Holidays are a sacred and special time of the year. Whether it’s a family holiday, an adventure with friends, a couples trip or a solo explore, holidays are one thing that we always look forward to. They can be relaxing or exhilarating, inward looking or eye opening, they can be fraught with arguments and disagreements or saturated with calm, peace and serenity. Whichever way our holidays pan out there is something in the ritual of taking a time-out from our usual lives that should be honoured and revered.
For me, it was a yoga holiday in Morocco that caused a tiny spark of change, setting alight to my life, that grew bigger as I fed it more kindling in 2016 until 14 months on from that holiday my life had irrevocably changed. What was so different about this holiday than any other I’d taken before? Why did it make such a change to me?
The answer lies with balance and is what I emphasise through my own yoga practice and business. This yoga holiday was different to ‘retreats’ that I’d been to before, here coffee was served with breakfast, people talked and laughed without restraint, after yoga and food we were free to spend the day exploring eating delicious Moroccan tagines, lying around at the beach, or going surfing, before reconvening for another relaxing yin yoga class and evening meal (with dessert!).
There was something about making yoga and meditation a part of everyday life and getting to know the yoga teachers and cook personally that inspired me more than any other yoga class or retreat I’d been to. There’s a popular idea of ‘yoga retreats’ as places where people dress all in white and either walk around chanting, laden with prayer bowls and incense or lie around soaking up prana and talking about the dangers of tofu. This wasn’t one of those.
This was a space where ‘normal’, busy, stressed people could come and take a time-out, assimilating yoga, meditation and healthy eating into their lives without any extreme measures. It ultimately set the wheels in motion that saw me move to New Zealand, become a yoga teacher and open my own yoga holiday business.
Green & Serene Yoga Holidays is a new yoga holiday company on Waiheke Island that aims to create the space for our customers to experience what I experienced in Morocco: it’s more than just recharging and relaxing, it’s about inspiration and fulfilment.
Please visit greenandserene.org for more information or email greenandserenenz@gmail.com
Green & Serene Yoga Holidays lives somewhere in the middle ground between a holiday and a retreat, with a focus on balance and integration, helping to foster yoga, mindfulness and peace as part of your everyday world. We’re completely customisable and can cater for lone travellers, couples, groups between 3 and 10 and families of all age ranges.
You can choose whether you’d like to book out the accommodation on its own, have delicious breakfasts and morning yoga included, or go for the full relaxed hosted experience leaving you with all the time in the world to go to the beach, explore the island’s bush tracks or visit Waiheke’s famous vineyards.
Reset, recharge and relax the way you want to on Waiheke Island, New Zealand.
Please visit greenandserene.org for more information or email greenandserenenz@gmail.com
