No Ordinary Retreats have been specifically created as an opportunity to for you to experience an intensive immersion into the depths of your inner being. Experienced practitioners, enthusiasts and instructors alike are welcome, in order to work on themselves for personal growth and development.

These intensive yoga retreats are an opportunity for you to step off the treadmill of Life, log off, slow down and turn inwards.  Just as an astronaut explores outer space, you will get to explore your own inner dimensions.  A variety of reflective techniques will be used, which are designed to draw your attention within, allowing you to examine your thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations.  Gradual withdrawal from constant stimuli and pressures of the outside world, allows space for deep contemplation.  You can BREATHE.

Connecting with the breath directly puts you in touch with your emotions and you begin to “feel” more.  Many people run from “feeling” any emotions or painful memories and dark experiences.  Emotions aren’t a problem unless they are supressed, repressed, avoided or resisted.  Personal stuff, traumas and dramas can arise, which can provoke an emotional response within.  When you are presented with a variety of feelings, you have a choice of how to deal with the associated emotions that bubble to the surface.

All too often, these painful emotions are stuffed right back down into the body, where they lie festering and unprocessed, wreaking havoc on your physical and mental wellbeing.  It isn’t always pretty when you come face to face with yourself and any baggage you are carrying and what you have done to yourself (and others) by your own actions. This confrontation can be challenging and downright ugly.  In the stillness, you encounter your subconscious patterns, habits, conditioning, stresses and your own thoughts.

Yoga is a coping mechanism for fully processing emotions that have previously been lurking, hidden deep within the core of your being.  A safe space is created within the retreat, so that you get the opportunity to “go there” – to expose yourself emotionally and be vulnerable.  Getting comfortable with discomfort takes great strength and much support from the group is often needed.  Letting Go is an essential part of the healing process.  Sometimes we have to break down and lose ourselves in order to find ourselves and ultimately build a better, stronger, wiser version of ourselves.  That’s the REAL yoga.  The science of self-transformation.

Incredible India Yoga Retreat - Kerala - 15th to 28th August

Join Emma for the trip of a lifetime in incredible India and the opportunity to experience life in a working ashram.  The price includes a 7 night, full-board, stay at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Meenakshi Ashram in Madurai, Southern India, with meals included and daily tuition from Emma.

Optional 5 nights additional hotel stay in Kerala for the  Southern India Experience Tour.

Price – £900 (7 night ashram stay only – excluding flights, transfers and optional, additional trip)

A NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT PAYMENT OF £250 IS REQUIRED TO BOOK YOUR PLACE OR PAYMENT IN FULL CAN BE MADE

Please do NOT book any flights until final numbers are confirmed and you have been advised via email to do so. The return flight prices for this year from UK to Mumbai on Emirates are approximately £1100. Internal flights are around £95 for a single flight journey.

Before booking, please check the link below for foreign tourist advice, when visiting India

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india/entry-requirements

Retreat Location

Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Meenakshi Ashram is located at Saramthangi Village, Vellayampatti, Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu. 

Madurai is an energetic, ancient city on the Vaigai River.  As the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu, Madura is one of the oldest cities of India and was ruled by Pandya kings over most of its history.  The city has been in existence since about 4th century BC and is mentioned in ancient texts of Greeks, Romans and Arabs.
Its skyline is dominated by the 14 colorful gopurams (gateway towers) of Meenakshi Amman Temple. Covered in bright carvings of Hindu gods, the Dravidian-style temple is a major pilgrimage site.
View full ashram details on this link-

https://sivananda.org.in/madurai/accomodation/

Highlights

  • Seven nights full board stay
  • Daily Yoga sessions (Yin, Vinyasa, Kundalini)
  • Fresh and nutritious vegetarian meals (two meals per day)
  • Satsang gatherings for devotional practices
  • Daily Meditations
  • Pranayama Breathwork Techniques
  • Puja ceremony
  • Shatkarmas (cleansing techniques inc. Neti and Dhauti)
  • Group Kirtan Mantra Chanting
  • Yoga Philosophy
  • Excursion available to local temples and Ghandi Museum, (for those students that wish to attend, nominal taxi fees are charged)

Optional Additional Extra Stay

Extend your trip by 5 extra nights and visit the highlights of Kerala including:

  • Heritage tour of Fort Kochi
  • Backwater Cruise in Aleppey
  • Munnar and the tea plantations
  • Spice Plantations in Thekkady
  • Periyar Tiger Reserve

A price will be quoted for this additional option, based upon the number of students wishing to extend their trip. This is a great opportunity to view some of the main tourist attractions and make the most of what Southern India has to offer.

An approximate cost for 5 nights in a 4 star hotel in Kochi would be £370

Travel and trips incur additional fees – TBC

Accommodation

Twin-share are simple, functional and spacious. Twin-share rooms have attached bathrooms with hot water. All accommodation areas have shelving and hanging space.

Food – South Indian food (Sattvic, no onion, no garlic, low in salt, oil and spice) accompanied by herbal water served twice a day.

Drink – Unsweetened tea twice a day (both milk and black tea available. Optional sweeteners – Jaggery and white sugar)

Dress code – Sattvic (simple, well covered, loose fitting, non-transparent and absorbent fabric)

Facilities

  • Single/Shared accomodation with attached bathroom and hot water
  • Mattress, bed spread, pillow, pillow cover, blanket and mosquito net are provided
  • Reception
  • Boutique (toiletries, yoga mats, meditation cushions, padlocks, T-shirts, Yoga Pants, books, snacks and other basic needs are sold)
  • Library (12-1pm)
  • Locker (operates during reception times)
  • Wifi (6.30pm – 7.30pm)
  • ATM – nearest cashpoint is in Palamedu and Chatrapatti village (6 kms from the ashram)

What's Included

Aside from your double room, shared accomodation, you will be served daily fresh, nutritious vegetarian meals, included in the price, along with daily tuition from Emma.  Alcohol is not permitted during the retreat.

What’s not included

  • International return flights to and from India
  • Domestic flights within India
  • Travel expenses to and from the ashram
  • Any train travel fees
  • Any taxi transfer to and from the venue for excursions
  • Excursions/day trips
  • Personal expenses
  • Visa application and associated visa costs
  • Insurance and associated costs

Cancellation Policy

  • A reservation requires a deposit of £250
  • The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
  • The rest of the payment should be paid 60 days before arrival.

If you need to cancel your trip, you may do so up to 40 days prior to the arrival date and you will receive a full refund of the course cost, minus the £250 non-refundable deposit.

Cancellation within 40 days of the start date of the course will incur the full course cost and no refund will be issued under any circumstances.

Before booking, please check the link below for foreign tourist advice, when visiting India.  Please ensure that you are also up to date with any holiday vaccinations.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/india/entry-requirements

Programme Schedule

  • Daily Yoga sessions (Yin, Vinyasa, Kundalini)
  • Satsang gatherings for devotional practices
  • Meditation
  • Pranayama Breathwork Techniques
  • Puja ceremony
  • Shatkarmas (cleansing techniques including Neti and Dhauti)
  • Group Kirtan Mantra Chanting
  • Yoga Philosophy

You will also get the chance to take part in some excursions/day trips during your ashram stay, so you will have the opportunity to experience the more of this incredible country.  Please note that excursions are entirely optional but would incur an additional, nominal cost.

Your retreat leader

Hello – my name is Emma Newham and I’m your host for this retreat.  A little bit about me and my background for your information.  I have been in the health and wellness industry for almost three decades, teaching mindbody exercise to the wider public, fitness enthusiasts and instructors alike.

My fitness companies specialise in delivering teacher training courses.  Union Yoga UK, specialises in face to face and online internationally accredited Yoga teacher training courses.  Pilates Union UK specialises in delivering online teacher training courses in the Pilates method.  BarreConcept specialises in delivering online and face to face training courses in the barre method.

My yoga background started in 2006 after gaining my initial 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training certification at the Sivananda Ashram in the Himalayas.  Since then, I have progressed to learn various other styles of yoga.

I spent a month at the Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Mysore, learning the Astanga Primary Series.  This lead me to undertake further teacher training courses in Ashtanga with leading Western yoga instructors including John Scott and David Swenson.  In 2018, I qualified in Kundalini Yoga and subsequently took a Level 2 Kundalini Teacher Training course in 2020 and I’ve also completed two different Aerial Yoga teacher training courses.

I’m a qualified Assessor and also an IQA (Internal Quality Assurer).

In addition to delivering training courses, I also specialise in bodywork, offering holistic treatments such as Thai Yoga Massage, Core Fascial Release and Reiki.

Sound therapy is a keen interest of mine, so I undertook the Gong Practitioner training in 2019.

Due to my interest in working with the mind, I teach courses and workshops in Mindfulness, Meditation and Spirituality.

More recently, I have completed the Modern Medicine Woman training course, which delves deeper into ancient wisdom, with the use of Shamanic practices such as rituals, ceremonies and journeys.

So, I have a wealth of knowledge and experience of working with the mind/body and I’d love to share this with you on my retreat.

What do our Clients say?

Below you can read some reviews from our wonderful clients and find out how we have helped them on their own fitness journey.