In an era when wellness is often packaged as a product, something purchased in sleek bottles or downloaded through subscription apps – Kellie Sabas imagines it differently. For Kellie, a wellness event strategist, speaker, and founder of HappyME Collective, wellbeing is not a commodity but a gathering. It happens in conversation circles, in quiet morning yoga sessions, in shared laughter after a long walk along a foreign shoreline.
Her platform, HappyME Collective, has grown into a space where wellness is not simply practiced alone but experienced together. Retreats, workshops, and mindfulness experiences form the backbone of the community she has built – each designed to offer participants what Kellie calls a rare and increasingly necessary pause.
The idea is simple, though not always easy to practice: wellness should feel human.
A Pandemic Spark
The seeds of HappyME Collective were planted during a moment of global stillness.
During the early months of the pandemic, Kellie enrolled in Yale University’s widely celebrated course “The Science of Well-Being.” The program challenged students to “rewire” their habits through small but consistent behavioral shifts designed to increase happiness.
Kellie chose yoga and meditation.
What began as a personal experiment soon unfolded into something larger. The daily rituals of breath and movement reshaped how she understood wellbeing – not as something distant or aspirational, but as a practice that could ripple outward.
“At the end of the course,” she recalls, “I was so inspired to create Happy Body, Mind and Soul Retreats – a platform where I could feature coaches and wellness retreats around the world.”
The journey did not stop there. Kellie deepened her commitment by becoming a certified 500-hour yoga and meditation teacher and a certified Positive Psychology coach. Eventually, she launched HappyME.yoga under Happy M.E. LLC, building what would become the foundation of her growing wellness community.
Her mission remains grounded in the same principle that inspired her first retreat concept: to cultivate mindfulness and create positive ripples: at home, in communities, and in the workplace.
Retreats as Transformation
The experiences Kellie designs are not traditional vacations, though they may unfold in places that resemble one.
She calls them “self-care holidays where vacation meets transformation.”
Each retreat begins with a moment of collective intention. Participants gather, often strangers at first, to articulate what they hope to release, restore, or rediscover.
From there, the days follow a rhythm Kellie describes as the Body, Mind, and Soul framework.
Mornings might open with mindful movement – yoga beneath open skies or breathwork sessions that settle the nervous system. Later come workshops centered on themes like self-love, confidence, or leadership. Afternoons are reserved for experiences that integrate reflection with joy, sometimes including relaxation experiences such as spa sessions, massages, or sound healing.
The setting often becomes part of the curriculum.
In Greece, participants might wander ancient Venetian towns in Chania or fortress and shipwrecks in Gramvousa. In Bali, they might visit sacred temples or take part in purification rituals at Tirta Empul, a water temple revered for its spiritual significance. In Santorini, women can participate in a whimsical photoshoot wearing flying dresses that empower you to unleash your goddess energy and embrace your authentic beauty.
Sometimes the “magic,” as she describes it, is less about spectacle and more about stillness: a quiet beach walk, a shared meal, a conversation that lingers long after sunset.
“The destination itself is a huge factor in what that magical experience looks like,” Kellie says.
The Power of Community
If there is one element that defines HappyME Collective, it is the emphasis on connection.
Kellie often repeats the phrase “Prioritize Wellness,” a tagline that anchors the collective’s events. But for her, prioritizing wellness is not about indulgence – it is about sustainability.
“Wellness is not a luxury,” she explains. “It’s a strategy.
The retreats and workshops are designed as spaces where participants can pause long enough to reflect on the lives they are building. Attendees step away from daily pressures and return with a renewed sense of clarity about the roles they inhabit—whether as professionals, partners, parents, or friends.
Community becomes both the method and the outcome. Participants often arrive alone but leave with friendships forged through shared vulnerability and discovery.
The collective energy, Kellie believes, is what transforms an event into something lasting.
Wellness Beyond the Individual
While HappyME Collective began with retreats, Kellie has expanded the concept into arenas.
She recently launched the Wellness@Work Council, a go-to authority that bridges workplace wellbeing, performance and leadership. Kellie partners with speakers and wellness professionals to bring evidence-based mindfulness practices and high-performance strategies that support business goals and host events like the W@W Summit happening on World Happiness Day on March 20th. The overarching goal is to help organizations address burnout and create healthy, human-centered cultures that support sustainable high performance.
It is a shift that reflects a broader understanding of wellbeing: not just as an individual responsibility but as a collective one.
“We want to help create workplaces where people thrive,” Kellie says, “where wellness becomes part of the culture.”
At the same time, she continues to collaborate with other wellness leaders. One notable partnership is with author, identity evolution expert and retreat strategist Marie Kueny, with whom Kellie traveled to Greece alongside a group of women participants. The experience eventually evolved into a program designed to help other wellness professionals plan their own retreats.
The initiative, Retreat Planning Mastery, shares the framework Kellie has developed through years of event curation and marketing experience.
A Different Kind of Wellness Culture
In a digital world saturated with filtered perfection and relentless productivity, Kellie’s approach offers a gentler alternative.
The ethos behind HappyME Collective resists the idea that wellness must be optimized or perfected. Instead, it emphasizes practices that are sustainable, joyful, and communal.
Participants are encouraged to see self-care not as an escape from life but as preparation for it.
The advice Kellie often gives those who feel stuck is striking in its simplicity.
“Prioritize your wellness in body, mind, and soul,” she says. “You deserve meaningful experiences that enrich your life.”
That could mean joining a retreat in a faraway destination – but it could also begin with something smaller: a daily yoga practice, a walk through the park, or a community of people who remind you to keep going.
“Find a routine you can stick to,” Kellie says. “Make it fun and rewarding. And find a community or a buddy to keep you accountable.”
Then she adds a message that sits quietly at the center of everything she has built.
“You are worthy,” she says. “You are enough.”
The Next Chapter
Looking ahead, Kellie envisions HappyME Collective continuing to grow, expanding retreats, collaborations, and programs that reach both individuals and organizations.
But the essence of the work will remain unchanged.
Wellness, in her view, is not something to chase endlessly or measure in perfect poses. It is something to return to, again and again, through shared experiences that reconnect people to themselves and to one another.
And in a time when many feel disconnected from both, that simple act of gathering may be the most transformative practice of all.
