When my friends tell me “I need a vacation,” they know that next steps will be taken. So, when my friend Jessica sent me this message last September, a few weeks later we found ourselves on a flight to Phoenix, Arizona. I have always been a beach vacation type, but we were fortunate to have recently been on a trip to Miami together (God bless our sweet wonderful husbands!) and we felt like we needed something different to recharge our batteries. I started researching “yoga retreats” and “wellness retreats” and came across Civana Wellness Resort & Spa in Carefree, Arizona. One look at their website and my exhausted weary mom soul was sold.
I am not exaggerating when I say that other than my two-week honeymoon in Jamaica where I was waited on by an actual butler, this may be my favorite trip I have ever taken. I usually take trips where I want to get dressed up at night and be out on the town or see tourist attractions, which is an awesome experience and a fun part of traveling, but this was the first trip I had ever taken where the entire point was to just REST and REJUVENATE. When I got home from this vacation, I did not feel like I needed a vacation, as we too often say when we arrive home from our travels. I felt calm and peaceful and renewed. Dare I say, I felt like a new person. Something changed in my soul on this magical trip to the desert.
We flew into Scottsdale on a Wednesday evening and were picked up by a cool Tesla with a Civana logo for our private airport transfer. I was a little bit nervous about this, being two girls traveling alone in the desert, but our drivers each way were so friendly and professional. We arrived at the beautiful resort in the evening and basically went right to bed since we were on east coast time and exhausted from traveling. The awesome part of being (and staying) on east coast time in Arizona, especially at a wellness retreat, is waking up at the crack of dawn and catching a sunrise yoga class. Spending that first morning seeing the sun come up over the mountains was so amazingly peaceful. After our class, we went and got green smoothies from their coffee shop, Seed, and then walked around the beautiful labyrinth. All I can say is my idea of what vacation should be was immediately changed. I felt like a newborn baby in a swaddle the entire time I was there, just being pampered and cared for. Also, almost all of the classes there are free! We squeezed as many into each day as possible.
An important tip for making the most of this trip is to pre-book all of your classes and spa appointments. A Guest Experience Coordinator will reach out to you through email to arrange your schedule, or you can call or text them, which I recommend. They were so helpful, and even let us book three classes per day, even though it says you can only book two on the website. I think they let you do two free classes (most of them are free) and one paid activity such as a hike or mala-making workshop. Spa appointments also don’t count as your booked activities, so you can schedule yourself a pretty full itinerary. Their spa was one of the best I have ever been to. They even have extra add-ons like reiki and chakra balancing. I received the most amazing massage and their relaxation area has a gorgeous sundeck overlooking Black Mountain. They also have an aqua-therapy circuit free to use with any spa appointment as well as saunas, hot tubs, showers, refreshments, and more. You could easily spend half the day here. For my next trip, I will definitely be booking more than one spa treatment!
After our sunrise yoga class on our first day, our next class was a floating guided relaxation meditation where we cocooned into silk sheets used for aerial yoga while doing a guided meditation (basically in an actual swaddle). This was one of my favorite experiences. Feeling like you are floating while you are meditating definitely takes you to another level, literally and figuratively. After meditation class, we had some amazing salads for lunch at their main restaurant, Terras, and then hung out by the beautiful pool drinking kombucha, reading books, and getting some sun.
After a few hours of pool time, we squeezed in a “Body Love” class which was a self-love workshop that included journaling. I loved this class so much, it actually made me cry. It was a really beautiful experience. The teachers here are really special people that have so much life experience and perspective to offer the guests. Once class ended, we had another treat awaiting us- massages at the spa! This was definitely a highlight of our trip. We then went to a “blissful sleep” guided meditation followed by some truffle pizzas and mocktails at Terras before heading to bed (they do have alcohol at the resort as well, I just chose not to drink on the trip, which was easy to do with their awesome mocktail menu). It was a perfect day!
The next morning, we woke up at sunrise again since we were falling asleep on east coast time. For this day, we had a sunrise nature hike scheduled! This was AWESOME. We got some coffee and smoothies from Seed and then headed off on our adventure to literally climb a freaking mountain (Pinnacle Peak). The sweetest part of this experience was my husband sending me a video of our girls telling me “Good job, Mommy! You did it!” afterward. It made me feel even more proud and excited. After our hike, we got a late breakfast at Terras and then headed to a mala-making workshop.
I did not even know what a mala was before this trip, but it is a meditation tool that is really unique and special (similar to a rosary) and I’m so excited that I now have my very own now. It was the perfect souvenir for our trip. After class, we grabbed an early dinner (delicious tacos from Terras) before heading to an intention-burning ceremony. Afterward, we went back to our room and ate chocolate in our beds, does life get any better?!
On our third day, we grabbed our morning coffee and smoothie and then set off on another sunrise hike. This time we hiked Tortuga Trail, which was so beautiful. The first hike was more of a tourist area with tons of people. For this hike, we truly felt one with nature out in the middle of the desert. It was such an awesome experience. I absolutely fell in love with hiking on this trip.
When we got back to the resort, we were starving and had another late breakfast at Terras.
Next, we did an “Inner Intimacy Workshop” which was an interesting experience. I won’t say I LOVED this one, because it had some uncomfortable moments and was a lot of emotional work, but it was a cool experience that I definitely learned from. After the workshop, we needed some comfort food and asked the waitress if we could get a cheeseburger. The resort is very healthy, and it was not on the menu, but they DO have burgers there just for guests like us who get tired of eating so healthy! This turned out to be a bad idea since we had an aerial yoga class scheduled right after we ate. Eating a cheeseburger and then hanging upside down was not my smartest life decision. We were not feeling so hot after that and actually went back to our room to lie down! Thankfully, we made it back out to go to our sunset sound healing class, because this was possibly my favorite experience of the trip. I slept like a baby after that.
On our last morning before heading to the airport, we were able to squeeze in one last meditation class which was the perfect way to end the trip. We did a little souvenir shopping before we left and then headed to the airport for our flight home. I think three days is the perfect amount of time to spend at Civana. I would definitely not recommend any less than that, if anything maybe one more day. I also suggest sticking to only doing 2-3 classes per day so that you can enjoy the pool and spa without feeling too rushed. I cannot wait to take another trip to Civana. I am planning to take my sister there for her birthday and would love to visit with my mom one day as well. I also want to bring my husband and daughters there when the girls get older. This is the kind of place you want to share with the people you love so that they can experience it for themselves. It was definitely a life-changing trip and I can’t wait to go back!