How to Retreat: Step away from your everyday to rest, reset and renew

by Caroline Sylge

Introduce the magic of retreating into your life, however much time you have

What comes into your mind when you hear the word ‘retreat’? Meditation at a mountain monastery, or a trip to far-flung places? This book offers you the wisdom and practical steps to bring the magic of retreating into your life, whether it’s for a long weekend, a day, or even an hour.

Using the seasons as an optional guide, each chapter delves into a simple theme to focus your exploration, taking you through a range of enticing activities to help you find and sustain a happier version of yourself – wherever you are, and whatever your budget or schedule.

From decluttering your stuff to coaching your own life, from finding your flow to learning how to say no, this accessible and beautiful collection of retreats will enable you to restore, repair and rejuvenate yourself.

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication March 12, 2026

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book thinking that I could incorporate the ideas into a weekend or maybe when I have a week off. I thought it would give me ideas, what it actually gave me was so much more.
It’s a well constructed, crafted and thoughtful book. It’s starts with how to prepare for a retreat which is just so helpful and very practical. It gives you ideas about a wide variety of types of retreats you could do alone or with others with different amounts of time. One of the most interesting parts is the thoughts on how you could incorporate the retreat into your day to day life. It even gives you information about organised retreats, having completed a few of these myself I found further information so helpful.
There are poems, references and lots of research and information she even goes so far as reading suggestions.
I think whilst I read the book from front to back it would also work if you just read the chapters you are interested in.
I think this is book that would be a joy as a physical book to use as a reference, making your own notes in and reflecting on over time and would make a fabulous present for someone.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this book for my consideration, this is all my own rambling, honest and personal opinion.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Retreating comes from the Latin verb trahere, which means to pulling in, but in this sense it means to withdraw into oneself, and according to the author, it can be done for an hour, a day, or a week. There are various reasons for doing so, as well as various ways of doing it, and this book offers many useful suggestions, which are not only the fruit of the author's mind, but also of research that ranges across other traditions, whether Hindu or Japanese. Interesting, but not exactly something extraordinarily innovative.

Ritirarsi viene dal verbo trahere che é latino e significa portare, ma in questo sensso significa ritrarsi in se stessi e si puó fare secondo l'autrice per un'ora, un giorno o una settimana. Ci sono varie ragioni cosí come vari modi per farli ed in questo libro molti suggerimenti utili, che non sono solo frutto della mente dell'autrice, ma di ricerche che spaziano anche in altre tradizioni, siano induiste che giapponesi poco importa. Interessante, ma non esattamente qualcosa di straordinariamente innovativo.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.