Meet The Brand Hosting Holistic Wellness Retreats In Magical Settings Around The World

In 2016, Chrissy Sundt, an ex-Royal Ballet dancer, choreographer, Pilates, yoga, and Barre teacher, launched Silver Linings Wellbeing. Having worked in the wellness industry for more than 20 years, Sundt has developed a method that focuses not just on fitness and movement, but mindfulness, meditation, and nutrition all in one. As part of the Silver Linings Wellbeing offering, Sundt hosts retreats (most of which take place on the white sand beaches of the Bahamas); has launched a full-service app, offering everything from breath work, to meal planning to live fitness classes; and designed a scalable corporate wellbeing program.

Tell me about the Silver Linings Community and what makes it unique? When we first started (now six years ago), our community was principally made up of my clients from London and from our retreats. I knew them all personally. With our digital offering, our audience has grown a lot, but I really wanted to keep that “family” feeling, which is why I am so excited about the new community space on our app. It means that Silver Liners can check-in with our expert team easily, get all the big news first, and feel like they have joined a global network of like-minded folk.

You recently developed and released an app—this is already a fairly crowded marketplace—what does your product offer that wasn’t already available? The wellness space is very crowded and noisy. It’s also very confusing to a lot of people. The goal with our digital studio and the app is to create a wellness experience that is nurturing and accessible no matter where you are on your journey.

We deliberately made the app very simple, so it looks clean and is easy to navigate. We want to keep our subscribers on track and accountable in a way that doesn’t feel dogmatic. In practical terms that means ensuring all our sessions are delivered with great sound and visuals, curated playlists, and expert guidance that is easy to follow. We want the sessions to feel as personal as possible, as though we are there in the room with the client.

What can a client expect when they book onto one of your in-person retreats? Our retreats are incredibly personal with classes for a maximum of eight clients and only 16 spots in total on each retreat. I connect with each client in advance, to conduct a wellness consultation so that I can create a tailored schedule.

We also support clients with personalized follow-up programs, after the retreat has finished. And they can continue their journey with us by doing daily classes on the app.

What are the trends in at-home fitness and wellbeing you are noticing? What about in-person habits? The current challenge is to get people to really engage and commit. Many clients I speak with really haven’t managed to kick start and return to their wellness routine post-Covid.

We can see that there is a real need to support employers and employees to engage in better corporate healthcare and wellness provision—which is why we are preparing to launch Silver Linings WORK.

I think we will continue to see big brands creating great digital content, and we will also see customers choosing a combination of digital and studio workouts. I am also excited to see so many new ways for people to track their wellness, via apps and devices. Whilst it’s early days, I am hoping this will help clients take charge of their wellbeing.

Who is the Silver Lining client? Curious, discerning, fun-loving and committed to taking care of themselves and their wellbeing.

What is your top piece of advice for people who come to see you? Move more! Our lives are so sedentary, and we are bombarded with information and generally over stimulated. Mindful movement (along with good sleep, nutrition and enough rest and relaxation) is key to better moods, better focus, better sleep, and ultimately a more balanced life.

What motivates and inspires you? My clients and my brilliant colleagues who I learn so much from. I am still so inspired by dancers and great athletes who embody such incredible physicality.

To succeed at what you do, you need to be a wellness expert, a motivator, an organizer, an entrepreneur—how do you balance all of those roles? It’s definitely a challenge sometimes and it’s been a huge learning curve. The good news is I love learning new things, and I have a wonderful team who are there to teach and support as we grow.

In terms of being the expert, I was very clear when I started (now over 6 years ago) that Silver Linings would always be a collective of brilliant experts. I can’t be expert in everything, and I love bringing on board teachers and practitioners who are leaders in their field.

Travel is one of the main areas I write about, what fitness products do you always travel with and why? I love to travel and as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world and have refined my kit bag over time.

Essentials include:

My trusty travel yoga mat. (It’s from Lululemon and rolls up to nothing.)

A cork myofascial release ball–again it weighs nothing and its fantastic for rolling out tight muscles (replacing the giant foam roller at home).

My new Silver Linings resistance band—again it is so easy to pack, and it;s fantastic for ramping up your results.

I LOVE music and I spend a lot of time working with our team of DJ’s at NOX entertainment to curate the Silver Linings playlists. I often make a playlist for my trips so that I always associate that place with a particular soundtrack.

A good SPF—I am often teaching outdoors on our retreats, and I need to take care of my skin, so this is a MUST. Favourite brands include: Supergoop and Lisa Franklin SPF.

Where is on your bucket list to travel and why?

Bhutan—it is calling me.

Bali—I want to take my daughter there and have her do a term of schooling there whilst I deepen my yoga practice. I think it would be quite an adventure.

The Galapagos Islands—to see the incredible wildlife

Your main retreat location is the Bahamas—what do you love about that location and why? What are some of the elements of the local culture that influence, inspire and inform your retreats? I am lucky enough to call Kamalame Cay in Andros (the largest island in the Bahamas) my second home and the home of our signature retreats for the last seven years. For our retreat guests, I think it is so important that they are taken out of their everyday and transported to somewhere magical where we are able to deliver a transformational experience. Also, all the food is grown locally and of course the fish couldn’t be any fresher.

Most of our sessions take place on the deck or the beach, so you are very much in nature and drinking in the views. On our most recent retreat we also led walking meditations down the beach, and we would often spend an afternoon in the boat to see the nearby reefs and all the incredible sea life.