{"id":73398,"date":"2025-08-16T05:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T05:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/73398\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T05:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T05:37:07","slug":"reading-retreats-are-the-new-luxury-wellness-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/73398\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Retreats Are the New Luxury Wellness Break"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cressida Downing, who co-founded Reading Retreats in 2017 with Sara No\u00ebl, says it takes attendees time to get used to not having to do anything for themselves, and it\u2019s not just physical tasks that retreat-goers shed.\u201dYou don’t have to do any emotional labor on this retreat,\u201d says Downing. In providing space and time for people to read, these retreats are a new kind of wellness break, one that involves indulging in something you love rather than practising restraint.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we think of a retreat, we’ve almost been taught that it’s health,\u201d says Christopher. \u201c[But] a retreat is an escape from your life, however that looks. It is nourishing yourself, maybe not with green smoothies, maybe it is with cheese and crackers and expanding your mind through reading. \u201cI think it is important for us in this modern world to know that there are multiple forms of self-care, including reading your book in a bath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Books That Belong On Every Woman’s Shelf<\/a><\/p>\n

A shelf isn\u2019t just storage \u2014 it\u2019s a mirror, a manifesto, a map. These books challenge, comfort, and change you. If every woman had a literary starter pack, this would be mine<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a><\/p>\n

Samantha Browning has been on multiple Ladies Who Lit breaks, and sees them as \u201ca treat for me\u201d, and a place where she can \u201cgo and exist and have fun\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really luxurious experience,\u201d says Browning. \u201c[Going on a retreat] is probably the only time I have ever felt zero guilt about doing whatever I want.\u201d Many retreats are designed to make reading an experience; every Reading Retreats trip includes an author dinner, and Ladies Who Lit programmes in optional outings or workshops, such as a flamenco workshop on a retreat in Spain. Sharjah\u2019s 2025 event included a murder mystery party, a Powerpoint night and book bingo.<\/p>\n

But at the end of the day, reading is the key to all these retreats. \u201cWe don’t let anyone interrupt you,\u201d says Downing. \u201cIf you want to keep reading at the dinner table, fine. If you want to give you your meal on a tray so you can read in your room, fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

All that\u2019s left is for you to choose what to read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cressida Downing, who co-founded Reading Retreats in 2017 with Sara No\u00ebl, says it takes attendees time to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,45363,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-73398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-books-literature","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}