Combining Education and Vacation

Edu-vacational retreats and workshops

I'd like to put an idea in your head. Just for the next time you either consider taking a class, training or seminar or if you plan to travel somewhere.

This might not be for everyone, but I certainly would do it no other way any more. Learning something new when you go on vacation or going on vacation when you want to learn something new is doubling the value of your time. And time is probably your most precious commodity.

But not only do you get more value for time spent, but when you take yourself out of the rut and to an exotic, inspiring, beautiful destination that opens your senses and your heart, you are much more receptive to taking in something new and retaining it. So whatever it is you learn, you will take more of it home for a longer period of time.

And when you learn something new, you are more likely to take your environment in on a much deeper level and anchor it there with the experiences giving the location a whole different meaning for you from there on for the rest of your life. You will remember more details about your destination and probably have a deeper connection to it.

Often programs can be offered in locations outside of the US for much less or the amenities are much better for the same price you would pay for the same content on the US mainland. So while it costs something to get there, and the course, workshop or seminar also adds to the tab, your accommodations, transportation and food there might be a lot cheaper. Not to mention being able to bring some cool things back.

There is a growing tendency to become a virtual Being, stuck in front of the computer, living as an Avatar and taking online training, webinars and seminars and studying courses on CDR. While there is nothing wrong with that it can not substitute the multi-dimensional experience of traveling to a foreign destination, meeting other human beings in flesh and blood and exposing yourself to the culture, the language and the music and activating your senses.

Take a class, workshop or intensive that has nothing to do with your job and you will be surprised how it changes the way you do things in your job. Do something that you thought you never would do. Take a drumming workshop, do some art, a yoga retreat, learn massage, take a class in spa treatments, learn to make and play a didgeridoo...(I'm not making this up, these workshops actually exist)

Take a class that can take you to a whole new level in your job and at the same time expand you horizon. Take a management seminar in Moscow, a computer course in Costa Rica, a course on mother-infant relationships in Israel (These courses are actually available)

What more could be more gratifying then learning something fundamental for life with the emphasis on "fun" or a skill that will accelerate your job while retreating from the same-old, same-old at the same time?

Nicolay Kreidler is a licensed massage therapist and massage instructor at learn-massage.com Touching from the Heart and a facilitator at spa-college.com Spa College. He is an active consultant to the spa industry and author of the book "The Successful Massage Therapist" now available as ebook through spa-pros.com Spa Pros.