{"id":14199,"date":"2023-05-15T13:39:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T13:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yogajournal.com\/?p=111208"},"modified":"2023-05-15T13:39:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T13:39:24","slug":"the-best-yoga-retreat-trends-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/15\/the-best-yoga-retreat-trends-of-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Yoga Retreat Trends of 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Whatever preconceived notions you may have about yoga retreats\u2014perhaps an Eat, Pray, Love<\/em>-inspired escape?\u2014are being challenged this year. Although there\u2019s never been a truly singular approach to these wellness immersions, the stereotypical beliefs and structures surrounding yoga retreats are giving way to getaways that<\/span> allow you to focus on yoga, self-exploration, and restoration with an equal emphasis on accessibility, inclusivity, and affordability.<\/p>\n

The emerging trends that follow help you reset in ways that connect you with pursuits beyond yoga, like-minded companions, and places that are (inexpensively) close to home.<\/p>\n

The Yoga Retreat Trends You\u2019ll See in 2023<\/h2>\n
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Joshua Tree provides silence\u2014and rock climbing\u2014as complements to your yoga practice.<\/span> (Photo: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Two-For-One Yoga Retreats<\/h3>\n

Traditionally, yoga retreats allow you to escape to a remote location, immerse yourself in yoga, and take optional excursions. Lately, creative retreat options allow you to engage equally with another pursuit, whether artistic or athletic, that complements or contrasts with your yoga practice.<\/p>\n

If you want to improve your balance in yoga poses, try\u2026surfing. Teachers Jenny Clise<\/a> and Emily Meersand<\/a> are co-leading a Bali Surf and Yoga retreat<\/a> with a seven-day itinerary that allows ample time for morning surf sessions followed by afternoon yoga workshops dedicated to arm balances and inversions, slow flow, and restorative yoga. The retreat is open to anyone, regardless of experience with yoga or surfing.<\/p>\n

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Yoga retreat-goers balance their time between practicing yoga and rock climbing at Joshua Tree.<\/span> (Photo: Getty Images; Kaya Lindsay)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Those who feel more comfortable defying gravity on land can opt for rock climbing. The Joshua Tree Rock Climbing and Yoga Retreat,<\/a> hosted by She Moves Mountains,<\/a> is a three-night camping experience including guided sessions each morning for climbers of any level, whether you seek beginner lessons or friction climbing, splitter cracks, or face climbs. Afternoon yoga asana classes are designed to help climbers improve flexibility, build strength, promote balance, and quiet their thoughts before they tackle the next day\u2019s challenge.<\/p>\n

Seeking a less physically demanding experience? The Paris Creative Writing Retreat<\/a>, led by yoga teachers Sarah Herrington<\/a> and Kevin Montgomery<\/a>, is an eight-day getaway intended to explore the connection between creativity and yoga via city walks, nighttime explorations of the Catacombs, and, of course, physical yoga practice.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles-based tantric hatha yoga coach Kala MacDonald brings together yoga, mindfulness, and adventure in her South Africa Wellness Safari.<\/a> Located at the Shambala Private Game Reserve\u2019s Zulu Camp,<\/a> it includes up-close animal watching as well as daily yoga practices.<\/p>\n

For something considerably tamer, MacDonald\u2019s Italy Tour<\/a> is a 10-day exploration of Florence and Rome that blends physical movement and guided meditation with pasta-making classes and biodynamic wine tastings.<\/p>\n

San Francisco yoga teacher Nicole Cronin<\/a> will join former Twitter executive Ari Font Llitj\u00f3s<\/a> to lead the Women in Engineering Retreat with The New Club<\/a> in Mendocino County, California. Workshops on professional development and career advancement are included along with hikes among redwood trees, yoga classes, and farm-to-table meals.<\/p>\n

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HAUM yoga studio offers oceanside yoga retreats inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community. (Photo: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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2. Affinity Group Yoga Retreats<\/h3>\n

Yoga is inherently grounded in sangha,<\/a> or community, reflected in an upswing in retreats for like-minded individuals who want to connect around commonalities. Attendees may find comfort, connection, and a sense of ease in these groups that they don\u2019t experience in other settings.<\/p>\n

Maya Breuer<\/a> is a pioneer in bringing people together. As the co-founder of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance<\/a> and creator of the Yoga Retreat for Women of Color<\/a>, she has been at the forefront of creating educational programs about yoga for the BIPOC community. This year\u2019s retreat with Breuer, Kiesha Battles<\/a>, and other leaders offers yoga, dancing, and poetry to help attendees \u201center a sacred space where you can express yourself freely without social or familial expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Francisco\u2019s HAUM<\/a>, a yoga studio owned by Danni Pomplum<\/a>, is known for providing inclusive spaces for teachers and practitioners in the LGBTQ+ community. The yoga studio\u2019s retreats<\/a> carry that inclusivity and connection into international settings as well as closer-to-home settings such as Mendocino.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpress Your Sparkle<\/a>\u201d is a yoga retreat designed exclusively for queer and trans-identified individuals at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Jacoby Ballard<\/a>, Susanna Barkataki<\/a>, and David Kam<\/a> lead the three-day retreat that includes lovingkindness practices, movement modalities, and explorations of queer identity through asana. The retreat leaders have also created Gender Expansive Dorms to provide \u201ca housing experience with a sense of belonging and community for trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer\/gender non-conforming guests, as well as LGBTQIA+ guests and allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Weekend Yoga Retreat for Large Bodies <\/a>in upstate New York, designed by Michael Hayes of Brooklyn\u2019s Buddha Body Yoga,<\/a> is a welcoming space for those seeking closeness in a judgment-free zone. Hayes <\/a>focuses on helping people of size develop confidence-building tools, increase their flexibility and strength while improving balance and range of motion. His approach to teaching prioritizes self-compassion and growth over physical ability or asana aptitude.<\/p>\n

An increasing number of retreat options looking to build community among male yoga practitioners through movement, meditation, and mindfulness. Sonoma\u2019s Roots to Wings Yoga<\/a> offers a weekend yoga retreat that encourages men of all ages and walks of life to seek realignment and purpose through yoga, martial arts, and other movement modalities. Led by yoga and meditation teacher Michael Fong, the experience offers ample downtime and the opportunity to completely unplug from everyday reality amid oak trees and rustic cabins in the Valley of the Moon.<\/p>\n

Julianne Aiello of Outdoor Yoga<\/a> in San Francisco offers a Soulful Nature Camp Women\u2019s Yoga Retreat<\/a> in June and the Fall Nature Camp + Restore. Women\u2019s Yoga Retreat<\/a> in October. Both three-day journeys take place along the Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and create an environment where attendees can bask in \u201cthe presence of beautiful, curious, wise women,\u201d engage in \u201cliberating movement,\u201d and \u201cbreathe and move intuitively, gracefully, powerfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Yoga teacher Andrea Marcum offers yoga from Madison County, Iowa, which she dubs \u201cThe Tuscany of the Midwest.\u201d<\/span> (Photo: Luann Gilman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

3. Domestic Yoga Retreats<\/h3>\n

The sad state of the economy makes international yoga retreats a less viable option for a lot of us. Fortunately, there are more domestic retreats than ever before. These less-expensive options in unpretentious destinations afford retreat-goers the chance to explore themselves as well as the country.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve never thought of Madison County, Iowa, as the \u201cTuscany of the Midwest,\u201d yoga teacher Andrea Marcum<\/a> makes a pretty convincing case for a rebrand. Marcum\u2019s Close to hOMe retreat<\/a> is a love letter to her mom\u2019s home state. Asana sessions take place in the restored barn on Lone Oaks Farm with prairielands, locally sourced cooking, and quiet summer nights as backdrop.<\/p>\n

Explore the philosophical side of yoga as well as California\u2019s most majestic landscapes with Cronin on a three-day retreat among coastal foothills and redwood forests. The emphasis during the weekend retreat at The Land of The Medicine Buddha in Santa Cruz<\/a> are the yamas and niyamas<\/a>, which are teachings pertaining to how we engage with ourselves and others. Students can take part in vinyasa flows, yin sessions, hikes, meditations, and more.<\/p>\n

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Margaret Burns Vap, founder of Big Sky Yoga Retreats, and her horse, Dulce.<\/span> (Photo: \u00a92020 Larry Stanley Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether you\u2019re obsessed with Yellowstone<\/em> or simply want to take your practice into nature, Big Sky Yoga Retreats,<\/a> founded by Margaret Burns Vap, may be your answer. Set in Montana, the getaways are designed to \u201chelp cowgirl yoginis live out their big sky dreams.\u201d This isn\u2019t a quick-fix escape from reality. Rather, Big Sky\u2019s local retreats help you hone the tools necessary to improve how you show up to everyday life after the retreat. The emphasis is on overall well-being through restorative and Yin Yoga practices<\/a>, horseback riding, hiking, wildlife watching, and creating art.<\/p>\n

4. One-Day Yoga Retreats<\/h3>\n

Ideally, one would be able to spend weeks immersed in asana and yoga philosophy. Realistically, many of us can dedicate only a few hours at a time to our practice. Weekend yoga retreats have long been a more affordable alternative to week-long escapes, but one-day immersions are emerging as solutions for those constrained by time (and, perhaps, finances).<\/p>\n

UK-based Briony Fisher of Breathe Bend Believe Yoga<\/a> leads one-day retreats as well as hours-long options for those who want \u201cmore than just a yoga class but less than a weekend away.\u201d Both day-long and \u201cmini retreats\u201d provide \u201cpowerful resets\u201d that take place in the charming English village of Hassocks and include a dynamic yoga flow, guided hike, and two-course lunch. The day-long option, which clocks in at eight hours, is quite a steal at \u00a399 (about $125 U.S.) and schedules time for relaxation or a nap (!) as well as intention setting and restorative yoga.<\/p>\n

About Our Contributor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michelle Konstantinovsky<\/em><\/a> is a San Francisco-based independent journalist, writer, editor, and UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism alum. She\u2019s written extensively on health, body image, entertainment, lifestyle, design, and tech for outlets including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Scientific American, Glamour, Shape, Self, WIRED, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, and many more. She has also served as the health and wellness editor at Fitbit, senior health writer at One Medical, and contributing editor at California Home + Design. She completed 200 hours of yoga teacher training in 2018 and is still trying to understand the physics of hand balancing. Follow her at @michellekmedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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A lot has changed since you booked your last escape.<\/p>\n

The post The Best Yoga Retreat Trends of 2023<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-14199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}