A Quiet Mind I’m currently re-reading The Bhagavad Gita after reading it a year ago during my yoga teacher training. For those unfamiliar with the Bhagavad Gita, it’s an ancient Indian text that is part of the voluminous, epic poem, the Mahabharata, where the two main characters, while on a battlefield, discuss the main paths towards spiritual enlightenment and becoming one with the Divine. When I read it the first time, I…
TICO Regulations for Wellness Retreats The Travel Industry Council of Ontario (“TICO”) regulations can be difficult to navigate if you are considering hosting your own wellness retreat. A number of wellness professionals in Ontario, who have been hosting retreats, have recently been fined, or in extreme cases, shut down, by TICO for not complying with regulations surrounding “Special Interest Travel”. Each province in Canada has their own regulations for…
"Movement" in Movement Travel It took us several months to choose the name for our new wellness travel company. We wanted a word that encompassed being active, traveling to different places and embracing new ideas and ways of doing things. One day, I received a message from Lisa that said, “how about Movement Travel?” It immediately resonated with me, as it did with her. That day, Movement Travel, was born.…
The Global Wellness Industry I recently completed my training to become a Certified SELECT Wellness Specialist – Travel Advisor and found global wellness trends fascinating. Today, people are constantly talking about how the global wellness industry, and specifically wellness tourism, is booming, but what does this really mean? The Global Wellness Institute ("GWI") released its Global Wellness Report at the end of 2018 and have highlighted some of the key…
Plant-Based Diet - SOS I am a carnivore. I love meat. But a few years ago, my partner announced that he had decided to become vegan. At the time, we were in a long-distance relationship and when I heard those words come across the phone, I froze in disbelief. I thought he was joking, but he was serious. His love for animals and our planet (did you know that livestock…
How it all started.. We can’t help but believe that everything happens for a reason. We recently realized that a lot of things needed to happen for the two of us to connect and discover we shared the same passion for starting a wellness retreats business. When we first met, we were living in different countries. I was in London, England and Melanie was in Toronto, Canada. At the time,…
Entertain Clients with Wellness Traditionally, client entertainment has involved going out for large meals, consuming alcohol and staying out late. While this is enjoyable from time to time, it can leave you feeling exhausted and a little stretched in the waistline when done too often. Having worked in the finance industry for many years, both my business partner and myself experienced first-hand, the physical effects of this style of client…
Workplace Wellness Although the wellness industry has been growing rapidly for many years, it has only recently started to transform the corporate world. Corporations are still trying to figure out the best way to embrace this trend and some industries seem to be better at it than others. Several trends are emerging from revamped offices to active client meetings and corporate wellness retreats. A number of corporations are choosing to bring…
Wanting Less It’s been 9 months since retiring from a career in banking and starting my new life as an entrepreneur and yoga instructor. My largest fear when making this change was losing a regular pay cheque which allowed me to do whatever I wanted whenever. What I have found is, since starting my new life, I want less. Nowadays, I do the things I love most and no longer…
Why Use a Travel Advisor? A few years ago my friend’s husband told me that he was leaving his corporate job to become a luxury travel advisor and my first thought was, isn’t that a dying business? With the abundance of online suppliers and search engines, this was an industry everyone, including myself, assumed would disappear. Surprisingly, the industry is alive and well, and my friend has been extremely successful…
