Yoga and Meditation Retreat in Cyprus Oct 8th-15th 2016

Nourish and Replenish – Body, Mind and Soul in the natural beauty of Cyprus with Yoga, Meditation, good food and good company.

The focus of the Yoga and Meditation in this wonderful remote part of Cyprus will be rejuvenation of body, mind and spirit. We will be staying alongside a beautiful stretch of coast in Cyprus, where our accommodation and Yoga space look out across the sea and are surrounded by peaceful gardens, olive and orange groves, and herb gardens with mountains beyond to three sides. The tranquil, natural setting invites our whole being to deeply relax and restore itself to balance and happiness.

About The Teacher

shama-1Your teacher for this weekend of Yoga will be Shama Sara Palmer.

Shama first learned Yoga from her Yoga teacher mother, who taught her the power of the breathing practices of Hatha Yoga when she was a teenager.

After spending a lot of time travelling around the globe to places such as India, Japan, Thailand, Italy, USA, Canada and Bahamas, where she learned from and practiced many healing and spiritual traditions, Shama spent four years managing an integrative health clinic in central London.  Here she came across many chronically ill people, some who made recovery, some who did not.

Remembering the healing power of Yoga learned from her mother, Shama decided to deepen her understanding of Yoga so she might share it’s transforming and life-enhancing practices with others. She went to the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in Bahamas and took the teacher training course there, followed by the advanced teacher training course and other further intensive trainings. In between these trainings, Shama lived in the ashram in the Bahamas immersing herself in a Yoga life and learning much from the seniors teachers that she lived with there.  She also offered specialist programmes such as Yoga for Healing and Pain Relief, and Healing Power of the Breath.

Whilst there, she also commuted to and from New York for one year to study with Mukunda Stiles, a great teacher of Yoga Therapy and later became Yoga Therapist at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat. This training and experience has enabled her to teach with a sound understanding of how to adapt practices to suit particular body needs and limitations in class, and also to support people individually who are ill or in pain with specifically adapted Yoga practices.

Shama has also studied Ayurvedic Yoga with Dr David Frawley and Mukunda Stiles, and workshops with Max Strom, Roger Cole and Godfrey Devreux amongst others. She is trained in Yoga for the Heart (cardiac disease and cancer) with Nischala Joy Devi, pregnancy yoga, and some study of macrobiotics, with participation in macrobiotic health weeks.

When not teaching, Shama spends much time journeying more deeply into the fields of Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedanta, exploring their teachings for healing and transformation of the human body, mind and spirit. She also writes a regular Yoga for Health column in the Stratford-Upon Avon-Focus magazine.

The Yoga

Two daily Yoga classes will be designed to support this replenishing of our being. The morning Hatha Yoga classes will be designed to energise, renew and strengthen our system, boosting the flow of prana (energy) through our bodies and uplifting our spirits. The afternoon Yin-Restorative Yoga classes will focus on  relaxing our nervous systems, unwinding deeply held tensions and thereby freeing the flow of our energy for greater health and immunity through the winter months ahead.

The Yoga classes will be followed by guided cleansing and nourishing breathing practices, healing visualisations and meditations. The breathing practices and meditations are designed to relieve physical and/or emotional pain, to nourish the heart, and to restore positivity and optimism to the mind.

We will be practicing outdoors on a Yoga platform in the hotel gardens, a stone’s throw from the sea alongside a deserted unspoiled beach, with stunning views of the coast and mountains.

The Hotel

The hotel is a family-run business with an ecological focus, frequented by many nature lovers, bird-watchers, walkers due to it’s beautiful setting close to the Akamas nature reserve. It is set alongside a beautiful stretch of beach with lovely gardens with fruit and olive trees, it’s own vegetable fields, all surrounded to three sides by mountains in the distance.

The Food

Apart from the restorative Yoga classes and meditations, further nourishment is offered during this week in the lovingly-prepared Cypriot vegetarian meals. Made from home-grown organic produce and locally sourced produce, the meals are full of nutrients, and easily digestible to support the healing and cleansing of the internal organs that our daily Yoga practices will be initiating. Breakfast is a buffet service, taken with other guests of the hotel, and includes home-made breads, preserves, yoghurt and goats’ cheeses, home-grown fruits and herb teas, and the hotel’s own free range eggs. Lunch and dinner are specially prepared for the Yoga retreat participants and are 95% plant based meals with a little dairy occasionally (yoghurt, goats cheese). Special dietary requirements can be accommodated – eg gluten-free, dairy-free. Meals are taken on the restaurant terrace with views across the gardens to the sea. In the evening, we dine whilst watching spectacular sunsets as the sun goes down over the sea.

The Accomodation

All accommodation is en-suite and spacious, with air-con,  a sea view and it’s own private terrace. There is a mini bar and a safe in each room. The rooms are cleaned daily and towels are provided.

Other Facilities at the Hotel

There is a swimming pool, gym and sauna at the hotel for your enjoyment. A 5 Euro fee is charged by the hotel for use of the gym and sauna. The hotel provides beach towels and there are sun beds on the sea front, around the pool and in the gardens.Bikes are available for hire, and there are also tennis courts.

The hotel lounge bar sells juices, water, local wine, ice cream, teas and coffees, and the hotel’s own home-grown organic herb teas.

Activities

In between classes and meal times, the days and evenings are left free for you to enjoy the peace and quiet of the hotel gardens and beach, or to explore the beauty, history and culture of the surrounding area.

There is a the nearby small town of Polis with it’s many cafes, restaurants and shops. It is just a 15 minute walk away. Nearby sites of interest include Aphrodite’s Baths and the beautiful nature reserve of the Akamas Peninsula. There are jeep tours around the Akamas nature reserve, and boat tours to the wild and deserted Lara Bay and Blue Lagoon.

A little further afield in Paphos (about a 45 minute drive away), are wonderful archaelogical sites such as Tombs of the Kings and the Paphos Mosaics.

We will take an (optional) excursion one day to a nearby mountain village with herb garden, apothecary and lovely cafe with delicious vegan raw food cakes.

Pre-requisites

This retreat is suitable for anyone with at least a little Yoga experience; the classes will be mixed level classes.

Daily Schedule

  • 7.30 – 9.00am Morning Yoga practice
  • 9.00 – 9.30am Breathing practices and guided relaxation/visualisation/meditation
  • 9.30am Breakfast
  • Free Time
  • 1.00pm Light Cyrpriot style Lunch
  • Free Time
  • 5.00 – 6.00pm  Afternoon Yoga practice
  • 6.00 – 6.30pm Breathing practices and guided relaxation/visualisation/meditation
  • 7.30pm Vegetarian home-cooked Cypriot style Dinner

*Please note; on Friday there is no planned dinner or afternoon Yoga to give all participants the chance to explore more of the beauty of Cyprus or simply enjoy more time relaxing in the hotel grounds or by the sea. There will be an optional excursion to a mountain village and herb garden for vegan lunch/afternoon tea and cakes.

What To Bring

Please bring comfortable casual clothing, yoga gear, yoga mat/brick/block, meditation cushion, swimwear, sunscreen, mosquito repellent (mosquitoes are not too bad at this time of year but there may be a few). The beach is made up of pebbles mixed with sand and there are large pebbles as we go into the sea so many find it helpful to have rubber shoes for getting into the sea.

Getting There

Please plan to land at Paphos International Airport on June 6th, 2017. From there we will have a taxi collect you and bring you to the hotel. If others are landing around the same time as you, we will organise shared taxis. It is 50-55 euros (depending on the time of day), for a small taxi. For larger groups, larger taxis are available: these are approximately 80 euros.

Cost

It is £600 for a shared twin/double room and £650 for a single room. This fee includes three meals daily, except on friday when there are only morning Yoga practices and breakfast to allow free time to explore more of the surrounding area. All Yoga tuition is included in the fee.

Not included in the fee are transfers to and from airports, flights, and excursions taken during the week. Also, extra snacks and drinks taken in the hotel are not included in the fee.

There is a late check out fee of 35 Euros for those wishing to use their room after mid-day on the 15th October, last day of our retreat.

How to Book

For more information or for booking please email me or use the contact form below Once you have decided you would like to join us in Cyprus, I will send my bank details for transfer of a £220 non-refundable deposit to secure your place and a registration form. Please let me know if you require a single or shared room. The balance will be due one month, and two weeks before departure. Once I have received your deposit and completed registration form, I will send more information to you about flights and other travel arrangements.

Get In Touch

what a brilliant retreat and place…

2015 Participant

Get In Touch

07910 088 032
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