A return to nature’s rhythm can also be a return to your own truth.

Leave behind the pace and noise of everyday life and enter a quieter, more intentional space. Held in a secluded off-grid valley in the mountains of southern Portugal, this retreat offers an opportunity to step away from the familiar and reconnect with stillness, simplicity, and your inner world.

This is an active, gently guided vision quest experience held within a supportive and carefully structured setting. Through time in nature, reduced distraction, and a slower pace, you are invited to listen more deeply to your body, the land, and the wisdom beneath thought.

What to Expect

By setting aside stimulation, comfort-seeking, and constant input, the retreat creates the conditions for genuine listening and inner clarity.

Throughout the week, you will be supported with:

A full digital detox
A simplified off-grid way of living
Extended time in nature and silence
A 24-hour guided fast
Daily practices that gently challenge habitual patterns
Kundalini Yoga, breathwork, and ritual practices
A morning spent with a herd of wild horses
Space for reflection, rest, and integration

The Vision Quest Experience - a Phoenix Moment

A vision quest is not about escaping life, but about meeting it with greater honesty.

This retreat offers a personal threshold experience: a chance to move beyond the familiar, stay present with discomfort, and allow what is no longer needed to fall away.

This is your Phoenix Moment — a shedding, a turning point, and a return with renewed clarity, direction, and inner authority. Insight is not forced; it emerges through direct experience.

The Journey

This retreat is a deep immersion into renewal and reconnection.

Each day is structured yet spacious, allowing insight to arise naturally rather than being pushed or analysed.

Through Kundalini Yoga, meditation, ritual, nature immersion, fasting, silence, and creative practices, you are supported to:

Reset and strengthen your nervous system
Release outdated patterns and identities
Reconnect with your intuition and inner guidance
Deepen your relationship with nature
Gain clarity for the next chapter of your life

Connection with Horses

As part of the retreat, you will spend time with Juuna, who oversees a herd of rescued horses living freely in nature.

This gently facilitated experience offers a unique opportunity to connect through presence, awareness, and intuition. Time with the horses invites a different kind of listening — one that moves beyond words and into feeling, sensitivity, and trust.

It is a space for quiet connection, reflection, and a deeper awareness of both yourself and the natural world.

The Daily Rhythm

Each day follows a gentle and supportive rhythm designed to balance activation and rest.

Morning practices focus on vitality, resilience, and inner clarity, while evening practices support grounding, integration, and nervous system repair.

Time is also woven in for solo reflection, rest, and nature immersion.

All practices are accessible to all levels. No prior experience is needed, only a willingness to be present with the process.

Accommodation & Food

Accommodation is simple, comfortable, and immersed in nature, designed to help you slow down, rest, and feel at home.

Guests stay in a mix of thoughtfully prepared spaces, including bell tents with proper beds and mattresses, two cabins (Om Shanti – a studio, and Sunrise Lodge with two rooms and a kitchen), and The Shepherd’s Hut. The cabins and Shepherd’s Hut each have their own showers, while the bell tents share two outdoor showers. Across the land, eco-friendly compost toilets are used.

Accommodation is available on a shared or single basis, with spaces allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please share your preference when booking, and every effort will be made to accommodate it.

A natural swimming pool is also available for cooling off, relaxing, and enjoying the surroundings.

Food

Meals are vegetarian, nourishing, and prepared with care, using ingredients sourced mainly from local farmers’ markets, along with seasonal produce from the garden wherever possible. Organic ingredients are prioritized, and vegan and gluten-free options are always available.

Different dietary needs are understood and every effort will be made to remain flexible and accommodating. If you follow a specific food program or include meat in your diet, you are welcome to bring or purchase your own. A stop in Monchique can be arranged on arrival if needed, and fridge space will be provided so you can store and combine it with the meals prepared on site.

Living Off the Grid

At Rural Escapes Portugal, life is lived in harmony with nature, and that is part of the experience. The center is completely off-grid, powered by the sun and supported by sustainable systems for water and waste.

Compost toilets and outdoor private showers are clean, thoughtfully designed, and easy to use. Many guests arrive unsure and leave saying it becomes one of their favourite parts of the retreat.

There is something grounding about showering outdoors with mountain views and knowing your stay treads lightly on the earth.

Investment & What’s Included

Shared accommodation: £920
Early Bird (before May 1st): £845

Single accommodation: £1225
Early Bird (before May 1st): £1150

Payment plans are available. Please contact us directly to book or enquire.

What’s Included

Shared or single accommodation
Airport transfer (please enquire before booking flights)
Brunch, dinner, and snacks
Daily Kundalini Yoga & meditation
Guided breathwork session
Sound bath
Cacao ceremony
Guided journaling and reflective practices
Structured solo time in nature
Guided silent walk
Visit to connect with horses

Flight Transfer

The transfer from Faro Airport is included in your package.

11th July (arrival day): pick-up at 17:00 from Faro Airport

18th July (departure day): drop-off at 10:30am, arriving at Faro Airport at 12:00

Please contact us before booking flights so timings can be confirmed and everything aligns smoothly.

About the Facilitators

Ashley Jones

With more than two decades of experience guiding retreats and group work, Ashley brings a grounded, intuitive presence to the spaces she holds. Her work weaves together Integrated Kundalini Yoga, meditation, ritual, and spiritual inquiry to support deep and lasting inner change.

She creates environments where people can meet themselves honestly and reconnect with inner wisdom — not as something to strive for, but something to remember. Ashley has facilitated retreats internationally, including in Egypt, Morocco, the UK, Italy, and Portugal, and is known for holding spaces that are both transformative and warmly human.

Camilla Bergman (co facilitator)

Camilla’s path has been shaped by 26 years in 12-Step fellowships, alongside ongoing practice in yoga, breathwork, ritual, and sound. She has been teaching yoga since 2012 and has guided retreats in Tenerife, Brighton, and Portugal.

Recently certified as a Conscious Connected Breathwork facilitator and trained in Sound Healing with Don Conreux, Camilla brings a grounded, intuitive presence to the spaces she holds. Her work supports honest self-inquiry, embodied awareness, and the gentle unfolding of insight through breath, practice, and connection.

Juuna

Juuna’s intention is to create a safe and voluntary space for humans and horses alike, where both can develop, reveal themselves, and experience healing.

Being with horses is about listening, feeling, intuition, concentration, and relaxation. It is an invitation to explore the essentials, remain open, and enter the sacred space of unconditional nature with deep questions, wonder, and connective touch.

Her work is dedicated to helping people and horses connect with their own source and inner strength.

This retreat is for those who feel called to pause, reset, and listen more deeply.

For those standing at a threshold.

For those ready to let something old fall away and allow something truer to rise.

Detox retreat in Monchique