Transitions Fall Yoga Retreat Recap!

Transitions

Our inaugural Fall Yoga Retreat at Camp Olson YMCA in Longville, MN was stunning!

Fall at it’s finest.

I absolutely love being able to retreat into the northwoods, and spend as much time outside as possible in autumn. Even more special is that Camp Olson happens to be “in my northwoods backyard”, meaning I only live 10-minutes from this precious place and I adore spending time there. What a privilege!

We’ve hosted our 200hour yoga teacher training at Camp Olson, and through that experience we knew that we’d love to bring a retreat group to the venue. In particular, our experiences in the fall at Camp Olson have been too lovely to beat.

Camp Olson boasts a HUGE campus, with over 1,000 acres to explore. Nestled between Little Boy Lake, Cooper Lake, and the privately owned “Shurds Lakes”, Camp Olson holds extremely treasured and gorgeous space on this earth. The trails for hiking and lakes for paddling are top notch. The lakeside wood-fired sauna was a crowd favorite. Many-a-exhilarating-lake-dip and return to the heat occurred over the weekend. A lot of our gals reported that they’d either never sauna’d before, OR they’d never run between the sauna and cool lake before. The sauna combined with lake dips were definitely a memorable and transformative experience for folks. Oh ya you betcha, how Minnesotan!

This retreat was definitely on the more adventurous end of the spectrum as far as our retreats go. With the wide array of recreational activities available, plus basic travel to lodging, dining hall, yoga, and bathrooms/showers all in separate buildings, our participants really logged the miles over the weekend! We always encourage our guests to listen to their bodies and individual needs - don’t “should” all over yourself! But when you are a Minnesotan, you feel the tug of winter creeping in, and you want to bask in all the fall glory in front of you, you do it all.

Our group of 50 women truly enjoyed their weekend in Longville. From yoga, to hiking, to sauna, to relaxing, to campfires, to massage, … we had a little bit of everything for everybody. A truly spectacular experience was the incredible stars Friday night combined with a lightning show. Our attendees were enjoying an outdoor campfire, laying outside in the lawn, and/or relishing in the sauna. Overhead the stars were sparkly clear with milk way and all….and off in the distance we watched a fantastic show of glittery lightning roll in. It’s moments like that that you are so glad you were awake, present, and outside for. Something I’ll remember forever.

Happily tired, this crew took advantage of all Camp Olson and Boreal Bliss Yoga Retreats had to offer.

THANK YOU

Boreal Bliss Community

Thank you SO MUCH to all of our Boreal Bliss community that attended the Transitions Fall Yoga Retreat! Thank you for embracing new adventure, new opportunities, and having a whole heckuvah lotta’ fun!

Camp Olson YMCA

Thank you Camp Olson YMCA for sharing the spirit of the northwoods with Boreal Bliss Yoga Retreats! We fully enjoyed taking over your special and important children’s summer camp! How amazing that we got to play, laugh, and stand in awe of such a beautiful space in the world. The work you do is so important and we are so grateful to have been able to enjoy Camp Olson for a weekend in the fall.

Green Scene Market and Eatery

Definitely worth praising here is our DROOL-WORTHY meals provided by Green Scene Market & Eatery. They always do an outstanding job, but man maybe it’s because I’m pregnant…. the food seemed even better somehow over this retreat. Yeah… maybe it’s because I’m pregnant… but everyone really DID love their food! haha! Thank you so much Erin and the team at Green Scene. Yum, yum, YUMMY doesn’t do your artful craft justice.

Boreal Bliss team

Special thank you to Stacy Nightwine for teaching, leading, helping do all the things, and comedian-ing your way through the weekend - you ARE an amazing human. Special thank you to Colombe Anderson for helping do all the little (big) things, leading a sunrise hike and book club, and making sure that my pregnant self was okay many times throughout the weekend. Special thank you to Lisa Garbe for zipping around on your electric bike to keep that important sauna going all weekend (!), helping with behind the scenes details, and for chatting up the yogis and making them feel welcomed and appreciated. Lastly, Nature Nora, best friend, thank you for leading a stellar nature hike through the Shurds and helping behind the scenes - you make everything more fun!!

BIG thank you Rohana Olson of Comfort & Cashmere Images!

As always, we love working with you and have enjoyed your friendship over the last four years. MUAH! You’re the best. Sincerely, thank you Rohana.

Check out Rohana’s photography business at: comfortandcashmere.com.