- retreat
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While travelling in Thailand, my wife and I cajoled each other into embarking on a retreat in a Buddhist monastery. The overnight train from Bangkok took us Suan Mokkh Hermitage where, after registration of £30, we entered into ten days of practising yoga (never done before); meditation (never attempted); receiving instructions in Buddhist philosophy (never chased spiritual guidance) and in mindfulness (ask my wife!) All in total silence. It was truly the most challenging, thought-provoking, difficult, weird and ultimately rewarding experience I've had and I came out the most balanced, relaxed and healthy-looking I can recall - but nonetheless dying for a beer. A very small step on the road to enlightenment. Two years on and I'm still carrying a large chunk of that time around with me.
www.suanmokkh-idh.org
Suan Mokkh International Dhamma Hermitage, Chaiya, near Surat Thani, Thailand. Retreats commence the first Sunday of every month.
Google map: bit.ly/yiGZTi
Without exception the best holiday I had was my time in Atsitsa on the island of Skyros. I had no expectations but even if I had had, they would have been exceeded. It was a life-changing experience on many levels but above all it was pure unadulterated fun! Sun, sea, new experiences, fabulous food and amazing people though if you want to have time alone that's OK too. For me it was a 15 out of 10.
Jan is based in Ubud and she really helps you to help yourself when it comes to seeking some guidance or just confirmation that you are on the right track.
www.balispirit.com
+62-361-970-992
Google map: tinyurl.com/3ay3a3o
A converted hilltop farmhouse in Puglia in the heel of Italy. It's an amazingly peaceful and beautiful place where you can go on a yoga retreat. Some of the rooms are in traditional trulli houses, and the food is awesome.
Fantastic loch-side location for yoga retreats at affordable prices.
Set in the beautiful Trossachs, I've spent many a week in a warm and friendly atmosphere learning yoga, eating delicious vegan food, walking in the Trossachs without having to go through customs!
Prices are suggested as voluntary donations and start at £165 unwaged.
Future dates for yoga are 22 May, 19 June and 17 July for a week.
I have been many times and am still not a Buddhist much to my surprise!
Cant recommend it highly enough. You can also do meditation, photography and hill-walking retreats there amongst others.
www.dhanakosa.com
Go green-by train to Edinburgh then Stirling. Onward by bus to Balquidder and the least leg- round the loch by minibus-stunning!
Quinta Mimosa, Portugal, 20 min from Faro. A stunning yoga holiday in the beautiful Algarve, Quinta Mimosa is rural Portugal at its best! We would wake up to yoga classes with Bea, then wander down to the orange groves to pick fresh oranges to squeeze before heading off to brunch, where everybody gathered mid morning as the weather hotted up. Then we could swim in one of the two pools; head off to the sea or visit the local market in the lovely town of Loule. This July will be the third time I am visiting this retreat. I loved sitting quietly for meditation by the pool. The yoga sessions are inside a well-equipped studio, which is cool and tranquil; I could only hear the buzzing of the bees as we relaxed at the end of an enjoyable session. Returning from one of the afternoon excursions, there is an expert Pilates class before dinner! This retreat is well thought out, there is time to practice and time to play, it is very reasonable with great food and tuition. Shared accommodation from £430 to single acc £580.
20 minutes from Faro Airport, Algarve.
www.beayogi.co.uk or www.quintamimosaalgarve.com
For a real Ashram experience head to the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala. Set in the foothills of the Western Ghats this is a beautiful setting. A Yoga Vacation is about £8 (ish) a day staying in dormitory accommodation, two classical yoga classes a day and two veggie meals. You may get woken up in the night though by the roar of the local lions from across the lake. Some say there are crocodiles in the lake. And you'll have to do a bit of karma yoga - toilet cleaning anyone?
sivananda.org/neyyardam/index.html
Fly to Trivanadrum airport and then pre-pay for a fab taxi ride to the ashram, hold on to your seat it's a bumpy ride, not a good idea in a rickshaw.
For Ashtanga Yoga devotees you can have a week with John and Lucy Scott (senior Ashtanga Yoga teachers - he has taught Madonna and Sting) as your teachers at their beautiful retreat centre near Nelson for a non-celebrity price of £355 a week, accommodation included. Find a deal on a flight and this is almost affordable.
www.stillpointyoga.co.nz/
Nearest airport is Nelson and their retreat is only a 40 min drive through some great scenery.
A yoga retreat on a cocoa plantation, next to a small chocolate factory. Run by a Californian Venezuelan, you can practice yoga and meditation, have a massage, wander through the plantation, swim in the splash pool, and relax watching the humming birds.
Food is excellent and imaginative, while chocolate is not obligatory, but recommended. Outings can be arranged to palm-shaded sandy coves or hot springs.
Just four self contained rooms at a very reasonable all-in price, especially if you make sure to take dollar or euro cash, rather than credit or debit cards to Venezuela.
Formerly known as Hacienda Bukare, PariaShakti is five miles from Rio Caribe, a pretty fishing village you can reach in half an hour by communal taxi or bus from Carupano on the north east coast.
www.pariashakti.com
or write to Greta Sanchez at reservaciones@yahoo.com.
Tel: 0058 0426 8196035
or 0058 0294 4163678
You have travelled 20 km since the last tourist shop. Way above the sea you round the headland and enter an amphitheatre of sculptured mountainsides as the road swoops down to the sea. A broad bay, three tavernas and a bar, beyond some old cottages, rooms to let and a few fishing boats. Inland a small chapel on a hill, small buildings among fields and olive groves. A huge gorge slices through a mountainside. That is all there is.
Before the end of the tarmac road you are already captured. The pace has slowed, time to slip off your shoes and live the moment of arriving at this jewel of retreats. A gentle swim, a quiet lunch under tamerisk trees, a sleep after.
Zakros will imprint your soul; you find your own rhythms and retreats. My favourites are: a small hidden cove with a flat rock surrounded by a gentle turquoise swell; a small shingle beach shared with a kingfisher or two; the hill top chapel reached along a dusty track then ancient stone steps, where you will find a quiet peace in the courtyard or contemplation inside, among the icons, candlewax and rickety chairs; a stroll up the gorge takes you to a shady fig tree where you can rest in solitude and breathe the aromas of hot sun on vegetation, only the scuffle and bleet of goats as background. You might walk along a thyme-scented path leading along the coast to Pelekita's cave – nobody there but you. Here you look down on the bright wind-patterned Libyan sea and out beyond the edge of Europe. Almost 3 millenia ago Minoans settled here, trading across these seas; they left a fine palace to show for it.
As darkness falls and you take your unhurried evening meal, the full moon could rise from the sea, rose turning to silver. No need for tears on leaving since you will, for certain, return.
Set alongside a large man made lake in an idyllic position. It's quite isolated and the long rough access road means you cant go anywhere fast. But for anyone wanting to just chill out then this is a great place.
7665-880 Santa Clara a Velha, Portugal
and website is
www.paradise-in-portugal.com
Rambling B&B establishment set on the side of a hill overlooking a large lake. Boats available for guests to use. The proprietor, Frank Mclintock, is slightly eccentric and fusses over the guests. Food is cooked on site and in so many ways you are made to feel as is if you are a guest staying with a friend. The area has a lot of wildlife and Frank is a keen birdwatcher. The remoteness and isolation will really help you to forget the outer world.
Quinta do Barranco da Estrada: 7665-880 Santa Clara a Velha, Portugalhttp://www.paradise-in-portugal.comNearest train station is at Santa Clara. Nearest airport is Faro
Absolutely amazing place. Ulpotha is an experience that can never really be described. In summary, if a five-star beach resort with evening gin and tonics and home-from-home luxuries is your preferred destination, or if you like extreme hardship and want to eat bugs for breakfast, then Ulpotha isn’t for you and you wouldn’t fit in anyway. But if you genuinely want to get away from it all, in a warm, engaging and totally relaxing environment, but with a more minimalist lifestyle, where you can challenge your perception of just how important a hairdryer is, then you will have the most amazing time.
It is a residential retreat and martial arts centre, offering guidance and tuition in meditation and martial arts, and where instructors and teachers of martial arts, yoga, pilates, dance or any other activity can take their students for a training camp or retreat. It is an incredible place.
The staff are wonderful, the facilities (I went there on a memorable long weekend of self-defence training for women only, taught by the owner) are superb. The food is local produce prepared in-house, and the welcome is unbelievable.
The owners have assembled a great team of helpers, and they are really good people. The house and gardens are gorgeous and the surroundings are breathtaking. The cost of a stay with them is low, and is great value.
www.mettacentre.com
The Metta Centre
Contrada Villa Saline
Penna San Giovanni(MC) 62020
Le Marche
Summerhill has just been opened for B & B by new owners. We stayed there the first week it was open. We can't speak highly enough of how comfortable and peaceful it is. It has fabulous views and is a short walk from the spectacular Tarn Hows. The rooms are luxurious and extremely well equipped with not just TV and internet available but you can choose from a wide choice of music or films streamed straight to your room. We are a little biased because we know two of the owners as friends, but I can honestly say we have never stayed in a better furnished or more welcoming B&B. I really don't think you'll be disappointed if you try it, and it's probably worth getting in before it becomes well-known and booked up.
Hawkshead Hill, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0PP. 01539 436095. www.summerhillcountryhouse.com
This place was amazing! It is a surf and yoga camp modeled on an African safari camp. Very 'eco' in feel and a great place to totally unwind, you can't help but totally relax. Practice yoga and learn to surf - what a great combination! Myself and my partner totally enjoyed it. Yoga always appealed to her and I always wanted to do a surf trip. We both loved it and would recommend it for couples for sure. Also the area and beaches around are stunning as well.
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