Hi, folks! Jillian here. Today on the blog, I am handing over the reins to Team Jilly! While I shared my experience at The Oak Bay Wellness Weekend hosted by Catherine Roscoe Bar and The Oak Bay Beach Hotel, I wanted my team to also share their experiences with all of you and offer their perspectives! Take it away, Team Jilly!!
Hello, everyone! More than two months have gone by now since Team Jilly left our Jilly-pink office in Kelowna for beautiful, ocean-side Victoria, BC, to attend Catherine Roscoe Barr’s Oak Bay Beach Hotel Wellness Weekend (Wow! Where did the time go??). While everyone on Team Jilly entered the four-day retreat at a different place in their wellness journey, everyone left with a newfound energy and motivation to prioritize their well-being! While our fearless leader, Jillian, has already shared her in-depth recap of this amazing retreat, now that a couple of months have passed and all of us have implemented so much of what we learned from Catherine, we wanted to share our biggest takeaways from the retreat, as well!
Without any further delay, here were our biggest takeaways:
Carly | Digital Marketing Strategist
I was so excited about the opportunity to attend The Oak Bay Beach Hotel Wellness Weekend from the get-go. Four days to focus entirely on nourishment, movement and mindfulness? Count me in!
There was so much to take away from Catherine’s lectures. One piece of advice that stuck out to me was that exercise doesn’t have to be rigorous or hours long to be valuable. Adapting a flexible mindset about my exercise routine has done me wonders. Ever since the retreat, I’ve approached my exercise with curiosity, “what amazing activity will I get to do today?” So far, the list has included skate skiing, yoga, running, meta core classes and more! Adjusting my mindset around fitness has made exercise feel like a fun adventure instead of a burden—as it should be!
Now that Spring is here, I can’t wait to report back about even more adventures!
Shauna | Graphic Designer
At the end of January this year, we were all given the extraordinary opportunity to visit Vancouver Island at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. Now, personally, I’m not one to go out of my way for “wellness” so I was a tad skeptical about what this whole retreat was going to be about. My mind shifted almost immediately the second I stepped into the mineral pools (I love a good pool/hot tub combo. And on the ocean?! Are you kidding??) After that, I felt like a health and wellness guru, like one of those people that write affirmations on their water bottles and own a Peloton kind of wellness. I honestly couldn’t write enough about how amazing the hotel is: the rooms are gorgeous, the beds are practically clouds, the view is stunning, and the staff are so incredible! But we weren’t there to just sit in the sauna for 4 days… we were there as part of The Oak Bay Beach Hotel Wellness Weekend hosted by Catherine Roscoe Bar from The Life Delicious, and boy, howdy was it delicious—the food that is! Now I’m the type to just eat spam right out of the can, so I wouldn’t say I have a ✨refined✨ palette but the food actually tasted amazing. On top of all that, Catherine, our wise mentor, taught us about our bodies, minds, routines, and so much more. While I am still not one to take excellent care of my body, I did take A LOT of valuable information along with me, mostly on how to better understand what makes my body tick and what I can do to make my life a little healthier and a little happier!
Megan | Financial Controller
One of my main takeaways from this retreat was the ripple effect of all of the small positive changes that you make each day. These small changes are not something that you just check off your to-do list each morning to not think about them again until the following day, such as your daily movement or exercise. Before this retreat, I would work out in the morning, cross it off my list, and feel accomplished, not realizing that my body and my mind actually needed movement throughout the entire day. Leaving this retreat, I have focused on consistent movement throughout the day. This could be anything from a walk after work, shaking out my arms and legs for a minute during the day, or 12-minute movement sessions. Since practicing stepping away from this ‘all or nothing’ mentality, it has allowed more clarity and focus in my mind and increased my energy levels.
Cold plunge – the icing on the cake! Not only was this the perfect end to the perfect wellness retreat, but it has been something that has stuck with me. From the mental challenge of a cold plunge to the immense amount of health benefits, you can’t go wrong! My core memory of this wellness retreat is overcoming this hurdle with a group of amazing people you’ve built this comradery with and have seen grow over these past 4 days together while the sun rose over the horizon on the most serene landscape in BC!
I will cherish this Wellness Retreat with Catherine Roscoe Barr and The Oak Bay Beach Hotel for years to come!
Well, there you have it! Team Jilly’s biggest takeaways from The Oak Bay Beach Hotel Wellness Weekend. And, yes… two months later, we are still in awe at this transformative experience. All in all, this four-day retreat was UNFORGETTABLE and we are immensely grateful for the opportunity to have attended! Thank you to The Oak Bay Beach Hotel staff for hosting us and welcoming us so warmly, Catherine Roscoe Barr for your many lessons on health and wellness, Pacific Coastal for flying us safely to and from Vancouver Island, and LA Limousines for getting us to and from the airport in style!
xo,
Team Jilly
