What To Expect From Your Very First Yoga Retreat
Are you just itching to go on your first yoga retreat? You’ve seen the posts and heard people talk about their amazing trips, and now you want to go and experience a yoga retreat for yourself? Fantastic! Yoga retreats are becoming more common in the Western world, as more and more people embrace yoga, meditation and mindfulness as tools to manage stress and find balance in their lives. But booking your first yoga retreat can be a bit of a daunting experience, especially if you aren’t sure what to expect from it. So today we wanted to share some of the things you will experience on your yoga retreat, and hopefully dispel some of that mystery around it for you.
Beautiful Accommodation
No matter what part of the world you book your yoga retreat in, you’re going to be staying in comfortable accommodations in a beautiful area. Since yoga retreats are all about removing yourself from your hectic day-to-day life, retreats are held in areas of natural beauty, often surrounded by fields, cliffs, beaches or the sea. No neighbours and no noise, so you can experience the tranquillity and peace of the space.
Meet Lots of New People
Yoga retreats are full of people who are travelling solo or in a couple, and everyone is always very relaxed and friendly. You tend to find everyone is quiet and respectful of your space, non-judgemental and supportive if you need it. It’s an amazing way to meet a new community full of like-minded souls. During the course of the retreat, you will have the chance to meet all of these people from different walks of life and connect on a spiritual level, where you can all be authentic without fear of judgment, and you can all work through whatever you need to together, or alone.
A Deeper Approach To Yoga
A weekly yoga class is a great way to start your yoga journey, learn the ropes and start to understand your body better. A yoga retreat is designed to help you reach new levels in your practice, no matter how experienced you are, and bring together all the different elements of the yoga practice to transform your mind, body and soul. You might find your arms aching, your core burning and a deep tiredness on the second day as you start to connect with your body in new ways, but by the end of the retreat, you will feel refreshed and have a completely new view of your own practice.
Permission to Relax
We all live such hectic lives in the modern world that sometimes all we need is permission to relax. To sit and do nothing, lie on the sand, read a book, meditate or even just sleep deeply. Yoga retreats aren’t all ‘go go go’ – in fact they’re pretty much the opposite! They give you permission to just ‘be’, rather than ‘do’, and there’s always plenty of time for it on any retreat. Of course, if you’re not a ‘sitting still’ kind of person, there are lots of other things you can do too!
Deep Dive Into Your Thoughts
Spending time in your own company, meditating, breathing and focusing on your own body can bring a lot of emotions and thoughts to the surface. You find people who have booked onto the retreat because they need to relax and destress, while others may have some important life decisions they want to ponder, or even just broke up with a partner and need some headspace. It’s not uncommon to find your mind flooded with deep thoughts and realisations during a yoga retreat, and it’s one of the reasons we recommend packing a notebook!
New Types Of Yoga
If you’ve been going to yoga classes for a while you may have practised one of two styles of yoga, depending on what your teachers prefer. Yoga retreats give you the chance to experience different styles of yoga, taught by lots of different teachers over the course of the retreat. Each teacher can bring a unique personal learning and techniques to their practice, and pass that on to you. So come with an open mind and an open heart, and you’ll find it full by the end.
Clean Eating
Yoga philosophy is vegetarian at its heart, and most yoga retreats will try to follow that teaching as much as possible. This means a week of clean eating with a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan meals, all cooked on site by expert chefs. Every meal is designed to give you the energy you need for your practice as well as spark your tastebuds with unique combinations and delicious dishes. Some people even say the best part of a yoga retreat is the food!
At Balearic Retreats we offer a wide range of yoga retreats, each tailored to a specific need or centred around one of our amazing visiting yogis so that they can share their amazing knowledge with us. We list all of our upcoming yoga retreats here, and we can always guarantee beautiful environments, amazing food and an experience like no other. Have questions? We’ll be happy to answer them, just get in touch with us today.