PRESS & PRAISE FOR YOGA & ADVENTURES WORLDWIDE

Best Yoga Retreats Worth Every Penny

5) Iceland’s Adventure and Yoga Retreat

A country famous for its astonishing landscapes and unique features, Iceland is the last on our list but definitely not the least of our best yoga retreats. Daily yoga and adventure await you on this 8-day yoga tour in the land of fire and ice.

The notorious blue lagoon is your first destination, where you will experience the natural geothermal waters heated by the volcanic activity underneath. You will find a melting pot of cultures of people who have traveled from all over the world to experience this phenomenon.

Each day is scheduled to include as much as the island has to offer. From horses to waterfalls and black sand beach to glacier hikes, this trip does not disappoint. Truly a once in a lifetime experience and a great way to make friends from all over the world, last but not least, on our list of the best yoga retreats.

12 Handpicked Destination Retreats For A Transformational 2018

If you’re still following through on your new year’s resolutions, we salute you. But for those who have fallen short on their promises, don’t lose hope! While we subscribe to the “new year, new you” mentality, we are pragmatic in our approach and recognize that the path to becoming a better version of yourself does not always begin on day one. Good things take time – right? Luckily, there is still plenty of time to hone in on your inner goals, desires, and aspirations for the year ahead. We handcrafted a list of unique, destination retreats that are much more focused on the inner journey than the physical one to help you achieve them. Whether you’re craving a deeper connecting to yourself or your surroundings, seeking abundance or practicing gratitude, these wellness retreats will leave you feeling like a whole new you – with plenty of time left in the year to spare.

Havana, Cuba
February 13 – 18, 2018 
Theme: Yoga, Salsa & Art in Cuba

If Cuba is still on your bucket list, then head to Havana with Yoga & Adventures Worldwide. This immersive destination retreat includes salsa music & dance classes, daily yoga, artist’s studio and gallery tours, and a day trip to Viñales to visit an artisanal cigar maker & tobacco farm, followed by lunch at an ecological Farm-to-table restaurant with a garden walk and agricultural discussion.

Best Yoga Retreat in the Caribbean: People to People Retreat in Cuba

Combine yoga with Cuban culture on a five-night trip that gives you the best of both worlds. Not only will you practice daily, but you’ll learn salsa dancing, tour Old Havana, ride the Malecon promenade in a classic car, and take a day trip out to Viñales, where the country’s famous cigars are made. (Note: Travel to Cuba from the U.S. with People to People is still legal under the company’s general license.)

11 Under-the-Radar Yoga Retreats You’ll Want to Book Now

We scanned the yoga globe and scoped out 11 off-the-beaten-mat gems to spark your wanderlust. From Cuba to Costa Rica, Iceland to India, the choices are as infinite as yoga itself.

Our vacation-wanted ad: Have mat, will travel. Skip pedestrian sightseeing tours, questionable food, and creaky joints. Bring on sacred sights, built-in yoga friends, real nourishment, and communion with our mat twice a day. Oh, and move the needle of our life, por favor.

There are at least 108 reasons to embark on a yoga retreat. Instead of fleeting fun, take a deep dive where landscape and heart intersect. Cross your desert, row your boat, and chase your star—bookending the day in Downward Dog. Forget scrambling for a hotel gym or trying to translate “organic, gluten-free, vegetarian, and Ayurvedic” in another language. For yogis, getting away doesn’t get better than a yoga retreat.

But where to start? We scanned the yoga globe and scoped out 11 off-the-beaten-mat gems to spark your wanderlust. From Cuba to Costa Rica, Iceland to India, bathe in the forest, soak in the spring, sing with a villager, dance in the jungle, bow to the world’s wonders, or simply sit in silence. The choices are as infinite as yoga itself.

Yoga, Salsa and the Creative Pulse of Havana, Cuba

5 SUP YOGA GETAWAYS

Admit it, you’re interested. These escapes turn your board into a yoga mat, among other warm-weather indulgences.

Since 2008, Yoga Adventures Tulum has hosted affordable, off-the-grid yoga retreats on the Riviera Maya. Besides SUP, founder Christina Thomas has assembled a half-dozen other flavors of yoga retreats. The SUP retreat features Yucatan Peninsula native Luna Sanchez, a certified yoga instructor and standup paddler who’s been teaching SUP yoga for two years. Aspiring yogis stay at Utopia Utopia, a seven-bedroom eco-lodge, and yoga studio on the beach. Limon teaches a daily vinyasa yoga practice at the oceanfront studio and daily SUP yoga sessions in a cenote, or lagoon. Off the mat, choose from a variety of unique spa treatments like the Mayan healing massage with a shaman, or outdoor activities ranging from snorkeling with sea turtles to touring Maya cultural sites. Expect healthy Mexican breakfasts and lunches prepared onsite at Utopia by a native Yucatan chef, with dinnertime free to experience Tulum’s foodie scene (and mezcal cocktails).
BONUS: SUP Yoga sessions are often held on the tranquil waters of Sian Ka’an, an 800,000-acre biosphere reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site with 23 known Maya archeological sites.

Remote Getaways

Yoga Adventures Tulum
Tulum, Mexico

Striking warrior III on the beach while watching the sunrise, accompanied by the sound of ocean waves… It may sound like a far-off (and unaffordable) pipe dream for most land-locked yogis, but thanks to this company, it can be your reality. They offer customizable retreats for yogis of any level in a casual, eco-friendly lodge on the beaches of Tulum (you can also check out options in Greece, Morocco, and other exotic locales). The five-night retreats include two daily yoga practices, daily breakfast and lunch, and optional activities like SUP yoga and spa services. At night, you can unplug and unwind or head into town and dance with the locals. This is a great choice for solo travelers, as you’re practically guaranteed to make friends at the group meals and classes.

Rates: Starting at $945 for five-night retreats

Cool perk: Mexican food fans can take a cooking class with a professional local chef to learn to create their own handmade tortillas, salsa, ceviche, and empanadas.

TOP 5 RETREAT CENTERS IN TULUM

Tulum is perhaps one of the most spiritually abundant little beach towns I’ve ever experienced.  You can’t walk down the beach without stepping on someone meditating, or into a hotel that doesn’t offer yoga. The food is healthy and delicious, the water is warm and healing.  People wake for the sunrise over the ocean and climb towers to see it set over the jungle.  Sweat lodges, Mayan ceremony, underground crystal clear water caves, massage, and healing are in available in abundance.

You may have also heard that Brooklyn moved to Tulum and you’re not wrong.  Don’t worry,  you can still experience the magic of Tulum without staying in the posh, pretentious corporate retreat centers on most “Tulum Guides”.

3. Utopia
Abundant Offerings – Solo Travel and Fun-loving Retreat

If you’re looking for an escape from the city and a launching point to explore Tulum/Mexico, Utopia Guesthouse is a charming and affordable place to dig your toes in with a great community and a lot of yoga retreats to choose from!

Meet The People Behind The Programs That Are Helping The World Unplug And Recharge

Feeling a little stressed out lately? You’re not alone. Seventy-three percent of Americans report feeling stressed out at work, according to a 2013 study, and those feelings have some negative consequences. Stress can cause insomnia, weight gain, and depression.

Luckily, there’s an entire industry dedicated to helping you unplug, recharge and stay away from your inbox. Here are some of those programs and the people responsible for making them happen.

Yoga Adventures Tulum

Yoga Adventures’ Mesmerized in Marrakech retreat

What it is: An affordable yoga retreat program in Tulum, Mexico. Accommodations, activities and yoga classes are suggested, and retreat-goers can choose their own adventures.

Who’s behind it: Christina Thomas started Yoga Adventures in 2008 when the economic crisis left her without a job. Because she had already spent quite a bit of time in Tulum and loved it there, Thomas packed her bag and headed south of the border.

Although Thomas wasn’t a yoga teacher — she was an interior designer in New York before her move to Tulum — she had been practicing for years. So when she was asked to teach classes here and there she agreed. Eventually, she began organizing retreats. What started as a side job quickly turned into a booming business.

“Our retreats were getting so popular that we needed to have our own space,” Thomas told HuffPost. “So a friend of mine came over and said, ‘There’s a house on the beach that someone’s trying to rent out,’ and I said, ‘Oh, that really ugly crappy one?’ So I put on my interior design cap and renovated the house and turned it into a six-bedroom retreat space. We added more rooms last year.”

Thomas hosted a retreat in Morocco this year and has one planned for Greece in 2015. Despite the program’s rapid expansion, Thomas’ main goal is to keep her retreats affordable. Programs require a $350 deposit, but guests may end up spending less depending on their choice of lodging and length of their stay. Airfare is not included.

“There are a lot of retreats out there that aren’t that affordable,” she said. “I wanted to offer something that was a valuable package for a good price. We have a lot of amazing local teachers, and that helps us keep our price point low because the teacher doesn’t have to travel — they already have a place to stay.”

Yoga Without Walls

When Spanish explorer Juan de Grijalva sailed past Tulum in 1518, he declared “the city of Seville could not appear greater or better” than the city he saw on the limestone cliffs. The town center has since moved inland and the original Mayan metropolis stands in ruins, but Tulum is still known for its beauty. The turquoise sea glows, the sparsely populated sugar-sand beaches stretch for miles, and the modest hotels that line them are built from stucco and bamboo with thatched roofs. The beach at night, exceptionally dark thanks to the lack of a local electrical grid, showcases a star-crowded sky that’s the cosmic equivalent of Fourth of July fireworks.

The word tulúm is a Mayan word for “wall,” but according to the guide who took us on a tour of the Mexican city’s ancient ruins, locals never called it by that name. Instead, they called it “Zama,” which means “city of dawn.”

This name makes more sense, not only because of its east-facing position on the Caribbean Sea, but because Tulum is not an especially walled-off or guarded-feeling place. Case in point: During my recent visit, the owner of the cash-only seaside restaurant Posada Margarita noticed my friend and me counting out our pesos before dinner. He suggested we send him money for the bill when we got back to Minneapolis. Seeing the look on our faces, he laughed. “It’s not cars or diamonds,” he assured us. “It’s just dinner.”

Small wonder that the heart-opening practice of yoga is so widely practiced here. Intrepid hippie travelers brought yoga to these pristine beaches well before the road from the inland pueblo was paved, back when visitors could string up their hammocks almost anywhere they liked. Today Tulum is a haven for yoga lovers of all stripes. There are classes with talented local teachers and retreats with international yoga celebrities. Shelter options now include tiny beachside cabanas, solid-walled spacious casitas and airy bamboo treehouses.

While a yoga retreat in Tulum isn’t as inexpensive as it was in those early hammock days, my visit here revealed that a full week of classes and lodging can still be had for less than the cost of a weekend at a big city hotel. A small price to pay for the chance to deepen one’s practice in paradise.

Build Your Own Yoga Retreat

Yoga Adventures Tulum/Coco Tulum

For the budget-minded yoga practitioner longing to go on retreat (which pretty much describes me whenever I’m not traveling for this kind of assignment), Christina Thomas is a guardian angel. A longtime yoga enthusiast, Thomas in 2008 left her hectic New York City job as an interior designer to live full-time in Tulum. She hasn’t looked back. “Tulum is a magical place that draws you in and slows you down,” she says.

Intent on sharing that magic, Thomas turned her creative attention to designing retreats; she is now co-owner and founder of Yoga Adventures Tulum, a travel service that helps people design their own visits. Would-be retreaters let Thomas know how much they have to spend, and she finds a way to get them on the sugar-sand beach for a week of daily yoga classes and lodging — for as little as USD $575.

Her approach depends on how many people are traveling.  Sometimes she helps small groups find a house to rent on or near the beach, sets them up with a teacher for daily classes at the house, and stocks the refrigerator with cooking essentials before they arrive. She can even arrange for a massage therapist to come to the house.

For those traveling alone, or for teachers traveling with a group, Thomas coordinates idyllic and affordable retreats at Coco Tulum, a hotel that hosts a set of rustic but clean and sturdy beachfront cabanas that run as little as USD $60 per night. Each tiny cabana has electricity, along with just enough room for a queen-size bed, a mirror and a mosquito net. The brightly tiled modern bathrooms and showers are shared, just up the sandy path.

The cabanas offer everything the no-frills traveler needs — a roof, a comfortable bed, a nearby yoga class — and nothing unnecessary. Think of it as glamorous camping, but instead of s’mores you get an onsite restaurant that serves Yucatan fare like fish tacos and pineapple jam along with North American comforts like bagels and lox. For those with a little more room in their vacation budget, rooms with private bathrooms are also available in the tower portion of the hotel.

Yoga classes at Coco Tulum take place on a sometimes-windy beachside platform that faces the sea. The view is gorgeous, but bring an extra towel for wiping off the sand that can coat a perspiring body like a sugar doughnut. Daily classes run December to May and are offered through Utopia Tulum, the yoga studio headquartered at Coco Tulum. (Classes are USD $10.) Thomas teaches classes by appointment during the low season.

Location and contact info:
Yoga Adventures Tulum www.yogaadventurestulum.com 

Yoga Vacations in Mexico

Tulum

The majestic Mayan ruins of Tulum are located right above the white sand beaches of Mexico’s Caribbean coast. It is one of the most popular day trips for tourists from the resort areas of Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Yoga Adventures Tulum provides custom-made yoga retreats and acts as a booking agent for a handful of yoga retreat centers in the area that offers all-inclusive vacations. Guests choose their own amenities, such as private or group yoga classes, scuba diving and kiteboardingg and various accommodations categories. Both custom and all-inclusive yoga vacations occur on the beach near the ancient ruins or in the surrounding jungle.

Yoga Adventures Tulum

yogaadventurestulum.com

From the Inside Out

If mixing business with pleasure is wrong, then who wants to be right? Herewith, some good-for-you treatments that feel like luxury (not deprivation).

The Next Flight Out of Here
If the only way for you to get on track is to get out of Dodge, you might be tempted by a new, laid-back, seven-day yoga retreat in Tulum. It’s run by a fun, young NYC transplant, who’s booked an adorable eco boutique hotel on the beach and arranged for daily yoga, meditation, massage, excursions, dinner, dancing, and seaside lounging with drinks.

You wouldn’t want to be too good.