FLOURISH ~ Women’s Wellness Day-Retreat
JANUARY 18 9:30-4:30: Begin Living Your Best Life in 2025: Discover Ways to Apply the Wisdom of French, Japanese, and Indian Cultural Wellness Practices to Your Life and Start Flourishing. Join Our January Retreat!
LOCATION: Southwestern University, Georgetown Texas
INCLUDED: Brunch in Southwestern University Cafeteria
Sojourner Tours has brought together a collection of talks, discussions, activities and exercises that will help you set intentions rooted in well-being, not just achievement, and named these retreats “FLOURISH” because that’s what you’ll do.
New Year’s Resolutions: stop setting goals & feeling disappointed. There’s a better way!
Are you ready to embrace the new year with joy, poise, intention, and the support of a vibrant community of women? Join us for an immersive, retreat-style day of workshops and talks where we’ll explore ways to nourish your body, mind, and spirit through the slow food philosophy, pleasurable fitness strategies, and introduction to stress-reducing meditation. This unique in-person event will take place in Georgetown, Texas at Southwestern University.
Ever made a resolution to lose weight and failed?
DISCUSSION: Rediscover the Pleasure of Food: French & Japanese Approaches to Health, Nutrition and Happiness
Take a new approach this year. In this workshop, we’ll dive deep into how food is celebrated, not as a means of restriction or deprivation, but as a ritual that nourishes the body, mind, and soul with Lisa Gustavson, MA in Anthropology and MA in International Studies, and Dr. Francis Mathieu, PhD in French.
Understand how food can become a source of energy, joy, and health by embracing cultural wisdom from France and Japan. Through the lens of French and Japanese traditions, you’ll learn to embrace food as an essential part of your well-being. Explore how both cultures approach food as a nourishing experience rather than a transactional one and take home new strategies that will raise your health and maybe even slim your waist line. You’ll gain insight into how French meals are centered around conviviality, pleasure, and the celebration of fresh, local ingredients and how Japanese cuisine emphasizes harmony, seasonality, and mindfulness, fostering a deeper connection to what you eat. Through practical tips and discussions, you’ll walk away with a renewed perspective on food, learning to savor meals that promote health, joy, mindfulness and help you flourish!
DISCUSSION: Embrace Joyful Movement: How Japanese and French Approaches to Exercise Can Transform Your Fitness Journey
Forget the typical American treadmill drudgery and the cycle of restrictive dieting. Instead, discover how Japanese and French cultural approaches to exercise offer a refreshing, sustainable path to fitness that prioritizes joy, balance, and long-term well-being over short-term weight loss goals. Discover the joy of everyday movement and find out how ancient cultures (in countries with dramatically lower weight and health problems compared to the United States) incorporate natural movement into daily routines—then find ways to fit those strategies into your lifestyle. Stop struggling with unrealistic fitness goals and embrace a more fulfilling approach to movement. Understand how French and Japanese cultures prioritize balance and fun in their approach to movement, making exercise something you look forward to rather than dread. By adopting the joyful, balanced perspectives of French and Japanese fitness culture, you’ll discover a path to lasting health and vitality—one that leaves you feeling energized, motivated, and ready to flourish in all aspects of your life. This year, turn fitness into a sustainable, lifelong habit that nurtures your body and mind through balanced, enjoyable activities!
Brunch Break
WORKSHOP Ever made a resolution to reduce stress in your life, get more sleep or practice mindfulness only to feel like life kept getting in the way?
Make this year different with meditation. Join Lisa Gustavson, who's been practicing meditating for 8 years, for a workshop focused on simple techniques to manage stress, cultivate mindfulness, and find more inner peace. She’s created a unique approach to meditation drawing her wisdom from diverse experiences meditating with monks from Tibet, Taiwan, Japan and the United States as well as Yogis at Kripalu; as well as her visits to sacred sites in Laos, Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Nepal and Spain. Lisa offers a unique approach to meditation from the time she’s spent in sitting meditation, walking meditation, tea meditation and poetry meditation.
In this session, you'll learn practical tools that, if practiced regularly, can help you enter a meditative state, fostering greater focus, relaxation, and tranquility. Mindfulness, a key element in both French and Japanese cultural traditions, will be a central theme as you discover how to bring it into your everyday life.
Leave with new meditation techniques you can incorporate into your routine and ideas for continuing your practice at home. —so you can FLOURISH! Mindfulness, itself, is an integral aspect of successfully integrating French and Japanese cultural practices in your life, and learning to meditate can be a great tool for mastering the arts of savoring life so famously associated with these two cultures. This workshop offers you the key to a door you may want to step through and explore further, so at the end of the workshop you will learn about more opportunities to deepen your practice and create your own meditation practice at home.
Coffee & Tea Break
WORKSHOP: Skills for making time for yourself
Setting Boundaries is vital to making time for yourself to FLOURISH and integrate all these new cultural practices into your life. American culture places high demands on adults, and especially on women who often prioritize being helpful, serving others and generosity. Before you leave, Lisa Gustavson will guide you through some ways to make space in your busy life to integrate the new cultural wellness practices you’ve learned during the workshop so that this year you’ll have a bit more say when life tries to get in the way of you FLOURISHING!
Whether you’re looking to enhance your personal life, experience more joy, cultivate mindfulness in your daily routine, or simply take the time to nourish yourself with self-love, this retreat is perfect for anyone seeking to live her best life starting in 2025.
Key Workshop Details:
Date: January 18 2025
Time: 9:30-4:30
Location: Southwestern Olin Building, Room 305
Vibe: Fun, informative, multi-cultural day filled with connections to self & sisterhood on a charming college campus.
Highlights:
WORKSHOP: Introduction to Meditation
PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION: Food in French & Japanese Culture: Joyful & Healthy Ways to Enjoy Eating Better
WORKSHOP: Basic Boundaries
PRESENTATION & DISCUSSION: Exercise in French & Japanese Culture: Fun Fitness Approaches To Make Exercising Easier
SISTERHOOD: Connect with like-minded women and become part of a supportive community.
Surprises and Fun Activities:
Expect delightful surprises and fun activities sprinkled throughout the day, adding an extra layer of joy to your retreat experience.