Our vision on yoga retreats

• Date02/25/2015

Eveline Torres

The yoga retreats of Samana is more then a vacation. Retreat means: withdraw from daily life. That’s what we will do. We practice yoga daily in a quiet surrounding. In this setting, often, you find there is time and space to look inside and reach places we normally can’t reach. Being away from home, having all this time for yoga and letting go of your daily life during the retreat makes reflection possible.

A unique location

For Samana Yoga Center a yoga retreat starts with finding a special location which can inspire us to do our yoga practice.
We look for locations of natural beauty with a special character. For example, our Menorca retreat took place in an old farmhouse with a chapel as Yoga Studio. In the Morocco retreat we invite you to enjoy the pure silence of the desert in our yoga camp under to star filled sky. All these locations are original, clean, light and quiet. It helps to clear the mind and move you away from daily hassles.
We provide a warm, clean, pure place where you will find a nourishing care to practice yoga in a focussed and relaxed way.

Healthy, natural food

To feel comfortable and relaxed it is important to work with honest, knowledgeable people. We look for partners at the retreat location, lovely hosts, who prepare us organic meals, healthy and balanced, mostly prepared with local products. The food is simple and very tasty. In Menorca, for example, our local friends picked the vegetables directly from their land. This way we stimulate the local economy. Our host offers us their guesthouse and also brings us to special places in the surrounding of our base.

Structure of each retreat

We believe a retreat benefits from a regular, daily program. With this clear structure our body and mind know what’s coming. They become relaxed and quiet. It creates a safe base to allow you to go deeper into your yoga practice. During the yoga days we bring a clear structure into the practice. This way you can build up your own yoga practice during a retreat.

Every day we start with a waking-up session of meditation, kriyas, vayu’s and pranayama. Then we have a healthy breakfast. Later in the morning we have a yoga session in a flow, quiet and focussed. An assistant helps to support.
During the session the yoga teacher helps you understand the postures better. There is a long lunch break with time for your self.
In the afternoon we have another yoga session with restorative elements and more time for exploration and details.
We have dinner together and close the evening with a text reading and we devote some time to contemplation. The teacher chooses a philosophical yoga text that has inspired her. The texts sparkles thoughts on what yoga practice can bring you in daily life.
During each retreat we organize one or two trips to a special place in the surrounding with our local friends. These trips are voluntary.
With this clear structure our body and mind know what’s coming. They become relaxed and quiet. It creates a safe base to allow you to go deeper into your yoga practice.

Listen to your body

We encourage you to listen to your body and mind. A retreat is a wonderful time to learn to listen to your self: what do you need. How do you do the asana’s today: with what intensity and what intention. Together we focus on different yoga principles each day. After each practice you decide for yourself: do I want to talk with others or do I prefer to take time to be alone? During a retreat you can give room to all your preferences. Allow yourself to experience how it feels to give in to your needs, feelings and thoughts. Let your body lead you.

Take the best of the retreat home

The relaxed state of mind is a gift you might want to keep in daily life. That’s why we prepare our journey returning home. Most of us need to readjust returning form a retreat because you practiced many hours with a small group of people with whom you shared this experience. Moreover you’ve had time to look at yourself with freedom. You might even have decided to do some things differently. That’s why we find it important to talk together about what you take home from the retreat and how you can keep some insights and use them in daily life.

When is the next Samana Yoga retreat?

Samana offers long retreats on a special location abroad twice a year.
We also offer a series of long weekends in the Netherlands. Check our Retreat page for dates.

Yoga retreats page