Pilates, Ice & Fire Wellness Retreat

Couldn’t have asked for better weather or a more beautiful setting for Sunday’s Pilates, Ice & Fire Wellness Workshop with Procore Pilates and Become One Breathwork at the stunning Cowslip Meadows ☀️🌿

Sunshine & Stretching

From the moment I arrived, the sun was shining, the meadow was glowing, and the studio space was absolute perfection. It was the kind of setting that makes you take a deep breath and think, yep, this is going to be good.

The morning kicked off with an hour of Mat Pilates led by Shela. Don’t be fooled by her warmth and kindness — this woman will have your abs and glutes on fire before you know it. One minute you’re gracefully moving through a series of movements, the next you’re stifling swear words as muscles you forgot existed remind you they’re very much there. (And honestly, I bloody love it.)

Deep Relaxation & Seeing Green

Next up was a SOMA breathwork session with Adam, which put me in such a deep state of relaxation that I literally saw green — apparently linked to the heart chakra, which makes a lot of sense considering some of the stuff I’m working through right now 💚

Ice, Fire & Mind Over Matter

After breathwork, we took a gorgeous walk across the meadows down to the duck pond, where the sauna was steaming, and five rather menacing tubs of iced water were lined up, daring us to get in.

Breathwork plays a huge role in cold exposure. You can feel the benefits in as little as two minutes, but 4-5 minutes is recommended. (Apparently anything beyond 13 minutes isn’t proven to have additional benefits, so no need to turn into a human popsicle!) Initially, my brain was screaming nope, a couple of minutes will do, but once I was in and breathing steadily, 13 minutes flew by, and the feeling of stepping into that sauna afterward? Absolutely unreal.

Tea, Cake & A Little Extra Sunshine

Once we’d all conquered the ice and sauna, we warmed up with tea and the most delicious homemade cakes (huge thanks to Adam for those).

Shel had also put together the cutest gift bags and was kind enough to include some of my Hello Sunshine business cards. We’d been chatting about potential collaborations (more on that soon 😉), so I thought it’d be fun to add a little extra sunshine to the retreat. Each guest received a blank rosette, and I provided some pens, and nail stickers for everyone to get creative. Some wrote ice bath times, some added cute sticker designs, and others just enjoyed the moment of mindful decorating before floating home on cloud nine.