Psychic retreats: The travel trend connecting you to past lives and personal healing

The growing interest in spirituality has seen a surge of retreats devoted to metaphysical growth – Anya Meyerowitz goes deep into this holistic approach to wellness. Picture yourself making your way to the “opening circle” of a rural wellness retreat. As you enter the pillow-peppered room, you see 11 chairs arranged in a circle around a candlelit shrine. “But there are only 10 of us?” you wonder, before the host explains that they haven’t miscounted: the extra chair has been placed there intentionally for “the spirits”. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of psychic retreats.

Throughout the UK and beyond, an increasing number of people are opting to join psychic retreats which are, in essence, wellness retreats that focus on the development and exploration of psychic abilities. Retreats can include activities such as meditation, energy work, divination practices and spiritual guidance. Their general goal is for attendees to foster a greater connection with their intuition and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and their lives, past, present and future.

If you’re au fait with wellness, this may come as little surprise. From in-house spa psychics, to celebrities revealing how big life decisions are made in conjunction with their psychic advisor, spiritual health is firmly on the rise. Browsing TikTok several days ago, I was served a livestream where a psychic medium was working through a chunky list of people who had all paid £10 a pop to get their “spiritual forecast” for the year, all watched over by over 3,000 viewers.

In recent years, we’ve seen an increasingly holistic approach to wellness. For many people, psychic readings – from tarot cards and palm readings, to afterlife mediumship – are seen as an extension of their overall wellness and self-care routines. And for a minority elite, spiritual guides are deemed as essential as personal trainers and private chefs. Consequently, it stands to reason that this has been accompanied a surge in the popularity of psychic retreats.

Read more: Best spa hotels in the Cotswolds. While “psychic retreats” is a catch-all term, there is great nuance within the label, with specialist focuses including intuition development retreats aimed at honing skills such as clairvoyance and involving exercises like meditation, energy work and guided visualisations; mediumship development retreats where guests develop their ability to connect with the spirit world and communicate with loved ones who have passed on through practices like mediumship and spirit communication exercises; and divination retreats where the focus is on developing skills in practices such as tarot reading, astrology and numerology.

“At the core, the purpose of running [psychic] retreats is to provide individuals with a safe space to deepen their understanding of themselves and explore their spiritual paths in a supportive and serene environment,” she says. “These retreats are designed to help participants disconnect from their hectic everyday lives and reconnect with their inner selves.”. Read more: 10 best health and wellness retreats across Europe.

Higgins believes that the increased popularity of such retreats is an interplay of several factors. “In an age often characterised by rapid technological advancement and constant digital connectivity, many people feel a disconnect from deeper meaning and purpose in life,” she explains. “Psychic retreats offer an opportunity to step away from everyday stresses and focus on personal growth, spiritual connection, and self-discovery.”.

She also points to activities such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness entering the mainstream and acting as a stepping stone toward greater openness to exploring other spiritual and metaphysical practices, including psychic development. “As people seek comprehensive approaches to wellbeing, the appeal of psychic retreats increases because they address multiple aspects of health and personal development,” Higgins adds.

Read more: How this Finnish ‘sauna capital of the world’ helped me recover from burnout. She was a convert. “We tried one in the Cotswolds last year, which was tailored for all ages. The kids loved the creative exercises, which were basically fun ways to help them reflect on their thoughts and feelings without even realising it,” she continues. “The thing about these retreats is that they’re not all as far out as they sound, which is why I think they’re gaining traction. It’s not about whether you believe in psychics or not, it’s about whether you’re open to stepping away from the chaos and thinking about what you really need.”.

If you’re someone in search of “the far out”, however, the surge in psychic retreats caters for that too. Gemma* attended her first psychic retreat at the end of last year following the death of her mother. “I was looking for solace but I was also attracted to the idea that I might be able to find another form of connection with my mum that wasn’t dependent on her being physically in my life,” she explains. “I booked onto a psychic retreat specifically designed for those experiencing grief and it was a bit of a crazy mix of womb therapy (a holistic abdominal massage, aimed at promoting physical and emotional well-being by addressing potential imbalances or tensions related to the uterus and pelvic region), somatic healing (which refers to the practice of using vibrational frequencies to promote healing and balance through playing instruments such as gongs, drums and Tibetan singing bowls), astrology, tarot card reading and spiritual mediumship.”.