Spring Cleaning for Mind & Body: 2024 Edition
Banish the blahs and rejuvenate your spirit with a yoga weekend near Paris or the Mediterranean
Research suggests that spring may be one of the best times to start a new habit or make a change.
If your New Year’s promise to yourself didn’t happen in January, or February, or March, it can still happen in April! This notion that renewal only happens once a year and never again—a type of negative samskara that dooms you to perpetual failure—is a LIE.
Renewal, rebirth, recommitment, Passover, Easter, Ramadan, Holi, Nowruz, whatever you want to call it, can happen at any time of year. Spring just happens to feel like a fitting moment for bringing fresh, optimistic energy to what you want because Nature is in full jazz-hands mode: cha cha tree branches sleeved in fluffy pink flowers, birds chirping for your attention, and bright green asparagus winking at you from marché crates. How can you not fall under Spring’s spell?
Retreat to Move Forward
Sometimes, though, you do need a kick in the ass and that’s where a retreat comes in. A retreat is like a putting your mind and body in a well-being time-compressor: you accomplish in a short amount of time what it might take months for you to do on your own. While it might not seem like two days would be sufficient to get you on track, we can assure you that a weekend is plenty of time: away from your normal life, inspired by teachings and practices, nourished by down-time, you’ll come away rejuvenated… with a spring in your step.
After the jump, our insider tips for two excellent upcoming yoga weekends: one just 90 minutes from Paris; the other in an adorable seaside village on the southern coast…
BY THE WAY
Are you looking for an opportunity to trade a few hours of volunteering for yoga classes? If so, check out these Paris studios that offer work-exchange:
Ashtanga Weekend (La Ciotat)
with Cyril Lagel
An entire weekend to deepen your yoga with Paris-based, certified Ashtanga teacher Cyril Lagel. Cyril can be a bit doctrinaire (it is Ashtanga after all!) however his sense of humor and talent for breaking poses down into easier, workable components is game-changing.
FYI for Paris peeps: Cyril’s short-form Ashtanga classes at Beyoga are very good. He makes time within the edited-down Primary series to explain, deconstruct and offer practical advice on entering, holding and exiting poses.
While this isn’t a true retreat (you’ll have to find your own accommodations), the programme is interesting enough—and La Ciotat certainly charming enough (OMG how cute is this airbnb?)—that we recommend making the trip.
Friday April 12th through Sunday April 14th, 2024
160€/weekend or 45€/atelier or 30€/led class or Mysore
Yoga et Retour à Soi (Le Perche)
with Stéphanie Mathieu
During this yoga and self-reflection retreat, Stéphanie will guide you through a balanced and progressive programme of yoga, pranayama and meditation that will revitalise your body and mind. Open to all levels of yogis, practices will be dynamic in the morning and softer in the afternoon, with plenty of down-time in between for forest walks, reading and massages (65€, different types, available upon request).
Friday April 26th through Sunday April 28th, 2024
La Maison Vivante (more below)
465€ (fee includes room and board, all classes as well as transfers from train station in Nogent-le-Rotrou)
If La Maison Vivante sounds familiar, that’s because Do Yoga in Paris loves its founders Martin and Nicolas who are super fantastic human beings and yoga teachers. We wrote about them here:
It would be impossible to describe La Maison Vivante without first describing Martin and Nico and their way of sharing yoga: authentic, simple but abounding in soul; spare but with a boat-load of style. They have a knack for transforming spaces into contemplative havens—their yoga classes in the basement of Carreau du Temple accomplish the impossible by turning a high-octane sports complex into a gentler practice space—and La Maison Vivante is the purest expression of their yoga as an art de vivre.
If you can’t make the retreat with Stéphanie, do keep La Maison Vivante in your address book for a future getaway.