Vacations are all about relaxation, right? Taking time out, away from the daily grind.
The trouble is that sometimes it takes so long to switch off, that by the time you have, it’s often time to travel home again.
That’s where the Mensen sisters, Lindsay and Laura, come in.
Originally from Ontario, Canada, they’ve spent most of their lives on Turks and Caicos. Their mission; to immerse residents and tourists in wellness.
They practice yoga, meditation, and holistic nutrition, but for them, this is much more than a job, it’s a lifelong passion.
From father to daughters
Laura and Lindsay were just eight and eleven when their dad introduced them to Bikram yoga. There were no mats, no music, and certainly no Lululemon, but despite all that, he opened their minds to a new way of being. They saw the impact yoga practice had on their father and benefited from his journeys of discovery around the world. He brought them books, gifts and stories of Eastern cultures and philosophies, sparking their curiosity and worldliness.
A decade on and his greatest gift was a gentle suggestion that they go to the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida. This small healing centre used food as medicine through, among other approaches, the raw food diet, veganism, fasting, and enemas. The girls took some convincing but stuck it out and after seeing a woman in a wheelchair literally dance out of the door and a drug addict regain her health and self-esteem, they needed little convincing of this holistic, 360-degree approach to wellness.
Practice what we preach
Life outside of Hippocrates became pretty much like life inside as Lindsay and Laura brought raw food, juicing, sprouting, meditation, and qigong into their weekly routines. They trained as yoga instructors and began to combine their knowledge of movement and food, using this to facilitate growth and healing for residents and tourists in their very own, beautifully curated wellness retreats on Turks and Caicos.
Roots and shoots
In 2014 they put down roots, investing in a yoga studio in Providenciales. An immediate success, they describe Retreat Wellness and Yoga Studio as a “vibrant, always busy and really fun place to be.” Keen to continue to integrate food into their offering, they started to stock juices and granola bars, but people wanted more and so they invested in a large café next door. At its peak there were nine staff and demand was high and without really intending to, the sisters soon built a community around this “special place”, with gluten-free pizza nights, cocktail and mocktail evenings and “an incredible team of women” in the kitchen. Sadly, this community wasn’t enough to sustain the venture and when their mum received a life-changing cancer diagnosis, the sisters made the painful decision to close the doors on Retreat for good.Coming to KYN
Today, Lindsay and Laura admit they are very different from the women they used to be. Changed yes, but despite going through the worst of life’s challenges, they remain true to themselves and the business they created all those years ago. As they move into a new era, they have rebranded, creating KYN. KYN is more than a place, it’s a family and represents the connection between two incredibly close sisters. It’s also an acronym for Know Your Nature – a value both women hold dear, believing that the more we learn about ourselves, the better we care for ourselves.
Back to the start
Which brings us back to the beginning of this blog… picture yourself at the start of a dream vacation, a longed-for, much needed break and yet despite the sun, sea, and intensely beautiful surroundings, you feel the daily struggle to switch off and unwind.
Enter KYN, and more specifically, Lindsay and Laura, offering you private yoga classes, retreats, and wellness immersions. Their quarter, half or full-day retreats across Turks and Caicos are completely customisable and based on yoga and movement, meditation, breath work, holistic food preparation and health talks, turning KYN meal plans into the most delicious and nutritious mouth-watering plates.
On your dream vacation, Lindsay and Laura offer you the time, space, and permission to leave your world behind; giving you the tools, knowledge, and freedom to reset and rebalance for good.
Click here to find out more about KYN and book a private retreat.