People ask me this when they see we offer Rest and Receive® retreats overseas:
Why Croatia? Is it safe? Is it worth it?
Here’s what I know:
We talk a lot about slowing down. About resting. About self-care. But very few of us are taught how to actually be with what we feel—without analyzing it, fixing it, or pushing it aside.
Especially while also enjoying ourselves. Relaxing.
That’s why I lead retreats in Croatia.
More specifically: Istria.
A region that’s both earthy and elegant, ancient and alive.
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Istria is where I spent all my childhood vacations, and where I keep returning, again and again: to feel, to rest, to heal.
I spent those Istrian summers with my brave, WW2-survivor grandparents, who held the center of our small family’s web of connection.. Among many other skills, I got good at:
- frolicking,
- enjoyable breath-holding, diving without a mask or snorkel
- understanding tides and currents
- gloriously, slowly sipping the most delicious coffee
- laughing with family over long pasta dinners that stretched deep into the night
- stargazing.
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I’ve also cried on Istrian shores. I remember once swimming with just one contact lens, after losing the other in a moment when everything else in my life felt lost, too. I was barely holding it together, and yet the sea had no trouble peacefully holding me.
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Since then, I’ve brought my son to Istria. Watched him play in that same sea with some of the same family members. Watched him grow up. Now I frolic with my little niece, and the two of them will see each other and spend time in the water together this summer.
Joy all around. Full circle.
Nothing to fix. Everything to feel.
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There’s something about Istria that invites internal honesty, not through force, but through spaciousness.
The kind of honesty that arises when your nervous system finally believes:
You’re okay now. You can stop pushing. You can just be.
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What Makes a Place Right for Emotional Healing?
Istria gave me a template I want to share with you.
Whether you’re traveling across the world or carving out a quiet day at home, not every space supports gently acknowledging your emotions.
If you want to feel what you feel—and love on it—look for this:
- Slowness. A pace that lets you hear your inner world again.
- Beauty. Because it softens your body and opens your heart.
- Containment. So you can feel held, by people, practices, or the space itself.
- Permission. To show up just as you are, without performance.
- Simplicity. Fewer decisions, fewer distractions.
- Joy woven in. Because play, lightness, and laughter help us integrate the deeper work.
These are the qualities we intentionally build into Rest and Receive.
And they’re the qualities Istria offers naturally.
That’s why Croatia.
And yes, it’s safe, and profoundly worth it.