I was inspired by an article that my sister Julie sent me titled “Camp Blueberry” about a self-led retreat that you can do over the weekend (or over the course of 3 free days). It has a schedule to follow with activities, exercises, and seminars. It’s all designed to get your creative juices flowing.
I decided to make my own version, a “Crystal Aura Camp” and put more of a spiritual twist on it. I felt like I needed a break from posting, blogging, and content creating. I just wanted to make some time to recenter myself and take a step back from the outside world.
I’ll show you my schedule and what I learned along the way. Feel free to try it out yourself or make your own version. I took a lot of ideas from “Camp Blueberry” but also incorporated a lot of my own.
Purpose:
Focus on a variety of spiritual beliefs and practices in order to feel a deeper connection with the universe.
I will be mainly focusing on Paganism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. This retreat consists of yoga sessions, tarot work, seminars and documentaries, journaling, and meditation and prayer.
Materials:
- Comfortable clothes
- Yoga mat
- Tarot deck
- Journal and pen
- TV with Youtube or streaming service (optional: Netflix and Gaia)
- Book
Day 1:
Day 1 begins in the evening, it can be Friday night or whichever day you choose.
6:30pm: Warm up
Kundalini yoga session: “Connection to Spirit” Dayna Seraye, Gaia
I began by getting in touch with my body. Kundalini yoga is the most spiritual form of yoga: focusing on chakras, breath work, and chants. I used Gaia streaming service, but you can find kundalini yoga for free on Youtube.
7pm-8pm: Setting intention
Pull out a journal and set your intentions for this retreat. Write a bullet list of everything you want to manifest, followed by everything that you are grateful for already having.
8pm-9:30pm: Seminar
Documentary: “Becoming Nobody” (Gaia)
This movie follows Ram Dass throughout the decades giving inspirational speeches, including a more recent interview of him in his old age. Ram Dass passed away around the timing of this movie release which came out in 2019.
Much of his message is that we come into the world programmed to “be somebody.” And all of these labels we put on strip ourselves of our true essence. We are spirits who come into life in these spacesuits called bodies. We never truly feel comfortable in our own bodies because it’s not who we are. Yet we get so caught up in comparison, thinking others are more comfortable in their skin, but we’re all just infinite souls stuck in these severely limiting spacesuits.
Another point that stuck out to me was that “not getting what you want is just as interesting, if not more interesting, than getting what want.” When we meet resistance and things don’t go according to plan, it’s a chance to explore, and that’s what can make life so exciting. Life would be incredibly boring if we always got what we wanted.
I really enjoyed this film and I think it’s something that everyone needs to watch!
9:30pm: Meditation
This is a great breathing exercise to put you in a trance state and relax your mind.
“Breathe with Sandy” Breath work for sleep.
10ish: Bedtime story
Spotify Podcast: Mythology: Zeus & Chronos
Day 2
8ish-10am Pancakes for breakfast
Cook with Spotify playlist: Top Christian Contemporary
I made myself some delicious pancakes while also listening to some religious music. When I sat down to eat, I turned off the music and focused on this Buddhist mindful eating video (Credit goes to Camp Blueberry!) It taught me a lot about how to eat mindfully, thoroughly enjoy your food, while connecting to the present moment.
Buddhist mindful eating meditation:
10:00am-10:30am: Morning walk
After breakfast, I went for a walk to connect with nature and get my body moving.
11:00-12:00: Yoga session
I did a 1-hour long session of kundalini yoga. I made the mistake of taking a level 2 course which challenged my body by working muscles that I don’t typically use in my normal yoga classes.
12:00-1:00: Seminar
“Brides of Christ | Our America with Lisa Ling”
I find the life of nuns to be very fascinating because they completely renounce theirselves from materialism and take a vow of poverty. One of my main goals in spirituality is to detach from the physical world, be more minimalist, require less stuff and not need much money. However there is a lot to being a nun that I just could never do! It’s curious to look into minds of such extremism.
12:30pm-1:00pm: Mindful lunch break
Cook lunch — Spotify playlist “Sound Bath”
Eat in silence & without distraction.
1:00pm-2:00pm: Reading time
Book: “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife”
This book is about a medium psychic who shares stories of experiences with the afterlife and sessions with her clients. I found it to be fascinating and comforting. It also made me think more about people who I’ve lost in my life, especially my grandparents and great grandparents.
We live in a modern society that does not speak of or acknowledge death until it’s too late. Society also doesn’t give us much space to remember those we lost.
2:30-4:00pm: Conscious cleaning
Podcast: Ancient History Fangirls: Reclaiming Hera
Cleaning is a spiritual practice. It forces you to be with your thoughts. There’s no constant distraction — but putting on a podcast in the background helps. It also shows respect for your environment.
4:00-5:00pm: Divination hour
Take out all your divination tools — tarot cards, ouija board, pendulum, etc. — and freestyle it. I rarely take the time to do divination for myself in privacy. Usually, I’m reading for others, or doing public readings online. So, it was really nice to just do it for myself, ask myself whatever questions came up in my mind, not have to share that with anybody.
5:00-6:00pm: Restorative yoga
I did some freestyle restorative yoga and stretching. But you can find guided videos on Youtube. Or you can simply just stretch.
6:00ish: Dinner & movie
Testament: the story of Moses (Netflix)
This is a 3-part film so I didn’t get through the entire thing. I enjoyed it and of course it’s very high quality because it’s a Netflix original.
7:00ish: Bedtime story
Mythology podcast: Isis & Osiris
Day 3
I woke up on Day 3 with very powerful dreams from the night before. In one dream, I reconnected with someone who I haven’t spoken to or made any contact with in over a decade. I have a painful past with this person that I had moved on from, in fact I had even forgotten what he looked like, so I was shocked to see him in a dream so clear and vividly. Overall it was a positive dream and helped me process some repressed emotions. And it was a reminder that you can move on from the past but there will always be feelings that you need to work through.
The second dream I had also seen someone who I haven’t had contact in a couple of years, still more recent, but I was just as surprised to have a vivid dream about them. I was at some kind of event and he was also there, and we talked and at first it was awkward but quickly it felt peaceful. This is also someone who I have a painful past with so it was comforting to speak to them again on good terms.
I woke up feeling a great sense of peacefulness and acceptance. It brought back a connection to people who I thought I had lost all connection with forever; which is a reminder that all humans are connected no matter the physical and emotional distance.
8:00am-10:00am: Eggs & toast for breakfast
I began the day cooking breakfast and once again playing religious music to go along with it. I ate my breakfast watching a sermon.
“I Want to be close to God | Judah Smith”
11:30am: Morning walk
Once again, I did another walk to connect to nature. It ended up being a little rainy so I wasn’t able to be out that long. But walking in light rain was beautiful! I love the rain!
12:00pm: Making music
Music is extremely spiritual. I recently bought a kalimba, which is an instrument that’s pretty easy to learn, so I worked on that.
1:30pm: Kundalini yoga
Another kundalini yoga session.
2:30pm: Hypnosis meditation
I did a guided hypnosis meditation from Gaia. You can also find these free on Youtube. It was super relaxing.
3:00pm: Seminar
“Journeys Into The Soul” series on Gaia
This is a show about people who go into deep hypnosis sessions with a guide. They do very powerful work. It’s fascinating to see how much healing and happiness comes out of these sessions.
There is one episode free on Youtube:
“Ancient Egyptian Ritual Magic With Isis”
This was followed by a mini film on Ancient Egyptian magic. Isis Indriya follows Ancient Egyptian rituals and gives insight on her spiritual practice.
5:00pm: Craft: Prayer book
I made myself a “virtual prayerbook” by simply putting my favorite prayers that I want to remember into a folder in my notes app. I think that this is the most practical way to do it. But you can also make it into a notebook or scrapbook and get more creative with it. You can make up your own prayers, find them on google or Pinterest, use Bible verses, find them from your books, etc.
In the background I had a video podcast going: “Working With The Egyptian Goddess Mysteries with Isis Indriya”
8:00pm: Cleanse your space: Declutter & donate
Go through belongings and fill a bag with stuff that you no longer need.
End of day: Reflection
Journal and reflect on what this retreat has taught you.
I woke up the next day from another vivid dream, although this was completely about family, and very focused on grieving my Mom. Most of my dream was spent crying and releasing all of my grief and other emotions. It was a difficult dream but felt super necessary for regulating my feelings.
I’ve come out of this retreat feeling very connected to myself. And connection to myself also brings connection to the universe: because I am the universe and you are also the universe, and I am you and you are me, and the universe is us.
I feel more in touch with my emotions and things that I’ve been trying to avoid and repress. I’m feeling more at peace with my life — even the negative stuff.
Crystal Aura Gaze 
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