We keep a very relaxed vibe on the retreat and there’s no obligation to take part in any of the workshops. If you just want to walk in the dunes all day and come back at mealtimes, that’s fine. The idea is for everyone to find their own rhythm according to their needs.
Just please turn off your mobile phone, don’t bring alcohol or drugs and treat everyone with respect.
The Yoga and Joy of Dance Retreat 25 – 31 January 2026
Ramona Todor will be teaching yoga in the mornings.
‘I’ll be guiding our morning yoga and movement practices, so here’s a bit about my approach.
The baseline I propose is that we keep it simple, and that everything is an invitation.
We will cultivate listening to our bodies and seeing what is alive within. From there, we’ll explore ways to be with ourselves, our experience and our surroundings though breath, movement, and playing with our awareness.
The overarching theme is to find different ways to live the dance between motion and stillness with gentleness and curiosity towards our boundaries and strengths.
Sometimes we’ll float through slowness, other times we’ll invite more power. What’s for sure is that there will be no right or wrong (as long as we respect each other).
Make the practice your own and let’s move together :)’
The Joy of Dance
Chiara Zompa will be teaching the Joy of Dance in the afternoon. The workshops will be very accessible and no experience is needed. Just a sense of curiosity and playfulness.
‘My wish is to provide a safe container where we can explore the connection between your body, other bodies and the desert itself.
Drawing on practices like contact improvisation and instant composition, we’ll create a space for each of us to find more freedom and release in our own physical bodies. By letting go, we will allow movement to find a natural, flowing expression.
We will play with the space within and around us, with gravity and with other partners, culturing sensitive touch and shared weight as tools to discover new ways to dance and connect with others.
Together, we’ll journey to find the dancer within each of us and relish the unique expression of our dance in the desert.”
The Meditation & Creative Voice/ Movement Retreat 22 – 28 February 2026
Mel Zimmer will be guiding meditation in the mornings.
‘For me, meditation and breathwork are not abstract practices, but living invitations to return to ourselves—to listen more deeply, to feel more fully, and to discover the vast space that already exists within us.
Creative voice and movement
Tom Thumb has been running the Sahara retreats since 2011 and will lead afternoon workshops exploring new ways to use the voice and body.
“What do people hear in our voices beyond the words we use? What are our bodies saying when we stand, walk and run?
Drawing on elements of dance, theatre games and voice work, we’ll playfully explore how to express ourselves in ways that might surprise us. The workshops will on one hand be playful affairs where we encounter some of our habitual patterns of posture and movement and shake it all up a bit!
A previous participant getting into the spirit of play
But for those who choose to go deeper there’s the chance to release stuck emotions and connect with yourself in a way you might not have imagined possible.
No experience is needed – just a sense of humour and curiosity..”
Sharing Circles
After we’ve eaten at night and the stars have come out we’ll gather around the fire to play music, tell stories and also from time to time share our experiences through talking circles, a Native American tradition designed to encourage an atmosphere of listening and empathy. Year after year we see long-lasting friendships formed in the retreat as each person finds their self-expression and a new capacity to relate.
We will also be going for walks in the desert, climbing the high dunes for sunset, playing some games and Tom Thumb may do some storytelling – modern fairy tales to let your imaginations go wandering through journeys of myth and metaphor…
Schedule
- Most of the group travels together from Marrkaech on the Sunday morning to the desert.
- The retreat begins with a welcome dinner in the village of Hasalbied on the on Sunday at 9.30pm. We’ll sleep in a hotel there on the edge of the dunes.
- Monday we walk out an hour and a half to our camp deep in the dunes where we’ll stay for the next 5 nights.
- Each of the following days will be structured around meal times, meditation, workshops and music round the fire at night.
- Then on Saturday morning we’ll load our bags onto the camels again and head back to town. You can stay an extra night in the village or take the night bus out.