Yoga Retreat Guide

If I told you there was one vacation you could take almost anywhere in the world, even at home, that would give you everything you need to feel good again, would you take it?

I hope you would.

And, I am about to tell you, very simply, it is a Yoga retreat.

Actually, ‘retreat’ is the wrong word, experiencing a Yoga ‘retreat’ is more like a ‘life advancing,’ no matter where you are or how stuck you feel.

Yoga retreats are suitable for people of all ages and physical capacities as it does not require great strength to get started. If you can breathe, you can do Yoga.

And, the breath controlled properly and simultaneously with specific poses, or postures, can do more for your physiological, psychological and biochemical well-being than any other form of exercise.

There’s that word, ‘exercise’, that word that many of us want to retreat from, no, run from.

However, a Yoga retreat is not about ‘exercise’ it is about learning how to control your own lifestyle, easily, with a little practise, very soon, the results are so outstanding that you wonder why they haven’t made Yoga retreats illegal, well, some countries have.

But, that is not where I would recommend sending you.

I would recommend sending you on a Yoga retreat anywhere (where legal) for any duration, short or long, it only takes one session to feel immediate results. I was sent on one by my employer after he noticed I was suffering with my knees, not to mention (though I will) the trauma from the earthquakes we are having where I currently live.

In the past ten months we have had 7,000+ earthquakes and aftershocks, yes you probably know where I live now; I live in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Trauma can do strange things to you and make you feel like you will never be the same, or get better again. I felt that way before I went on a Yoga retreat, and since I have been on one, I feel my life has advanced beyond recognition in a very short space of time.

I had practised Yoga many years before and had slipped away, as we tend to do when we don’t have an audience, a kind of visual loop to stimulate and guide us.

When my employer recommended that the best thing he new for my knees, my memory loss and my sudden bouts of stress and fear (from 7,000+ earthquakes) was to take up Yoga, I sensed immediately, he was right.

And he was right about recommending a Yoga retreat, my knees do not hurt, my memory is better and I laugh through the aftershocks now.

However, before I went on my vacation, I did not have the strength to provide my own practise again, I needed help and I recognized it. The Yoga retreat helps you to develop a pattern of practise that becomes easily accessible to you wherever you go.

For those who have not tried a Yoga retreat, there is nothing else that I have ever done for myself that has improved my over-all sense of body comfort, mental capacity and energy levels. It is like an elixir of the gods. And, ironically, free to take with you anywhere and perform everywhere thereafter.

I practise in the bath tub, the kitchen, in my car, in the garden and while I am listening to someone long winded on the telephone. I find that Yoga has slipped easily back into my life since I have been on a Yoga retreat that stimulated my memory to be kind to myself.

Now, I have a vacation that still lasts anywhere I am.

So…like I asked you to begin with: would you like to take a vacation you could take anywhere, even back to your own home that will make you feel good again—and I said I hoped you would— and now I bet you do—with no need to thank me, thank yourself by treating yourself to a Yoga retreat.

In Beijing, Mountainyoga invites people to leave the big smoke of the city and relax in this mountainous retreat. Located in Fragrant Hill, west of the city, Mountainyoga offers more than just yoga.

Each Saturday, yogis come for two hours of yoga meditation followed by a homemade vegetarian lunch. In the afternoon, activities include a musical workshop, Chinese calligraphy yoga session, chanting and more yoga. Visitors sleep in tents or retreat accommodation and are woken at sunrise on Sunday for an early morning yoga session followed by brunch. The afternoon activities include hiking and biking, sightseeing.

Mountainyoga also organise yoga corporate purposes. They encourage group yoga sessions as a way to decrease stress and sickness. The events are a good team building opportunity as well as exercising your muscles.

If you want to have a yoga holiday on Turtle Beach, Mountainyoga welcomes people to stay for 1 to 5 days.  On top of having yoga classes in the fresh air of the mountainside, yogis also learn about Chinese medicines and Buddhism. Nearby hot springs are available to relax in or yogis can choose to have a Chinese herbal foot massage. All meals are vegetarian and homemade.

For prices and packages, check out Moutainyoga’s website.

The BodyHoliday at LeSport wants you to come to the Caribbean and look after yourself. Yoga classes are included in the holiday price. The qualified yoga instructors split their yoga retreat into three parts:

1. Traditional styles of yoga including Hatha, Ashtanga and Vinyasa.
2. Specialised needs are worked on. Yoga instructors will improve your flexibility, corrected posture, relieve stress and work towards weight loss. Other therapy includes meditation to improve sleep quality.
3. Different skill levels from basic to advanced: there is a class for everyone.

The BodyHoliday can also arrange private and group sessions that focus on the individual needs of the group for an extra charge.

Instructor Dr Abhishek Jain was studying medicine when he became interested in the health benefits that come from yoga. He has taught Hatha Yoga for over 15 years. He also teaches Indian Meditative Yoga with three types of relaxation and Mind Imagery Technique; Traditional Hatha Restorative Yoga encompasses breath meditation, beginner poses (Standing, Supine, Prone and Sitting) and Mantra chanting; and, Modern Hatha Yoga with advanced breath meditation, advanced Yoga poses and a pranayama practice ends each class.

After training as a yoga teacher, record breaking athlete Kate Staples will be visiting the resort to help Daley Thompson run a bootcamp in May and November 2011.

Ashtanga Yoga

According to the BBC, Madonna and Sting are huge fans of this type of yoga. Ashtanga Yoga means “eight limbs yoga” in Sanskrit. It was developed by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (born 1915-died 2009). It synchronises breathing with a set sequence of poses.

Power Yoga

Power Yoga is said to have been modelled on Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’s Ashtanga Toga by two American yoga teachers who had studied under him. Power Yoga is more vigorous than Ashtanga and does not have a set series of postures. This increases your metabolic rate and reduces fat.

Bikram Yoga

Invented by Bikram Choudhury, Bikram Yoga works every organ, ligament and muscle in your body. It involves a series of 26 poses and two breathing exercises. One Bikram Yoga session lasts for 90 minutes and is done in a heated room to prevent injury. It improves weight loss, flexibility and metabolism, and it moves fresh oxygenated blood around the body.

Hot Yoga

Hot Yoga classes take place in heated rooms that are between 30˚ and 50˚ with humidity being between 40% and 60%. The idea is that poses will be safer in higher temperatures and the body will sweat out toxins. Bikram Yoga is the most popular hot yoga but other yoga styles are used as well.

No other form of exercise gives the benefits that yoga can provide, especially not one that is loved by both men and woman, of all ages. Not only does yoga tone different parts of the body with targeted poses but it is deeply relaxing.

Yogi is not an exercise restricted to the gym like many others. Some people who travel around the can do yoga poses in their hotel room or on the beach, for example, to relax the body and get over jetlag.

If you want to lose weight or increase your strength then you are in luck. Yoga reduces levels of cortisol in your body and helps it to burn fat. Yoga benefits every different muscle in your body, strengthening them and improving your endurance.

Using the breathing exercises, called pranayamas in daily life can decrease stress. Yogis take slow, deep breaths of air, a transferable technique to everyone’s lifestyles.

For pregnant women, benefits include better flexibility and mental preparation for the birth. Some poses can be used during labour to reduce pain.

If someone has injuries, such as knee and back pains or pulled hamstrings, yoga is the sport most often prescribed during rehabilitation or to help solve the problem. I had a back pain after falling down and was advised to start practising yoga. It has certainly helped. There is something in it for everyone.