A Journey of Wellbeing: From Mental Health to Wellness Retreats

My Name is Eve Elsby and I have been working in the fitness and wellbeing industry for over 10 years and have loved every minute of it! Prior to my current job, I spent quite a few years working in mental health which was extremely rewarding. It gave me opportunities to travel and I loved the time I spent in Moscow, Russia helping set up mental health projects over there. It was tough at times as the acknowledgement of mental health was always up for debate over there - going back to the UK reminded me how services at home were really good in comparison.

As well as teaching classes in Aberdeen, I have the pleasure of hosting events in the city including wellness retreats and fitness events. I recently qualified as a breathwork teacher too and I have been able to introduce people to the wonders of breathwork! The sessions help to calm down the nervous system, clear stress from the body and connect people back to feelings of love, gratitude and happiness. It really is a tremendous tool that allows people to push themselves out of the ‘fight or flight’ state and switch off their stress response, bringing the body and mind back to a more harmonious place where the body functions better, the mind is more clear and calm.

With regard to teaching fitness classes, I am so lucky to spend time with amazing people and watch how their confidence builds and they become stronger, improve their mental health and increase their overall fitness. It can be a tiring job but it is so rewarding - I wouldn’t change it for the world! I have to ensure I eat and sleep well and take enough rest as sometimes I can feel quite exhausted!

I guess the wellness retreat days held locally, came from France! My sister Celeste and myself run week-long retreats in South West France - Maison Baskerville retreats. We wanted to design a retreat that combined many things! Yoga, pilates, breathwork, massage therapy, wine tasting - along with a lot more!  A time to rest, restore and revive and we are so lucky to have welcomed many guests to France. 

I then wanted to bring a little of that back home and set up the Aberdeen wellness retreat days. I run them every few months and they have been a great success. The day involves some wonderful yoga and Pilates classes as well as great food and breathwork sessions.

One of the highlights of the day is the wonderful workshops and the last one was held by Shona from ABWR. Working together has been a real pleasure. I wanted the workshop to enable people to go away with things they had learned on the day and could use at home and this is why Shona came up with a great idea to teach reflexology. It allows people to learn about pressure points on their hands and manage issues such as stress, anxiety and even physical ailments such as sinusitis! The feedback has been fantastic! I am so happy Shona has agreed to host the workshop at the next retreat day in May.

People have such busy lives and this event gives people some time for self-care, relaxation, exercise and mindfulness and allows like-minded people to come together. A lot of new friendships are also made which is always lovely to see. 

There are a couple of spaces left for the next wellness retreat day on Saturday 25th May which will be held at the beautiful neospace on Riverside Drive. I hope you can join me for this wonderful day!

I am so excited to add new events in future months - the Pilates and Pinot event launched recently was a sell-out within 24 hours! Who doesn’t like a little bit of wine tasting!? (Another date to be announced very soon!)

For further information, please contact Eve Elsby at Eve Elsby Fitness on Facebook or Instagram or email eveelsbyfitness@hotmail.com. 

Further information can be found at www.eveelsbyfitness.com