This is going to be quite a lengthy post.
I decided to do it in a slightly different way, am going to share what we did and enjoyed during the retreat instead of putting everything as scheduled in chronological order.
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| With the Blackmores team |
Talking about health? I can tell I can never be a good role model for this topic! But hey, it's always a "thing" to me when I decided to go for this retreat with Blackmores. It was quite a huge relief as I have darling Anna to go with me. We drove up to D'Hillpines Resort early in the Sunday morning and were greatly welcomed by the friendly Blackmores team. I love the place very much that I wish I could go back there again next time! I shall blog about the place in a separate post.
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| Retreat booklet |
Each of the participants received a booklet for the entire retreat session. This is an awesome booklet as it packed with super useful information not only for our health, but also recipes for healthy foods and juices!
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| Workshop |
Before I continue with my lengthy post, let me tell you that the retreat consists of several workshop sessions, simple stretching and breathing exercises, DIY session, as well as our meal break time. All of us started to introduce ourselves and get to know each other before the first workshop session. I bet I was the youngest in the group and it's so interesting to find out people from different backgrounds and their purpose to join the retreat.
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| Game time! |
There are a total of five workshops conducted during the retreat - Basic Natural Health, Nutritional Application for Healthy Body, DIY healthy snack, Survival, Vitality now and Health forever, and also Nutritional support for healthy mind and digestion. I was so surprised by all the things that I've learned in that two days, there's times when I worry about my very own health; times when I found out I did it wrong all this while; times when I glad that I did it; in case you're wondering what am I talking about here, it's mostly about my food intake. Let's put it this way, human are omnivores, but I think am more towards a carnivore person! LOL! *don't judge me* I've been forcing myself to eat more greens in these recent years.
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| healthy snacks |
Healthy snacks for our short break in between the workshop sessions. They are all organic! Next, I will be talking about the session I love the most during the entire retreat.
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| yoga session |
I am not really a person who exercises a lot, well, except when I hit the gym. During the retreat, Blackmores arranged several yoga sessions for us too! I have a love-hate relationship with yoga; I love how it calms me down, hate it when it made me feel the pain. *silly me*
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| demo by the professionals |
We also have professionals to guide us throughout the yoga session. There's A LOT of yoga postures, if I were to insert them all in this post, it will be a lil bit crazy heh? Am just going to share postures that I really enjoyed and happy when I finally did it!
We were all divided into partner in group as most of the yoga postures required two people in order for you to do it.
Now, who says yoga is easy? It is never to me as it takes time for me to finally empty my mind and calmed myself down. We were so glad that we joined this retreat and learned a lot about breathing exercise during the yoga session. No more stiff shoulder and say hello to more relaxed body and soul!
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| diy session |
Oh! Another exciting part of the retreat - DIY Sessions! We had the first DIY session during our first day and it's all about making your own fresh fruit juices.
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| fresh fruits |
Blackmores team also prepared a bunch of awesome fresh fruits and vegetable for the fruit juice mixtures - carrots, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, celeries and oranges!
Just so you know that I always make myself one glass of fresh juice before I starts my day, every single day. This is one of the reason I got excited as I get to learn more about various fruit mixture for juices. I normally have orange, apples, pineapple, lemon and a chunk of carrot for my own fruit juice.
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| ingredients for hummus recipe |
Other than fruit juices, we also learned to make our own simple and healthy hummus dip! All you need are cooked or canned chick peas, raw garlic, tahini (sesame paste), olive oil and pinch of salt.
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| hummus |
Just blend them all together and you'll get your delicious hummus dip for your snacks! Boy, it tasted so good!
You can always dip your favorite crackers, carrots, cucumbers or celeries into your hummus and enjoy snacking away without any guilt! I can do this all day long!
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| Oat Bath |
The second DIY session was on the next day and we first learned how to prepare our own Oat Bath. Get a cup of oats (any type of oats), your favorite herb (chamomile, lavender), a ribbon and handkerchief or muslin cloth.
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| Oat bath |
It's so easy to do it as the only thing you need to do is insert the oats and herbs into the handkerchief or muslin cloth and tie them up. There you go, soak them in your tub and use the bag like a sponge to wash your whole body. The milky oat liquid will help to moisturize your skin.
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| Calendula cream |
Last but not least, we learned how to make our own Calendula Cream (marigold). All you need are marigold flowers, water and pure Vitamin E cream.
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| Calendula cream |
Trust me, there's no trick needed to make this! Use a clean spatula to mix them up together and you'll have a ready Calendula cream of yours. It can be used for variety skin issues such as cuts, abrasions, eczema, bruises, infection and rashes as it has antiseptic as well as anti-inflammatory benefits.
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| Cancer survivors |
I have to say this. This retreat is definitely an eye opening experience for someone like me who always thought life is short, enjoy while you still can. Well, this is true, obviously I took it in a slightly wrong way as I always think there's nothing wrong with my food intake which I always avoid the vegetables. Although it's just a short 2D1N retreat, I got to know quite a number of amazing people that I've never encountered in my life before, they are amazing cancer survivors. The sharing session during the night made me realized a lot of little things that seemed never important to me. Gotta thank Blackmores team for this session.
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| Anna - Amy - Caroline |
This is Amy, our roommate during the retreat! She is so lovely and like a big sister to the both of us.
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| Anna - Alyssa - Caroline |
Thank you to Alyssa for letting me know about this retreat, it was fun and I really enjoyed myself throughout the entire retreat. Just so you know that, you can also get a naturopath session with Alyssa at Blackmores Concept Store Midvalley!
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| Group picture |
Thanks to the wonderful Blackmores team for organizing the retreat! We definitely looking forward to the next one! (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ
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