Fancy escaping to exotic climes for your Spring or Summer yoga break this year? The variety of yoga holidays and retreats on offer can be mind-boggling. Here is a taster of what's out there, beyond Europe.
Anatara Resort Golden Triangle, Thailand
This up-scale hilltop retreat in northern Thailand is the setting for two Luxury Yoga Spa Retreats in May 2008, hosted by yoga teacher Mark O'Brien. Yoga and meditation classes will take place at locations in and around the resort, including a hilltop overlooking the valleys of the Golden Triangle. The £250-a-day charge includes yoga and meditation sessions, accommodation, spa treatments and meals. See www.anatara.com
Yoga week at Carlisle Bay, Antigua
If unabated luxury twinned with yoga is what you're after, consider a yoga break at Carlisle Bay in Antigua, set on a sweeping bay by a tropical beach. The week includes six kundalini yoga sessions with highly regarded teacher Maya Fiennes, as well as flights, food, accommodation in an Ocean Suite, and three 60-minute spa treatments. Fiennes teaches kundalini yoga, combining movement, breathing, chants and sound vibration to energise the body and relax the mind. Maya Fiennes will be leading two escape weeks this year - the first will run from May 3-10 and costs from £3920 for two people. A four night programme is also available for 3-7 May. Book through Wellbeing Escapes - www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk/package.php?id=256
Yoga and health break, Trivandrum, India
The Flight Centre is offering luxury yoga and health break to Trivandrum from £1269 per person, based on five star, full-board accommodation. Daily yoga sessions are combined with a host of Ayurvedic treatments and meals designed to promote wellbeing. This deal includes return flights and is valid for travel before July 15. For details, please see: www.flightcentre.co.uk/holidays/actualdeal?dealid=1610218>
Ananda Spa, Himalayas
Iconic luxury Himalayan retreat centre Ananda is hosting a Life in Harmony workshop from August 23 to September 3. Led by spiritual healer Dr Sharda
Batra, the break is designed to bring balance and poise using healing techniques. The integrataion of yoga and ayurvedic philosophy is at the heart of 75-room Ananada, which is set among 100 acres of virgin forest, 260 kilometres from New Delhi. Guests can chose beginners, intermediate or advanced yoga - performed in an open-air yoga shelter near a pool - and there is a strong emphasis on meditation and breathing. See www.anandaspa.com
Sivananda Vacation, Kerala, India
If the budget is tight, consider this option. The worldwide Sivananda Ashrams offer opportunity for some intensive immersion in the yoga lifestyle. Set in 12 acres of tropical vegetation in the foothills of Kerala's Western Ghats, The Dhanwantari Ashram is one of the biggest ashrams. Two week yoga vacations run from the first and 16th of every month. This is an ashram, not a holiday centre, so attendance at twice-daily yoga sessions and Satsang (lecture, chanting and meditation) is compulsory. The day begins bright an early, at 5.30am, and finishes at 10pm. The yoga follows the Sivananda sequence, and is suitable for beginners and more experienced yogis alike. No-frills accommodation is in dormitories, twin rooms or tents. The experience may be hard work, but the fortnight will stay with you for a lifetime. See www.sivananda.org/neyyardam/
Red Horse Mountain Ranch, North America
If horse riding is your thing, or you'd like it to be, consider a different experience at the Red Horse Mountain Ranch, offered by Ranch Rider from May to November this year. The holiday offers classes based on vinyasa or flow yoga five times a week integrating meditation, breath work, flowing yoga sequences and restorative postures into a day of horse riding or hiking around the surrounding hilly landscape. A seven-night stay costs from £869, based on two sharing, to November. The price includes all accommodation, yoga, meals and ranch-based riding. Check out www.ranchrider.com
Yoga retreats at Kamalaya, Koh Samui
Renowned as one of south-east Asia's top holistic spa destination, Kamalaya's calendar includes a Yoga Synergy as well as various retreats run by visiting international teachers. On offer this summer are the White Yoga Retreat, from July 5-11, based on the philosophies of Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga, and Yoga Fusion, from August 23-30, combining four styles of yoga. Yoga facilities at Kamalaya include the open-air wood-floored hilltop yoga pavilion. Guests can also experience the Monk's Cave, once used by Buddhist monks as a place of meditation and spiritual retreat. A broad menu of complementary therapies and holistic treatments, include ayurveda and therapeutic massage. Log onto www.kamalaya.com for a full programme.
