I went on a queer yoga retreat and now capitalism is attacking me
So I’m back from a retreat.
And not just any retreat - the most grounding, expansive, ridiculously aligned experience I’ve ever had.
It was designed for queer women, trans and non-binary folks, lovingly held by the incredible Calypso and Natalia, the brains and hearts behind People Like Us. We had yoga every day, breathwork that cracked me open, a temazcal that melted me down, food grown from the land we stayed on, and a whole community of humans who just got it.
It was soft. It was powerful. It was… nothing like my Google Calendar right now.
Before I left, I was counting down the days like it was Christmas for burnt-out adults. I kept saying things like “once I get through this week” or “after that last client call”, as if the retreat would fix me.
And while it did give me so much - clarity, slowness, depth - it also gave me something much less Instagrammable:
An existential crisis about how to carry that energy home.
Because now I’m back, staring at my inbox like it personally betrayed me, wondering how to rebuild my days so they feel more like the experience I just had.
More soft. More present. More human. Less “I’ll rest when I hit my Q2 targets.”
The truth is I want rest, calm, peace, spirituality, creativity to be part of my everyday life. Not something I have to travel to a field with cacao and peacocks in order to access.
But honestly? It’s fucking hard.
Capitalism is loud. Hustle culture is persistent. And all the best intentions in the world can evaporate the second Slack pings.
Do. Rest. Repeat.
(Not: Do. Do. Collapse. Regret. Repeat.)
So here’s where I’m at: slowly trying to infuse my day-to-day with the energy of the retreat, instead of saving it all up for a once-a-year breakdown recovery week.
A few thoughts on how we build lives that feel softer, without having to disappear to the forest:
Protect time like it’s sacred (because it is)
Make rituals out of the mundane (yes, tea counts)
Let rest be the default, not the reward
Prioritise people who feel like safety, not status
Don’t wait until you’re shattered to stop
The retreat has inspired me to make some small but meaningful changes, such as:
Starting the day with sun salutations, ideally outside (instead of doomscrolling)
Swapping supermarket veg for organic or farmer's market produce where possible
Keeping up my daily journalling habit, even if it's just one line
Prioritising spaciousness in my diary, with the goal being to never skip lunch, exercise or dog walks
It’s not perfect. I still find myself slipping into old habits.
But every day I pause, even for 5 minutes, to stretch, to breathe, to not be productive, I feel like I’m slowly stitching a new rhythm into my life.
If you’re also trying to carry the softness of something beautiful back into a spiky world, I see you.
And if you’ve cracked the code on how to do it? Please, for the love of snacks, hit reply and tell me everything.
And if you're still figuring it out like me...
Here’s a small, gentle thing you can try today:
Pick one tiny moment in your day to pause. Just 5 minutes. Put your phone down, close your laptop, step outside, stretch, or breathe deeply with your eyes closed. Let your nervous system know it's safe.
You don’t need a retreat to reset. You just need a minute to remember you’re not a machine.
Talk soon,
Nat x
