What happens on a yoga retreat?

I hope you had a great weekend and managed to get some time outdoors! Did you embrace the winter days after my newsletter last week? I’d love to hear what you got up to! I got a lot of comments on my Instagram stories about snowshoeing, especially since my Yoga & Snowshoe Retreat is fast approaching ☃️

I get a lot of questions whenever a new retreat rolls around: What are the days like? When do we eat? Do we have any down time?; What are the yoga practices like? I thought I’d share a bit more detail on what exactly a weekend retreat looks like so you can visualize it for yourself!

We arrive Friday, February 10 anytime after 3pm to the tranquil Centre de Vie tucked into the hills of the Outaouais in Quebec. There is free time to settle in, explore the grounds, read or use their unique dry sauna. At 5:30pm we officially start with our first delicious meal of the weekend. Any allergies or food intolerances are able to be accommodated. We will close out the day with a calming meditation and Restorative Yoga session at 7pm.

Saturday starts at 7am with sunrise meditation and breath work, followed by breakfast. Our 9am Flow yoga class is more energizing and active is about 90 minutes long. A nice thing about retreats is the spaciousness to have longer yoga practices. The rest of the morning is yours to explore or rest. We get to enjoy lunch in sacred silence (if you’ve never enjoyed a meal this way, you’re in for a real treat as you’ll never feel so present in a moment!). 

After lunch it’s time to strap on the snowshoes and head for the hills! We embrace nature and all her beauty as we get up close and personal to her sights and sounds. Once back inside, we’ll unwind with a two hour YogAroma Yin session - soothing muscles and delighting the senses after our snowshoe! YogAroma involves essential oils used both aromatically and topically to relax and calm the mind and body. Another delicious dinner will follow as we close out the day with an interactive workshop.

This workshop is a special one! We will be playing with essential oils to make roller-ball bottles and bath salts. You will learn the principles of blending and essential oil safety. And you get to take home your creations!

Our last day begins with a group meditation and breath work session followed by breakfast. An invigorating Flow class starts at 9am before we head for the hills once more for a group snowshoe. We’ll enjoy another lunch in sacred silence followed by free time to enjoy your final few hours in nature. Whether you want to read, enjoy the sauna or spend quiet time in nature, it’s up to you. At 3pm we check out and look forward to the next one!

My goal with each retreat I run is to ensure we have a balance (isn’t that what a weekend away is all about?) of yoga and movement, with space for you to reset, pause, and reflect. So much of the magic of a retreat comes from the offerings, but also what happens between the scheduled programming. The chats over breakfast, the connections out in nature, the commonality we find amongst friends who were once strangers.

If you ever have any questions at all about what happens on a retreat, please reach out!