The full article appeared on Forbes April 9, 2024. Click here to read the full article
Creative wellness is on the rise. There is an uptick of spas and studios offering wellness retreats and treatments that incorporate creativity into the mix, whether it’s spatial audio, art therapy or writing workshops, proving that there’s more to take away from a relaxing spa treatment than a massage or a facial.
One key example of this is author Christy Cashman recently launched the YouThink Creative Wellness Retreat, which is happening next at the Harbor View Hotel in Martha’s Vineyard this fall, from October 3 to 6. The premise of the retreat is to get guests into the wellness zone, then trigger their creativity.
Cashman is the author of The Truth About Horses, a novel focused on the equestrian world which is currently being adapted into a TV series co-produced by British actress, Jane Seymour. She was recently on a panel with Emily Blunt about horses and their healing powers at the Misty Meadows Equine Learning Center.
GEORGINA PRESTON
Her wellness retreats, which she leads alongside executive director Shannon Pastuszak, focuses on having speakers talk about health and wellness, as well as holistic and preventative medicine. Cashman also hosts a writing workshop for the guests to help them explore their inner fiction writer. Guests are also invited to take part in cold plunges (“it’s uncomfortable, but a bonding experience when you all do it together,” she says), as well as horseback riding
She features workshops and classes led by top industry professionals. There are yoga and meditation classes with Pam Butler, a communications workshop with Irish actor Alan Devine, and a holistic wellness workshop with Dr. Mark Kovacs. Los Angeles musician Keith Harkin takes guests on a journey through musicology, while Dr. Mary O’Connor leads guests through an ecological walk, and a dramatherapy session with Pádraig J. Dunne.
The retreat was a long time coming for Cashman, an actor who has starred in films like Pink Panther 2, and American Hustle, before becoming a fiction writer. “For years, I have wanted to do a creative wellness workshop – where people just have a chance to just be,” said Cashman. “It’s where you soak into your environment and carve out space to be creative. Whether it’s getting back to writing that novel you’ve wanted to, or doing the painting you wanted to make, it’s about just being inspired by life and its surroundings. We get so caught up in the business of our lives, we lose perspective.”
“The whole idea is about getting your perspective back, creating time for our creative projects,” she adds.
The YouThink retreats give back, bridging the gap between philanthropy and wellness. The retreats fund the YouthInk non-profit creative mentorship program and scholarships for teens aged 13 to 18, which Cashman hosts on a quarterly basis. It helps teens carve out their creative voice through creative writing, film, photography, music, animation, fashion design, and acting.
GEORGINA PRESTON
“Creativity goes hand in hand with wellness,” said Cashman, who runs the program with its co-creative directors, Pádraig J. Dunne, and Mary O’Connor. “It’s about creating your own personal story, learning how to be a storyteller and expressing your true creative self.”
After doing their first pilot workshop at Kilkea Castle in 2021, Cashman realized the power of the creative workshop and wanted to offer it to adults. “I thought adults would love this,” she recalls. “It’s a 360-degree approach that comes full circle the moment you decide to care for yourself. As you help yourself, you help others.”
The dedicated time and space to be creative is key to Cashman who knows this firsthand. When she started writing her book in 2013, she attended several writing workshops to perfect her craft.
“It had this feeling of a new beginning,” she said. “The most important thing about writing is not only having the talent but carving the time out in your life. You must take the time. The only way I could express it was through these retreats.”
The upcoming wellness retreat in Martha’s Vineyard will feature a talk by Carly Simon’s daughter, Sally Taylor, who runs an arts organization called Consenses, on how art by one person informs the art of another.
“Creating art is scary, but it is so fulfilling,” said Cashman. “Attending a wellness-driven creative retreat is the perfect place to be still, to grow, and to reconnect with your inner creator.”
As she prepares for her next retreat in Martha’s Vineyard, Cashman will be featured at Canyon Ranch in Lenox on May 8 discussing mental health in The Truth About Horses along with Dr. Mark Kovacs. She is continuing her book tour with talks in New York and Nantucket this spring. Cashman will also make an appearance at the Capital Rare Book Fair, co-founded by Eve and Edward Lemon, in Washington on May 5, speaking alongside royal expert Hugo Vickers. She is also working on her second novel, which is a mystery book based in the Tennessee mountains in the 1980s.
Keeping her own creativity alive is key to the process. “I think we need creative exploration in wellness,” she said. “We are creative beings, and whether you’re an entrepreneur or a doctor, you must use your creativity in one way or another—I believe everyone is creative.”
