If you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, there’s no better way than with a peaceful and serene yoga retreat in Marrakech. With this beautiful oasis retreat, you’ll be surrounded by traditional villages and won’t believe the relaxed atmosphere of the whole region.
Not only will you detox with Hammam, you’ll also fall in love with the Moroccan (and Italian) cuisine. After you arrive at your yoga Marrakech retreat, your two hosts will welcome you and your family, and you can forget about the stress of the world in an instant.
Yoga
If you’re worried about having to be an expert on your yoga retreat Marrakech, this simply isn’t the case because the classes are tailored to the group’s skill level.
Of course, there will be a focus on physical well-being and exercises to improve mobility, circulation, and breathing. All the while, you’ll also be strengthening ligaments, muscles, and tendons for a better quality of life!
Yoga lessons are twice per day with 2 or more participants within the entire retreat either coming together or separately. If you are only 1 person attending the entire yoga retreat, then only 1 lesson per day is included with the second lesson charged at 50 EUR per session.
Yoga with Perumal Morocco incorporates:
- 1. Pranayama
- 2. Preparation
- 3. Salutation
- 4. Strength
- 5. Stretching
- 6. Meditation and or relaxation
Retreat method
Sequences
Sequences are for all level participants and develop from the simple to the more complex. You practice at a level that is not too light yet not too strong to avoid becoming very adrenalized. The method is instructed meditatively encouraging one to open the body in progressive layers without being pushy or punchy.
Classes are roughly 90 minutes and practiced twice a day without repeating the same sequence over successive sessions. Each class is not a separate entity from each other. They are synergistic with every lesson acting as a step into the next session.
Their yoga retreat classes collectively create a whole felt within your entire being. The below sequence samples provide an insight into what is practiced on each lesson. Sequences are adapted to the individual or group.
Participants coming into the retreat, after the group has already formed, will begin at the current sequence being followed. All yoga lessons are ending with meditation and relaxation. The Yoga with Perumal Morocco retreat method enables experienced and beginners to practice together.
First lesson evening – Joint preparation, stretching, meditation
A joint is any part of the body in which two or more bones make contact. They are quite sensitive and prone injuries. Those new to yoga without a fitness background or returning after a long inactive period require joint exercises first.
The first evening class will be a preparation and tuning up of the body for the upcoming lessons. When arriving, this sequence is an ideal first gentle entry step into the retreat. Included is an introduction into the upcoming lessons.
Second lesson morning – Core and deep breathing
This class is the foundation to the upcoming leg and arm sequences while detoxing the body. Core muscles are in the trunk of the body. Remove the limbs and head then what remains is the core. Major muscles of the core are the abdominals and mid to lower back.
This progress to deeper lower abdominal postures followed by the upper abdominals through sequences coupled with deep breathing. Those with lower back problems are to avoid leg lifting and the boat sequences that follow. You progress into locust through east facing, camel, and wheel postures before ending with meditation.
Third lesson evening – Foundation leg sequence
You practice a preparation and foundation leg sequence similar to what was authored by Perumal Koshy and published in Yoga Journal Italy. The lesson progresses from preparation exercises and then into the foundational leg sequence.
Preparation sequences open the hip joints and knees before executing a series involving large muscle groups of glutes and quads. This sequence acts as a lower back opener through the iliopsoas muscles preparing your core for the next day upper body plank sequences.
Fourth lesson morning – Plank sequences to head-standing
Cat Cow core breathing / Table pose pelvic tilt, upper body arm sequences. You move from non-weight bearing upper body preparation exercises into foundational strength isometric exercises or holding postures.
Following are isotonic upper body strength sequences progressing from eccentric lengthening (with gravity) to concentric shortening (against gravity). This approach enables those with shoulder issues to progress in a controlled manner enabling an understanding of when to stop in the sequence.
Head standing is practiced at the end of this lesson. It is ideal to headstand after having a well warmed up neck, shoulder, and scapula area. This is accomplished with plank sequences. If you cannot headstand, then the foundation along with theory of head-standing will be explained.
Fifth lesson evening – Stretching and meditation
This is a recovery sequence. The previous sequences of the first morning onward did not focus directly on stretching but yet the body was made to feel light, loose, and care free of pains. The previous sessions accomplished the freedom of the body that stretching provides through preparation and strength postures.
Here, you stretch the body directly. In this manner, you avoid over stretching of the body during the retreat enabling reduced risk of injuries. Upcoming sequences will lead to stretching at the end of preparation and strength sequences.
Sixth lesson morning - Onward
The lesson sequences that proceed from the 4th day onward depends on the individual or group that is participating. What you proceed to do is based on feedback regarding ability. You either repeat the previous lessons or combines the previous lessons into more complex sequences with synchronized breath and movements known as Vinyasa.
There should be no hurry to enter into new and unfamiliar information especially if the previous sequences were challenging. The deeper goals of practicing yoga postures are to do them with an effortlessly movement while maintaining a still mind.
Depth of progression into a sequence depends on the individual or group. Above sample sessions divide lessons to focus on specifics areas. This enables progression without overtraining. Additional sessions include pranayama and meditation and combining sessions with Vinyasa flow.
Please be advised that 2 yoga classes daily will be offered only if there are at least 2 people enroll the same date. If there is only 1 person enrolls, there will be only 1 yoga class per day.
About the founder of the method - Perumal Koshy
Perumal Koshy, an American citizen, born in New Delhi of South Indian parents from the state of Kerala, began teaching under a Kung-Fu master while living in Los Angeles. A ten-year martial arts life through his teens and early twenties was followed by yoga.
This began a yoga journey returning to his ancestral roots of Kerala, India and then England, Italy, and Morocco. These experiences lead Perumal to capture the heart and values of the world’s yoga styles. His method is a practical and easily comprehensible form of yoga.
Teaching 5 years of London yoga weekly group classes through dozens of clubs began the first sequences of Yoga with Perumal. Up to 15 group classes per week were taught over a 5 year period from the London center in Covent Garden through South, Kensington.
Covering other teachers of varying styles from Shivananda, to Iyengar and Ashtanga with the Yoga with Perumal method was well received. The method began here learning to adapt to soft and hard styles of yoga.
Following was 5 years in Milan, Italy which was an experience in intensive private lessons with up to 25 students at a time contrasting with large groups of cosmopolitan London. Numerous publications with Yoga Journal Italy and Italian seminars were established providing recognition of the Yoga with Perumal method.
These journals were syndicated through France and Holland. From the end of 2010, after 10 years of teaching yoga in 2 countries, pursuing a full-time yoga retreat schedule became an endeavor as the next step in the growth of Perumal. This led to Marrakech, Morocco with the year-round good weather as the ideal place for Yoga with Perumal retreats.
Fortunately Ines Stephan, a film producer with over 100 Moroccan commercials spanning 25 years from BMW to Omega, partnered to produce the Yoga with Perumal retreats and online video courses.
Seven year of teaching intensive retreats in Morocco honed the method of Yoga with Perumal for daily twice a day classes with retreat students and fitness camps along with specialty tours such as a 7 day Fat E Bike and Desert Retreats.
Perumal departed from Morocco leaving the retreats to be run by Ines Stephan and is currently expanding into Europe with the Spa Yoga Retreat in Lake Garda, Italy.
