Socio-Economic Motives for Russian Residents to Attend the Retreats

Taking care of ourselves as the most valuable resource seems absolutely natural to us. Nevertheless, the formation of such an ideology took place only at the beginning of this century. However, it was actively taken up by the market and began to be reproduced in a vast array of products and services aimed at self-care and self-help, such as popular psychology, trainings, spiritual practices, and the subject of this paper - retreats. The effects of attending them cannot be predicted and the risks due to the non-institutionalized market and the extreme and potentially mentally hazardous practices are quite high. Therefore, in this study we ask the question, why do people attend them? To answer this question, we conducted 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews with retreat participants and organizers. As a result, we identified 3 motives for attending retreats: material embodiment of self-identity narratives into a lifestyle; self-care as a desire for immediate well-being; and the quest for security by strengthening the Self and emotional support of the group.