RE:treat – Yoga-based Mountain Adventures

07 Aug RE:treat – Yoga-based Mountain Adventures

RE:treat is a relatively new Telluride-based yoga-inspired lifestyle adventure company offering outings (or retreats) in the mountains of Telluride and around the world. Its tagline: “Elevated lifestyle adventures.”

The RE:treat team with Georgie’s baby Tilly.

RE:treats combines Ashtanga, Forrest and restorative yoga practices and meditation as the company’s core focus. Guests are also offered optional adventures in skiing, snowshoeing, skate skiing, hiking, biking and climbing.

“We founded RE:treat in 2013, after we noticed many women come and go from Telluride without really being able to thoroughly immerse themselves in the experience they found compelling,” said partner Georgie Bishop. “Why? Because these women told us they were preoccupied with family or simply did not have the confidence to hike and ski to their full potential unguided. RE:treat provides the framework that allows ours guests to confidently book a solo retreat to the mountains and enjoy yoga, hiking, and skiing in a supportive and fun environment- in the lap of luxury.”

RE:treats – Babsi Glanznig, Nicole Nugent, and Bishop – recently completed its maiden intensive in Telluride.

Guests stayed at the exclusive Element 52 Auberge Resorts in uber-luxurious condos. Meals were prepared  by the company’s private chef using locally-sourced, organic ingredients. Attendees enjoyed daily yoga and meditation practices, guided hiking amongst the wildflowers, and massage.

As a new member of the Telluride Inside… and Out family, I suggested Georgie keep a journal of the experiences she shared with her freshman class of participants, which we would, in turn, share with the world, as follows:

Georgie Bishop’s journal:

Day 1 – Sunday June 13

Our mountain maidens arrive in Telluride. It has been a busy few days of preparation: planning meals, sequencing asanas, fine-tuning lodging, assembling gift bags, discussing potential hikes….Nicole & I are feeling excited & nervous at the prospect of welcoming six women from all corners of the U.S. to our beautiful mountain town. Will they like it here? Will they have fun? Will they like us?? The first to arrive is Elizabeth, a bubbly, funny, OBGYN from Miami. Elizabeth immediately puts us at ease with her easy going demeanor & gorgeous friendly smile. She is super happy to be here, but exhausted, so she sleeps for most of the day. The evening brings the next three ladies via Telluride Express from Montrose: Stephanie, a teacher from NYC; Judy, an artist from New York; & Heidi, a financial analyst from Sacramento. Another guest, Kayce, a teacher from Denver arrives by car. We are missing one guest – Liz, an attorney from Oregon who, because of a doggie drama, delayed her arrival by one day. 

The ladies who attended RE:treats’ first major retreat.

We treat our ladies to a delicious welcome dinner at Auberge Element 52 – fresh salmon, organic udon noodles & roasted summer vegetables, followed by a fresh peach tart with cream and berries. Throw in a few bottles of wine and everyone is well and truly on their way to getting to know one another. Everyone is blown away by the luxurious accommodations at Element 52. The staff at the Auberge are incredible. They do everything necessary to ensure that our guests are well taken care of. 

Day 2 – Monday June 14

Yoga with Naani

Our first day of adventure begins! Morning yoga with Forrest Yogi Naani Sheva kicks off at 7am. There are some bleary eyes in the room from a long day of travel and a few glasses of wine the night before, but we are impressed how everyone is there by 7am and ready to get started. Naani leads a fantastic introductory class and everyone certainly has a pep in their step by 8.30am. What I love about Naani’s yoga is that she really eases everyone into the practice. She is an engaging, funny, inspirational yoga teacher and our guests love her. Yoga is followed by a breakfast of homemade granola, fruit, yoghurt and Nicole whips up a delicious tortilla de patata that has everyone requesting recipes in no time. After breakfast, we meet at 10am for our hike up Bear Creek Preserve. The Bear Creek hike is about 6 miles round-trip from Element 52. We are interested to see how the ladies will do with the hiking. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what the limits are when you are used to hiking at elevation. Suffice to say, the ladies are both impressed and completely exhausted by the Bear Creek hike. We reward ourselves with a delicious lunch at Rabbit Rabbit. I am blown away with the newest item on the menu: fish tacos wrapped in pancakes. Yum!!! By 3pm, everyone is absolutely exhausted. We all take a few hours to rest & recuperate before restorative afternoon yoga & dinner. We hear from Liz that she is still stuck with pet problems and will be joining us on Tuesday. Naani leads afternoon yoga from 4.30-5.30pm and does her best to stretch everyone out & keep them awake after such a big day. At 7pm, we all make our way to Honga’s Lotus petal for sushi. A few of the ladies are keen to check out the local scene, so we take them to the classic Sheridan Opera House for a beer.

The ladies conquer The Bear (Creek)

Day 3 – Tuesday June 15

Day 3 kicks off with Forrest Yoga at 7am. Again, we are so impressed with these women for their punctuality after a huge day of hiking, a late night out – and altitude adjustment. Naani leads another wonderful morning yoga session, followed by breakfast. After the exhaustion of our first day hiking, we decide to take it easy on the hiking front….or so we thought. Our goal was to hike Bridal Veil Falls from the parking lots at the end of town – 1 hour up and 1 hour back. Jim from Element 52 drives us out to the parking lot, only to be greeted by an official telling us that the trail is closed for rock blasting. I can tell the ladies were looking forward to an easy hike and they all have a look of dread on their faces that says “where are you taking us now”? I someone recalled Clay’s Way as being a relatively mellow and very scenic hike, so we get Jim to drive us to North Oak Street where we make our way up Tomboy Road. I guess my memory was not serving me well, or I am just used to hiking the steeps around town, but Clay’s Way absolutely crushed the ladies. I could literally hear their internal monologues cursing me as we trudged up the hill. This was meant to be an easy hike, and we obliterated them once again! We ended up at the Butcher & the Baker for a late lunch. Everyone was finished. I thought Stephanie was going to cry. Nicole and I have our tails firmly between our legs, vowing to stick to the river trail & valley floor for future hikes. This day is the first day of massages so three of the ladies enjoy a massage between 3-6pm, while everyone else collapses into afternoon yoga. Another message from Liz saying she is delayed again and will be joining on Wednesday. We start to wonder if we will see Liz at all, but still hope she can come. Tonight is an at home dinner night. Lucy from Rabbit Rabbit is cooking for us. She whips up the most wonderful fajitas with fresh greens, avocados & local, organic flank steak. Everyone is exhausted & tucks in early. 

Clay’s Way– their way.

Day 4 – Wednesday July 16

We are halfway through the week. Everyone is sufficiently relaxed & pleasantly exhausted. Again we start with morning yoga with Naani and decide to make a second attempt at Bridal Veil Falls. One of the ladies decides to have a relaxed day (and she probably doesn’t trust us after the last two days of ‘warm up’ hiking). Pedro from Element 52 drives us out to the trail head and the ladies make light work of ascent. Note to self, this is a good hike to get things started with guests who are coming from sea level. We arrive at Bridal Veil Falls and everyone is amazed. The water plummets down 300 feet, spraying us below. Our brave ladies decide to make a contribution towards the “Topless Tour,” baring their assets to the falls. We make our way back down to La Cocina for lunch. The afternoon is filled with relaxation, massage & Naani’s afternoon yoga. We are very happy to see Liz appear, all the way from Oregon. Dinner at Siam for extraordinary Thai food ends another perfect day. 

Bridal Veil

Day 5 – Thursday July 17

Relaxation morning! It’s been a big week, and the group unanimously decides that today will be (mostly) a rest & relaxation day. Everyone is keen to maintain the daily yoga practice. There has been more than one request to head to the Orvis Hot Springs near Ridgway in the afternoon. It just so happens that the Ridgway summer concert series is in full swing, so we decide to make a trip of it and head to the hot springs in the afternoon, followed by some music in the park. After a morning of shopping & wandering around town, we hit the road at about 3pm and make the journey to Orvis. Everyone absolutely loves the hot springs experience, and the beautifully scenic drive over there proved to be a hit. The ladies also loved sitting on Ralph Lauren’s perfect fence and having their photo taken. After the hot springs we headed to the Ridgway Park where we got pizza’s & growlers for everyone from the Colorado Boy Brewery (so delicious). The band playing in the park is absolutely fantastic and everyone dances until the last song at about 10pm. 

Ridgway concert

Day 6 – Friday July 18

It’s our last full day! The morning starts off with morning Forrest yoga practice with Naani Sheva. As always, I’m amazed with the resilience of the group after quite a night in Ridgway. We mix it up a little for this morning practice and take the group up the gondola to the San Sophia Ridge. This practice easily goes down as the most scenic, breathtaking morning yoga I have ever done, and I think the whole group felt the same. The ridge sits at a little over 10,000 ft, with the Telluride valley on one side & the Wilson range out on the other side. The views are spectacular to say the very least. Yoga is followed by breakfast at the Butcher & Baker. Today’s hiking ambitions are not high, so we take the ladies up to Little Hawaii, a famously secret spot somewhere that I can’t divulge. The hike takes a little over 2 hours up & back, and we walk everyone through the farmer’s market on the way home for lunch. A few of the women decide to have additional massages & spa treatments, and some want to start packing as they have early flights on Saturday. The afternoon restorative yoga is followed by an early dinner prepared by Lucy of Rabbit Rabbit. Lucy whips up some delicious hearty, organic, locally sourced, build-your-own salads. We play a few hilarious rounds of “Cards Against Humanity” (not recommended for anyone who is easily offended) and everyone’s true colors shine before calling it a night at around 10pm. 

Little Hawaii, a big secret

Day 7 – Saturday July 19 (Departure day)

It’s our final morning! We can’t believe the week has flown by so quickly. We start with Naani’s Forrest yoga & breakfast. A few ladies make an 8am departure and we say our farewells. As the morning passes by, everyone gradually trickles off with Telluride Express. Nicole & I are both exhausted and elated at what a success the week was. Our first retreat is complete! One thing that really stood out for us is how blown away everyone was with Telluride. It really reminds us why we made this exquisite mountain town the home for RE:treat. It is such a magical, majestic place, and really a unique place to host a retreat and allow people to relax & reconnect with nature.

Last night.

You too can Re:treat to Austria, go on a Glamping Safari, or continue to tour Telluride.

Topless in Telluride

Why retreat? Re:treat.

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