Steph and I were joined by 16 community members for an incredible 3 days celebrating the three core pillars of KIC, movement, mindfulness and of course, delicious meals!

MOVEMENT

We were lucky enough to have our Head Trainer, Danny with us for the retreat too! Over the course of the trip, he took us through 2 epic strength sessions and one seriously sweaty HIIT session. Every single one of his workouts pushed us hard but as always, left us feeling amazing and reeling in those post workout endorphins.

It was truly special getting to complete Danny’s workouts with our community – there’s just something so empowering and motivating when you move your body with others.

Danny also took us through a session about how to set goals. Every time I hear Danny speak about goal and intention setting, I always take away something new. This time for me what really hit home was the intention setting. Danny shared a really special personal story about the impact of setting your intention before each encounter you have with someone each day. So for example, if he is catching up with a friend he will ask himself before he goes in “How do I want this person to feel in this catch up? And how do I want to feel?”- it is such a nice way to focus on being present and also reset throughout the day.

MINDFULNESS

Meditation was also something we prioritised as part of the retreat as it’s such a powerful tool to help with your mindset. We completed Express Gratitude and Simple Breathing both from the KIC app.

It was so special breathing in the salty air, listening to the sound of the ocean and able to take a moment to reflect on how lucky we are at KIC to be able to connect with beautiful people and move our bodies not because we want to look a certain way but because we love how it makes us feel.

Meditating never fails to make me feel so present and connected with my thoughts. It was such a special reminder of the incredible impact it can have on my mental health in such a short time, and why it is so important no matter how busy each day is to put aside the time.

MEALS

We also had our amazing dietitian, Liv Morrison join us on the second day for a nutrition talk. Liv so kindly shared her wealth of knowledge about all things food and nutrition. I think one of the biggest takeaways for me was when Liv was talking about the rules that are engrained in us through childhood or that we pick up throughout our lives that we feel we have to follow but we shouldn’t have to unless it works for us. For example, one I think so many people feel they have to follow is feeling like you have to have breakfast the second you wake up. For some people this works really well, but for others (which is me included) we aren’t hungry as soon as we wake up and that is ok.

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Another highlight from the trip was having some time to slow down and reflect on the past few months, which have been incredible but also super busy. I was reminded of how important it is to step back and take a breath to ensure I am present and enjoying the journey along the way. I think sometimes (and I am very guilty of this), we forget that the journey / process is where we spend 99.9% of our lives so it becomes important to consciously implement ways to check in with ourselves when needed to make sure we are enjoying it.

We also can’t forget to say a big thank you to Elements of Byron and MAAT World who helped to make the KIC Retreat possible.

We truly can’t wait for our next opportunity to spend time with our community. Spending time with our community is the most special thing in the whole world. Without our community, there is no KIC and Steph and I are just so grateful to be a part of it.

Here are some of my favourite moments that we managed to capture from the trip…

If you want a taste of what working out with Danny is like, want to make meditation a habit or get your hands on delicious recipes with Liv’s tick of approval then make sure you’re subscribed to KIC!