A Look Back At My BeHealthful Retreat at Four Seasons Hotel Chicago

behealthful retreat chicago

I fiiinally have a fast enough wifi connection here in Asia to upload photos from our most recent BeHealthful Retreat series in partnership with Four Seasons Hotel Chicago! I’m stoked to share the highlights from my first intimate, real retreat experience (a multiple day, overnight type of wellness retreat). It consumed every cell in my body to plan and produce this experience for our guests, but it sure did pay off seeing how the ladies who attended felt about themselves + life afterwards! 

behealthful retreat chicago

Since last Fall, I’ve been planning this recent installation of BeHealthful (a lot goes into planning events + retreats..a lot). Our special experience took place the first weekend of April and we welcomed a group of 18 beautiful women. If you’re not familiar with The BeHealthful Retreat series that I produce as a Balanced Babe event series (from the ground up, by the way!), let me give you the lowdown in a nutshell.

behealthful retreat chicago
One of the panels from our 2nd annual BeHealthful Retreat Conference September 2015

BeHealthful (until now) was actually a  conference/festival series  that brought together local wellness experts and businesses to engage with the  health conscious community of Chicago. The term “retreat” was thrown into the title because my mission was to bring retreat elements to the experience. So this means lots of spa services, yoga all day, consultations galore, workshops/masterclasses, healthy food, and all that you could think of. I’m also proud to say that this type of experience was  the first of its kind in the Midwest. 

behealthful retreat chicago
A collage from my very first BeHealthful Retreat September 2014!

All of my past series brought in quite a substantial amount of attendees (our annual conference this past September of 2015 welcomed around 600 guests), so I was excited to plan and produce a BeHealthful series that was a traditional overnight retreat with a very limited amount of guests. Not to mention that I’m a one woman show and planned all of our past conferences with the help of interns! This time around, I had the help of Four Season’s Marketing Director, Charlotte, who was my partner in crime and absolute life saver that assisted with the on-site logistics throughout the retreat weekend. 

I reached my goal of creating a beautifully exclusive experience so that our retreat goers could get 1-on-1 consultations with our wellness experts and spa providers. Yet even though this time around we only accepted a very small group for registration, the work load of planning and preparing an experience like this was just as time consuming as our big conferences were! So I’m excited to highlight my favorite moments of this past BeHealthful Retreat with you so that you can see all of the work that goes into an experience like this!

behealthful retreat chicago

We kicked off the weekend with a detox yoga class lead by Soren Buchanan, one of my favorite Chicago yogis who is real, genuine, and such a sweetheart. There were about 16 workshops that took place throughout the weekend (including this yoga class). I facilitated a majority of them alongside some of my fellow Chicagoland wellness experts such as Lori Streator, Susan Lipshutz, and an Ayurvedic Practitioner on the rise, Jitka Robinson. 

behealthful retreat chicago

Our workshops were a conglomerate of different subjects ranging from detoxing topics such as: herbs and spices to support our detoxification systems, Ayurvedic cleansing techniques, DIY aromatherapy sprays, and so much more. One of the favorites was the healthy cooking class lead by one of Four Season’s chefs.  

behealthful retreat chicago

Speaking of food, both days we enjoyed delectable meals crafted by Four Season’s culinary team, and every meal was ‘balanced’ of course.

behealthful retreat chicago

 

There were fresh baked kale chips served during each lunch that we all went crazy over, and the chef even gave us the recipe (which is joyously simple).

behealthful retreat chicago

FOUR SEASONS 9

 

behealthful retreat chicago

We also enjoyed a beauty break room on Saturday that was filled with  fabulous spa services galore such as massages, manicures, facials to more holistic treatments such as acupuncture and light therapy.

behealthful retreat chicago

As usual, our complimentary beauty and holistic services are always a hit – who doesn’t love to get pampered?

behealthful retreat chicago

behealthful retreat chicago

Guests who stayed overnight received a “Detox Box” filled with all sorts of healthy items such as herbal face steams, bath salts, essential oils, tongue scrapers, Ayurvedic beauty products and plant based protein powders.

behealthful retreat chicago

It was truly a wonderful weekend for guests to relax, rejuvenate, learn and get inspired to cleanse themselves from the inside out as we transition into Spring! Everyone left with a healthy, happy glow, and a new found determination to live their best lives. 

There’s so much more in store for BeHealthful that I can’t wait to share with you, and I hope that you, my dear reader, get to experience it sometime soon, too! 


behealthful retreat chicago

One comment on “A Look Back At My BeHealthful Retreat at Four Seasons Hotel Chicago

  • Clara Nall , Direct link to comment
    Hi, I love people share their experience and tour photos with others online. I love your photos, simply amazing. Thank you so much.

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