How to Retreat: A Guide to Stepping Away from the Everyday to Find Space for Your Self

by Caroline Sylge

Find peace and reconnect with yourself by creating seasonal, solo retreats in everyday life for an hour, a day, or longer

Yoga overlooking pristine blue waters, hours of meditation, full-body detoxes—these are the commercialized images often associated with the word "retreat." The centuries-old practice of retreating, however, is rooted in a person’s inner life and belongs to everyone. In How to Retreat, you will discover that retreating is a lifelong process, something to build into your everyday life at home, that will allow you to find rest, solitude, inspiration, and strength through all of life's seasons.

Caroline Sylge, co-director of The Global Retreat Company, draws on thirty years of retreat experience to rediscover this practice as an accessible, personal experience that is available year-round. How to Retreat walks you through the months of the year to show you how to build retreats that last an hour, a day, or longer. Each month explores a theme connected to natural cycles of growth, rest, and transformation, and offers three options inspired by the techniques used in formal retreats but tweaked and tailored to fit into your everyday life. You are invited to follow the seasons chronologically, or dip in and out according to your needs.

Through personal experiences, expert insights, and journaling prompts, this book empowers you to discover a healing space of solitude and inspiration. Whether it’s resting deeply, cultivating creativity, discovering beauty, or building community, How to Retreat offers a practical yet flexible roadmap for restoration and rejuvenation

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published March 10, 2026

Reviews

[Vicky McAfee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a lovely read.

How to Retreat is gentle, thoughtful, and quietly grounding. It’s clearly structured in a way that helps you reflect, explore, and plan, but never feels overwhelming or prescriptive.

I found myself dipping in and out of it, returning to different sections depending on what I needed. It feels like a book you can come back to over time, rather than something to finish and put down.

There’s a softness to the writing that I really appreciated ; it feels compassionate, spacious, and genuinely supportive. Practical, but in a way that invites rather than instructs.

It also left me feeling inspired creatively. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to sit with your own thoughts a little longer, or even create something of your own.

A really enjoyable, thought-provoking read that I can see myself returning to.

[Ron Frampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book on finding time to find space for yourself .