8 Day Traditional Non-Dual Hatha Yoga Immersion in Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, France
Intensive Yoga Retreat France
This life-changing journey will purify you at the physical, psychological, and mental levels. You will experience a beautiful transformation and savor the joy of living with an open heart.
Meet the instructors
Highlights
- 3 yoga classes per day
- Lectures and extracurricular activities
- Idyllic surroundings
- Course booklet
- 7 nights accommodation
- Daily meals
Skill level
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
Yoga styles
Accommodation
Facilities
- Dining area
- Garden
- Restaurant
- Yoga studio
- Free Wi-Fi
Château de Longeval offers 26 rooms with a variety of configurations of single, twin, double, and bunk beds. While some rooms have private bathrooms, most use shared facilities. Bedding and towels are provided for single, double, and shared rooms.
Guests sleeping in dormitories will need to bring their own towel and blanket or sleeping bag (sheets and pillows are provided). Dorms are auto-assigned based on gender.
Program
Over eight days, you will participate in Hatha yoga sessions, meditation practices, and purification techniques, while also immersing yourself in traditional spiritual principles and visions from classical yoga including the non-dual tradition of Advaita Vedanta. You will experience living in a community dedicated to living with an open heart and have the opportunity to participate in weekly events such as Bhajans (devotional singing).
Note
This yoga retreat is accessible either in weeks one and two with the second week building upon the previous week's teachings. You can choose to participate in either week, but preferably you would start with week one. Weeks one and two are part of a whole three-week module where Hridaya Yoga France offers a 30% discount on the tuition price. Week three is not accessible weekly.
Dates for Week 1
- February 2nd - 9th
- March 16th - 23rd
Dates for Week 2
- February 9th - 16th
- March 23rd - 30th
Program
This is a holistic retreat that creates the conditions for the revelation of your real nature, the spiritual heart. It is a life-changing journey in which important yoga topics are introduced in both a practical and theoretical way. The practice of Hatha yoga provides an intimate inner knowledge of the physical body, bio-energies, and chakras (energy centers), as well as of your ultimate nature. A contemplative attitude and an awareness of the spiritual heart is an important part of the practice. In this immersive retreat, a typical day of practice includes:
- One hour of meditation (optional)
- Four hours of Hatha yoga practice (week one features shorter practice sessions)
- Mini-lectures on specific meditation practices and yoga techniques
- A two-hour lecture on yogic philosophy and lifestyle
Week 1
- Features classes that include longer lectures and are a slow, gentle start to the course
- Focuses on introducing fundamental yogic concepts and the basics of the Hridaya Yoga practice
- Shares beginning purification techniques
- Presents the study of yogic ethics
Week 2
- Features classes that include more time for Hatha yoga practice and tips for experiencing yoga postures as meditation
- Offers yogic dietary recommendations
- Continues the study of yogic ethics
You will learn about
- The symbolic meaning and proper performance of more than 30 yoga techniques (asanas, pranayama, kriyas, etc.)
- How to cultivate contentment, deeply relax, and open your heart
- Ramana Maharshi’s self-inquiry method (asking the question “Who am I?”) and the infinite power of the spiritual heart
- How to meditate in an asana and rest in the present moment
- Powerful practices for raising your energy, concentrating your mind, and centering in the heart
- Subtle anatomy (chakras, energy channels, etc.) and how to perceive it
- Yogic purification techniques and dietary recommendations
- About the branches of yoga, including yoga Nidra (the yoga of sleep), Bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion), and Karma yoga (the yoga of conscious action)
Arrival and orientation
Check-in is at 2:00 p.m. on the day of arrival. Please arrive in time to get settled into your accommodations prior to the orientation session that will begin at approximately 6:00 p.m. The retreat starts at 8:45 a.m. the next day. Check-out is at 10:00 a.m. on the date of departure.
Daily schedule
- 07:00 - 08:00 Meditation (optional)
- 08:00 - 08:45 Breakfast (self-catered)
- 08:45 - 11:15 Hatha yoga
- 12:00 - 12:45 Lunch
- 12:45 - 15:30 Karma yoga and free time
- 15:30 - 17:30 Hatha yoga
- 17:30 - 18:15 Dinner
- 18:30 - 20:30 Lecture
- 20:30 - 22:00 Free time or optional activities
- 22:00 Mauna (noble silence)
Instructors
Antoaneta Gotea
Antoaneta Maria Gotea was born in July 1972, in Bucharest, Romania. The memories from her early age about her father practicing complicated physical exercises (known in yoga as uddiyana bandha) and unusual breathing (pranayama) synergistically connected with her mother’s teachings about the existence of subtle bodies and reincarnation and this blossomed later in a genuine spiritual aspiration. Her search for an authentic spiritual path led her at the age of 21 to a yoga course while she was a student at Polytechnic University in Bucharest. She studied Raja yoga and Mahavidya yoga.
Sahajananda
Sahajananda, the main founder of Hridaya Yoga, is a meditation and Hatha yoga teacher with over 30 years of experience. His message conveys the non-dual tantric teachings. An engineer in electronics by education, Sahajananda started practicing yoga and meditation in 1981, the year in which yoga was banned in Communist Romania. This fact only brought him more depth, determination, and spiritual aspiration. In 2012, Sahajananda was instrumental in creating the headquarters of Hridaya Yoga in Mazunte, Mexico. In 2018, the project expanded and Hridaya Yoga France was founded.
Gesine Leicht
Gesine found in the teachings of Hridaya a well of personal transformation and a fountain of freedom. Being a practitioner of Hridaya meditation and yoga since 2012, she has a deep love and appreciation developed for the teachings and the community. Since completing the teacher training in 2015, she has taught in both Hridaya centers and also brings the practice of contemplative yoga to different social projects. Sharing the Hridaya philosophy has become a joyful passion – seeking into the heart of each moment a life purpose.
Luna Cabasés Corral
Originally from Spain, Luna teaches with the certainty that life can be lived from the heart, in full openness, and with a loving desire for all sentient beings to reveal their real nature, to come into the fullness of who they truly are. As she continues on the path, she welcomes the constant invitation to verify the certainty of the teachings through direct experience, emphasizing that the ultimate authority is the heart. She continually finds the inspiration to live in a witnessing embrace of all that is, in which a deeper freedom and naturalness arise spontaneously.
Retreat location
The retreat will take place in Saint-Just-d'Avray, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.
This Yoga Retreat is vegetarian-friendly
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Food
You will be served daily vegan meals included in the price.
Breakfasts are self-catered. If you wish to have breakfast, they offer cereal and plant-based milks for sale in the Yogi Shop. Fruit is also available.
The following meals are included:
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Drinks
The following drinks are included:
- Water
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Organic
- Yogic
What's included
- Daily yoga sessions
- Daily meditation practices
- Daily lectures
- Course booklet with valuable theoretical and practical information
- Extracurricular activities including movie nights, Bhajans (devotional singing)
- Daily vegan lunch and dinner
- 7 nights accommodation
- Tourist tax
What's not included
- Airfare
- Airport transport
- Personal expenses
- Breakfast
- Hot drinks
- Supplementary materials
How to get there
Recommended Airports
Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport
55 km
Transfer not provided
Arrival by bus
Big bus companies (Euroline, Megabus, etc.) link Lyon to Paris and other major European cities (Torino, Barcelona, Geneva, Zurich, Frankfurt, etc.). Buses usually arrive at Lyon Perrache or Lyon Part-Dieu train stations. From these stations, you can get a combination of train and bus to get to Domaine de Longeval.
Arrival by train
Lyon has two train stations, Lyon Part-Dieu and Lyon Perrache. Both of them have connections to Chamelet, a village near Longeval. In Lyon, buy a train or bus ticket to Chamelet and get on a train to Lozanne. Change from the train to a bus in Lozanne. The bus will be waiting for you at the train station and is included in your ticket.
The bus will drop you off in the village of Chamelet, about 4 kilometers away from Domaine de Longeval. You can buy your ticket in advance at the train line website. Hridaya Yoga France offers a pick-up service for 3 EUR several times daily from the bus stop in Chamelet, coordinated with the TER bus schedule. You may request a pick-up by booking.
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 14% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.
For this organizer you can guarantee your booking through BookYogaRetreats.com. All major credit cards supported.