Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
YOGA RETREATS
stretch away your cares
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES & MEXICO
Your body has more time to open, change, purify, and cleanse in a retreat
environment than in a daily practice.
—Jillian Pransky, yoga teacher
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If you already know what “downward dog,” “salutations to the sun,” and “tree pose”
mean, you're a prime candidate for this listing—you've probably taken a yoga class or two
and have experienced the benefits of this ancient Indian practice. A yoga retreat is a powerful
way to deepen and strengthen what you already know. Instead of squeezing a yoga session in
before the day's first meeting or after work before you rush home to make dinner for the kids,
you can take a whole week to focus on nothing but yoga. On you. At a good yoga retreat, the
food and the surroundings will complement your practice. There is nothing to pull you away.
So how do you find a good yoga retreat?
Yoga Journal,
found on many newsstands, lists
hundreds of yoga vacations. They range from full-blown ashrams where you'll be asked to
maintain a certain rhythm and protocol to retreat centers that offer activities centered around
the yoga lifestyle to resorts that combine a package of yoga with, say, snowmobiling or kayak-
ing.
It's important to know what you're looking for. At an ashram, for example, the food tends
to be vegetarian, alcohol and caffeine are prohibited, and you might start your day as early as
5 a.m. Or maybe you prefer to follow a teacher who practices a certain style. Beryl Bender
Birch, for example, who teaches what she calls “power yoga,” once hosted a yoga retreat at
Goldeneye, the former Jamaican home of author Ian Fleming of James Bond fame. Many of
the well-known teachers—Baron Baptiste, Rodney Yee, and Shiva Rea, to name a few—lead
retreats at all sorts of exotic spots, from Thailand to Costa Rica. But to get started, here are
four of North America's best yoga retreats:
