Top Tips for Bespoke Yoga Retreats

A Bespoke yoga retreat with your favourite people is a fantastic way to plan a trip, share activities, unwind and discover a new land together. This article describes what to think about when planning your retreat and how to make your time away special. Tips to create a tailor made retreat and plan for all the activities you want to enjoy

International yoga teacher, and friend, Dylan Ayaloo has contributed here about the benefits of yoga no matter how experienced you are and describes his lightbulb moment in our gardens.

Planning your Yoga Retreat

1. Agree a Date

Planning ahead is important, logistics of mixed groups juggling different responsibilites can be the biggest hurdle. Give yourself 6 -12 months and lock the date down first.

2. Agree what you want from the Yoga Sessions

You want the opportunity to spend a week away together and to practice yoga, but maybe you are all at different stages of your yoga journey. Let the yoga teachers know in advance so they can plan your sessions for you. If you are attending any of the general group classes in the yoga studio, plan ahead so that private sessinos can be booked into the studio schedule. Some people may want to gently rise and have a morning yoga session followed by a day of relaxing or sightseeing, others may want to get up early and practice twice a day. Make sure that you all have a plan that accomodates everybody in the group, with flexibility to practice together and separately AND give you plenty of time together.

3. Agree what experiences you want outside the villa

If you are travelling to Sri Lanka from afar you will want to make sure you experience this beautiful island. After all, seeing the local sights and finding the time and space to un-hook from the world at large and chill out in a completely different environment is a bonding experience in itself. Friendship groups can come together for different reasons; Yoga could be the anchor that brings together a week away, but what about food, art, culture, adventure? Days work well with yoga in the mornings followed by an experience during the day and chill time, dinner and drinks to share stories and catch up in the evenings. We recommend that you do one experience a day, whether a cookery class or bike ride, trip to Galle Fort or swimming with turtles. A mixed pace and a little structure agreed ahead will mean you make the most of your time without feeling run ragged.

It is worth remembering that the first night is usually an excitable union of gossip, drinks and nibbles in the cabana, followed by gorgeous Sri Lankan food made by chef. A dip in the pool, a stretch on the lounger, a chat about the week ahead and then bed, so start your first day a little later to give you an all important lie in.

4. Agree Food and Drink

Sri Lankan food is delicious and a big part of the travel experience. The variety of mouthwatering dishes to try is exciting, make sure you advise the team of any allergies before arrival. If you are foodies and want to be more adventurous, just say so and we can put you in the driving seat of your culinary experience along with our team. A cookery class to learn how to cook your favourite dishes is a popular expereince so bring a notebook with you. Drinks can be pre-ordered so discuss what you would like to have stocked for your arrival and give plenty of notice so that your meals and eating plans can be organised on busy days.

5. Agree an Itinerary

It is a good idea to have a rough idea of what you are planning on each day, even if you change your mind when you arrive. Some experiences need to be planned in advance but most are fluid. Your advance plan will make sure that if you tick everything off by the end of your retreat whether you decide to swap days around or not.

6. Agree what to pack

You may want to split the responsibility for some basic shared items like mosquito spray or some toiletries. Not only does this make packing easier but gives you plenty of space in your luggage to bring back gifts for you and your loved ones.

7. Agree to enjoy each other and focus on your friendships

Bonds are made stronger and your time together becomes one long conversation. According to the Huffington Post, spending time away with women you trust is “a special kind of cleanse”.

As for yoga retreats, Mind, Body Green lists the following benefits of participating in one – it perfectly encapsulates why, if you are considering it, you should just go ahead and book it

1. Take your yoga to the next level
2. You’ll get a new perspective
3. You’ll “actually” meditate
4. You’ll detox digitally
5. You’ll relax and de-stress
6. You’ll eat well without having to do any of the work
7. You’ll replace old habits
8. You’ll build strong friendships
9. You’ll appreciate home
10. Because you deserve it

Contact us at stay@kalukandahouse.com to create a tailor made yoga retreat or a group week away for a special occasion or just because you deserve it –

A few words from a Yogi….

Dylan Ayaloo is a yogi and International Yoga teacher who stayed at Kalukanda House a few weeks ago. I have had the pleasure of being taught by Dylan over the years and his classes have so much depth and a spirituality and emotional context as well as being physically challenging. Dylan now runs programs across the world educating yoga teachers, he also works in smaller groups on request.

He has recently been running teacher training programs in Northern Sri Lanka.

Here Dylan talks about how he formed a new habit while practicing in our garden.

” Kalukanda House – inspires creativity and a journey to the Self

Recently during Christmas (2018) I had the pleasure of staying at Kalukanda House with family. It was a special time, I had the chance to reconnect with my dear family and spend time together again. The food in Sri Lanka is amazing and especially at Kalukanda I found whatever dishes I recognised during my travels around Sri Lanka was just a level above what I’d tasted. Naturally I noticed my body gaining some pounds which I wasn’t used to.

As a yoga teacher that travels around the world and teaches, sometimes its easy to put me last, and this is what I did with my yoga practice. It had fallen wayside and I’ve been on and off with my practice.

It was time to kick start my daily practice, so the morning of Christmas eve, I took my mat to the gorgeous garden at Kalukanda, rolled out my new travel mat which was gifted to me and just got started. In case you’ve fallen wayside with any healthy habits of yours, its never to late to revive it, take that small first step as its sometimes the hardest one, so make it small and manageable, better still enjoyayble and it will be easy to rebuild your good habit back into your routine.

During my practice that morning, I heard the beautiful birds and saw monkeys swinging past in the branches of the trees in the garden at Kalukanda House. It felt easy for me to just take each breath, enjoy each movement of each yoga posture and soon I was back in my flow. As I was practicing I had a thought to keep this going and engrain it into a new habit.

Long story short, I got inspired to start my #imperfectlyperfect 10 Day Yoga Challange on instagram and invite anyone to follow. Imperfectly perfect because I noticed my 6 pack over the years slowly crept into becoming a one pack ! (https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/12.0.0-1/svg/1f609.svg)I wanted it to be for everyone and anyone, any shape, size, fitness level or level of experience with yoga.

So i flipped my phone camera on, recorded myself and posted it. And so it began. Before I knew it people were sharing it on social and load of people jumped in on the free challenge.

After the first 10 days, we went for another 10 and continued until we hit 40 days. You’ll find in many spiritual texts 40 days is a good measure to engrain a new habit in.

All inspired by that one thought to get back onto my mat and the stunning garden at Kalukanda House the perfect inspiring spot to bring out that message, that idea, that new path from within. Thank you Kalukanda House for a top notch stay, and a Christmas with my holiday I’ll never forget! “

You can find out more about Dylan and his fantastic courses and programmes here..

www.dylanayaloo.com