Your DNA – the very core of who you are and how you feel – adjusts its expression when you are on a real vacation.  Recent research shows that the genes that strengthen your immune system, reduce stress, and protect telomeres (the part of our chromosomes that control how we age) are significantly affected when you unplug from your daily life and plug into an immersive vacation. 

Basically, vacations can help you live a longer and happier life.

If you are starting to feel the sense of ease that the summer holidays provide, you are likely experiencing a piece of what psychiatric researchers call the “vacation effect”.  The vacation effect is intuitively understood – taking a real vacation reduces the biological processes related to stress.

What makes it a real vacation?   Take an honest, immersive break.

Separation.  Our bodies need a completely distinct — and ideally new — space and time away from the grind of daily life to recover and rejuvenate on a biological level.  You can’t just bring your body on vacation but have your mind tethered to work, email, and social media. You need to cut if off. You need to retreat into well-being.  

That’s why the Skylonda Program features a “digital detox” — we encourage guests to leave their digital devices in their rooms throughout the day.  Sometimes this is uncomfortable at first, but in our experience, guests quickly appreciate the extra layer of relaxation this detachment brings to their retreat.

Take a cue from nature. The moon wax and wanes. The days change from light to dark. The seasons shift in a cyclic pattern that rejuvenates the Earth.

Do the same for you. Switch gears. Change seasons. Enter fully into your retreat. And after you do – you can re-enter your daily life feeling full of zest knowing that this is not just a short-lived emotional state — your body is expressing a genetic profile that is good for your long-term mental and physical health.

Looking to double down on the good feels?

Practice meditation and mindfulness on your retreat.  

Like everything, the vacation effect alone eventually wears off, whereas the meditation training appears to have lasting effects on well-being.  

Practicing meditation and mindfulness on retreat and then bringing this practice back into your daily life is a powerful way to anchor the positive genetic expressions cultivated on retreat into your daily life.

Farewell.

The only thing left for you to do now is to close down this digital device and retreat fully into your Summer vacation experience.  If you are like most and find it difficult to detach fully in your home environment — visit us at Skylonda this Summer and we’ll make sure you have the space to unplug from the past and create a healthy personal vision for your future.