Lean Out Podcast

Solocast: Why You Need a Retreat

• Dawn Baker • Season 3 • Episode 13

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In this solocast episode, Dawn Baker describes her experience attending the recent Revitalize: Physician Renewal retreat in southern Utah. She talks about what happens at retreats, the benefits of retreating once in a while, and why you should consider going on a retreat! 

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Relevant/mentioned links:

Lean Out Podcast - Passions with Mary Wilde

2025 Revitalize: Renewal Retreat (the next one doesn't have a website yet)

Retreats hosted by past guests: 

Get in touch with Dawn:

=Welcome to the lean out podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Don baker. Are you looking for a new approach to finding authentic and sustainable work-life balance? You've come to the right. Place. For inspiration. information. and a community. community. of like-minded. Professionals. Let's get to the show. Hello. Hello. Thanks for being here. I just came back from an amazing retreat, so I thought I'd do a solo cast episode to convince you that you might want to go on something like this yourself. So what is a retreat? You may ask, maybe some of you have been on them, but maybe you just have no idea what it's like or how it differs from a conference, because a lot of times retreats will also offer CME if you're in the medical field, or continuing education in other professions. If you look up the word retreat in the dictionary, it might give you a more directional meaning, something like the process of withdrawing or moving back, kind of like retreating from a war in the military. But in this instance, a retreat is a place you go that causes you to withdraw inward. To go back to basics, back to connection, to reflection, to simple pleasures, and maybe even a reconsideration of your priorities. You could consider a retreat, a cornerstone action of self-care, kind of like a retreating of your yourself when you either haven't been considering what you need or you haven't been very present with yourself. So why do physicians and other high octane professionals need to do retreats? I don't necessarily think that you need to, but I do think that a lot of us could really benefit from them because we're all somewhere on the continuum of burnout. Sometimes a little more crispy than other times. And because there's also such a thing as the treadmill of achievement that lures us with its comparisons and its external metrics of success. It's always there and it's very enticing. And also because with our complex lives and vast responsibilities to many different people, patients, clients, family members and friends, it's easy to lose sight of your personal priorities and get bogged down in the day-to-day of putting out fires. A retreat can remind you of who you really are, what your vision is, and how you might have stepped off track and can get back to where you want to be. The retreat I just came back from is called the Revitalized Renewal Retreat, and this was organized by my friend Dr. Mary Wild, who's a pediatrician in St. George, Utah. And I was lucky enough to meet her through another old friend of mine named Mary, who's also a physician. Mary Wild was on the show back in the fall of 2024, talking about being a multi-passionate physician balancing clinical work with teaching running retreats for physicians and patients, and also parenting eight boys. Yes, I did say that correctly. She has eight boys, so if you miss that episode, I'll link it in the show notes for this episode. So the retreat was held in the beautiful Red Rock wilderness of Ivans, Utah, which is on the outskirts of St. George. For reference, St. George was once a small town that has grown quite a bit to become kind of a mini Las Vegas over the past 20 years. It's about two hours from Las Vegas, Nevada, and it happens to be about an hour away from Zion National Park, and it's about an hour to an hour and a half away from where I call home. If you've been to the Red Rock National Park in Las Vegas, you know how majestic those rocks are, but the area around Ivans, Utah, it's even more amazing than the Red Rocks of Nevada because the Red Rock towers are so close to you and they just seem so much more intimate. And there happens to be other green and cinder cones around as well. So it's a really very gated landscape and very unique, especially if you're visiting from the East coast or the South or somewhere else where you don't see that kind of landscape. Anyway, we met at the Red Mountain Resort in Ivans, and this group was approximately 18 people, so a little on the large side for a retreat. At this one. We had workshops and I led one on the topic of resilience. We had journaling sessions, mindfulness sessions, a chance to hike and do yoga in Snow Canyon Park. And although I've been to Zion National Park before, the PA State ants for many participants was a day trip to hike in Zion National Park, which is on many people's bucket lists to see at some point in their lifetime. There were men and women physicians and one physician actually brought two PAs from his clinic. So the total number of participants was about 18. I've been on retreats where it is just women and a much smaller group. And I've been on a retreat that was purely for yoga that was slightly smaller, uh, but it was a mixed group. Regardless. There is something amazing about coming together with a small group of like-minded professionals, and I mean like-minded in their desire for renewal and connection with people and nature, but that all came from very different backgrounds. I. There were people from all parts of the country doing all different kind of specialties. There were a fair number of primary care physicians, either family medicine, internal medicine, or pediatrics. Some had started their own direct practices and some were employed physicians. There were some who do niche consultative type practices, and that is something that I have. Had a few guests on the podcast before to discuss. There was one psychiatrist, one orthopedic surgeon, and one anesthesiologist who was me. So it was an interesting mix of people. And I have to say, I had only met two of the people prior to attending. One is Mary the organizer, and the other is my old friend named Mary. Yet I connected deeply with each one of the attendees, and this week I'm actually feeling like I kind of miss them. We went from strangers to in the period of three days, hugging each other and shedding tears. When you have an immersive experience with other people, you bond with them very quickly, and this is some of the magic behind the retreat. Here are some other, uh, benefits that I've identified. You will make friends. It is hard to make friends as an adult, is it not? It is just difficult, especially when you're a woman professional. I feel like, to make new friends because it's hard to find women who are interested or who have the same kind of vision that you do for your life. And men report having difficulty making friends as adults as well. You will have an instant new group of friends after you go on a retreat like this. Second thing is you will grow your confidence. The elements of confidence that I teach in my Lean Out confidence course are self-knowledge, mental fitness, doing hard things, and embracing a journey mindset. So when you go on a retreat. You're basically practicing three of the four elements. You're taking time for stillness and reflection, and you will likely learn something about yourself when you connect with others, and when you participate in some of the reflective activities. You're spending time flexing your mental muscles by practicing mindfulness. You are also doing hard things by taking a risk, making an investment, and going on a trip where likely you don't know anyone, and it might be in a place that you've never been. People were sharing vulnerably in some of the exercises that we did, and that is also a difficult thing to do. So when you get out and do something new and you do some exercises that involve, like we did drawing and poetry, it's out of your element. That is also a confidence booster that occurred to me. I was definitely kind of like, what are we gonna do in this poetry session? But it was wonderful to experience something new. So all of these things work to boost your inner confidence after you return from the retreat. Thirdly, you may experience transformation or you may help others to experience transformation or both. When I went on a yoga retreat a few years ago, I experienced a transformative realization. I felt like I was at a crossroads professionally. A couple of my locum assignments had dried up, and I hadn't started my regular per diem job that I do have now. That came later after the retreat. That opportunity came to me. I didn't know if maybe we were gonna have another child because we were in the middle of a surrogacy journey and we had moved onto our homestead, and I was feeling kind of lost in terms of my identities. But over the few days that I was on the retreat, I realized something really powerful and wonderful that I already had. Everything I needed right in front of me in the present moment. The present had the answers, and I didn't need to worry about all the directions and choices that I had been worrying about. If you're feeling lost, a retreat will definitely help you but if you, aren't feeling lost, but you would like a shakeup of your routine and to experience something new, a retreat would also be great for you. When you connect with other professionals going through similar or even very different trials, you will realize that you're not alone in your struggles, and you may even get some inspiration or ideas from people on how to get unstuck. You are gonna form new friendships and networks that will benefit you on personal levels, but also maybe in professional ways. I met a few people who I'd really like to have on this podcast in the future. When you share your own personal journey, you're likely to inspire others in some way. And you're also able to reflect on all you've done with immense gratitude. I definitely experienced this on this most recent revive renewal retreat. What about you? Have you ever gone on a retreat? Would you consider going on a retreat? I'm going to leave a couple of links to different types of retreats that are offered by past guests on this show as an inspiration for you, and I would love to someday be able to offer retreats to people on our homestead property. Is this something you'd be interested in? Another resource for you is a Facebook group called Women physician, CME. Where people post retreats frequently. And in addition to that, you can also do a web search and just organically search for physician retreats or whatever profession you might be in. There are many, many out there, so I encourage you to take a look. Thanks for listening to the lean out podcast. If you find these conversations inspiring and useful, please forward them to a friend and also leave a review on iTunes or Spotify so that other people can find them easier. If you want to get in touch with me, you can find me at my website, practice balanced.com, where you can subscribe to my newsletter and get updates regularly about new podcast episodes, blog posts, speaking, engagements, and coaching services. You can also support my work by buying my book, lean out a professional woman's guide to finding authentic work-life balance for yourself, a friend, family member, or coworker. Have a great day and we'll see you next