Enter the Cave of Your Heart
Why a yoga retreat is not an escape from your life but a journey into it
In mythology, legends and fairytales, people enter a cave when they need to think, when they want to worship in secret, when they need to confront a dæmon. Whether the retreat is self-imposed or imposed by an outside force, whether the cave is real or metaphoric, doesn’t matter as much as what the cave’s darkness brings: revelation.
We don’t spend much time in caves these days and it really is a pity: we all could use a moment of being cut off from our day-to-day lives to sift and organize our cloudy thoughts; to define or redefine what truly matters to us; to stand face-to-face with our phantom, dæmon selves. Insight is hard to come by when you’re caught up in taking care of children, managing aging parents, scheduling doctors’ appointments, balancing work and social commitments… Insight is more easily accessed through contemplation and silence, those secret cave passageways that lead directly to the heart.
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. —Joseph Campbell
Summer Drop-in Retreat (Lot-et-Garonne)
with Tamsin Jardinier of Little French Retreat
An open invitation to rest and replenish at Tamsin’s beautiful hideaway near Agen. Design your own yoga and Ayurvedic experience by choosing stays of 3, 5 or 7 days which will enable you to tune in to the languid rhythms of summer. Tamsin’s seasonal, organic cooking and calm, centred practices will cool your mind and body during these hotter months.
👉 Saturday July 8th-Sunday August 27th, 2023
👉 From 525€ to 1750€ depending on accommodations and length of stay
👉 Breathing, yoga and meditation twice daily
👉 Ayurvedic lifestyle consultation with dietary suggestions
Subscribe to Tamsin’s lovely Unfolding Conversations in which she writes about the practices that keep her engaged, the Ayurvedic recipes she’s cooking and creating, the plants she’s growing on her property, and shares stories of people she meets through her work. Super inspiring!
Pique-Nique aux Pays des Merveilles (Charente)
with Zélikha Dinga of Caro Diario
A retreat at Domaine de Boisbuchet is an opportunity explore new typologies of sustainable living, creating and consuming through art, design, architecture and food. During this week with Zélikha, you’ll dive into Charente’s rich food culture to develop recipes, innovative flavors, and forms of serving and sharing that will conclude with a giant picnic on Boisbuchet’s idyllic grounds.
👉 Sunday August 13th-Saturday August 19th, 2023
👉 1090€/student or 1460€
👉 While this is not a yoga retreat, there are morning yoga sessions open to all
If you’re in Paris through July 25th, be sure to stop by Caro Diario’s pop-up gelateria in the Marais. Open seven days a week from 13h-19h, you can get cones and cups and 450g takeaway boxes of gelato. Highly recommend!
Retreat to the South of France (Haute-Garonne)
with Amanda Giacomini, Chantal Russell and MC Yogi
Join this week-long escape to the château Rieucazé located one hour south of Toulouse. The yoga retreat boasts daily yoga sessions, time for lounging in the salt water pool or chilling in the handmade mosaic hammam, as well as a sommelier-led wine tasting and a pilgrimage to Lourdes where the healing waters spring from the grotto (aka CAVE) of Massabielle.
👉 Sunday August 20th-Sunday August 27th, 2023
👉 2200€-2900€ depending on room choice
👉 Yoga room is fully equipped with mats, props and accessories
Fun fact: the château has been renovated by none other than yoga teacher Nico Luce whose name you might recognize from his frequent visits to Paris to teach workshops.
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. —Carl Jung