Three main issues have led to an uptick in the popularity of retreats. Firstly, the pandemic caused an increase in health anxiety, which has had a direct impact on our travel choices. Gone are the days when a boozy beach holiday left us feeling flatter than when we flew out. Now, retreat-goers are paying a premium to fine-tune both their physical and mental health.

Secondly, navigating a difficult economy (wage stagnation, housing crisis) means it’s harder than ever to escape a pervasive feeling that ‘time is money’. Where leisure time was once exclusively reserved for leisure, now we see it as an opportunity to work on everything from our health to our personal brand. Lastly, as Jeffery-Swain points out, retreats offer us a way to navigate difficult periods in our lives with the help of experts. Where once we might have turned to family, neighbours or our community to support us, retreats plug a connection gap – for a short period, at least.

Beauty consultant and journalist Madeleine Spencer has attended the super-luxe Mayrlife Medical Health retreat in the idyllic spa town of Altaussee in Austria eight times. “I first went because the photographer Juergen Teller told me it restored him when he felt frazzled. I was only 30 at the time but had had a pretty intense year so wanted to find out if it could do the same to me,” she explains. “The solitude is dreamy – it’s right on [an Alpine] lake, and you feel very soothed the entire time. A lot of people travel there solo so you don’t feel weird about it.”

In just seven days she says she felt transformed. “The first three days were hard: the routine wasn’t the same as mine at home, and the food was pretty restricted.” She describes the meals as “monastic” (read: small) plus “they ask you to chew each mouthful 40-60 times”. Think local cheese, cooked veg (nothing raw, except for herbs), eggs – simple, whole foods.

“I woke on day four with this deep calm energy I hadn’t felt for years – it was as if my body and mind were aligned properly, and I felt amazing. The first thing I noticed was how white the whites of my eyes were: it was remarkable. I’ve since been seven times and every time I marvel at how just a week of good food, good routine and rest makes a huge difference. I go whenever life has taken a bit too much out of me, and generally recommend once a year if possible, as it really resets.”

For others, like Katie, 34, the promise of a ‘quick fix’ was a recipe for disappointment. She’d made the decision to try a magic mushroom retreat in the Caribbean after reading Michael Pollan’s How To Change Your Mind. “I’d hit a wall in my career and I wanted something to shake me out of my routine. I’d always thought that the answers were inside me but I didn’t know how to access them. At the same time, I was reading all these things about how psychedelics could help you access a deeper truth about yourself,” she says. “The marketing for this retreat was all about uncovering truth and reaching enlightenment so I thought it would help me figure out what I wanted to do with my life.”

The experience was intense, emotional and, at times, overwhelming. “I was there with a group of women who’d all come with very similar questions. Many of them were older than me – in their 60s and 70s – but they were looking for answers to the same big existential questions.” The week-long retreat cost £5,000 and included group talking therapy, hikes and yoga, as well as two drug ‘ceremonies’ in the grounds of a private property in the middle of a lush jungle. “After initially feeling a little sick, I settled into the first drug session. It felt like I was vibrating and everything around me was moving and multicoloured. It was a really physical feeling, I was getting surges up and down my body, but I didn’t get any big epiphanies. And judging by how many of the other women were laughing, I guess they didn’t either.” The second ‘ceremony’ was a much more gentle affair. “I did have some thoughts about how I really hated social media, which I guess is an awakening of sorts,” says Katie. “It was a cool experience but I really didn’t leave feeling enlightened.”

Many retreats, particularly those rooted in spirituality, thrive on group bonding. Mel, 48, was initially apprehensive about attending a two-week yoga retreat in Thailand. “I’d just left my job and needed a reset, but going alone felt daunting.” She describes the first few days as emotionally raw, spent in group circles discussing life’s biggest fears. “It was weirdly intense. By the end, I felt like I’d known these women forever.” This kind of rapid intimacy is one of the reasons people keep returning to retreats – there’s a deep allure in finding a community that gets you, even if only for a weekend.

Ultimately, it’s this that keeps the market flourishing – the elusive possibility not just of profound change but also connection. “When people have been stuck in limbo for a long time, they reach a state of dissociation, which means you don’t really feel things so well and it’s difficult to feel emotions and process things,” says Verney-Carron. “People come to a retreat in this state.” Add a dash of strangeness and some healing self-reflection and it opens up the possibility for renewal. That’s certainly how I felt when I left Harvest.

From trauma and heartbreak to sexual awakening, can you really transform your life in just a few days on a retreat?