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Archive for September, 2011

Successful Corporate Retreats

September 01, 2011  Written by admin   Published in Retreats

Successful Corporate Retreats

Corporate Retreats are a great way to achieve company cohesiveness. Whether you need an executive brain storming retreat or are trying to improve staff communication, increase creativity and motivation, or just trying to make your company feel more like family, a retreat away from the office is the perfect answer.

No matter where your company is located, there are plenty of retreat locations around the world to choose from. Whether you are looking for a retreat location that’s around the corner or one that’s light years away, here are some tips to make sure your retreat doesn’t leave you longing for the boardroom.
1. Perhaps the most important considerations are your goals for the retreat. Begin with a plan for what you want to accomplish. If work is foremost in your agenda, plan carefully to avoid your corporate retreat turning into nothing more than a free vacation for your employees.

2.If your retreat is more about rewarding your valued staff, or you’d like to concentrate more on the morale of your company than keeping things “strictly business”, then your plan – and perhaps your entire retreat – will be much different than one that concentrates more on work.

3. Once you have an idea of the goals and wishes for your retreat, you can better choose your location. Consider a facility that breaks away from the cookie cutter hotel and promotes a team building atmosphere. Balmy beaches and sun-kissed sand may be a great place for your employees to learn effective stress reduction, but the ocean crashing right outside the conference room door may not be so helpful when you’re trying to meet hectic deadlines.

4. When it comes time to choose your hotel or resort, don’t rush into a decision. Anyone can make a brochure look marvelous. Instead, choose a facility that meets all your needs in terms of location, activities, amenities, cost, and, of course, availability. Don’t be shy; ask for photos or testimonials if you’d like.

5. What about the food? Before choosing a retreat location, ask about the food and be sure the retreat facility can meet any of your staff’s dietary requirements. All inclusive corporate retreats take the hassle out of worrying about the food but make sure the quality of the food is good. Good food actually helps keep all retreat attendees happy and positive minded. Be sure and send an email to all attendees to see if they have any dietary requirements and send that to your retreat facility at least two weeks before your retreat.
6. See if they have a dedicated event planner or if they rely on regular staff to handle your event. Someone who specializes in handling corporate events at a facility can often foresee needs you may not even realize you have, and will be able to make your stay smooth and productive.

7. Don’t forget the fun! No matter what your goals for the retreat, be certain to allow for some downtime for you and your employees. Choose a location that is cohesive to natural team building. Too many distractions cause your team to lose focus in the meeting and to scatter after the meeting.

The Franciscan Retreat Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of Spiritual retreats and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join us for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space.

For more information on Retreat Centers visit California retreats.

Retreat Centers For Spiritual Retreats

September 01, 2011  Written by admin   Published in Retreats

Retreat Centers For Spiritual Retreats

When was the last time you took time out from your hectic life to concentrate on relaxing and de-stressing your mind? With the multitude of new and inspiring alternative therapy and spiritual retreat centers popping up throughout the world, now is the time to take a weekend break or even longer to unwind and focus on yourself.

Retreats are the best way to soothe your mind, body, and soul and to reconnect with your inner spiritual self. Going on a relaxed, religious retreat is the ultimate way to boost your spiritual life by clearing your mind and focusing on your beliefs. Take time out of your hectic life and concentrate exclusively on rebuilding your spiritual connection.

Spiritual retreat center allow you to discover a whole new self and help you in removing the limitations that your mind is occupied with. These spiritual retreat centers also allow you to discover a whole new perspective towards life. Spiritual healing retreats allow you to transform your perspective and focus on things besides your daily life and work; these retreats help you find new paths in life. These spiritual retreats usually have group activities. Participating in these activities helps in increasing your confidence level, however, if you think you require individual attention then you can always enroll in individual spiritual classes.

These activities are as well high-quality ways to get the youth closer into an association with the God. They offer a place to educate fresh things in a secure environment. Many members could get their associates as well to the church retreat before they could get them to adoration services.

Retreat centers offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space.

There are several things to consider when planning a retreat and finding a proper retreat center. Always visit the camp in person. Meet the staff, tour the facilities, and get as much information as possible. You can learn a lot from simply being with the people who will be serving you. Are they friendly? Can you tell they are genuinely excited about what they do? What are their specialties? While you are there ask honest questions about the food they serve. If you will be using hi tech equipment, be very specific in what you need and what the retreat facility has available to you. Be detailed, ask specific questions, and don’t be afraid to ask for specific answers.

It is recommend quarterly retreats, a week at a time. At the least, get away for 4 days. Stay away from e-mail and the phone as much as you can, and at the most once a day. Take a break from social media, too. The reason for this is that when we turn off the television and cell phones, we are in an environment to affirm our commitment to spiritual priorities.

For more information on Spiritual Retreats and Retreat Centers visit California Retreats

Planning Spiritual Retreats

September 01, 2011  Written by admin   Published in Retreats

Planning Spiritual Retreats

A retreat is exactly what it sounds like — the chance to step aside from life for a while, to rest and just ‘be’ in a welcoming, peaceful place. Retreats are for ordinary people at any time in their lives. There are no expectations on anyone going on retreat and you don’t need to be a churchgoer. A spiritual retreat involving your church and its members provide a number of benefits to those partaking in the events. Church retreats create a bonding and a community with those people that you are closest to you spiritually, as well as supporting those people and the church itself.

Do you:

• Wish for some quiet time?
• Want a weekend to develop your interests?
• Want to know more about prayer?
• Need some time for reflection away from work or family?
• Want to deepen your spiritual life? Then a retreat might be just for you.

Spiritual retreats can come in all shapes and sizes and target different groups of people. There are various spiritual retreat centers all across the globe providing spiritual healing. Here is a list of some different types of spiritual (church) retreats that can be held for each group’s spiritual benefit.

Men’s or Women’s Retreats – the most common forms of retreats that the various churches hold. Typically, they are gender specific and target aspects of the man’s or woman’s life wherein they can improve spiritually to be a better person individually, in the family setting, as a marital partner, or with fellow employees. Normally, the retreat takes place over a weekend.

Couple’s Retreats – Marriages get sidetracked, stuck in a rut, or begin to fall apart. Attending a couple’s retreat has the tendency to bring the focus back to the relationship and re-establish that bond and it’s foundation in spirituality. This type of retreat gives the partners in a marriage an opportunity to discuss and solve problems that may have developed by the relationship growing apart

Youth Retreats – Youth retreats can be an opportunity for young ones to be introduced to spiritual teachings and start them out early understanding the importance of this in their lives. Depending on the age group, the benefits will vary among age groups. Once they’re in their teens and at that dating age that parents tend to dread, teen retreats play an important part in helping them understand the sexuality issue and how to handle that critical time in their lives.

Planning spiritual retreats is hard work and there are challenges every time you think you have a handle on things. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. Choose the right facility. Find out from potential participants in the retreat what type of facilities that they are expecting. Plan a program that will hold everyone’s interest. Plan a program inclusive of entertainment, musicians, and speakers. Make sure what you are planning fills interests and wants of the people that will be in attendance. Make sure that you have a sound budget for all this before presenting it for approval. Spiritual retreat centers also have the provision of spiritual healing, this help in relaxation of the mind, body and soul.

The Franciscan Retreat Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join us for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space.

For more information on California retreats visit Mission San Luis Rey

Planning Retreats

September 01, 2011  Written by admin   Published in Retreats

Planning Retreats

The term retreat usually refers to an environment which is more serene than one’s usual environment. Usually retreats take off the pressures of life and help focus on something else, a retreat can be taken to focus on spirituality, health, personal development, social concerns, etc.

Tip 1 – Why you should have a retreat Ask yourself some pertinent questions like “Who is this retreat for?” or “What are their interests, needs, and wants?” Make sure that what is being offered in the retreat will hold everyone’s interest. Don’t assume that since it is interesting to you that it will be to everyone else. Ask people in the congregation/fellowship what their interests are. Get a feel for what is needed by everyone.
Tip 2 – Choose the right facility Find out from potential participants in the retreat what type of facilities that they are expecting. Several questions to ask are the following:

What kind of accommodations do we want — dorm rooms, motel type, or “rustic” cabins with no plumbing or heat?

Do we want to cook for ourselves or have the meals provided? If we do our own cooking, is there an extra charge?

Do we want bathrooms in the cabins or are outside shower houses okay?

Do we want “roast beef” or a “tuna surprise”? In other words are we particular about the quality of the evening meal?

How much money do we want to spend, and more importantly, what is the group as a whole willing to spend?

Tip 3 – Plan a program that will hold everyone’s interest Plan a program inclusive of entertainment, musicians, and speakers. Make sure what you are planning fills interests and wants of the people that will be in attendance.

Tip 4 – Money Matters Make sure that you have a sound budget for all this before presenting it to the board for approval.

Tip 5 – Promote, promote, promote Start advertising the retreat 3-4 months before hand. Have flyers printed for hand outs and make sure they are in the foyer every time there is a service.

The Franciscan Retreat Centers at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join us for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space.
The Retreat Center is also for individuals who would like private time for solitude and spiritual renewal.

The facilities are available to religious and educational groups, non-profit organizations, civic organizations, companies and corporations. We do, however, reserve the right to refuse the use of our facilities to anyone whose philosophies diametrically oppose our mission and purpose.

For more information on Spiritual retreats or any kind of San Diego retreats visit Old Mission San Luis Rey.

Meditation Retreats

September 01, 2011  Written by admin   Published in Retreats

Meditation Retreats

In our technology driven world with computers, televisions, cell phones, portable media players, and gaming units there certainly has been a shift in the lack of maintaining a healthy state of mind-body. To add, our environment presents demands, deadlines, heavy schedules and obligations leading to stress and increased health risks.

During the 1800s, the era of yoga and meditation Retreats began. Today meditation retreats, such as the Chopra Center, continue to educate and provide experiences to thousands of individuals towards their path to mind-body wellness. Meditation retreats will guide you in applying meditation to your daily tasks. It is a practice that needs to be adopted into your daily routine to aid in your overall relaxation and revitalization.

It has been proven that by practicing meditation daily, you feel more energized, gain self-knowledge and achieve a healthier state of mind-body. Additionally, medical experts agree that meditation can help lower cholesterol, ease depression, speed healing, curb insomnia, boost the immune system, and control anxiety. With these benefits in mind, there has been a rapid growth in meditation retreats all over America.

What we eat and how we treat our bodies are additional factors to achieve a healthy state of mind-body. For this reason, meditation retreats include nutrition education and exercise regimens into the program.

A quiet room is the typical place to meditate. There are instances, however that you need to temporarily move out of your usual meditation place and find solace on some other place such as retreat areas. Retreat centers for meditation are established in order to provide a quiet and relaxing place to profoundly contemplate which is not usually achieved within the corners of a quiet room.

The Franciscan Friars invite you to experience spiritual renewal in surroundings of peace at the unique, historical venue of Old Mission San Luis Rey.

The Franciscan Retreat Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join us for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space. The Friars and staff are here to assist you on your spiritual journey. The Retreat Center is also for individuals who would like private time for solitude and spiritual renewal.

For more information on Spiritual retreats visit San Diego retreats .

Ideas For Spiritual retreats

September 01, 2011  Written by admin   Published in Retreats

Ideas For Spiritual retreats

Part of the fun of a spiritual retreat is the planning stage. Think about what would relax and regenerate. Incorporate things or events into the plan that will accomplish this.

Spiritual retreats might be something that you want to do alone. Alone you’ll find more time for contemplation and far less distractions. On the other hand, there are groups that get together to make spiritual pilgrimages, attend motivational functions and the like. These too are beneficial.

Here are some suggestions for a spiritual vacation that can be a time of healing and renewal.

1) Go to a place that represents spiritual power for you,
2) Immerse yourself in a place of natural beauty like The Franciscan Retreats Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey, any wilderness area, or beach area, etc.
3) Take along meditation, relaxation, motivational audios or simply relax and give your mind time to rest.
4) Take a hike. Walk on a beach – let the sound of the waves soothe your mind and the ocean air revitalize your body.
5) Conquer a fear. Think of something you fear doing and do it.
6) Be silent for a day. Next to impossible for many…
7) Do something you’ve never done. Go somewhere you never been. Maybe combine both!

The list of spiritual things that you can do that can refresh your mind, body and soul are endless. As you think of things that you can do on a spiritual retreat why not also realize that many of these same things you can do without going on “vacation.”

Why not bring nature into your home? Fill it with plants that revitalize your air and spirit. Add waterfalls indoor and out to get your life flowing in the right direction. Set aside some time to listen and enjoy motivational and relaxation audios at home. Go to a day spa and get pampered. Watch a spiritual movie, i.e., one that motivates, inspires you or makes you laugh.

Check into a monastery or retreat center in your town or city. Many will allow you to check in for the weekend. Often steeped in spiritual energy these offer fewer physical amenities than your local motel but more spiritual ones. Plus, there usually isn’t a TV to distract you. Take a break from social media, too. The reason for this is that when we turn off the television and cell phones, we are in an environment to affirm our commitment to spiritual priorities.

Retreat centers offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs.

The Franciscan Retreat Center at Old Mission San Luis Rey offers a place for solitude, healing, and revitalization with a wide variety of spiritual and educational programs. Create your private day away (Quiet Days), join us for a half day or evening session (Twilight Retreats) or treat yourself, or a loved one, to a complete weekend of spirituality and sacred space. Visit us for more on California retreats.

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