Sunday, September 19, 1999
ENTREPRENEURS
Retreats for women offer escape
BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The dog needs to be walked, but the books for the business are beckoning and need to be balanced. The garbage cans need to come in, but a key clerk in retail has called in sick.
The baby's crying, a husband's whining and the meatloaf is drier than shoe leather, while back at the old salt mine, the bank is complaining, customers are churning and workers want bottled water instead of tap.
What's a businesswoman of the '90s to do?
Many apparently are on the verge of surrender but first they figure: Why not seek relief with a retreat?
“People are just overwrought,” said Sandra Vogel, 45, of Lebanon, who has since spring 1997 put on regular retreats for women at the Hatfield Inn Bed and Breakfast, 2563 Hatfield Road, Lebanon.
Ms. Vogel, the executive director and founder of Women's Wellness Adventures, said one theme usually emerges within the first few hours of the retreat. “We find that everyone is trying to be everything to everybody,” she said. “Women come to these retreats and the first thing we hear that women are so exhausted.”
The next overnighter is Sept. 25-26, with another Nov. 6-7. Call (513) 932-9439 for reservations.
Harried businesswomen and other women get a chance to catch a breath with massages by The Spa Relaxation Center, aromatherapy treatments for hands and feet, optional communication and personality style sessions and even a chance for something like one of those forgotten simple walks at sunset. Another activity is collage construction, an expensive and remedial kindergarten class that shows attendees what is important to their lives.
“What the enrollment reflects to me are that there are a lot of women who made a point in life, and now they want to make a change in their life,” Ms. Vogel said. “They are women who have hit the wall, and now, they're sliding down.”
For women who don't have the time or the $175 to spend Ms. Vogel recommends a couple of options, almost all oriented toward women:
• Buy and read the book Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
• Start on an abundance journal — a listing of five things each day that will show what the person is grateful to have in her life.
• Light a candle and look at it while breathing deeply. A sense of calm should settle.
• Delegate duties at work and home.
• Tell children to pick one outside activity and drop the others. Life is too short to be a cab driver to a teen-ager's movie club.
After attending a seminar earlier this year, Betti Davenport, human resources manager for Ellenbee Leggett, realized that she had to make some changes in her life.
She went out and bought a teapot and a handful of special teas. The retreat “taught me to make time for me,” she said.
“I need to do that to survive. I am now continually looking for ways to de-stress my private life.”
John Eckberg covers small-business news for the Enquirer. Have a small-business question, concern or quandary? Call him at 768-8386 or e-mail him at jeckberg@enquirer.com, and he will find the expert with the answers.
