes we may not give equal attention to each pillar, putting us out of balance. We may exercise and eat well, but neglect our emotional health, and vice versa.

These tips give ideas and inspiration you can pull from to bring equilibrium back into your daily life and cultivate a full-circle approach to our wellbeing during this time. Think of these suggestions as your very own wellness toolkit. Every day, choose one or two of the examples mentioned and action them throughout your day. Be present, choose what feels good to you and fill your cup one thing at a time.

Even in lockdown, you can bring home the practices learned at a Wellness Retreat NZ. Photo / Supplied

Physical

This pillar is the most obvious when it comes to optimal health – eating well and exercising are a given for ensuring our bodies are strong and thriving. Even when in lockdown, we can still walk, stretch, dance, eat nourishing foods, get a dose of vitamin D in the sun, stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water, practising yoga, or increasing our heart rate through high-intensity movement.

Mental

Mental wellbeing can be stimulated by using our brains and feeling accomplished. Sometimes stepping away from Netflix and getting our minds moving can impact us positively, especially at a time when we're spending a lot of time in the one place and away from other hobbies, or mentally engaging activities like work and school. Some great ideas are listening to podcasts, reading, repeating affirmations, learning a new skill and setting small achievable goals to tick off.

Emotional

It's no secret that we're all missing friends and family and perhaps feeling more emotional than usual. It's important to make sure we are giving this pillar the time of day and being gentle with ourselves. This could look like self-care, a bubble bath or facial, positive self-talk, expressing gratitude, journaling, allowing ourselves to feel our emotions to move through them, singing or connecting with loved ones.

Spiritual

Our spiritual wellbeing is often the most overlooked, but can be the easiest to implement and involves simply connecting back to ourselves and nature; through meditation, earthing, stretching, breathwork and spending time outside, by the beach or in the garden.

Melissa Carroll is a yoga teacher and the founder of Wellness Retreats NZ. Luxury retreats at Franz Josef Rainforest Resort are scheduled for October 2-7 and November 6-11. Surf and yoga retreats at Waipū Cove are schedule for November 26-29 and January 21-24. For more information and to book, go to wellnessretreatsnz.co.nz