Ashtanga Yoga Liberation Retreat 

"Ashtanga Yoga for the current time"

Join Sarah for a glorious week of ashtanga yoga, vegetarian meals, sunshine and play. Come refine your practice and find stillness during the six morning ashtanga yoga classes conducted in the Mysore and/or led class style. During the five afternoon workshops, we will research and investigate parts of the practice and deepen our seated practices with meditation, chanting and philosophy.  All levels of practitioners are welcome for this retreat.

This retreat is open for all levels of practitioners – from beginners to advanced.

Retreat schedule

Daily practice will begin with seated meditation, chanting and pranayama. This concentrated mindfulness, will be followed by led and or Mysore style of practice. Morning class will begin at 7 am sharp and end when students are finished with their practices, anywhere between 9 and 9:30. New students to ashtanga yoga may have a shorter practice whereas experienced students may practise their full series they are working on without the restrictions of time. All students will receive 1:1 instruction in the group environment.

The five afternoon workshop-based classes will explore asana components of the practice: from the classic Surya Namaskara postures like Upward Dog to the pinnacle of standing asanas - Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana - to the final stages of meditation during shoulder stand and headstand. Afternoon classes will be conducted from 4-6 pm, ending with chanting, singing and meditation. All students please bring their own copy of the Yoga Sutras with them. We will have afternoon classes Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The focus of this retreat is to settle the churnings of our minds, the citta vṛtti. This is done by looking closely at our thought patterns and habits, and developing ways to still this unsettledness; we will learn ways to do this through asana (postures) and pranayama (breathing), dhyana (meditation) and japa (mantra chanting, which are refined tools for the mind). The more tools, the easier it is to gain clarity in many different ways: we will witness in the retreat that settling the mind isn’t always through asana!

This retreat will look to the teachings of Patañjali who reveals in the Yoga Sūtras, yoga is about moving from the state of unsettledness - “citta vikṣepa” to clarity and ease, “citta prasadanam” (Yoga Sūtras 1.29-1.33)

Please see the class times below for more details about each class.

Course daily Schedule
Saturday, 6 April
Arrive - Dinner and Welcoming Talk - 6:30 pm

Sunday, 7 April
Morning Asana Class: 7 am
Pranayama and meditation followed by Mysore and/or Led Class

Brunch from 11 am

Afternoon Workshop Class: 4 pm
Asana Lab: a detailed look at the 3 Classic Postures that make up the foundation of ashtanga yoga: Upward Dog, Downward Dog and their respective Vinyasas
Chanting and Meditation

Dinner: 6:30 pm

Monday, 8 April
Morning Asana Class: 7 am Pranayama and meditation followed by Mysore and/or Led Class

Brunch from 11 am

Afternoon Workshop Class: 4 pm
Asana Lab: Extracting Stamina and Longevity in the Standing Postures
Chanting and Meditation

Dinner: 6:30 pm

Tuesday, 9 April
Morning Asana Class: 7 am Pranayama and meditation followed by Mysore and/or Led Class

Brunch from 11 am

No Afternoon Class

Dinner: 6:30 pm

Wednesday, 10 April
Morning Asana Class: 7 am Pranayama and meditation followed by Mysore and/or Led Class

Brunch from 11 am

Afternoon Asana Class: 4 pm
Asana Lab: Stability and Freedom in Backbending

Chanting and Meditation

Dinner: 6:30 pm

Thursday, 11 April
Morning Asana Class: 7 am Pranayama and meditation followed by Mysore and/or Led Class

Brunch: 11 am

Afternoon Asana Class: 4 pm
Asana Lab: Twists and Inversions: a detailed look at the Queen and King of yoga asanas: Sarvangasana and Sirsasana, shoulderstand and headstand

Chanting and Meditation

Dinner: 6:30 pm

Friday, 12 April
Morning Asana Class: 7 am Pranayama and Meditation followed by Led Primary Series

Brunch: 11 am

Afternoon Asana Class: 4 pm
Asana Lab: Arm Balances and Play: how to keep your practice joyful, light, playful.

Chanting and Meditation

Dinner: 6:30 pm

Saturday, 13 April
No Morning Class - Breakfast served from 9 am followed by Travel Home

Teacher

Sarah Hatcher

“I grew up in Reno, Nevada USA and spent most of my youth skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Lake Tahoe. When I was seventeen, I began to practice hatha yoga to strengthen and heal my knees from competitive skiing. Five years later in 2000, I saw an Ashtanga yoga demonstration while studying at the University of Oregon, and from that point on, I began to practice Ashtanga yoga as much as I could and I haven’t stopped since.”

Sarah began learning from Nancy Gilgoff, Christine Hoar and Randa Chehab. Her interest to study led her to Mysore to study with Sri K Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois in 2008 and finally, to her beloved teachers David Garrigues and Dena Kingsberg. She also found a love for Sanskrit and Vedic chanting and began studying with David Miliotis at Ashtanga Yoga Orange County.

She practised for eight years before she began to teach in the Mysore method. From 2008-2011 she founded Ashtanga Yoga Boise in Idaho.

From 2011-2012 I moved to Philadelphia to study and assist David Garrigues.

In 2012 she moved to Scotland where she began a Mysore programme in Aberdeen at Love Yoga; offered workshops in Glasgow, retreats at Ecoyoga Scotland and later became the Morning Mysore Director at Meadowlark Yoga from 2014-2019.

David Garrigues has taught Sarah the third series of practice and she currently works on the fourth series guided by both David and Dena Kingsberg. Her daily yoga sutra practice keeps her balanced and at ease to quiet the intensity of the physical practice: also motherhood requires her to have a still seated practice so chanting and meditation have become just as important as the physical practice.

Sarah has two sons, Dashiel, born in 2014 and Calvin, born in 2019. Returning to advanced practice after two children has been more than a challenge but a rewarding discovery of self which requires investigation on and off the mat. Sarah is experienced and capable of helping mothers adapt their practices while pregnant guides mothers after birth in a practical post practice to get their bodies safely back into traditional ashtanga yoga practice.

“Becoming a mother has made me appreciate the practice of ashtanga yoga even more: I am forever grateful for Guruji's teachings for constantly making me investigate my higher self; it is through daily practice that I learn how to care for others in the most sincere way and teach in this same spirit”

Practical details about the retreat center

Currently the internet at the retreat is not reliable. If you are dependent on internet for work, we ask you to bring your own data on your phone, to which you can connect your laptop, if needed. Phones work very well. There is also a cafe 10 minutes from the retreat with good internet, however, it is a busy cafe and not very suitable for work. 

Cristoforo, our retreat centre is a very simple yet beautiful place, built by an architect named Denis Devaris, who had an intention to create a meeting point for Spiritual seekers. Built slowly over 30 years using volcanic rocks from the island, the rooms are all unique with their own distinct personalities featuring beautiful details and personal touches. Given the nature of these types of buildings, imperfection is to be expected with a plumbing system not quite up to modern standards! However, set right into the land with a wonderfully lush garden, Cristoforo really is an oasis in South Tenerife. When packing for your retreat, make sure you add warmer clothes. From December till March the mornings and evenings can be quite chilly. The rooms are not heated, but are equipped with cozy duvets and hot water bottles for the beds. All rooms are equipped with a water kettle.

The closest beach is 20 min by walk from Cristoforo in Callo Salvaje. We now have a free shuttle bus service to the closest beaches.

The meals
The food served at the retreat will be mainly vegan and completely vegetarian, prepared freshly everyday by our wonderful retreat chefs. We try were possible to use local and organic products. We sometimes use eggs or dairy in the kitchen. If you have food allergies/sensitivities, please let us know. Gluten free options are available. We have a self service tea & coffee station for guest use and try to provide fruit for snacking during the day.
You have the option to enjoy your food either inside or outside in the beautiful garden.

The practice
Maximum number of students is 25.
Morning classes will be taught with maximum 16 students in each class.

Practice will take place inside the beautiful wooden garden Shala. Savasana is usually taken outside to make space in the Shala, especially during full retreats and occasionally afternoon workshops will take place outside. Make sure you pack warm practice clothes for Savasana.

Arrival day and check out. 
The rooms are available after 3pm. The retreat starts with an introduction meeting at 5pm, followed by dinner at 6.30pm. All students should aim to arrive for the introduction meeting. The first practice is on Sunday morning and the last practice is on Friday in the morning. The check out is on Saturday at 9am. 

Accommodation
We have 4 different accommodation options. The list below shows the rooms that are available to book. 

Premium rooms
The premium rooms are the largest rooms at the retreat. These rooms have attached indoor bathrooms.
Shared: 1250 GBP
Currently available: Venus, Casa Blanca, Danae 1

Single: 1550 GBP
Currently available: Casita 1, Casita 2, Palmera

Standard
The standard rooms are smaller than the premium rooms. These rooms have attached, indoor bathrooms.
Shared: 1050 GBP
Currently available: Ficus, 5 Peldanos

Single: 1350 GBP
Currently available: 6 Peldanos, La Granja 1, La Granja 2

Budget
The budget rooms are the smallest rooms at the retreat. Some of the rooms share bathrooms, a few of them are outdoors bathrooms. In a few of the rooms there may have disturbance from the road.
Shared: 900 GBP
Currently available: Fuente 2, Pino de Oro, Bella Dormiente

Single: 1200 GBP
Currently available: Fuente 1

Dormitory ( 3 persons sharing)
The dormitory is a spacious room for 3 persons. It has an attached bathroom. 
Shared: 780 GBP
Currently available: Danae 2

The accommodation price is all-inclusive (includes accommodation, all meals and yoga). There is an option to pay a deposit of 50% of the full amount to secure your place. The deposit is non-refundable and the balance must be paid at least 4 weeks prior to the start date.

Please note that we have a limited amount of single rooms for this retreat. Before booking a single room confirm availability with us on info@yogagoa.com.

To book this retreat, follow the link below and complete the form to make your payment. 

Book this retreat

To book this retreat, complete the form on our Make A Payment page