Mindfullness

Have you found exercise classes or your gym too expensive? Does it feel like it costs you a lot to stay healthy and active?! Do you want to try all these different types of classes before you pay for something?! Unsure of which class is for your liking?! Fear not, we have your back. Here are some places to help you find some free or cheap wellness classes in Europe (with some examples from Valencia).

• Sites like Eventbrite (eg: events in VLC), Time Out (Eg: Barcelona what’s on)
• Instagram accounts like HelloValencia, our friends Valencia Travel. Look for your local area’s “things to do”, “tourism accounts”, and official council accounts.
• Facebook groups (Simply search for wellness / activity groups and join them)
• Local newspaper 
• Local council/communities (the local councils often run free events, so check their websites and local notice boards)

And finally, go and ask places for a free pass to try things out. Some places would offer you a free pass to go and try their classes. “If you don’t ask, you won’t get it!”
We often offer free classes at Ganga Flow as we believe in helping people and communities, and we will continue to do so. Take a look at our free events page for our upcoming free events and sessions.

Our lives seem to be getting busier and busier. It feels like we’ve done a month’s worth of work in a week or two. Everywhere we look now is a screen. When I  was young and if I felt bored, I would take the phone and call a friend for hours or go for a walk or a bike ride… Or sometimes just even sit there and look at the trees and the birds. How times have changed, just in the matter of a couple of decades. The world is only going to get more digital, always on and getting us to work harder than ever before. So taking time off to disconnect from the usual routine is hugely important for our mental and physical wellbeing.

However, disconnecting is not that simple anymore just to take an hour or two here and there. That’s where a retreat can help you. Taking that time to disconnect and go on a retreat can be beneficial for several reasons, including reducing stress / anxiety, giving you clarity, a chance to unwind and relax as well as many other things. Here we look at a few reasons why you should disconnect and why a retreat can specifically help you with that.

Reducing stress and anxiety: This is one of the biggest reasons that affect our health and wellbeing. It’s sad to see that this has become commonplace in our lives now and so many of our friends, colleagues and family have experienced it. Stepping away from everyday responsibilities and distractions can help you calm your mind and reduce stress and anxiety levels. Going to a retreat can help you find inner peace and clarity. 

Improving mental clarity and focus: When you disconnect from technology and other distractions, you create an environment that is conducive to introspection and self-reflection. People’s attention spans have declined massively and from the time we wake up and we go to bed, we are always connected to a device (especially in the big cities). With the abundance of information and ease of access our attention spans decline as well as the ability to stay focused. This recent study by The Technical University of Denmark highlighted this trend of decreasing attention spans. This can help you gain clarity and focus, and allow you to think deeply about your life and priorities.

Enhancing creativity: Going to a retreat can help stimulate your creativity and inspire new ideas. You’ll have the time and space to reflect and explore your thoughts and emotions, which can lead to breakthroughs and innovative thinking. Many retreats do even focus on creative workshops or planning sessions. At Ganga Flow we also run similar sessions to help unlock your creativity, your thoughts / ideas and help you plan towards your goals. 

Strengthening relationships: Going on a retreat with friends, family, or colleagues can help strengthen your relationships. Being in a new environment and sharing new experiences can help you build stronger bonds and deepen connections. And it’s a really fun thing to do. From our experience both personally going to retreats as well as hosting retreats, we see that this is a great way to help strengthen relationships. Think about it this way, with new people or with people from your existing relationships (friends, colleagues or family), making memories, experiencing things together or trying things together helps connect at different levels and gives you the chance to have those shared experiences. That helps build and strengthen your relationships. 

Promoting physical well-being: This point is a no-brainer. Many retreats offer activities like yoga, meditation, and hiking, which can improve physical health and well-being. Our upcoming retreats also have cycling, paddle boarding and even cooking. These activities can also help you develop a healthy routine that you can continue even after the retreat. This also gives you a chance to try some new activities that you haven’t tried before, work on areas of the body that haven’t been worked on much before. Retreats can offer you a chance to really kick start your physical wellbeing if you need that or simply build on what you are already doing if you are already on a well balanced fitness journey. At Ganga Flow, all our sessions are led by experienced instructors that have lived in many countries, so you get a truly unique experience. 

And finally, community and fun: We have touched upon this slightly earlier, but one of the main things for me, personally, is about making new connections and being part of a community that shares common interests, that supports each other and one that can inspire you. Having been to many retreats and having hosted quite a few retreats, I can honestly say that this is one of the most beautiful parts of a retreat and one that truly helps you disconnect from your daily routine and all the other things that are going on in your life. Not only that, it helps you to look at your life in a different way based on how others in the community would look at things. And last but certainly not least, it’s so much fun. I have always had so much fun going to a retreat, so it’s not only about just helping you disconnect, but also having a lot of fun whilst achieving that. 

Overall, going on a retreat can help you disconnect from the stress and distractions of daily life, gain clarity and focus, enhance your creativity, strengthen relationships, promote physical well-being and help you form a supportive community around you.

When you come to our retreats at Ganga Flow, you can simply put your devices away, forget about everything else that’s going on, meet some new and wonderful people, share your stories, try some new activities run by a great bunch of teachers and completely disconnect. We look forward to having you at one of our upcoming retreats.