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 Creative Voice & Movement Retreat 15-21 January, 2023

Every morning there will be yoga workshops that are designed to meet the needs of both those new to yoga and those who already have a steady practice. There is no particular yoga style that we focus on but we encourage a playful, non-dogmatic approach to extending the range of the body and calming the mind.

Angeline Morand is a yoga teacher from France who has also lived in the UK. She came on the Sahara retreat as a guest a couple of years ago and is now returning to teach. She says@

“I turned to yoga in search of meaning to my life and it has given me both an anchor to the present moment and a refuge to retreat to when I need to reconnect to myself.

Practising yoga in the Sahara is one of the strongest experiences I’ve ever had – yoga, just like the desert, invites us to let go of the blah blah of our daily lives and discover who we are through our bodies and our breath.”

No experience is needed and you don’t need to be in great shape – yoga isn’t a competitive sport 🙂

 

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!

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..

 

The Meditation & Joy of Movement Retreat 5-11 February, 2023

 

Christine Skarmoutsou will be teaching meditation in the mornings.

She is a yoga teacher who approaches meditation through vipassana, asanas and hreathwork, all with a light, mindful spirit free of any dogma, allowing us to really find ourselves in the desert and release the habitual mental chatter.

While this is a meditation retreat we won’t be jumping up at 4 to chant mantras; rather we have the morning group meditation for those who wish to join and also when we climb the high dune in silence at sunset. The retreat has more of a gentle focus on mindfulness and connecting with the heart through all of our activities.

You’ll find that just being in the Sahara increases the awareness of your mind, your breath, your feelings. Just taking a walk in the dunes is like a meditation.

The joy of movement

Rikke Ebling will be teaching the joy of movement workshops.  Wherever we go our bodies come with us. Throughout our lives they are sources of joy and pain, opportunity and limitation. When we learn to move with joy we discover the beauty in our bodies, unique and personal as they are.

Each afternoon Rikke will invite us to explore the simple joy of expressing and understanding ourselves through movement. With an emphasis on playfulness and spontaneity, we will discover new possibilities with breath, balance and dance. You don’t need any experience to take part and the only thing you need to bring….is your body!

 

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 will also do some storytelling – modern fairy tales to let your imaginations go wandering through journeys of myth and metaphor…

 

Schedule

• Welcome dinner in the village of Hasalbied on Sunday  at 9.30pm. We’ll sleep there and in the morning put our bags on the camels.
• Monday we walk out into the dunes and hold our opening circle.
• 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.