So this weekend was full of firsts.

I went to my first ever (First #1) wellness retreat – Wellness by the Water Retreat – held at the gorgeous Lenox Hotel in Boston’s Back Bay. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve walked by the hotel, but this was my first time venturing inside…and not only was it gorgeous, but the staff was so incredibly nice!

Let me back up a little…the best place to start is from the beginning, right?

So, I woke up bright and early, got dressed and prepped myself for a day of meeting new people, boot camp, yoga, spa/wellness treatments and all sorts of other goodies. I left my house early (you never know with the T) and ended up arriving in Copley about 20 minutes ahead of time. Still a little sleepy, I grabbed a tiny, iced coffee at Starbucks and sat down for a minute before heading over to the Lenox.

At the hotel, I was directed up the stairs, and I could hear the familiar buzzing of people meeting, laughing and catching up. I looked around for anyone I might know, but didn’t see any familiar faces, so I dropped my stuff off, and went to check in. One of the first people I met was Celeste. So sweet! She got me checked in, and then I settled into the Dome Room with 30-40 other ladies.

Everyone was excited to be there and the energy in the room (considering it was 9am) was awesome. I ended up next to Janine from The Purple Giraffe, who happened to grow up in the town next to me in NH aaand her husband is my friend Dan’s stepbrother (didn’t find that out til after the event) – small world!!. The lovely Erin from Creative Soul in Motion, joined us! I was so excited to see her – it’d been since our October meet up in Cambridge – too long! Meg and Carolyn rounded out our little section in the center of the room.

Kendall and Celeste kicked off the event, and we dove right into boot camp run by Celeste. I’d never done anything like it before (First #2), and boyyyy did it kick my butt – in the best way possible, of course. Planks, squats, kicks, jumping jacks, crunches, resistance, punches…we did it all. I definitely feel all those squats today. #hurtsogood I’m going to have to visit Celeste soon, and get my butt back into shape.

After boot camp, Kendall led us in some vinyasa yoga. Again, I’d never taken a yoga class before (First #3) – annnd I can now say I’m officially hooked. I never realized that I have a tendency to just be…tense…even when I stretched I think I tensed-up. I loved the expression of letting your body “melt” into positions… awesome visual direction, and totally worked for me. As someone with some of the tightest hamstrings ever…I was surprised at my own flexibility at points.

We all met for lunch at CityTable, which is connected to the Lenox – where Kendall talked about nutrition and how to deal with cravings and what causes them. Lunch was delicious – take a look.

After lunch, we had the opportunity to meet with a  TON of awesome vendors. I tried everything from Organic Chocolate to smoothies and awesome juice from e.t.c. Juicery. After some time spent milling around and getting to try a bunch of cool products – it was time for our afternoon sessions to begin.

I had – Dance Fitness (First #4), Reiki with Christy, Heart Forgiveness with Shawna (First #5) and Accupuncture/Accupressure with Denise (First #6).

All of them were great experience – I learned how to salsa, merengue and cha cha, had a fabulously relaxing Reiki session with Christy, learned about Heart Forgiveness/Holistic Health from Shawna, and “learned” that my shoulders are tiiiight aka I sit at a desk/ I’ve got too many stressors in my life (no surprise on my end!) and I could use a good massage from Denise – she was awesome, and the acupressure points she used on my shoulders/arms felt awesome!

We rounded out the day with a yin yoga session with Sophie – who came in from New York. She was the sweetest thing, and it was fun to pile into the hallway and stretch-it-out one last time before leaving.

I ended the day having tried new things, met some awesome people, and walked away with a ton of swag! Love.
Thanks again, Kendall and Celeste. It was an amazingly positive experience – and worth every penny, people! I’m already signed up for their next session, which is tentatively scheduled for May. I say, put some time away mid-month… now – and be on the lookout for registration!