15 Day Vinyasa Krama Yoga Retreat in Dambulla, Sri Lanka
Uplifting Yoga Holiday in Sri Lanka
Practice yoga in a place where you can unwind, be gentle with yourself, live close to nature, and simply be, or if you feel energetic, a wonderful place to exercise and rejuvenate. If ever there was a place made for yoga, Ulpotha is it. This yoga retreat will be led by Mika de Brito. He teaches regular group and private classes in Paris and holds retreats around the world. His wise and playful retreats in Ulpotha since 2007 are extremely popular.
Meet the instructors
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Highlights
- Daily yoga classes
- 2 one-hour massage sessions
- Enjoy a half-day and a full-day excursion
- Access to the hot water bathing area
- Daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- 14 nights accommodation
- Snacks and drinks
Skill level
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
Yoga styles
Bandaranaike International Airport (US$ 100 per person)
Accommodation
Facilities
- Sauna
- Steam room
- Dining area
- Environmentally friendly
- Garden
- Meditation garden
- Yoga shala
- Free bicycle
- Laundry
- Library
- Wedding
- Outdoor shower
Guests are accommodated in one of a number of tastefully decorated traditional wattle and daub huts sprinkled through Ulpotha, where living is by design a communal and shared experience in nature's embrace.
There are 11 charming guest huts in Ulpotha, 10 of which are for two guests and one for three. All of them are built using traditional wattle and daub with comfortable beds, excellent mosquito nets, cupboards, fresh water, towels, and offer a sarong to wear and take home. The huts are of an open, airy design that facilitates the sense of being one with nature.
Twice a year, each hut is hand-painted using different colored clays, where no designs are ever repeated. Much use has been made of clay, stone, wood, pottery, and fabrics that reflect traditional village practices and aesthetics. With one or two exceptions, Ulpotha adheres to the Sri Lankan village tradition of keeping toilet or loo spaces separate from living spaces. The enchanting showers are open to the stars, and the toilets are modern.
All the huts at Ulpotha are allocated on a twin-share basis. Sharing with someone is more welcome than one might usually expect. Though ultimately soothing to the ears, the jungle noises can take some getting used to, and it is quite reassuring to have a companion sharing one's space.
By design, there is no electricity in Ulpoth, and life is lived by the rhythm of the day. As candles are to a restaurant, flame is to Ulpotha. Paths and accommodation are lit by lamps and lanterns, with the twinkling firelight creating a captivating and romantic sense of times gone by.
Program
A typical day
- 07:00 - 07:30 Tea and fruit
- 07:30 - 09:00 Yoga
- 09:00 - 09:30 Breakfast
- 09:45 - 12:30 Massages, Ayurveda, swimming, or relaxing
- 12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
- 14:00 - 16:00 Massages, Ayurveda, swimming, or relaxing
- 16:00 - 17:00 Tea and snacks
- 17:00 - 18:30 Yoga, meditation, or sunset walks
- 19:00 - 20:00 Dinner
Included excursions
An excursion is organised once a week in the afternoon. Participation is optional, and external costs are not included, though transportation is. There is no yoga on excursion afternoons.
Instructors
Mika de Brito
Mika teaches regular group and private classes in Paris and holds retreats around the world. Mika started yoga at age 21 with Baptiste Marceau, one of France's foremost Ashtanga teachers, who was later to become a good friend and mentor. Mika was a musician at that time, though yoga had such a pull for him that he left Paris a year and a half later to concentrate on teaching. In 2002, he met a swami in India who offered to teach him Tantric yoga. For the next three years, he traveled between Paris and Rishikesh in India.
Eva Thomas
Ever since Eva was a young girl, growing up in Germany, she was always passionate about movement and dancing. Not just with her body but her whole spirit. Through her love of helping people to heal themselves, she completed all 7 levels of Ka Huna massage and bodywork training at High Spirits Institute in Australia. She has been working as a Ka Huna body worker for 7 years and has established a massage space in Lismore, Australia, as well as a massage sanctuary at her own home in the Australian bush. She also trained as a facilitator to teach Lomi Lomi massages.
Retreat location
Ulpotha is run as a self-sustained village, where the vast majority of staff are from the immediate surrounding local villages and who live in and largely run Ulpotha themselves.
The resident Ayurveda doctor provides training in Ayurvedic massage and therapies for the treatment center staff, who are also from either within Ulpotha or from neighboring villages. Nearly all the food consumed in %Ulpotha is grown on-site. In addition to growing rice, fruits, vegetables, and timber trees, they have recently started growing medicinal plants and trees used for making Ayurvedic medicines. Ulpotha sources many of its other supplies and building materials from the immediate locality. Similarly, all the Ayurvedic medicines used in the treatment center are made locally.
Ulpotha regularly invests in services and amenities for the local community (rebuilding and maintaining the reservoir that is central to local agriculture, creation of a free Ayurveda clinic for the surrounding villages, donations to the local hospitals and temples, all of which are done in the lowest profile way possible - ie. without acknowledgments, notices, quid pro quo demands, plaques, etc).
The Ayurvedic treatment center within Ulpotha, which serves paying guests, is used to fund the year-round free clinic for the surrounding villages. Only local products and services are made available to guests.
Social policies
Before their arrival, guests are given an introduction as to what to expect through information provided via the website and a guest information pack.
Once in Ulpotha, guests are encouraged to learn more about the local culture and customs through immersion and interaction with the local villagers.
Guest participation is encouraged in local ceremonies and traditional gatherings while keeping them informed of locally acceptable behavior and appropriate dress code.
Guests are encouraged to visit social projects within the community (such as the free clinic) or in surrounding villages (schools for handicapped children, etc.) and to support such projects.
Ulpotha regularly holds meetings with and seeks feedback from local community leaders. Ulpotha is run by a committee of villagers with help from one of the owners, himself a local.
Distances
- Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) - 3 hours
- Colombo - 4 hours
- Kandy - 2 hours 30 minutes
- Kurunagala - 1 hour 30 minutes
Unique features
Activities
- Cycling
- Massage
- Spa
- Swimming
General
- Dining area
- Environmentally friendly
- Lake
- Meditation garden
- Yoga shala
Services
- Free bicycle
- Laundry
- Mosquito net
This Yoga Retreat is vegetarian-friendly
Click to see more vegetarian-friendly Yoga Retreats
Food
During this retreat, you will be provided with daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Snacks and drinks will also be provided. The food at Ulpotha is simply delicious and very healthy. It is almost entirely vegan, naturally wheat free, with an abundance of fresh vegetables, organic red rice, and tropical fruit freshly picked largely from Ulpotha's gardens. A visit to Ulpotha is a good opportunity to detoxify your system without fuss.
Special diets cannot be catered to, but it is fairly easy to pick and choose, depending on your taste, from the many dishes served at each meal. If there is anything that you feel that you simply can't do without (coffee, a gin tonic, chocolate, and the like), they suggest you bring it with you. As the retreat center has no electricity, all food is cooked fresh for each meal on open fires.
Breakfast is served from approximately 7:00 to 11:00 and consists of herbal teas, fresh fruit, fresh coconut water, herbal rice porridge, and a Sri Lankan breakfast cake. Lunch served around midday is the main meal of the day and consists of a wide array of Sri Lankan vegetarian dishes, salads, Ulpotha Heritage rice, fruits, curd, juice, and herbal tea. Dinner is served after dusk and consists of an array of salads, Sri Lankan vegetarian dishes, juice, fruit, and herbal tea.
The following meals are included:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Snacks
- Drinks
The following drinks are included:
- Water
- Tea
- Detox juices
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Organic
Things to do (optional)
Ayurveda treatments
Book a traditional Ayurveda detox package in the Ayurveda treatment center (supplementary fee).
Walking and cycling
Cycle around to the local villages and nearby lakes, and take guided walks to the hilltop temple or Uncle Willie's Rock.
Swimming and rafting
Swim in the silky smooth waters of the Ulpotha Lake, or take a raft or canoe through the backwaters for the best birdwatching spots.
Reading
Relax in a swing bed with a book from the well-stocked library.
Cooking
Visit the kitchen and kitchen garden and learn some recipes from the delicious Sri Lankan cuisine.
Wildlife
Stroll round Ulpotha's large grounds with your camera or binoculars to catch surprising wildlife.
Meet the villagers
Chat with one of the lovely villagers and learn more about their relaxed and unhurried lifestyle.
Visit the tailor
Order a custom-made cool cotton shirt or pants from the tailor, or design your outfits.
Spa treatments
In this yoga retreat, you will have two one-hour massage sessions. Additional Ayurvedic treatments or massages are available at an additional price.
You can pre-book an Ayurveda package of either three days, five days, a week, 10 or 12 days, or two, three, or four weeks. Prices range from 250 USD (3 days) to 2,000 USD (28 days). Treatments will typically last for about two hours each day and can be scheduled either in the morning or in the afternoon. The rest of the day will be free for you to hang out and do other things, including yoga.
A wide variety of therapies is available at Ulpotha through the seasons, though the ones on offer at any particular time depend on the therapists visiting Ulpotha at a given time (stays range anywhere from a month to three months). There are always two therapists present.
Please keep in mind that, if you are undergoing an Ayurveda program, the doctor may advise you not to have any massage therapies that may interfere with your treatment.
What's included
- Yoga classes twice daily
- Indulge in a free massage/week from one of their visiting therapists
- A yoga-friendly breakfast and two sumptuous vegetarian meals, plus snacks, juices, and teas
- Transport for 1 excursion (half or full day) per week to nearby cultural heritage sites (entrance fees not included)
- 14 nights accommodation
What's not included
- Additional massages guests may wish to book with the therapists (80 USD per hour)
- Ayurveda treatments
- Entrance fees to cultural sites
- Insurance
- Outside meals
- Travel costs to and from Ulpotha
How to get there
Recommended Airports
Bandaranaike International Airport
96 km
Transfer not provided
Arrival by airplane
Please book your flight to arrive at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB). Transfer to and from this airport is available upon request. Ulpotha will meet you at the airport and return you to the airport after your holiday. The cost per vehicle (maximum of two people) is 100 USD for one person and 115 USD for two people, each way. The transfer cost should be paid upon arrival in Ulpotha. Please inquire should you wish to be collected or dropped off at a location in Sri Lanka other than the airport.
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 100% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
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