Top of the World
Elevation: 2,080m
Posted March 15, 2018
When Elizabeth Beeds thinks about Sun Peaks, she thinks about the proximity of the restaurants, the accommodation, the trails and the special energy that the mountain environment creates. That’s why, after years of dreaming about creating a weekend-long mountain retreat in the Interior of BC, Beeds knew that Sun Peaks was the ideal location for the Mountain Spirit Festival—a yoga and wellness retreat that returns to Sun Peaks this summer.
Wellness retreats held in mountain destinations are gaining popularity, and last June was the first time that Sun Peaks played host to this type of wellness retreat, which Beeds describes as a test run.
“Last year’s festival response was incredible. It was our first year bringing it to Sun Peaks and the response was a great huge 'yes' from the community,” said Beeds, founder of Interior Wellness and creator of the Mountain Spirit Festival.
Last year’s event drew attendees from all over BC. As the festival continues to grow, Beeds hopes it secures Sun Peaks as a well-known location for wellness events.
“We want it to get better and better,” Beeds said. “People travel around the world to these events and I want to get Sun Peaks into this calibre.”
The idea for the Mountain Spirit Festival came into play because of Beeds’ own experience with weekend-long retreats.
“I love them and I thought we need something here in the BC Interior,” Beeds said. “I go to them on the coast and in California. Thousands of people just flood to them.”
Part of the appeal is that people take themselves out of their normal day-to-day activities when they attend a retreat she explained.
“When you take yourself out of your normal, regular, everyday life, and put yourself with people that are all there to grow and have fun, in one weekend’s time you can have the same results as a year of therapy,” Beeds said.
This year, festival-goers will attend a larger Mountain Spirit Festival which includes inspirational speakers, yoga sessions, markets, health and spirituality workshops, and healing practitioners. This year’s retreat will have longer workshops and new events. Attendees choose which events they go to and design their own schedules.
“It is just growing so quickly. We’ve already seen great engagement for this year’s event,” she said.
She describes the partnership between Interior Wellness and Tourism Sun Peaks as the perfect coming together.
“I’ve done a lot of events, often at conference centres, but last year at Sun Peaks it was a totally different energy,” Beeds said. “The feeling of being out of the city, but still in this lovely little village surrounded by the trees. It is almost indescribable, but it really lifts you up.”
The Mountain Spirit Festival runs June 22 – 24, 2018. Tickets for the festival go on sale this month. For more information please visit our Event Calendar.