This Saturday was the last day of the first retreat (Yoga&Surf) of 2014. It was a lovely week with 10 amazing surfing yogis, who I really enjoyed getting to know a bit better! 4 of them already left some reviews on tripadvisor, which I would like to share with you here:
“yoga + surf = best week of my life”
If you LOVE or would like to try yoga, surf, eat the best healthy vegetarian food ever, meet people from around the whole world, learn about permaculture, find peace within yourself, get inspiration and ideas on smart design, learn new things about yourself such as what you want to, can or will do and so many more things. THEN YOU HAVE TO GO on this retreat with Shaini at the Eco Resort Casa Vale da Lama. Before I went on this retreat I was lacking a bit of inspiration to keep on doing my ordinary yogapractice. Yesterday I came home from the trip with sooooo much new inspiration, facts and information about yoga I never expected to learn. Shaini is the most wonderful and kind yogateatcher I have ever met. It was such a good way to start the day with a strong yoga class in the morning and end the day with a relaxing and stretching class in the evening. I always left the yoga class with a big smile on my lips. Thank you Shaini, you are such a big inspiration and role model!The combination of yoga and surf is a match made in heaven. I have never tried to surf before and I didn’t expect that I would love it from the first day and learn so much just in a few days. That I now will have to find a place were I can keep on surfing in Sweden. The surf instructors were really good at explaining and give personal tips to each one of us, even though we were on different skill levels. The people, staff and the surroundings at the Eco Resort Casa Vale da Lama embraced us from day one with so much warmth and love. We had a tour around the farm to learn more about permaculture and it was so interesting and inspiring. You can really feel the love and stillness when you walked around the farm, everything from the smallest tomato plant to the biggest almond tree were taking care of with so much passion. And I really recommend to take a massage, the body and mind really needs it after all the exercise. To sum it all up you could say that my luggage on the way home weighted ten times more than on my way there. I got so much new inspiration and information with me, new friends for life, cooking tips, design ideas, new passions and ideas of how I want to live my life and so much more. That I only can say; ”I WILL BE BACK!” Room Tip: All the rooms were great with big windows facing the south to let the Portuguese sun in. Olivia, Sweden
“Full of awesome”
It's hard to know where to start - everything just hit the spot perfectly with this trip. Leaving yesterday I just felt really happy that I'd somehow ended up via a random google search with Shaini and at Vale de Lama. The food was incredibly tasty and varied, the sea was crystal clear and the surf instructors lovely helpful passionate guys, the accommodation was private and pristine and very calm, and Shaini was a very, very good and responsive yoga teacher (and, like everyone we met) had a brilliant sense of humour. Personally I managed to come to understand how my body and flexibility worked in ways I hadn't considered before, and finally 'got' some really basic yoga stuff that had managed to slip through lots of different yoga instructor's explanations. The partner yoga was really fun too - our whole group ended up playing on the beach with the new acro-contortions shaini taught us!It was exhilarating, hard, very fun and we've come back re-booted, bendier and stronger and very happy. It seems this part of Portugal collects genuinely excellent people, the environmentally sensitive and appropriate ethos of the resort and folk who run it is really impressive. What a brilliant trip, and a really nice bunch of people too. Bravo! Room Tip: All the rooms are really big and very comfortable, it's a small place and you're taken care... Tom, United Kingdom
"The best retreat ever!”
Yogaion was fantastic! The location vale da lama is a beutiful, calm place with caring, warm and welcoming people who cook delicious food and really care about their guests having an enjoyable stay. The food is cooked from the eco farm and it´s possible to go pick fruits directly from the fruit trees near by. The Algarve coast is beautiful and when we were there in April it was green and the climate was perfect. Shaini is a brilliant iyengar based yoga teacher who really makes sure the asanas are made properly, she corrects the body in detail and it´s a really good way to learn new things about your body no matter what level in yoga you are. The classes were a good mix of asanas, they were not very strong which was good because we did surfing as well, even tough I could have wished one or two of them to be more physically challenging. But I can´t complain, the classes really made me go deeper in my yoga and it really opened up my body.The massage therapists available at the retreat were so good, everybody was happy with their massages and mine was totally wonderful, just what you need after all surfing that gave sore muscles.I had never surfed before this retreat and it was such a good experience, I really learned a lot! The surf locations was wonderful and the surf teachers Ricardo and Eduardo really taught how to make friends with the waves. It felt safe and fun to surf with them and they helped us all one by one to catch the waves in the beginning.I enjoyed every single thing about the retreat and I really wanna come back. I recommend it to everyone, couples, familys, solo travellers and for friends! I came home yesterday and I already miss it. :)" Tussa, Sweden
“Yoga & Surf heaven"
4 hours of yoga and 4 hours of surfing sounds super intense, and in a way it was, but fuelled by the great food, location and people of Valle De Lama, Shaini guiding us through yoga and Ricardo and Eduardo from Future Surf we were well supported. We returned home a week later refreshed, stronger and with a lot of exciting new learnings in our yoga and surf practice. The Permaculture of Valle De Lama is also inspiring. Room Tip: There are no bad rooms, they were all beautiful, clean and calm." Amy, United Kingdom
