Imagery: Aro Ha // @aroharetreats
Words: Emma Vidgen // @emma_vee

When most people book a stay at a healthy holiday, rarely have they thought beyond, “I need to do something drastic before I spontaneously combust from stress/pressure/anxiety. HALP!” But before you book on a week of vegan food-fuelled yoga marathons, there’s one question you need to ask yourself: is this work I need to do alone?

THE BENEFITS OF FLYING SOLO

It might sound obvious but dropping in and really considering what you want to get out of a healthy getaway will make all the difference to how you feel at the end – especially when it comes to deciding whether to travel with a partner or friend, or going solo. “I would recommend coming alone, absolutely,” says says Chris Willie, Senior Program / Retreat Leader at Aro Ha on New Zealand’s South Island. “Friends, siblings, partners, it can go two ways…make sure you that and it’s not someone you’re going to get sick of or trying to escape.”

“I would recommend coming alone, absolutely,”

Chris Willie Senior Program, aro ha Retreat Leader

RELATIONSHIP SABBATICAL

In fact some of Aro Ha’s most repeat guests are couples who visit separately. “We have husbands and wives that both are return guests each year into aro ha and they always come separately. They get an amazing experience separately and bring that experience back home and integrate it into their life and into their marriage and have amazing results,” says Chris. “Coming together, they wouldn’t quite be the same. They each discover what they need on their own and are able to take that back and share it with each other.”

CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY

That’s not to say you should scrap your next girls trip if you had a wellness retreat in mind. “It really depends on what you want to get from the experience. When you travel alone the experience is perhaps more introspective and with friends the focus is more outward as you are sharing the experience,” says Sharon Kolkka, GM and Wellness Director at Gwinganna. “Many women travel together, we see lots of friends and of course mother/daughter, father/son.” Ultimately the choice is yours. “Our advice is to travel with a like-minded person,” says Sharon. “If you are happy to go with the flow and your friend has high expectations of how their day should unfold, this can be stressful.