Why you should go on a solo yoga retreat this summer

Feeling frazzled? Ditch the group getaway and me-treat yourself, says Karen Dacre 
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Karen Dacre23 June 2016

For Londoners looking to escape the horrors of everyday life, a week of island-hopping was once the obvious solution. These days, with such horrors no longer a daily obstacle but even more commonplace as they blind us from the screens of our smartphones at 30-second intervals, a week in the sun spent sipping sangria and haggling over knock-off handbags no longer counts as adequate relaxation. The result of this demand to actually get away from it all, as opposed to just pretending we are, is a surge in a new type of solo holiday devised to decongest our minds from all the 21st-century nonsense it is struggling so hard to process.

Among the most popular of these are yoga retreats. We’re not talking seven days downward dogging and drinking cocktails from buckets in Goa here but intensive, healing escapes which city escapees are looking to as a means of resetting everything from their state of mind to their attitudes towards alcohol and nutrition.

There are also surf escapes — many of which combine digital detoxes — and trekking tours which offer tired-out city types some “me” time with a difference. And for those who fancy a short burst of its benefits, a rise in inner-city day or weekend retreats.

Keen to learn more, and to get some much-needed sunshine, I accepted an invitation to spend a week at Yogarosa retreats in Ibiza.The brainchild of Rosa Klein, an Austrian yoga teacher and therapist who came to the practice after suffering a near-fatal car accident, the retreat promised to alleviate existing conditions, support healing as well as the chance to completely relax and revitalise. While I was cynical about the spiritual element — my experience of the helix world stretches no further than the healing fields at Glastonbury — I was immediately sold on the prospect of a week of yoga and anticipated a week lying by the pool at Rosa’s “luxury” sanctuary to be something I would really enjoy.

This would turn out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Not least, because the behaviours I learned during the seven-day escape — notably, less caffeine more quiet — are with me still.

The Yogarosa method combines a lengthy morning yoga practice with incredible food — Austrian chef Philipp Gandler is responsible for two freshly prepared meals each day, all of which contain no meat, minimum dairy and vegetables grown onsite — daily meditation and an optional body balance class led by German fitness guru Alex Pudlik.

Rosa, who I quickly ascertain to be a superhuman — the sort so kind and gentle you feel relaxed just by being in her presence — also asks that her guests abstain from alcohol and cigarettes and offers a host of extra-curricular activities including a silence day and massages from a host of carefully selected specialists as part of her retreats.

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Despite a bumpy (mildly panicked) start — I loved the yoga and the supremely luxurious setting but took a few days to get used to the slow pace of life, not to mention the alcohol drought — the retreat has me sold on solo escapes, so much so that I think workplaces would see the productivity of their staff quadruple were they to offer a biannual escape of this sort to their employees.

Contrary to what I expected, the joy for me was not just the chance to get deep into my yoga practice — although my headstand came on leaps and bounds in Rosa’s charge — or the chance to eat like a (health) queen for a week, it was the space it created in my head.

While I started the week feeling anxious — and alarmed by the empty days that sprawled ahead — I ended it with a new-found ability to find stillness and contentment in the moment and felt so bursting with new energy I could have ditched the easyJet flight and flown myself home.

From 250 a night incluging board, yoga therapy and pranayama mediation (yogarosaretreats.com)

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