The Story in Pictures
The weekend took place at The Lodge at Blue Sky, an Auberge Collection property set on more than 4,000 acres just outside Park City. The program was built around The Fundamentals Cultivating Joy initiative, which launched at the beginning of this year and informed the resort’s wellbeing approach, described to attendees as centered on awe, connect, excel, and nurture.
Forty participants gathered each day in the Arena, a large indoor space formerly used for horse-riding, for two-hour workshops led by spiritual self-help guide Gabby Bernstein. The schedule kept free time on purpose so guests could choose how to rest and recharge rather than race through activities. Offerings included a single morning yoga session, guided meditation and visualization, journaling, hiking without phones, horseback riding, and treatments at the Edge Spa. One author stayed mostly on a porch in an Earth Suite, watching mountain light and using the downtime to unwind.
The group was diverse in age and profession, and the retreat emphasized group sharing. In a darkened sweat lodge, as steam rose from heated stones, participants took turns speaking. The author, despite initial reluctance, found herself revealing feelings she had not previously voiced. At a closing session Gabby told her, “You came to cover this, instead, you got covered.”
The experience combined physical and quiet rituals with guided vulnerability, and produced measurable personal effect for the author: meditations that felt brief yet calming, and a new receptiveness to spiritual practices she had doubted before. Beyond the workshop room, simple acts, meeting rescue horses, leaving a phone behind on a hike, a massage, were described as essential components of the wellbeing outcome.
The Lodge at Blue Sky continues to offer bespoke wellness programming tied to Auberge’s initiatives, and this retreat model reinforced an argument familiar to modern hospitality: curated time and place, paired with guided group work, can shift how even wary guests think about self-care.
