Why are Yoga Retreats so Popular?
With the ongoing covid pandemic causing massive stress for most of us, we need effective coping tools and strategies to manage the myriad lifestyle changes, social changes, and work changes we’re faced with week on week and month on month.
Enter yoga – an ancient practice that helps sort out your busy head, lethargic body, and flagging spirit. Yoga Retreats in the UK have become increasingly popular because these offer participants the opportunity to get away from it all, get pampered and back to nature, and most important of all, to work on yourself in a holistic way that can actually be sustained when you return to daily life afterwards.
On most yoga retreats you’ll do a morning and evening yoga session, get to go for nature walks or hikes, meditate, practise mindfulness techniques, eat delicious cuisine (often fresh and plant-based) and perhaps enjoy a massage for good measure, maybe a soak in a pool, or hot tub under rays of sun or stars and just relax and socialise a lot.
Basically, you just escape the humdrum of everyday life for a bit in a way that restores your energy levels and recalibrates you a bit. What’s not to love?
Watersports & Yoga: A Natural Fit
What many retreat hosts have cottoned on to lately, is that combining activities on a retreat to involve surfing, snorkelling, paddleboarding, or wild swimming really adds value for their customers.
- The British Isles is full of amazing rivers, lakes, forest pools, waterfalls and sections of coast that offer us a brisk and bracing immersion and a chance to learn a new skill.
- Combining this with yoga which warms and stretches the muscles and improves our flexibility is, therefore, a natural fit.
- These are also activities that welcome participants of all ages and stages of life, from beginners to experts. Yoga Retreats are generally designed to accommodate you no matter your novice status. Which is rather nice!
- These kinds of retreats are a great way to spend time with friends or your partner or friends or to simply go out on your own and meet people.
- Because they’re out in the open most of the time, you can also social distance safely, should that be a concern.
Surfing & Yoga Retreats
For those who love the scent of saltwater and feel the call of the sea, a surfing and yoga retreatis just the answer. Cornwall, Devon and sections of the Scottish coast are all popular destinations for this kind of retreat which offers you the opportunity to connect with the natural elements, enjoy delicious food (which you’ll certainly build up an appetite for) and often involves eco-glamping with cosy campfires and brilliant stargazing.
It’s a pretty addictive combination, (even if you aren’t very good at the surfing part) because it releases massive amounts of endorphins. We also guarantee you will sleep like a kitten who got the cream every night of your trip, lulled by the sound of the waves breaking on the shore. You’ll return home refreshed, revitalised, and awakened and open to life again. Utter bliss!
Yoga & Wild Swimming Retreats
Do you love a refreshing frolic in a rolling river or tranquil lake? Is immersing yourself in freshwater for a quick dip or some serious strokes something that appeals? Swimming is a wonderful form of exercise because it is low impact and doesn’t damage our joints, ligaments and tendons.
When combined with warm-up yoga, it can make one feel truly fantastic, especially if you’re doing it somewhere gorgeous and tranquil, getting away from it all and loving life in the great outdoors.
Yoga and wild swimming retreatsare massively popular for both their health benefits and sense of fun and adventure, with Wales and the Lake District serving as two of the most popular destinations. Why not kickstart your year by exploring your options in these pristine locales?
Yoga & Paddleboarding Retreats
Stand-up paddleboarding (SUPing) has become a massive worldwide craze over the past three years. It’s easier to master than kite surfing, windsurfing, or regular surfing, but it’s also a great workout and means to enjoy being out in nature. Boards are also easier to balance on thanks to their unique shape.
SUPing can be enjoyed in the sea or on rivers and dams, so it’s very versatile too, as well as being loads of fun! Many yoga instructors are nature lovers who realise the benefits of combining paddleboarding and yoga in a retreat getaway, especially because you don’t need a high level of skill to enjoy it. You may even do some yoga poses on your board, just for a laugh (it’s a great balance challenger).
As with surfing and wild swimming, these kinds of combo yoga retreats connect one with nature, fresh air and exercise in a wholesome and fun-filled way.
So if you’re feeling the need to both recharge and challenge yourself a little and step out of your comfort zone, it may well be time to take the plunge. See you out there!
I’ve always wanted to get into yoga! This is very interesting