The Modern LeadHer Way

[094] The Time Out Effect: When You Stop Doing and Start Being

• Emma Clayton

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Fresh from a trip to Spain, I share my experience of combining a personal visit with friends, wth a solo retreat, and a wrecky for the upcoming Time Out Retreat venue in September.
I cover:
• Importance of disconnecting from technology and constant learning to become truly present
• How a solo retreat creates space for time to expand and deepen our experiences
• Using our senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) helps ground us in the present moment
• Casa Toretta Blanca in Partaloa, Almeria will host our September retreat with 10 bedrooms, pool, and multiple spaces
• Reconnecting with our power of "being" rather than constantly "doing" is transformative
• Upcoming podcast episodes will explore my breakthrough retreat experience in Bali and feature the retreat venue owners

Join us for the Time Out Retreat in Spain, 24-28 September. Early bird pricing and payment plans available through May. Visit the link below or book a discovery call through the website to learn more.


Join the next Time Out Retreat in Spain: https://www.emmaclaytonxo.com/courses/time-out-spain

Start your Human Design Journey Today for FREE: https://www.emmaclaytonxo.com/courses/hd-initiation

Subscribe to the video podcast and watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Q8bQIq6BaPnRh5mht8E_Cxa8nn5SJ3Q

Connect with me & become part of the listener community on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmaclayton.xo/

Book your Game Plan here: https://www.emmaclaytonxo.com/courses/game-plan

Speaker 1:

This is the Modern Leader Way the podcast for corporate career women who want to feel good on their way to the top. I'm Emma Clayton and I'll be sharing with you tangible advice to help you stop sacrificing your soul in the name of success and experience more balance, confidence and fulfilment both in and out of work. Hello and welcome back to the modern leader way which is me this week, and I am fresh back from a trip to spain for the last week, where I not only caught up with some friends um, a friend who's actually lived there for nearly 20 years now, who has, um, a young daughter called carlotta that's my goddaughter but also had my own little solo retreat and, at the same time as being in Spain, I also went to visit what is going to be the next venue and location for the next time out retreat. So I'm super excited to spill all of the deets for what my trip involved, how my solo retreat went and what is inspired for the next time out retreat and over the next couple of episodes, actually, we're going to go deep into the whole retreat experience, because there's a reason why I'm passionate about creating this experience for you and that's because I had a major breakthrough on my very first retreat in Bali, where I actually had the clarity come through around my future, and that's when I made the decision to take redundancy and set up my own business and do what I'm doing now, seven and a half years later. So I'm super passionate about that and I want to go into that story in particular, that experience that I had in Bali, so that you can kind of get a flavor for what might what you might expect to happen on a retreat for you, and I'm also going to be interviewing the wonderful couple whose home it is that we're renting.

Speaker 1:

We're um booking out exclusively for our September retreat. So if you want more details about the retreat that's coming up in September, it's the 24th to the 28th of September, that's a Wednesday to a Sunday. It is a four nights full board. You get all your meals cooked for you, all your sessions with me in there. I will describe the transformation that I'll take you on as well. Um, your transfers are included. You just have to get yourself to Spain, to Alicante airport, and the rest is taken care of. And this really is the same premise as the previous timeout retreats that we've ran in Margate, albeit for like the day or 24 hours for those that actually stayed as a VIP, and you know, the beautiful feedback that we've had from those day-long retreats has just been so wonderful that I can only imagine the feedback that we're going to get after spending four whole nights together. So I'm super excited about that.

Speaker 1:

I am outside, if you can hear the ducks. That is why I actually intended to record this episode whilst I was in Spain, but I was just having such a glorious time to be honest, I was on my devices very little, really trying to practice what I preach, actually and um, so it didn't happen. So we are back home now and we are recording for you today. So, yeah, excuse the ducks, but it's all part of being outside and being in nature. So if you want the link to that, that will be in the show notes, as always, or you can visit my website, which is emmaclaytonxocom. Forward slash time dash out, dash Spain, or you can find it from the homepage, from the top bar there. Yeah, super excited to reveal all of the details there.

Speaker 1:

But just to recap on my little trip, the main purpose of this trip really was to do a recce for the venue that we've secured for September, and I was originally going to go for a little retreat there myself and what I decided to do was mix it up a little bit and instead go and see my visit my friend, for a couple of nights first, and that was lovely, just catching up. It always feels like a bit of a whirlwind, never enough time to really go into life and just catch up on everything, um, but it was really nice to see my goddaughter and my friend and um caught up with a couple of her friends as well, uh, that are out there, and just catch up on life and be together and just hang out at her place and get some nice food out as well. So that was really lovely. She dropped me off on the Monday morning at seven o'clock and I got the fast train via Madrid down to Alicante, which was like a five and a half hour journey. Um, and it was just really beautiful.

Speaker 1:

I sat by the window, I watched the world go past as we went through the different landscapes and went through like the more greenest sort of northern Spain down into the drier, more arid, more mountainous southern Spain, and arrived at Alicante train station and jumped on a bus, got myself to the airport where I picked up my hire car and got on the road and actually at that point I was like what am I doing? I'm like driving on the wrong side of the road. Thankfully I had the forethought to get an automatic rather than a manual, so I didn't have to think about gears as well as like what side of road I'm meant to be on, um navigating with my phone sat nav, because I couldn't work out that if the car had any navigation. But I got on the road and it's actually a straight road, a motorway all the way down for two and a half hours down to where I went to a quick Mercadona trip to stock up on stuff for three days that was going to be there and and then checked into my villa.

Speaker 1:

It was a beautiful apartment. It was on a complex. I felt very safe. My car was parked in an underground car park and there was security on the gates and it was a gated community with other people that were in residence there. To be honest, there wasn't a very holiday feel. It was very residential and quiet. It was so peaceful, but I literally had views out to the sea, across the palm trees and across the lower apartments. I had views of the mountains, I had the sun rising over the sea, I had the sun setting over the mountains and I had my own rooftop terrace with a beautiful bench kind of table on the top there and a couple of chairs and really nice cactuses and everything. It was just a really beautiful space to spend that couple of days to myself.

Speaker 1:

And my intention for that trip really was to do what I, you know, intend to do for my guests when they arrive at a time out retreat, and that is really to disconnect from all the noise out there, from my phone and being constantly scrolling on social media for my work as well as for personal consumption, but also to like drown out a lot of the things I listen to. I'm constantly learning, constantly expanding, so I'm always listening to someone who's talking about ways that I can grow, whether that's through business knowledge and acumen, whether that's through learning about my money mindset or whether it's just generally things around habit improvement and things like that. So I'm always learning, always got something going on in my ears. I really wanted to disconnect from that. I wanted to not be on my devices, I wanted to not be listening to anything. I wanted to literally become really present to my surroundings and enjoy it like really ground into the present moment and make the most of it. And I can't tell you how time opened up and expanded for me in the two full days I had to myself and three nights I was there. It was really beautiful.

Speaker 1:

So I actually took myself off for a hike on the first full day that was there and I saw it was like I think it was 11ks I did, and it was sort of alongside the bottom of a mountain, but it kind of gradually went up and over the mountain range and came back down the coast the other side. Uh, 11k, it said it took roughly three hours and I thought, yeah, I'm gonna do it and I went out without my headphones. I did have my phone because that was navigate, helping me navigate, but also, you know, just for safety and everything, I had my, literally my 500 mil water bottle and, yeah, I set off, uh, quite early in the morning, about eight o'clock, so it wasn't too hot and I did it. I got back and I felt really good. I did have a little slip as I went up and over. It was quite steep coming down. I only had my road runners on which weren't particularly grippy and it was quite steep coming down. I only had my road runners on, which weren't particularly grippy, and it was quite loose underfoot, so I did slip. Um, I've actually got a big scar from where I um slipped and cracked my elbow and fell onto my right butt cheek. But don't worry, I've been back to the chiropractor since and she's straightened me up a little bit, so, but I managed it and it was really beautiful.

Speaker 1:

And the things I encourage my guests to do when they go out for their lunchtime walk or whatever, is to really get present with your surroundings, to really tap into those senses. Right, so we can hear the ducks right now flying. I don't know why they're making such a noise, but here we are, so we can hear. What can you hear through the sense of your ears? What can you see through your eyes? What can you feel on your skin, whether it's the gentle breeze or the warmth of the sun. What can you taste, whether it's the morning coffee you've had not so long ago and what can you smell, right? So, really getting into your senses, it gets you out of your head and into your body. It's a really good grounding exercise and I even saw and captured this actually on camera. But I saw these ants like going across in front of me and they were carrying these tiny little ants were carrying, you know, grass seed on the long kind of grass they were carrying, so like four times the size of them. They were all carrying them, obviously going to nest. And it's just like fascinating that I wouldn't have necessarily picked up on that if I'd not really been like in my sense of sight at the time, and I really noticed it and I was like, oh, that's so cool, and I sort of stopped and, um, just was with them for a little while. So, yeah, I did my walk and I was, I felt, quite accomplished after that and I just gave myself full permission to do nothing.

Speaker 1:

Uh, for the rest of the afternoon I'd had a couple of naps. I made myself some really beautiful food, so I had a lot of salads. I had a chicken Caesar salad, I had a prawn cocktail, um, I had eggs. While I was there, I had hummus and carrot sticks. It was just like I really wanted to make it quite a healthy um few days as well, because I've I've really been keeping a check on what I'm putting in in terms of nutrition and and also prioritizing protein. So I wanted to continue that whilst I was away, which is not something I normally, you know, think about, but I really did put some intention into doing that.

Speaker 1:

So I just had this really beautiful um afternoon, just chilling, and actually the weather was a bit changeable. So that afternoon we had, um, some black clouds coming in over the mountains. I watched an epic storm pass through. There was thunder, there was a rainbow. Afterwards it really did come down rain-wise, and yet the sun was setting over the mountains in a clear sky by the time we got to that point. So I kind of really just sat with it all. I did capture some of it on my phone, but I was present with it. I wasn't like distracting myself, I was just really watching it come and go and it really did slow down time. So that day just felt like it went really slowly. It was really nourishing, it was really beautiful, and that's really the essence of what I try and create through the time out retreat. So it's really just easing into it myself, giving myself my own solo retreat to really do some of that stuff.

Speaker 1:

The. I think I had the best night's sleep I've had all year round that evening and then the next day the weather was looking a bit dodgy. Actually it wasn't that nice. So I took myself out in the car, went for an explore up and over the mountain range into the next village called Carboneras, carboneras, carboneras, and, uh, when there, I just took a nice little walk along the beach, got myself coffee, um, did a bit of an explore while I was there, went and stocked up on a couple of bits that I needed from the shop and then took myself back for lunch and had another afternoon where I just literally, um, just took it all in and the sun came out and I was sat on my roof terrace and I was getting some clips of um footage from video and stuff like that that I can use on social media. So it was really beautiful.

Speaker 1:

The next morning I took it slow, I checked out around midday and I headed into, um the Almerian hills, which is, you know, we're southern Spain now, and, um, I think I followed the black cloud, to be honest. So by the time I arrived, it looked quite stormy again, um, but I was welcomed with open arms by Pat and Jane, who own Casa Toretta Blanca, which is in partalowa in almeria, and they've got this beautiful 10 bedroom house which is just perfect for a retreat. It's got so many little nooks and crannies. It's got like this little moroccan snug out in the courtyard at the back, and they've got this beautiful space that they've created where they can have, um, like bean bags and really comfortable area for you to sit and enjoy a sound bath or meditation in the courtyard as well. They've got this shaded area where we sit and had dinner uh, that pat freshly prepared in his kitchen, which you know is fully open. You're free to walk around the house and watch him cook.

Speaker 1:

There's all the animals. They've got two dogs called Socks and Zorro, who are just like so cute. And then you've got the cats Luna, george, princess and Harry, and George took a real liking to me. I'm not really a cat person, to be honest, but this George was just so like tender with me and just really wanted to cuddle up, so I had a new friend for life there.

Speaker 1:

Um, so, yeah, I actually had a little siesta when I got there after lunch and, um, that's a storm sort of pass through, and again, it was short-lived, so it came out beautiful. We watched the sun go down over the hills and Pat had prepared a vegan paella to show me how you know what options we've got for the menu, and we had some great conversation over dinner. And then the next day I did a little bit of exploring with Pat and on a dog walk we went through the village of Partalowa and, yeah, we saw a little spot where you can actually watch the sunrise up over the mountains. So I'm adding that to my itinerary for September as well. So did a lot of like exploring and experiencing what it's going to be like and just making the most of all the different areas around the villa. So I sat outside the front they've got these beautiful soft curtains in the shaded area on this really comfy seating area it's another little nook, if you like and then I spent the afternoon by the pool. I had a little swim.

Speaker 1:

Oh, it was just delightful, and I really fell in love with the place and for me it's important that I get to experience it for myself so that I can really see the experience I'm creating unfold in my mind. So obviously, when I did it in Margate, it was my sister's house and that was accessible to me and open to me at the time. Um, so I could really picture myself. I could see myself and I could see the flow of the day and I could see where we'd spend time to do that and I could see where we'd move to do that and and I could see how. You know, I could really visualize how it's going to unfold and it did just as I visualized it. Um, so for me it was really important to do a recce and also get a feel for the place, because it might not have been the right place, but I absolutely fell in love with it.

Speaker 1:

Pat and Jane are there to make my life a lot easier as well, so it takes a lot of the pressure off me not having to think about food and like dinner times and things like that. They are the ones that are well connected. So they're going to find they know of a yoga instructor that's coming, going to come in and do a 90 minute yoga session one morning before breakfast on the roof terrace. Sun's coming up. We're going to do the sunrise hike to watch the sunrise over the mountains and have breakfast up there one morning. We are going to have a lot of space where we're going to stretch that time and really maximize the time out that you've got whilst you're there and, um, yeah, it's going to be less about go, go, go and what we're doing and what's on the itinerary next, because that's not the intention with the time out.

Speaker 1:

The intention really is to help you stop being so busy in the doing and remember and reconnect to the power in your being, and this is so underrated yet it's so powerful when you actually get to tap into that. So that is the intention behind it. So it will be spacious. There will be three meals a day. We will enjoy a wonderful conversation with each other around the dinner table. We will enjoy some wonderful food that's all home, prepared fresh by Pat.

Speaker 1:

I experienced the paella, which was lovely. I had tapas, I also had his Moroccan special. So, um, yeah, they will all be appearing on the menu as well in September. So that's a bit of an update on what I've been up to and what I've been cooking up behind the scenes and experiencing for myself, because I really do want to be someone that not only creates these amazing experiences but actually gets to experience it firsthand, so that I know how to like improve on the whole, on the whole experience, and to, um, yeah, really add in those small touches and help you really sink into the intention behind taking that time out for yourself. It's going to be glorious. It's still really warm weather at the end of September, which is great, and if you are interested in wanting to explore more, then I'll leave the link.

Speaker 1:

You can have a look at all the details. You can check out your flight times. You can look at how much it's going to cost you. There is a payment plan available right now, at the time of recording, and for the rest of May there is a option to pay over four months. When we hit June, it will only be an option to pay over three months as we get closer to it, so that could be an option for you also. The early bird is the lowest price. It's going to be um. I also managed to get a really good deal with Pat and Jane, and so it's the only year that I'm going to be able to to do it for such a good price.

Speaker 1:

So if you want to be in, you want to be in for this first gig that we're doing in Spainain. I am intending to do it again next year I don't know when yet it's not in the diary. We are focused on september. So if you want to join us and you want to chat more. I am very open. My calendar is open for a discovery call, um. You can book that through the um, the website, where you'll find all the details. There's a. There's an option there to book in your discovery call. It's 25 minutes with me, you know.

Speaker 1:

Ask all the questions. We can talk about whether it's a good fit for you and, um, what your? Yeah, just go for everything that you've got on your mind to help you come up with the best decision. So that's all for me. This week, I'm gonna welcome pat and jane.

Speaker 1:

On next week, we're gonna hear about their story what led them their story, what led them to Spain, what led them to doing what they're doing now, and also what they've got in mind for your experience and your transformation when you come across their front door.

Speaker 1:

So tune back in next week and then after that, I'm going to go into all the juicy details of what happened on my retreat in Bali in 2017, when I actually got to the conclusion that I was going to take redundancy.

Speaker 1:

So be sure to come back for that and, in the meantime, if you have any questions at all about the retreat, give us a. Give us a shout, drop us an email, contact me on on social media, wherever you're following me, and let's have a chat, because I'd love, love, love to get excited about seeing you in Spain, where we're going to stretch time, we're going to really anchor into who it is that you really are when you take yourself out of the busyness and get you reconnected to what it is that you're creating in this lifetime and get you out of the way of all the things that and get you reconnected to what it is that you're creating in this lifetime and get you out of the way of all the things that are stopping you from creating that now, so that you can come back and really focus on what it is you're creating from this one life that you've got. One life, people don't waste it. I hope to see you in spain. Um, in the meantime, take care.

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Emma Clayton

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