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Join YogaOnCrete and experience lightness of body and spirit and the joy of honoring and nurturing your needs through the practice of Iyengar yoga and meditation, daily encounters with the cool, turquoise Mediterranean waters at quiet beaches, idyllic unspoilt surroundings, and wholesome, vegetarian, local food, excursions, a warm and welcoming group of people and much more.
Accommodation is offered in a lovely traditional stone house. Rooms are designed in a natural combination of old and new and are spacious and comfortable.
Rooms are allocated on a first come first served basis (there is a limited availability of rooms and single rooms in particular). The house is a 5-minute walking distance to the village center and beach, but also pleasantly secluded. The garden at the front and the private olive grove at the back blend in with the landscape and offer options for places to rest.
During the course, you will learn how to enter into deeper contact with your body and mind using the yoga asanas. You will observe the effect of each pose and the responses of your physical, mental, and emotional body.
Different poses have a different impact on your body and your nervous system, mind, and emotions. The self-awareness that you will acquire during the week will accompany you in your daily activities helping you in respecting your real needs regarding food intake, resting moments, and observing energy levels changing during the day.
There will be two classes per day. In the morning class, you will practice more active poses, while in the evening class, you will focus on restorative poses and meditation to finish the day.
No previous experience in yoga is required for participation in the course, while more experienced students will discover tools for deepening their practice.
The week begins with an introductory class at 6.00 p.m. on the day of arrival, and the day's programme closes with dinner. All other days begin at 8.00 a.m. with a 1.5-hour Iyengar yoga class, in which more active poses will be practiced.
After breakfast, guests are free to relax and enjoy the beach and sunshine, receive a massage treatment, or explore the village and region. The second class of the day in the late afternoon will focus on restorative poses, gentle Vinyasa sequences, and meditation to finish the day, and is followed by dinner.
The fourth day of the week is a rest day from classes; an optional excursion can be arranged, including a guided hike through a gorge of the region (usually the magnificent Aradaina gorge) or another season-appropriate hike, ending at the beach (approx. €25 depending on number of participants going). All breakfasts and 5 dinners are offered at the house, while on two of the nights, guests are free to dine out in the village restaurants (not included in the course cost; approx. €15 for a full meal including drinks). Individual excursions (e.g., hikes, and boat trips) can also be arranged during the week. On the last day of each week, departure can be arranged after morning class and breakfast.
The number of guests is limited to 15, to create a warm and friendly atmosphere, and to ascertain that individual attention is given in the classes.
The classes comprise a series of asanas (physical postures), usually sustained for some time so that the body and its necessary actions can be observed within the posture, pranayama (breathing techniques), and meditative techniques (sitting in silence, concentration techniques), through which the development of awareness of the body and mind in the present moment and deep relaxation are practiced.
Iyengar yoga was developed through the pioneering work of B.K.S. Iyengar, who freed the classical yoga postures (asanas) from their Indian mystique and with the use of props made them suitable for Westerners, who want to have a clear understanding of what happens in a yoga posture.
A typical Iyengar yoga class focuses on the precision of movement, correct alignment, and the study of the ‘muscle and mind’ actions and resistance necessary to enter a state of concentration.
Breathing awareness is emphasized in every asana to deepen the experience. Through consistent practice, the student overcomes physical and mental/emotional limits and develops a deep awareness of the body, power, control, patience, and physical and mental harmony.
A round trip to the beautiful Sweet Water beach is included in the price.
Antonella originally studied Physical Education in Italy, her native country, and thereafter worked as a professional contemporary dancer/performer for 20 years with various companies in Italy, Belgium, Holland, England, and Slovenia. During her travels in Thailand, she learned traditional Thai Massage at Wat Po in Bangkok and Chiang Mai and has now been a practitioner for several years. In the last few years, she also studied sculpture and video and is an abstract drawing artist.
Chora (pronounced "Hora") Sfakion or Sfakia, the capital of the municipality of Sfakia, is located on the southwest coast of Crete. The landscape of the region is particularly dramatic. The mountains in this part of Crete meet the sea, with steep slopes towering over the beaches. The road from the north of the island threads through breathtaking mountains and small villages to reach the port village of Sfakia. A sense of peacefulness radiates from the dry mountains and the sunset skies.
With its quiet, picturesque alleys, the beaches just walking distance away, and a few restaurants and cafes with tasty local dishes on offer lining the old harbor, Sfakia can become the little haven for anyone who wants to step out of the modern city fast-paced lifestyle for a while.
If you are up for a short hike after the sun has gone down, just above the last house of the village is the little church of Agios Georgios, hidden away in a cave. Previously a neighborhood of the village, but nowadays abandoned, Georgitsi is also a ten-minute hike up the mountain.
You will be served seven breakfasts and five dinners at the house, while on two of the nights, guests are free to dine out in the village restaurants (not included in the course cost; approximately 15 EUR for a full meal including drinks).
The Cretan diet is renowned for its macrobiotic qualities, but also for its great variety of delicious flavors. More than the pure, fresh ingredients themselves, it is the fact that cooking is traditionally performed almost like a ritual, with love, and always in the prospect of offering the food to others, that makes the Cretan cuisine so special.
YogaOnCrete's cook embodies this spirit, preparing two nutritious Lacto-vegetarian meals a day, using local, and wherever possible, organic products (grown in their own garden!). The village restaurants, only a short walk away, offer a wide range of local dishes, including fresh fish and game.
If you have any dietary requirements, please notify them and they will do their best to accommodate them.
The fourth day of each week-long course is a rest day from the classes. Guests can join an optional excursion, including a guided hike through the stunning Aradaina Gorge on this day, at an extra cost (25 EUR).
Individual excursions can also be arranged to numerous gorges, along the coastal trail, as well as boat trips to neighboring seaside villages and beaches, in addition to scuba diving lessons.
Most beaches of the region are pebbly, the white of the beach and the turquoise of the water creating a beautiful scene for relaxed swimming and sunbathing. The waters in most beaches come from springs high up in the White Mountains, so they are literally crystal clear.
Antonella will be available for private 1:1 Guided Drawing® therapy sessions. This is a form of art therapy developed by Cornelia Elbrecht based on the Somatic Experiencing® of Peter Levine.
Choose from Holistic massage, Thai massage, Cranio-sacral treatment, and Reflexology with their on-site or visiting therapist at 40 EUR per hour.
Heraklion International Airport (Nikos Kazantzakis Airport)
95 km
Transfer not provided
Chania International Airport ("Ioannis Daskalogiannis")
36 km
Transfer not provided
Athens International Airport (Eleftherios Venizelos Airport)
304 km
Transfer not provided
A car can be hired and picked up at either Chania or Heraklion airport upon arrival, or during your stay in the village. The windy mountain road down to the village has just undergone extensive work, with three tunnels replacing the sharp curves, making it much safer and easier to drive on! Alternative car hire companies YogaOnCrete recommends are Drive Kreta and Tracer.
Please book your flight to arrive at Chania International Airport ("Ioannis Daskalogiannis") (CHQ) or Heraklion International Airport (Nikos Kazantzakis Airport) (HER) to reach Chora Sfakion.
You can also fly to Athens (ATH) and either get a transit flight or boat to Crete (Chania - CHQ).
For flights from the UK, Easyjet, Ryanair, and Monarch Airlines have direct flights from several UK airports to Crete, both to Heraklion (HER) and to Chania (CHQ), during the tourist season. You can also use Thomas Cook, Just The Flight, Charter Flights, Cheap Flights, or Flight Line. From London Stansted, also check the daily flight of Aegean Airlines to Chania via Athens.
For flights from other European countries, try Ryanair which now connects several European cities to Chania (CHQ). Also, Easyjet, Transavia, Norwegian Airlines, Aer Lingus, German Wings, or Air Berlin. Be aware that on some occasions booking two single flights can be cheaper than a return flight.
To get to the bus station in Chania from the airport (2.50 EUR; duration 30 minutes), buses run at different times every day to correspond with the flights. This is also the case for the return journey.
The bus station in the city has luggage storage, operating between 06:30 and 20:00, which can be useful if you have a long wait, as the beautiful old city is just a few minutes' walk away. If you need to get a taxi from the airport to the bus station, the cost should be about 15-20 EUR.
From Chania, you can then get a bus directly to Chora Sfakion, but confirm departures in advance because, during high season (April-October), there are only four buses a day (at 08:15, 11:00, 14:00, and 16:00; 8.30 EUR; duration 1 hour and 45 minutes).
From Heraklion airport, there is a frequent bus service (No. 6) that takes you to the main bus station in Heraklion (duration 15 minutes). Ask the driver to tell you where to get off from the bus station, because it is not obvious.
From there, you first need to get a bus to Rethymnon (approximately every hour; 8.30 EUR; duration 90 minutes) and then a bus to Chora Sfakion changing buses at Vrisses (at 08:00, and 13:00; 8.30 EUR; duration 2 hours).
Vrisses does not have a bus station per se, rather, a coffee shop in which you can buy a ticket and in front of which the buses stop.
There is an overnight ferry to Chania from Piraeus, the port of Athens, easily accessed by metro from Athens "E. Venizelos" airport. It departs at 21:00 and arrives at Souda, the port of Chania, at 05:30 the next morning. The port of Chania is a 10-minute bus journey away from the main bus station in Chania city center.
The return journey with Anek lines starts from 63 EUR (deck price; there is a discount if the return journey is booked at the same time as the first part).
The southwest coast of Crete is fairly well served by daily ferry lines traveling from Paleohora to Chora Sfakion, which is a convenient option if you are thinking of spending some time on the south coast before arriving at YogaOnCrete.
You can also reach them in this way after hiking the Samaria gorge (consider putting your luggage on a bus at Chania, to be picked up at Chora Sfakion, so you can hike lightly).
Travelling by taxi is the most convenient way to reach the village. A taxi from Chania city center or airport costs 85 EUR (1 hour) and from Heraklion 140 EUR (2.5 hours).
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