17/10/2025
Pause Retreat 2025 Reflections - Part 1 of X: Dr. Nancy Momoff
nancymomoff
One week ago today was the start of the 2025 Movement Vitality Pause Retreat - our first wellness retreat in two years.
I took a break from annual retreating, mostly because organising a retreat isn’t easy. It feels a little like planning a wedding. There are so many details that it’s almost overwhelming - particularly when the whole event is over a year in the making.
I’ve always felt strongly about education in any form. That’s obvious from the type of studio Movement Vitality is. We don’t just show or do things, we teach. Our students come away from class having learned something that they take into their normal lives off of the mat - and it doesn’t even have to be about yoga poses. This is unique and very, very powerful. I credit our incredible teachers and equally, our community’s receptiveness and thirst for learning.
This concept spilled over into the retreat. While I wanted this retreat to be about rest and recovery - as all wellness retreats should be - I mostly wanted it to be about learning - about ourselves and our bodies.
It’s no secret that the hottest health topic of this past year for 35+ year old women has centred around perimenopause and menopause. Even Oprah talks about it!
So, retreat partnering with Nancy - a Menopause Specialist GP and founder of Harmonia Women’s Health - and who has been a member of the MV community for several years - was a no brainer. I’ve been lucky to get to know Nancy first as a member of MV, but then as a friend, and then as my doctor. To say that I wholeheartedly trust her knowledge and expertise is an understatement - and I do not say this about many people.
Thank you, Nancy, for empowering us with valuable information, practical guidance, and for creating a safe space where women’s health could be discussed with openness and respect. Your sessions at the retreat helped to demystify a topic that is often overlooked in the medical community, and you armed us with more knowledge and the reassurance that we’re not going nuts!! In fact, we now know that the best is yet to come..
Harmonia Women’s Health, Kenmore