The Beginner’s Guide to Hosting a Yoga Retreat: 101

Transcript

Hey everyone, Aaron here and welcome back to Thrive Yoga Fit Transformational Coaching. So today's podcast is part of a series which is a beginners's guide to hosting a yoga retreat. This is something that I haven't done a podcast on before. Um I was kind of thinking of like, okay, what do I want to talk about and what special do I have to offer? Because I always like to offer value in my podcast. And I just did a podcast episode where I was doing my own personal processing because part of this is for my own catharsis. But um this is something that I have some expertise and I have some value to offer you. I have some tools. I have some tips. So if you are a yoga instructor and you're looking to host your first yoga retreat or maybe you've done one before but you're looking for the experience and guidance of someone who's pretty seasoned, you're in the right place. If you are not a yoga instructor and maybe you're looking to host a different kind of retreat, you still might want to tune in and listen because I might have some things to offer you. That's from a unique perspective that has helped me. So, just some background, the first yoga retreat that I led was in Peru, third world country. I had a partner um a sort of business partner at the time and I led it with her. She was Peruvian and we did a 10-day retreat to Peru, climb Machu Picchu and all this. So that was my first yoga retreat that I did and I learned a lot. First of all, probably don't do your first yoga retreat internationally in a third world country. And certainly we want to get a contract if you're working with somebody, but I'm going to get to that a little bit later in the podcast. Um, just for those who are interested, I'll tell you how it went. Um but I have led retreats in Peru, India, uh North Carolina, Tennessee, uh many over Florida, and um even some up north around u Michigan. So if and I went I I also led one in Guatemala. That's right. So I've led them pretty internationally and overall I've probably led over 12 over a dozen yoga retreats. On top of that, I've led training, certifications, um, holidays, all types of things. So, I have a lot of experience. I'm also not just speaking from the perspective of a yoga instructor. I'm speaking from the perspective of a yoga studio owner, which there's more on the line there. I'm also speaking from the perspective of a life coach. So, I like to combine all those tools into my yoga retreats because I think it makes them unique. So, first and foremost, if you're thinking about doing a yoga retreat, I would suggest and highly encourage you to get really clear on what your vision is. So, some questions to ask yourself, for example, do you want this to be national or international? I think those are good questions to ask. Um, do you want it to be a luxury retreat or would you prefer it to be more budget friendly for people? because that's going to help you to target the right audience. And getting clear about that is going to bring in your people. Whereas, if you market it as a luxury retreat and then you get luxury kind of people, but not at a luxury price and then they come to your retreat, they're going to be disappointed. And flip the switch on that. If you get budget friendly people and you have a price tag for luxury and your marketing besides that looks kind of um you know luxury but it's actually budget um you're not going to get the signups that you want. So there's a lot of things to consider. Um also do you want to have a partner? Do you want to to do this with someone who is you know preferably established who has a following or do you want to do it yourself? So, these are good questions that you need to ask yourself and then ask yourself like how many spots do you want to do? How many days? Um, you know, how do you want the rhythm of the retreat to go? Do you want food to be included not to be included? So, when you're initially brainstorming, which is a really good idea to do if you are doing your first yoga retreat, is to get clear on, okay, what is my vision for this retreat? Like, what's the overall objective? You want people to come and relax. Okay, cool. That might be more of a luxury yoga retreat. Maybe you want people to come and have epiphies. You want them to do inner work. You want to create a safe space for people to you still have a good time, but to do some inner work that's more alignment with what I do. Um, so if you're like, "Yeah, that's what I want," then keep listening. um maybe you just want a retreat that's like based on I don't know like they're just going to do yoga, it's going to be adventurebased, something like that, then that's a different kind of retreat. So, you can see why like getting clear on what kind of retreat you want to do because there's many many many different kinds. Um, the the possibilities are really endless as far as what you want to combine. But I would tell you this as far as a pro tip, less is more almost all the time, unless you're like barebones. But one thing that I learned from my first yoga retreat to Peru is that we jampacked the schedule. And us at that time, again, first yoga retreat, I had had my studio for maybe two years, so I was a bit of a noob. and more seemed like more more value, right? And we priced it way too low. So, um I'll tell you that if you pack too much into your retreat itinerary, it is going to exhaust people. Um because they're not going to want to miss, they're going to feel weird about it maybe. I mean, even if you say, "Hey, it's okay if you miss this." A lot of times people want to go and do all the things because they want to bond with the people and they don't want to be seen as like, "Oh, why is this person missing this? I'm going to have to explain myself." So, making sure that you have a balanced itinerary and schedule that has enough free time, but that also has enough activity and engagement. And then also having time where people bond is really important. These are some things to consider that if you're new to yoga retreats, you might not consider. So, so let's say that you decided on something in the middle, right? So it's like budget friendly. Um it's, you know, helping people to gain a spiritual understanding of themsel. It is marketed towards people who, you know, they they want to relax and have a good time, but they also are willing to do a little bit of inner work, right? It's not just sipping mojitos and laying out in the sun. Those are not my kind of retreats, though. Um I see the appeal. Like I get it. Especially if you're working all the time and you're like, "Listen, I just want to do yoga and sip a cocktail and like be by the pool." Cool. Awesome. My retreats are more, you know, people are signing up. There's a lot of advanced notice. We do prevetting to like I I interview every single person, which is a good idea. I highly recommend it. Especially if you're traveling internationally. You want to get to know someone because you're going to be spending a lot of time with them. And if they have some crazy in there hidden, well, that's going to come out and you don't want to expose yourself to that and you certainly don't want to expose your other people to that. So, um, so making sure that you do a prevetting, uh, process, I would highly recommend. So, so that first yoga retreat, I learned that uh, less is more. um to have a balanced itinerary. Um and then to have a contract that's very clear uh especially with the person if you are doing like a joint retreat like you have a partner making sure very clearly what the roles are of each person what the percentage is of split from profit that's also re really important and to make sure that you have regular meetings and communication so I have done partner retreats a couple of times And I will tell you this that most of the time I have found them to be not so successful. Not in the means of like people um didn't come people came certainly but I think that sometimes people cannot communicate um effectively what they're really feeling. And so if you do choose a partner, you want to make sure it's someone who you can communicate with honestly and openly, right? Because that can make a big difference as far as if the retreat is what I would say successful, like you're feeling really good about it at the end. Um or if it, you know, doesn't succeed and then there's resentment and like friendships can fall apart and all that stuff. And I've had that happen once. Um I have had a successful um retreat or two with a really dear friend of mine, Karen. But her and I are like like it's it's like a beautiful pairing. I think I find that it's more rare to find someone like that, but our roles were very clear and I was like kind of like the leader and she was um she her role was very clear as far as leading some yoga asa and um doing logistics. We made it crystal clear. We both felt good about it and we had open communication. If you can't find a person like that, if it's just someone like, "Hey, you seem like a notable yoga instructor. I am also a notable yoga instructor. Let's get together and do a retreat." I will say that most of the time it's a recipe for disaster. And people have like secret animosities and they don't have communication skills. And that energy is going to be taken into your retreat and people can smell it and they're not going to sign up for another one. How I tell that it's a successful retreat is that people want to sign up for your next one. So, and besides that first retreat, literally all of my other retreats, people want to sign up for additional programs. They want to sign up for the next retreat. And you can have a special offer that you offer people. Um, you know, like have that if if you're like feeling really good about this, have like dates picked, have your next offer, maybe offer them a little bit of a discount. Okay. So anyways, that was sort of a very broad overview. So um again, if you are deciding to do a retreat and it's your first retreat or maybe you haven't, you know, had a lot of experience doing these things, clear vision. Get your vision clear. Um do I want it budget friendly? Do I want it luxury? Do I want it to be like um you know, they're just resting? I'm just doing yoga. Like what elements do you want to include? So for me, I like to include in my retreats what I would want in a retreat. I want a physical element, right? I want some kind of yoga asa or martial arts or some something that's going to make me move, sweat, and get out of my comfort zone where I can learn something in my physical body. Super important. I like to have um a part in a retreat where there's quiet time but it's like um guided and mindful like thought thoughtful thoughtful type of mindfulness activity whether it's tantric eating like slowing down tasting the blueberry feeling it open up in your mouth noticing your tongue moving on it so I really love stuff like that and that's just an example doesn't have to be eating though eating is one that people can usually get on board with um or some sort of meditative practice that's going to draw me into myself and calm down the mind. Another element that I look for is some kind of like bonding with the group in in a very real way. So some kind of I would say like emotional work mixed with group dynamic. For me that's really important because I have been on many many different retreats. I take two or three a year. So, I would say that I'm pretty seasoned. And the retreats where we don't have that element, I find that people don't feel as close, their guards are still up and they're sort of like pretending what they think you would want to see from them in a yoga retreat, if that makes sense. I see it all the time as a yoga instructor. And if you're nodding your head like that, people sort of have this mask and pretend. Everybody does. Everybody does in many different ways. And a yoga retreat is no different. I see it in my trainings. You know, people come and they want to be like the the a student and then after a couple of modules um they start eating Twizzlers and like cursing and just being themselves, which is what I want. I want authenticity. So then the next thing is some form of adventure. Like so for me in a retreat, I want some kind of adventure. I love doing inner work. That is an adventure in itself. But like I want to explore something. So um you know for example when we were in Tennessee we did some kayaking we did some nature hikes that was fun um when we're in India we climbed Chimundi temple which is a thousand steps to get to the top of the Durga temple uh we also um go to a Ganesha temple we also um visit different um shrines and we we go on different adventures. So I love to have that adventure element added in as well. And then I like to also add in an opening ceremony where everyone is introduced and we're getting comfortable and setting intention. Then I like to do some kind of closing ceremony. So as far as the elements that are involved in like my kind of retreat, that is what I like to kind of put into the foreground. That is what you would expect in between there. We have three meals a day, right? So we have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And most of my retreats I like to include that in. I'm doing one in Japan where breakfast is included every day, but then like lunch and dinner we kind of do together a little bit on on our own to keep the price down. So, um you know, you want to have the food element and make sure you get good food. Like nothing will make your retreat go flat or quicker than having subpar food. So, you have to make sure that you hire if if you're getting it catered, hire a reputable company. Like, you got to splurge a little bit on the food. Um, food is a huge part of our culture. It's a part it's a huge part of every culture and making sure that you have really good food is gonna sort of make or break your retreat for the most part. Um, another thing that you want to consider is doing interviews. So, I'm going to do another podcast um probably tomorrow as far as like how to market once you get your vision clear. But um making sure that you have the elements clear in your mind so that you can get the people that you want is a really important part of the of the yoga retreat process. You have the itinerary set, you have the vision, you have the meals chosen, you have the free time, you have the the bonding element like that's necessary. Um another thing that you want to have is you want to make sure that you interview. So interview allows you to connect with the people that are coming on your retreat so that they feel connected to you because I'll tell you this and I'm going to repeat this as far as like getting people to sign up and stay signed up is that people get nervous, life happens. And so making sure that you have a heart connection with the people who are coming on your retreat, they trust you. there. You're selling your retreat, but you're also kind of like selling yourself in a way because I always look up and I see like the quality of the teacher that's going to be leading the retreat. For me, I don't want someone that's clock in, clock out, teach a yoga class, and then don't talk to me. To me, that's not personal enough. Um, you know, that it's missing an element. When I do a retreat, I make sure that not I'm not overextended. I have different teachers hired so that I can spend time with my group because the bonding part and just being like conscious humans together is a huge part of the selling point of my retreats because like you get to know me. I get to know you. We get to love on each other. You know, we get to do the practical application of yoga off the mat together. You get to see what that looks like. So, making sure that you have an interview and a heart connection to your people. I would say the way I lead my retreats and I do them um a couple times a year. So, if you're doing like one a month, you know, and that's like your main gig, I would say yes, please just make sure that you connect with your people. Another thing I'm going to say right from the get-go is make sure you have waiverss in place. Um, one is to protect you, two is to protect your people, and three is to manage expectations, and to make sure it's very, very clear right from the get-go what they're getting into. So, um, if you don't have a waiver, there are so many like chat G GPT uh, uh, AI, sorry, I AI options that can help you put together a waiver and then you can sort of like edit it to your liking. So, it's easier than ever to get that verbiage to get that, but make sure you do it. And some people feel weird about a waiver. But like listen, like there is a way to step into the professional role. There's a way to step into the friend role. There's a way to step into the teacher role. And like all of them can be respected and honored. If you feel weird about asking people to sign a waiver, like you got to ask yourself like, okay, well, what if something did happen? like you know and I'm liable like we have to understand and like you know make sure that everybody has their expectations managed because sometimes there's variables that happen there's certain things that happen in my life I no idea would happen and that's just how it is when you do these things sometimes people have some kind of emergency having some verbiage in your waiver about that like what happens if suddenly the day before the retreat like you know um a person's you know loved one uh passes away or like their flight cancels like what are you going to do about that? You have to discuss things like that. You have to see uh unforeseen circumstances and have those as clauses in your waiverss um just in case. What I do typically is I don't necessarily do um refunds is I will then credit that person for the retreat of their choice um as long as it's like uh you know uh of equal or lesser value for the next year. And that's something that I do because life happens whatnot. But if they're committed to this retreat, then that's fine. Um, a secondary thing, if that's just not possible, then a credit at the studio. And that's just how I conduct business. Um, uh, for the most part, people understand that when you commit to something, you know, here's the thing. It's like, you need people to commit to these retreats. You need them to sign up and stay signed up. I'm going to talk about that in a different podcast because that's a whole thing. Just in case you didn't know, you're new to this. I have a whole lot to share with you and teach you. Um, but like without the people the retreat doesn't happen. And so having the parameters, having the expectations very clear is going to help you do what you love, right? So if everybody signs up and then the day before like 20 different excuses, I'm not saying I'm not wishing that on you, not wishing that on me, but I'm saying it can happen. What are you going to do? The world shuts down. What are you going to do? I've had to update my waiverss quite a few times. So, you know, I'm going to share all that wisdom with you. So, making sure that again you have the vision itinerary, like get excited about it. Like, what brings you joy? What do you want in a retreat? And then here's the thing, you get to create that. That's why I love doing retreats is cuz like I'm like, I know what I want. And it's, you know, beyond me, I think I'm not the only one that wants these things. I'm not the only one that wants heart connection. I'm not the only one that wants some adventure. I'm not the only one that wants, you know, um, some spiritual practices and yumminess. Um, I'm not the only one that, you know, wants to bond with the group. Of course I do. I love people. So, so this is sort of like the introductory episode to talking about some of these things. By the way, uh, I am doing coaching, some business coaching now. I have two spots available if you're interested in that. Why would you want me as a business coach? Well, I'm a successful business owner of over 15 years. I've owned my yoga studio for 11. I have had a personal practice for about five, six years. Um, I make over six figures. Um, and I do what I love and I don't break my back. I do what I absolutely love to do. Um, I take a standpoint of practical tools that are like, you know, you can see charts and pages, but you can also go into subconscious belief systems that are blocking you. And a lot of business coaches don't have that training. They don't do that. They have like the knowhow, and they're very logical, which I can be that, too. But also, I know how to get into your fields and help you to release blocks, create what you want to manifest, you know, the kind of retreat or business that you want. and then accountability. So, so anyways, that makes you me unique as a coach and business coach. Um, well, I think that's it for today. I'm going to go see my spirit mother, Franny Hoffman. And, uh, I hope that you have a wonderful week and I'll see you next episode. Namaste.