5 Key Reasons to Attend a Retreat

As Shelley returns from a summer of deep creation and preparation inside the Holistic Business School, she shares why retreats are no longer a luxury. They are an essential part of personal and professional evolution. With everything moving faster and the world calling for more soul-led leaders, Shelley explores how stepping away from daily life can ignite clarity, connection, and divine alignment in ways nothing else can.

Through personal stories, spiritual insights, and her signature mix of warmth and wisdom, Shelley paints a vivid picture of what becomes possible when you say yes to sacred space for yourself, your business, and the expansion of your purpose. Whether you’re dreaming of hosting your own retreats or simply feeling the nudge to attend one, this episode will remind you why retreat experiences are truly non-negotiable for growth.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Why regular retreats are essential for navigating the intensity of today’s world
• How distance and spaciousness open portals to clarity and authentic alignment
• The energetic power of sacred locations and what happens when you follow the call
• The magic of community, conversation, and being seen by other souls of service
• How retreats deepen self-love, spiritual connection, and clarity about your divine destiny

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Shelley Riutta on Instagram 

Rise of the Holistic Millionaire Facebook Group

Holistic Business School Website

Holistic Millionaire Podcast

Transcript

Transcripts are auto-generated.

Shelley Riutta (00:00.878)
Welcome back to the Holistic Millionaire Podcast. So excited to connect with you. And today we're gonna be talking about five reasons to attend a retreat. This is something that we've been diving into in our own business, you know, is leading retreats. But I wanna just go a little bit deeper because what I am seeing just...

collectively is that attending retreats as we move forward with everything going on is going to be essential for everyone, including you as a holistic professional making this part of your business building plan. And so I'm going to dive into the five key reasons why you need to attend a retreat.

The first reason is actually before I dive into everything in today's episode, I want to say that I have missed you. I know we took a little bit of a break. It's almost like we were took the summer off. There's been a lot going on with we're unveiling new curriculum in the holistic business school in November. So I have been working behind the scenes with

our new kind of roadmap that everyone is going on, which I'm so thrilled about. Tomorrow we're leading a deep dive, which is titled The Rise of the Wise Woman, to just help everyone in the Holistic Business School get prepared emotionally and spiritually for the level of visibility that we're moving into with everyone. The distribution of their messages of

you know, seeing, you know, more people having eyes on them because we are needing more soul wisdom on the planet. So our organization, the Holistic Business School, is the place to come to get your soul wisdom into the world and to get the infrastructure in your business to really handle that kind of volume as more eyes are on you. So that's what we're diving into tomorrow is to get everyone prepared.

Shelley Riutta (02:24.364)
which I'm really excited about. So throughout the day, the information has been downloading about what we're going to be focusing on the flow of the day. it really is the deep dive is like a mini retreat, which I really love that we have those integrated into the holistic business school. So I'll be talking about that as well of

how to integrate retreats into your holistic business, not only physical retreats where people are traveling, but also how do you create a retreat-like environment when people are at home to get the benefit of that as well. And so we're excited about diving more into that as the Holistic Millionaire episodes go on.

The other thing that I wanted to give you an update about is we are back to doing weekly trainings in the rise of the holistic millionaire. I was gonna say the rise of the wise woman just because it's on my mind for tomorrow. So those trainings will be on Thursdays and that will be at noon Eastern. So if you wanna mark your calendar.

The next few weeks, we actually won't be having them because another thing I wanted to update you about is we're heading to Italy on Monday. And so we're leading our retreat, flying into Rome, spending a few days there, and then heading to Sorrento to a villa overlooking, and I can't remember the body of water that we're going to be by, but I'm so excited.

So we're going to be there for two weeks actually. we will not have those trainings in the rise of the holistic millionaire. But if you have not made your way there, I would highly recommend you do that. The energy there is amazing. Just lots of exciting things that we're going to be doing along with the trainings. So join us. So let's dive in. Why are...

Shelley Riutta (04:41.054)
What are the five reasons to attend a retreat?

So the first one is, so I kind of gave the big picture with all the big shifts that are going on. Things are moving faster than we've ever seen them before. There's incredible tumultuousness, right? Everything is topsy-turvy. Every single person that you meet, yourself included, has a lot that you're navigating, right? Everyone is trying to keep their head above water.

The neat thing about that is that becomes this catalytic energy for deep transformation if channeled in the right way. And that is the key. And this is why I'm making a strong recommendation for retreats that everyone on the planet needs to have regular and consistent retreats to kind of navigate the intensity of what is happening. So big picture.

everyone needs to attend retreats, including yourself. So the first reason is to be able to kind of unplug from your life and step away. And it typically helps to have a physical distance. So whether you're going to a retreat in the United States, if you're living in the United States, some of you are living in different countries.

But it can help to have some geography, but there can be some amazing retreats that are regional. And just like I'm saying, with the Holistic Business School, have retreats that are the deep dives that we go into where people are right at home, separating a bit from their day-to-day life and having that spaciousness to go within. So the

Shelley Riutta (06:38.732)
The first thing is the separation from your life and having spaciousness to drop out of the day to day. Because what ends up happening is, if you haven't made that full shift to flowing through your days from your authentic self, connected to your spiritual connection and in that flow, then oftentimes a lot is happening.

with your conditioned self. There's a lot of activations going on. And so a lot of times, the more you're operating from that conditioned part of you, the more distant you're getting from yourself, from your true dreams, from your true desires, from your true authenticity on how to grow your business. So we want you to separate and come to a retreat so you can unplug

from everything that you have created in your life so you can go deeper into the connection with yourself, your spiritual connection. And there's something about going to a distant place that is inspiring and filled with nature that allows you to open up those connections. So number one,

the separation from your day-to-day life allows you to connect more deeply with your authentic self, your spiritual connection. That distance also helps you to see what is working in your life and in your business and what is not. There's more clarity when you have that distance, right? All of a sudden the light bulbs will go off and you'll be like, my gosh.

I didn't realize I was living out this pattern or, you know, why am I doing this in my business when I could actually do this instead or clarity about the new direction when you have that quietness, the spaciousness. So lots of clarity can come, lots of recognizing of patterns that are no longer serving you. And you have that step back.

Shelley Riutta (08:52.94)
to really see more clearly what's going on in your life to make those changes. So the separation is essential.

Reason number two, why it's important to attend a retreat. The location, there's certain places that you go to, whether it's in your own country or regionally that hold a certain energy that is activating to your energy system. This is something that I learned over the last few years that was so...

Maybe the last three to four years, I was called to go to different places. Some of them were regional, like, you know, different parts of Wisconsin, different parts of Minnesota, you know, just regional. And some of them called for more international travel. Like I went multiple times in a short amount of time to Costa Rica.

And what I was getting spiritually is that there were certain energetic activations, certain things that were happening in the growth of the business, my internal growth that actually couldn't happen unless I went on that journey and went to that physical location. The land, the consciousness, the energy can be a powerful clearing. It can be a powerful activator for you.

And it's really kind of trusting that when you're guided to go to a location that there's oftentimes a special reason. And what I am finding with souls of service, which is if you're listening to my voice, you are a soul of service. You have a humanitarian consciousness. You are a, a violet on the life color system that we use to kind of evaluate.

Shelley Riutta (10:55.47)
your life purpose. A violet is a soul of service. Humanitarian has a global consciousness. And when you have a global consciousness, guess what? You want to travel globally. And there's important places where you need to go. following those to where you're guided to those locations so you can get

the certain activations, the clearings. I have had, you know, big clearings. I remember I went to an event in San Diego and the first day of the event, I was sick the first part of the day, you know, and this has happened to me multiple times when I go at a different, I get so activated.

by the energy of the land, the energy of the event I'm going to that I just am clearing, clearing, you know, one of the events that I went to that I was sick and, you know, the facilitators were like, my gosh, I'm so sorry. And I went to the event for like the first 30 minutes and actually got like a powerful.

powerful information just from the 30 minutes and then my spiritual teams like that's all you needed. Now go and go into this deep clearing that you're going to. So a lot of times you're doing clearings when you go on retreats as well. So activations, clearings, some of you are probably listening to me like, Shelly, that sounds like so much fun.

So it actually is. I just love all the nuances of growing and expanding. So the third reason to attend a retreat is connection. Connection with the other retreat members. This is where so much magic happens, right? There is a divine unfolding with each of the retreats that we have led, with who has attended.

Shelley Riutta (13:09.698)
You know, it's just like, just the right people, just the right conversations that really open things up for you. So attending retreats is like a supersonic transformation because of the conversations. There's something that happens at retreats. Like we had our holistic business school retreat in July. And what was really special about that, we had it at a hotel overlooking

Lake Monona here in Madison. And they gave us part of the room, the room that we were renting there. They gave us access to this executive lounge that was super beautiful overlooking the lake. And it was open like till late into the night. And we had so many evenings just up in the executive lounge.

in deep conversations, laughing hysterically. And because we had that time and space, you know, that space of the of the lounge, it really amplified what we were doing at the retreat. It was super, super powerful. So there's something about conversations and I just there were so many conversations that I had with people, you know, as we were walking, you know,

to dinner, as we were hanging out in the executive lounge, as we were having lunch together. So many conversations, so many directions that we went in, that just amplified. It's like everywhere you turned, there was a breakthrough going on. So many things were happening. giving yourself the gift of that dimension of a retreat.

is so powerful, so much magic happens. The fourth reason to attend a retreat is to deepen your self-love. There's something about traveling, going to a beautiful place, and being taken care of. Oftentimes at retreats, there's a lot of the...

Shelley Riutta (15:34.816)
organizing where you're going to eat, what you're going to do that day. You don't have to think through that, which allows that spaciousness to go into a deeper level of self-connection and self-love. The other dimension is attending a retreat with other souls of service, therapists, healers, coaches, like everyone here, you know.

as a holistic professional, everyone listening, right? The beautiful thing about being in a space with other people that have done their work is they actually can see you clearly. You can feel seen and heard. This allows you to go into a deeper level of seeing and hearing yourself. Oftentimes it is in that space of being witnessed, listened to.

gotten on a deeper level that we can go into deeper levels of self-love. So that is one of the powerful things that happen from a retreat. Number five reason why you need to attend a retreat is it is going to open up the connection with your spiritual connection. This is probably one of the biggest ones.

With everything going on right now, you need to have a wide open channel to your spiritual connection that's even deeper than it is right now. And many of you, that is a powerful channel for you already, and it needs to go deeper. So the fifth reason to attend a retreat is to...

open up that channel to your spiritual connection and get those divine downloads. Get that information that maybe your spiritual team has been trying to get through to you, but they cannot get through to you because of the static in your mind from your day-to-day life, all the things you're navigating, all the things you're responsible for, and those messages aren't able to get through until you're at a retreat.

Shelley Riutta (17:54.572)
And then I'm going to add a number six and number six is clarity about your divine destiny. At the retreats, the configuration of everything at a retreat can help you get clear about where you need to be channeling your energy. Now more than ever, it's important to be lined up with your unique position with everything going on. So

Oftentimes, you know, I give, I've shared this before in the podcast. I'll share it again. And this was years ago. I've been working with people with their life purpose for over 20 years. And for many years, people had a lot of time to explore. There could be some spaciousness for that. But really I would say five or six years ago, I got the message from

this my spiritual team, like everyone needs to take their position. Like let's not mess around. know, so, you know, Sarah who needs to be on second base, get your butt over to second base. You know, Tom who needs to be on third base, get your butt over to third base. You know, this is kind of like what it is on the spiritual realm. Everyone's like, stop messing around. So you need to attend a retreat.

to get into those deeper levels of clarity of what you really need to be doing. Get into that true alignment with your spirit, your authenticity, your divine destiny, what you came to the planet to do, which no one else can do. So retreats are a beautiful way to do this.

The other thing overall with a retreat, and this is something that I had been thinking about because in the deep dive tomorrow, you're going to hear this before everyone will hear this. I am going to make a strong recommendation that every single person in the holistic business school has to make it a regular practice to come to our retreats rather than have it be a

Shelley Riutta (20:17.686)
I'll add it on, you know, if I have time or, but to make it an essential part of getting that acceleration, getting that traction to the level they need to in their business. So I am going to deem it essential rather than a nice to have. Does that make sense? And this is something, you know, as you're...

supporting your clients as you watch the unfolding of what is needed for their transformation, you are going to make recommendations like this. And my recommendation to you is to make recommendations to them to attend retreats, ideally facilitated by you. Does that make sense?

this needs to be happening on a regular basis. And it can be like a deep dive, like we're going to be doing tomorrow. It can be a retreat that is in the United States, fairly easy for people to get to. It may need too many of you are being drawn to lead retreats in other countries, follow that. And so just...

looking at what you're drawn to do and then also start to communicate to your clients, this is essential for the deeper transformation. You're gonna get the most out of our experience together is if you come to a retreat. So this is, as I've been witnessing our clients that are attending the retreats,

the deep dives, as well as our in-person retreats, those are the clients that are making the most progress, moving so much faster, having amazing things happening, not only in their business, but their personal life. It is like exponential. And so I am going to make a recommendation that every single person in the holistic business school attend.

Shelley Riutta (22:31.394)
the retreats, you know, so whatever cadence that's going to be. I remember with a long-term mentor of mine where there's five-day retreats and intensives. And I remember when I first started studying with my mentor, there was a colleague of mine that attended like three of the five-day retreats in a row.

Like I remember just going, what the heck is going on, right? You know, cause it's very immersive and very deep, but this person was on like a mission and it was well worth it. You you know, me on a personal level, I attend multiple deep dives and retreats, you know, throughout the year. And it is.

part of a regular plan of my expansion, you know, to do that routinely and to go to where I'm called to go. Of course, I'm going to retreats that my mentors are facilitating and then whichever other ones I'm drawn to that might be a little off the beaten track. So, so you need to attend a retreat.

It is a must have with everything going on. It is essential. is non-negotiable. You need to be doing it on a regular basis. Your clients need to be doing that on a regular basis. So I hope this message is getting through. So quick reminders.

If you are not in the rise of the holistic millionaire, go to Facebook and just punch that, know, type it in, you'll find us, you'll answer three questions. We will give you a warm welcome, give you an orientation to what is going on in the group. So when we reach out to you, just make sure to respond. We're not trying to sell you anything. We just want to support you and find more out about your business.

Shelley Riutta (24:47.982)
how you're wanting to grow and point you to the resources that we have in the Facebook group. If you are wanting to come into the Holistic Business School, want some support to grow your business to the next level, because you're feeling that momentum, you want to be held in an immersive container of the most amazing world-changing holistic professionals, then go to our website, the Holistic Business School.

Click on the button that says programs and you'll see a Calendly link where you can book a time to connect with one of our team members. So sending you big love and I can't wait to see you on the next episode.