This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Yoga retreats are all the rage right now, you can see when browsing yoga studio websites. Why such an interest ? What are the participants looking for? Yoga teachers and a participant testify.
1. Reclaim your energy
“It is certain that retreats are all different and that is why you have to clarify your intention before registering for a retreat to make sure you get what you need, says the yoga teacher Lyne St-Roch, who founded Studios Lyne St-Roch in 2001. With my retreats, I want to help people withdraw from their everyday life to bring their consciousness back inside themselves through postures, breathing, meditation and the moments between practices, such as lunch in silence. Silence is restorative, regenerating. The women especially always have a lot of open files, and their attention is always outside of themselves. Retreat allows them to close files, bring their attention back to themselves and thus reclaim their energy. »
2. Deepen your practice
“We always organize a retreat at the end of August in the Laurentians and we welcome people who have at least three months of Iyengar yoga practice,” says Claudie Berge, co-owner of the Center de yoga Iyengar de Montréal. It is an opportunity to deepen one’s practice, to learn. It is also the time to discuss and get to know the people of the community better. Many will also take the opportunity to change some of their lifestyle habits. We all find ourselves together, in nature, eating vegetarian meals, doing yoga several times a day, taking care of ourselves. There are things that remain in each of us after this experience. »
3. Recharge
“The first advantage of a yoga retreat is that it allows you to stop,” says Marie-Hélène Tapin, co-creator of Espace Mā Yoga. When you come to a course, it’s already good because you cultivate a little space for yourself, but as soon as it’s over, you go back into the whirlwind. When we go on a retreat, we allow ourselves a short vacation. In addition, retreats often take place in nature, and people who have an urban life need it. It’s very rejuvenating. Retreats allow you to reconnect with yourself. It’s very soothing. »
4. Create links
“I took part in a mother-baby retreat last spring to get out of my house after two years of a pandemic and my first winter spent with my baby, says Julie Corbeil. Yoga was a bit of an excuse to get out of our daily lives, meet other moms and chat after yoga practices, around a good vegan meal. Almost all of us also had a child of about three years old at home who requires a lot of juice, so we wanted to spend a special time with our baby, to give ourselves a little bubble. It is certain that we must be realistic: there are certain yoga classes where I spent half the time managing my baby who had slept badly during his nap. It’s not the type of retreat to recharge 100%, but it allows us to get away from everyday life. »
5. Rebalancing
“The retreat we hold in November is always very popular, because it’s the time of year when it starts to get cold, the days get shorter and we are working to rebalance all that in the movement,” says Alexandrine Bouilly, manager of Yoga Club. Since people are taken care of, like in a three-day all-inclusive, they can really let go and be fully in yoga. We also offer a lot of classes during the retreat, and workshops that allow people to practice things that we don’t have time to do in the studio in a one-hour class. »
Three retreats offered soon
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, relating to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.