Living Well Yoga Retreat
Pine Knoll Shores Thursday, January 30th - Sunday, February 2nd 2025
The new year is a time when things slow down and we're reminded of the effort we have to put in and the resolutions we have to make to maintain emotional, physical, and mental health. It's the perfect time to add grounding routines and rituals that support your overall well-being. Join us for a transformational weekend of yoga, meditation, meaningful connection, and delicious homemade meals in a beautiful oceanfront home in Pine Knoll Shores. The retreat will focus on easy-to-implement routines to support you in thriving and living your best life in 2025. We'll look at the interplay of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space within our bodies to find balance and regulation on all levels.
Learn accessible yoga sequences to integrate into your everyday life. Discover the power of meditation to go within and transform the mind from wild waves to calm seas. Optimize your health with simple self-care practices that strengthen the immune system and enhance longevity. Our fresh, organic meals will be chef-prepared and shared in-house, and simple, easy-to-follow recipes will be provided so you can bring the tastiness home with you! Immerse yourself in a lovely community of like-minded folks to start your year out right!
There will be several retreat add-on options that you can choose to do during your free time in the afternoons (or opt to take a beach walk, explore the local area, read a book, nap, etc.) Betsy will offer Polarity therapy and Reiki sessions, two different types of energy work that support the nervous system. Emily, a trained planetary astrologer, will offer astrological natal chart and transit readings if you're eager for celestial guidance or just curious about how the stars and planets may be impacting you at the moment. We will also have a wonderful massage therapist on site as another bodywork option.
Meet your retreat leaders
Betsy Bertram ~ Yoga Teacher & Reiki Practioner
Betsy Bertram is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher, Reiki practitioner, writer, and speaker. She offers group classes, workshops, customizable one-on-one sessions, and retreats. She is also the creator of the Embracing Death & Dying Program, which supports people living more fully by preparing for life’s end. In all of her work she supports health and healing, increases well-being, and nurtures people to live in alignment with their values.
Betsy’s yoga journey began when she attended her first class at age eleven. After nearly a decade of practice, she went on to earn her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in 2011. Additionally, she completed the Thousand Petals Yoga six-month immersion program in 2014 and the five-month meditation program in 2019. She has taught yoga for over twelve years to diverse students from ages four to one hundred.
She believes yoga is for everyone and every body of all ages, shapes, and sizes. As a yoga teacher, she strives to make the practice more accessible through a supportive, safe, and non-competitive environment that cultivates connection to self and others. Her compassion-centered classes inspire exploration, embodiment, and enjoyment.
Betsy is in the process of becoming a Somatic Therapist through a Polarity Therapy Training Program with Janice Marie Durand at the Tree of Life Center. Read more about Somatic Therapy here.
Betsy will be leading the programming and yoga classes for the retreat.
Emily Miller ~ Chef & Astrologer
Emily Miller is a professional chef, baker, astrologer, and a certified yoga instructor. Emily has worked in food service since 2004. She started cooking professionally in 2014 in Chapel Hill, which eventually led to baking at the Eddy in Saxapahaw where she led the bakery program for three years. Since then she's been a pastry chef, prep cook, personal chef, sous chef, and a daily home cook, finding joy in cooking healthy, nourishing food for various appetites and diets focusing on fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients.
Emily's love of astrology began as a self-guided study of the zodiac in 2012 and led her to enroll in astrology courses with Christina Farella of Eighth House Astrology in 2022. A year later she met Dr. Miroslav Sarac of Soul and Stars with whom she continues to study. Additionally, she's taken courses in geocentric and heliocentric Magi Astrology with Alexander Kolesnikov. Astrology is Emily's way of loving and understanding herself and the world around her. She offers natal chart readings and transit readings to support others on their paths of self-gnosis.
After breaking two vertebrae at the age of seven, Emily dealt with severe back pain and scoliosis for most of her active and sports-filled youth. When Emily took her first yoga class at age 21, she experienced a pain-free back for the first time in years. Since then, yoga has become a regular practice for coping with life's aches and pains and a consistent vessel for turning inward, leading her to enroll in the Thousand Petals Yoga's Yoga Teacher Training in 2019, where she met Betsy!
Emily will be cooking fabulous meals for the retreat.
The Retreat Location: Duneside Oceanfront Home
Nourishment on Retreat: Delicious Meals & Treats
Tentative Retreat Schedule (Note that we may make changes in our planning process)
Thursday
5-6 pm Welcome Circle and Mocktail Hour
6-7 pm Dinner
7:30-8 pm Guided Chakra Balancing Meditation
Friday
7:30-8 am Guided Meditation*
8-9 am Breakfast
9-10:30 am Programming: Learn how to support yourself with the elements of Earth, Water, and Fire
10:30 am-12 pm Yoga: Earth, Water & Fire Flow
12-1 pm Lunch
1-4 pm Open Free Time**
4-5 pm Restorative Yoga
5-6 pm Mocktail Hour
6 pm Dinner
7:30-8 pm Yoga Nidra -a form of guided meditation also known as yogic sleep***
Saturday
7:30-8 am Guided Meditation*
8-9 am Breakfast
9-10 am Programming: Learn how to support yourself with the elements of Air and Space
10 am-12 pm Yoga: Air and Space Flow
12-1 pm Lunch
1-4 pm Open Free Time
4-5 pm Restorative Yoga
5-6 pm Mocktail Hour
6 pm Dinner
7:30-8 pm Yoga Nidra -a form of guided meditation also known as yogic sleep***
Sunday
7-8 am Yoga
8-9 am Breakfast
9-10 am Closing Circle
*Optional for those who would prefer to sleep in or do an early beach walk
**We will have a massage therapist on site and Betsy will be offering energy work for anyone who would like to add to their retreat experiences. 60-minute massage and energy work session are $100. Here are some other fun open time ideas: enjoy the beach, go on an adventure to Beaufort (see Betsy’s guide), read your book, take a nap, or do art (we will have lots of art supplies available).
***Optional for those who would prefer retreating to their room early or taking a night beach walk.
Retreat Cost
$600 for yoga, programming & meals
$400-450 for accommodations for the weekend