Spring Awakening Body Retreat

A nourishing spring escape designed to awaken vitality, flow, and creativity. This retreat invites you into a yoga practice inspired by Vanda Scaravelli, using the awakening of the spine to support freedom, strength, and ease of movement. Alongside this, Deep Rest meditation will help rekindle inner ease and reconnect you with your energy at this powerful time of year.

Open to everyone, with or without previous yoga experience, the retreat offers a space to listen deeply to your body and to the quiet intelligence within. Through asanas, breath, meditation, and a playful spirit of exploration, the practice encourages a more intuitive relationship with movement — one shaped less by effort and more by presence, patience, and kindness.

As spring emerges, so too does the invitation to nourish the seeds of your own awakening. This is a weekend to reconnect with your deepest nature, to rest in the support of community, and to create space for creativity and body wisdom to unfold.

The Place

L'Hort de la Riera – Casa de Retiros – near Barcelona

L'Hort de la Riera is a lovingly renovated traditional Catalan farmhouse, beautifully transformed into a setting dedicated to therapeutic retreats, inspiration, wellbeing, and health. It is a place to disconnect from daily demands and reconnect with yourself.

The house offers elegant shared and private rooms with private bathrooms, plus heating for winter and air conditioning for the summer months. Outdoors, you’ll find hammocks, garden areas, terraces with wide views, and a swimming pool — ideal for relaxing between sessions.

Blending rustic character with modern comfort, the house also features a beautiful sala for yoga and meditation. Set in the heart of Montserrat, it is surrounded by inspiring nature, with opportunities for walks to rivers and natural pools, or hikes through nearby valleys and forests.

Accommodation

Accommodation is in shared rooms for 3–4 people, thoughtfully designed with elegance, cleanliness, and attention to detail. All rooms have private bathrooms. Private double or single occupancy is available at an additional cost.

The daily programme

Julie will lead one yoga session on the arrival day and two yoga sessions each day on Saturday and Sunday. Sessions run early morning from 8–10am and in the evening from 5–7pm. On Friday, the opening circle and first practice will take place from 6.30–8.30pm.

Meditation will be offered each morning, and there will also be one or two guided group walking meditations in nature over the course of the weekend. On Saturday evening, participants will enjoy a Healing Sound Bath and movement session with resident practitioner Jordi Condal.

The yoga begins with a gentle invitation to open the body, then gradually deepens through posture, breath, and meditation. Friday and Saturday evening classes will be more restorative, while Sunday afternoon will offer a gentle closing practice.

There will be free time each day to rest in the gardens, walk through the valley and forests, or visit the nearby river. On Saturday, there is also an option to bring hiking shoes and a picnic lunch for a contemplative walk together.

Periods of silence will be agreed with the group, suggested from evening until morning, to support a gentle arrival into mindfulness and heart-centered presence. All yoga and meditation classes will take place in the beautiful, centrally heated sala.

Optional therapies

Thai massage and biodynamic cranio-sacral therapy will be available at an extra cost.

The food

From Friday evening dinner onward, you will be offered delicious organic meals prepared by an outstanding cook using locally sourced ingredients, often from the garden itself. The weekend includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday, plus breakfast and lunch on Sunday.

All meals are vegetarian and/or vegan, made with fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce. Special dietary requirements can be catered for with advance notice.