Why Adventure Costs Money....and why you should be happy to pay it

Let’s be clear about one thing: Yoga is not a hobby.

I recently posted a notice about one of my Yoga and Hiking Retreats next year in a Women’s Outdoor Facebook group. I’ve had several ladies from this group join my retreats before and thought it would be a good way to advertise my trip since this adventure focuses on all things outdoors. At $450 for three nights and four days which includes apres hiking soup, dinner and breakfast, your stay, 4-5 yoga sessions plus guided hikes and swag (because who doesn’t love a free Yogi Magee hat and tank top) it’s one of the most affordable trips I do. Sure, prices have increased from what I was charging a few years ago, but that’s because I’m more experienced now, there’s more of a demand to join my trips, there’s only one of me to lead them and honestly, I have to make a living as well.

So I was a little taken aback by a comment from a girl who scoffed at the price of my retreat in the comment section under my posting. Not only was she complaining the cost was almost as much as her rent (where do you live in Denver btw where rent is less than $1k a month?) but she likened yoga to a hobby that only elitist could participate in.

This coming from someone who’s in an Outdoor Women’s Group where people regularly look for suggestions on $500 (minimum) backcountry ski gear set ups, talk about the merits of ski passes, compare $1k to $4k mountain bikes, etc etc.

I kept my response to her brief but polite. However, part of me was raging on the inside. Since when is fitness, mental and physical health a hobby? Why is it considered bougie to have a yoga studio membership or attend a weekend long retreat to reset your mind and body? This girl went on to say she usually camps alone in dispersed camping areas and hikes because she doesn’t have the money to spend.

Oh but darling, you are spending money.

That food you bought to go camping? That’s spending money. The gas it took to get you out of town to that remote camping spot since you refuse to pay $20 a night at a real site? That’s spending money. The sleeping bag, tent, grill, hiking boots, air pad, maps, backpack, camel bak, water filter, camp stove, propane, camping chair, cooler with beer, tires to get you in the back country, bug spray, (get my point yet?) that you packed up to take with you? That all cost money at some point or another as well. But, like your daily Starbucks, you’re willing to pay because it makes you happy. It makes you feel good to get out in nature and spend $5 on firewood and ice to have a nice fire and spend your time watching the stars over Netflix.

I get it.

So let me explain, what it is you’re paying for when you join a yoga retreat my friend. You’re paying for someone else to plan the trip for you, do the cooking, schedule your day from adventures and hikes to yoga and meditation, secure the location 6 months to a year out and put down a deposit so that you, my friend can decide last minute you want to go somewhere. You’re paying for someone to bring an assistant to make sure you’re safe, to take photos of you on a badass camera so you don’t have to take selfies on your iphone, someone who finds other badass women to join so that you can make friends in a pressure-free environment, someone who tells you what to pack and when to show up so you don’t have to think.

You’re paying for an experience that you wouldn’t otherwise have because maybe your friends aren’t into hiking and back country hut trips and you have no one else to go with. You’re paying for someone to lead you to an alpine lake you wouldn’t have known was there so someday maybe you take your kids or husband back to that spot.

And yes, that’s a luxury.

So if $450, or $600 or $800 or whatever seems too pricey for you and you’d rather go at it alone. Please, by all means, plan your own adventures. But don’t balk at the price and turn others off to an experience just because you’d rather pay money for cable TV than save for a yoga retreat.

You’re not my market anyways….

(but if you are check out yogimagee.com for all my retreats or email info@yogimagee.com to be added to my mailing list!)