Whether it's practising yoga on a mindfulness retreat, or experiencing the tranquillity of stand up paddleboarding, Wales’ diverse and striking landscape is the ideal place to recharge and rebalance your inner world.
Rebalance your energy levels with polarity therapy
Polarity Therapy is all about energy-balancing - tuning into your energy flows and working out where there are blockages. Practitioners use a combination of bodywork, counselling, therapeutic exercise and nutrition. Swansea natives Rex and Alaea Beynon are Registered Polarity Practitioners with 30 years’ experience in the healing arts.
Their Seren Retreat is set within 23 acres of ancient woodland close to the lovely Gower Peninsula. The couple work will work with you to help achieve physical, emotional, mental and spiritual happiness. The treatments are supported by relaxing yoga and nutritional guidance to help maintain a healthy lifestyle, all with the added bonus of nearby clifftop views and revitalising sea air.
You can try other holistic therapies at She-Lin Centre for Alternative Health in Borth, Ceredigion, or read on for five easy ways to practice mindfulness in Wales.
Recharge yourself and reconnect with nature
If you need a break from everyday life to rest and de-stress, an all inclusive yoga retreat in Wales can help re-charge your batteries.
Based near the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire, Stables Wellbeing holds regular retreats in beautiful, calming surroundings. Long weekend retreat themes include 'Embrace Yourself' and 'Time to Thrive Yoga & Pilates' for inner-self wellbeing work. More active weekends include yoga, guided walks to connect with nature, and stand-up paddleboarding.
Like yoga? Like gin? Sign yourself up for a 'Yoga, Foraging & Botanical Gin Making' weekend with River Flow Yoga in Glasbury, near Hay-on-Wye. You'll stay in the beautiful Chapel on the Green, and discover how to forage and blend your own gin or cordials. Alongside daily yoga and walking meditation, you'll leave feeling recharged and energized.
Old Lan Farmhouse in Whitland, Pembrokeshire hosts a wide range of retreat options, from bootcamp fitness weekends, men only retreats, wine tasting, and yoga and meditation chill out breaks.
And you can combine stargazing, storytelling and foraging with yoga followed by blissful sleep in a cosy yurt-style tent on one of several different wellness breaks offered by Adventure Tours UK.
Take a wander with some little piggies
Many people find spending time with animals is immensely therapeutic. Of course the vast open spaces and national parks of Wales offer wonderful opportunities for taking the dog for a scamper or hacking across hilltops on horseback, but how about this for something a little unusual? A Good Day Out will let you take care of some cute little Kune Kune pigs!
For an hour or two you can potter through the green valleys and rolling hills of the Brecon Beacons National Park together. The little pigs are friendly, curious and full of life - perfect for kids and all animal lovers. Strolling along with them snuffling and grunting beside you is a great way to forget about cares and enjoy the moment. If pigs aren't your thing you can take a walk with some dinky miniature donkeys instead. Both experiences come with a picnic (or should that be a pig-nic?) too.
You can also walk with donkeys in the tranquil Mid Wales woods with Dyfi Donkeys, take part in an Amazing Alpaca Encounter in Monmouthshire, or head to Alpaca my Boots in the Brecon Beacons.
Read more: Five ways to let the outdoors into your life.
Float your way to a deeper state of happiness
You don't have to venture deep into the countryside to find relaxation and rejuvenation in Wales though. In Swansea city centre, the Lazy Frog Floatation Centre is home to four floatation rooms where you can float blissfully for hourly sessions of totally undisturbed relaxation. The water is gently warmed and infused with Epsom salts which makes it so dense you float completely effortlessly.
This feeling of weightlessness allows the body to attain one of the deepest states of rest and relaxation experienced outside of sleep. The benefits aren't limited to relaxation with research claiming that self-motivation, creativity and brain function can all be improved with regular floatation sessions.
If the thought of blissful relaxation sounds right up your street, try one of our Ten favourite spa hotels in Wales.
Branch out and find new connections
Can trees talk to us? The Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth was promoting sustainable living decades before concerns about global warming came so dramatically into focus. There are seven acres of eco-friendly ideas in action here to explore including organic vegetable growing, sustainable building and using renewable energy in the home.
But for those of us on a quest for deeper renewal by getting back to nature there's a range of unusual short courses - some quite practical, others more esoteric. Social Forestry is a great example. You can relax by learning how woodland management and crafting promote wellbeing and a sense of fulfilment. If you stop and listen a moment perhaps you'll feel the unique energies that ancient trees seem to have deep inside them?
Discover 12 eco-friendly places to visit in Wales.
