By Megan Taylor Morrison
The Active Times
When it comes to building a stronger mind and body, yoga can be one of your best tools. A regular practice can reduce stress, improve fitness, and help manage chronic conditions from heart disease to high blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic.
While a yoga class twice a week can have a positive impact, a full-fledged retreat can help you magnify the physical and mental benefits of yoga, as well as dive more deeply into your practice. With daily classes, incredible outdoor settings, and healthful meals, a yoga retreat can be like your average vacation on steroids.
Not surprisingly, wellness tourism -- including yoga -- is expected to be one of the top getaway trends in the United States in 2013, according to an annual forecast report by SpaFinder. If you want to get in on the action and up your Om, you should consider the following.
Because yoga retreats can vary widely, you need to know what you’re looking for. A getaway in a remote, wild location? Or easy access from a big city? Do you want a program focused entirely on yoga, or one that offers cooking classes, hikes and sightseeing? Other things to think about include the meals (many yoga retreats only provide vegetarian cuisine and don’t allow alcohol), type of yoga and who will be teaching. While some retreats have resident instructors, others bring in teachers from around the world.
For this story, we featured 12 excellent yoga retreats that can meet the needs of a variety of yogis. Take a look to find the spot that’s best for you.
12 Incredible Yoga Retreats Worldwide Slideshow
AkBol: Ambergris Caye, Belize
The first yoga retreat center and Eco Resort in Belize, AkBol offers daily classes, private sessions and workshops. Stay in a thatched hut or the yoga barracks and enjoy food from AkBol’s Soul Kitchen, which offers local favorites such as pupusas (a handmade corn tortilla stuffed with a variety of fillings), as well as wood-brick, thin-crust pizzas and fresh juice and smoothies made from the retreat’s home-grown produce.
Blue Spirit: Nosara, Costa Rica
This could be the only yoga retreat with a nearby sea turtle refuge. The center sits above Guiones beach, home to the Ostional Wildlife Sanctuary, where you have the opportunity to observe the turtles as they lay their eggs. This stretch is also known for its exceptional surfing, and Blue Spirit can arrange a lesson for you with one of the local instructors. As for the center itself, it features gourmet vegetarian cuisine, a holistic spa, a salt-water infinity pool and a number of accommodations for all tastes and budgets. You can attend a teacher training, yoga workshop or even hold your own event in the space.
Esalen Institute: Big Sur, California
The Esalen Institute hosts numerous yoga workshops throughout the year in styles ranging from Raja to Vinyasa. When you’re not on the mat, you can soak in amazing views of the California coast or share a meal with fellow yogis in the center’s dining area, where food is prepared from ingredients grown in Esalen’s organic garden.
Escape Haven, Bali
Your week at Escape Haven will include daily yoga and meditation classes, your stay at the five star villa, a cultural day trip to Ubud and your choice of additional activities ranging from cooking or Pilates workshops to stand up paddleboarding. The center features a rotating list of expert international instructors who can adapt classes to suit people of all abilities.
Big Sky Yoga Retreats: Bozeman, Montana
Not every retreat needs to be at sea level. In Bozeman, Montana, you can combine sun salutations with snow-capped peaks, mountain meadows and glacial lakes. Big Sky Yoga will help you take advantage of the incredible surroundings with programs such as the Winter Wonderland & Wellness Yoga and Nordic Skiing Retreat or Cowgirl Yoga™, which includes plenty of time for horseback riding.
Shreyas: Bangalore, India
Shreyas not only offers Ashtanga and Hatha yoga classes, but also massages and Ayurveda treatments at the onsite Rejuvenation Spa. Meals for guests are tailor made after a consultation with the in-house Ayurveda and Naturopathy doctors. The recipes, made with fresh produce from the organic garden, are inspired by many different cuisines: Indian, Mexican, Continental and more.
Yoga Breaks: Alicante, Spain
If you’re looking for a relaxed retreat, consider Yoga Breaks in Spain. These programs, designed for beginner and intermediate yogis, combine Hatha, Vinyasa Flow and Yin Yoga to build strength, flexibility and range of movement. They are held at two different places throughout the year. In the spring and autumn, visitors take classes at a country house with beautiful mountain views. In the summer, the program moves closer to the sea to a boutique hotel just a short walk from the beach. In addition to yoga classes, visitors can also take a guided hike, ride bikes or enroll in a Spanish cooking workshop.
Shambhala Mountain Center: Red Feather Lakes, Colorado
Situated in a 600-acre valley within the Colorado Rockies, the Shambhala Mountain Center offers more than 100 different programs per year on yoga, indigenous wisdom traditions, body awareness practices, mindful living and other subjects. Established in 1971 by Tibetan meditation master and teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, this retreat has been welcoming visitors for more than 40 years and is home to the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya (pictured on the left)—one of the most significant examples of sacred Buddhist architecture in North America.
Togat Nusa: Pitojat Island, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia
Located on a private island, Togat Nusa offers not only yoga and meditation classes, but also swimming, snorkeling, fishing and beachcombing. The Mentawai Islands attract surfers from across the world thanks to the quality of waves and the area’s consistency as a surf zone. The retreat provides daily transport to surf breaks for anyone interested to try the sport.
Rancho La Puerta: Baja, California
Rancho La Puerta’s yoga specialty weeks provide a unique opportunity to combine your practice with the retreat’s other weekly classes and activities. The property comprises 3,000 acres where you can wander through boulder fields and forests of oak trees, take farm-to-table cooking classes and listen to lectures from inspiring experts from around the globe. Meals from the center’s organic farm will help keep your energy high throughout the day.
Domaine De La Grausse: Clermont, France
A 17-acre estate in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, Domaine De La Grausse offers guests a week of yoga, clean mountain air, pure spring water and organic meals. In between classes, yogis can see the region’s famous prehistoric cave paintings, hike to one of the numerous waterfalls or visit a nearby Medieval town.
Punta Mona: Costa Rica
Adventurous spirits will love Punta Mona. This 85-acre, off-the-grid permaculture farm is a half-day’s trip from San Jose through Braullio Carillio National Park, and the final leg of the journey must be done by foot or by boat. Punta Mona offers a variety of workshops hosted in buildings made from local, fallen trees. While you’re there, you can also learn about the 200 varieties of tropical fruits, vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants grown on the farm, as well as enjoy incredible gourmet meals made from local ingredients. In your free time, take a mud bath in the nearby river or kayak out to the coral reef and try to spot the region’s three different dolphin species.
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