Thinking back of this wonderful summer retreat in Greece. I loved what an amazing group had been formed. I strongly believe that the group creates itself exactly how it’s supposed to be, and wow was this a special group of women that found each other.
When I introduced the retreat, the first ones that jumped on where four American women. And I couldn’t believe them coming all this way for our retreat.
Two of them already knew me, and the other two – mother and daughter just trusted it to be worth it. I felt incredibly honored. Just like at the last retreat, we had a broad variety of ages, which I think adds a lot of value and great energy to the retreat. From mid-twenties to early sixties, we could all learn from each other.
We asked our guests ahead of time for their zodiac signs and birth data, to learn about them and it was also quite interesting to see how they interacted with each other according to their star signs 😉
As everyone arrived a day early this time, we helped them arrange Airbnbs in downtown Athens, so they could make the most of their stay and see as much as possible. One of my friends Teddy, met them all for a walking tour through Athens where they got to see a lot and all their questions were answered. They ended the night at a rooftop bar for dinner and then all had wine together at their Airbnb balcony viewing the acrpoplis. We started the whatsapp group chat early, so they all could connect with each other ahead of time. But it was also quite fun for us to follow along their conversation and pictures beforehand. It looked definitely like they are all having a grant time with loads of fun getting to know each other, while the staff (Maria, Samy and I) were running getting everything ready to go and prepared upon their arrival.
On Saturday morning they all went to see the acropolis, to check one more sight off their bucket list.
The happy bunch arrived with the ferry late Saturday afternoon where we picked them up from the port. Staff and guests were incredibly excited for the week ahead of us.
When we arrived at Villa Kasteli, everyone had some time to settle in and look through their welcome goodie bags before we would start the retreat with our welcome ceremony. A huge shout out to our sponsors for this retreat. We had our beloved lavender eye pillows from Chakrana again, as well as Nameco Cosmetics who made sure our girls have their little spa moments. Fancy Trinken sponsored super cool water bottles in amazing and fun colors. So we could refill our bottles all day with the fusion water Maria made daily (mint, lemon, and cucumber) and save tons of plastic bottles. Livis kleine Helden our favorite retreat snack for a healthy sweet tooth. Lotuscrafts gave us cool yoga belts to play around with as well as equipped Villa Kasteli with nice yoga mats. And 3 bears porridge made yogi’s favorite breakfast happen as well as made sure those who cannot do yoga on an empty stomach can have some pocket porridge beforehand.
And of course there cannot be a yoga retreat without yogi tea and its wisdom.
Marias best friend joined us for the first couple days as well. Which was a nice addition, showing the Greek hospitality in a special way. So the guests are not just costomers, they are part of the retreat family that we grew to be during the week, getting to know our best friends, and dive into the Greek culture, meeting locals and learning from them. Things you never experience when you ‘just’ vacation in Greece or elsewhere. As for some it was the first time in Greece, or even in Europe, it was especially important to me to show them the real culture.
For the welcome ceremony I was giving them an introduction to yoga, what it means to me and a little bit of what to expect during the week. We did a soft yoga session to stretch out travel kinks and started with the basics. From beginners to experienced yogis, we had it all, and I loved the challenge to teach them together.
After that we met upstairs, where Maria had prepared the welcome drinks, local Greek gin with rosmary ice cubes from the botanical garden and locally made ice tea as a non-alcoholic option. When we do retreats we try to support local vendors and small businesses. I am proud to say that we had our local female chef again to create us delicious meals with so much love.
The first night, we had one of my favorite dishes: Artichoke stew <3
After dinner we had another activity on the agenda: Newmoon ritual. How rare it is that our retreat starts on newmoon. Perfect for new beginnings and new resolutions.
Since Maria’s expertise are zodiac signs, and the meaning. She started the ritual with explaining about the newmoon in virgo and what it would mean to us, as well as how we work with the elements, as we burn our wishes, manifestations and what we let go of in order to manifest in the fire. Fire serves as an activator. And the next day we would go return the ashes to the earth to close the cycle.
Chanting a mantra for new beginnings and a meditation made the first night a great start for our week together.
Sunday was all about body awareness. We usually wake up with coffee and tea (and Pocket Porridge, Livi snacks, for those who don’t want to practice on an empty stomach) and after that we started with our 90 minute morning yoga session that ended with a body awareness meditation.
After our breakfast we headed out to one of my favorite beaches – Giannitsi – were we spent a wonderful day. All these happy faces when they were floating and just hanging out at those incredibly clear Greek waters! And that’s also were the collecting of beautiful rocks started 😉 We also had a great lunch at the beach, taverna style, where the girls could try a lot of the local specialties, and the food just kept coming.
Part of the girls had to start heading back for their massages while a few others decided to stay at the beach a bit longer.
Once back, we ended the day with a yoga nidra bodyscan meditation and journaling session.
And yes there was of course another delicious dinner at the villa.
After wake – up we spent the morning with a nice ‘letting go’ yoga practice to get rid of things that don’t serve us anymore.
We had a lovely breakfast as usual and then would meet back at the yoga studio for a yoga workshop where we could go individually over yoga poses, questions and have some one on one time. Once we perfected the poses, Samy was ready to take some cool yoga pose shots by the pool.
After lunch we finally returned our ashes to the earth to close the cycle (we had forgotten it the day prior) and then got ready for our hike up to Castello Rosso, the beautiful venetian castle ruin that we see from our villa.
First stop were the roman underground baths and then we headed all the way up to the top of the castle for our sunset evening meditation.
It was just beautiful, stunning, and breathtaking up there.
Unfortunately, we were disturbed by an angry lady who had rather absurd ideas and opinions of yoga. But in that moment, I could feel how strong our bond already was. I was a bit afraid, that the negative energy of that woman might have ruined it for the girls and that they might not want to do the meditation up there anymore. But suddenly I could feel the love and assurance from all of them so strongly that we continued and somehow we managed to turn the bad energy around and make it magical. It showed us all even more, how much more powerful, love, meditation and harmony is, than hatred. We hiked back down in the dark with our flashlights, which was indeed the perfect ending for our sunset hike, while Maria already awaited us back home with a set table for another yummie dinner.
Before we had our fully vegan day on Wednesday, I wanted to spend the Tuesday detoxifying our body. So the focus of our morning yoga were twists. Sweet rotation help our body to detox and support our organs.
The girls needed to fuel up over breakfast, as we had a three hour aerial yoga workshop planned for the day. If they got tired of me at that point, they had the pleasure of getting to know the sweet tiffany as a fantastic aerial yoga teacher. Which I enjoyed a lot as well. To just watch and learn myself.
After our late lunch we had a well deserved free afternoon to chill out at the pool and around the villa property, while two of us had their massages.
Since we had done a lot of yoga and moving that day. We ended the day with a lovely chill sunset yin yoga session at the pergola with an amazing view.
Wednesday was our fully vegan day. Where we tried to bring awareness to what we eat and show alternatives. I believe in a healthy balance, and while I am not a vegetarian, I try to limit my meat consumption and be aware of where the things I eat come from. I think what we eat becomes part of our energy as well.
For our morning yoga we did a soft, fluffy female flow. A little more quiet as that was what we needed that morning.
Well, gladly porridge is vegan, although I have to admit I missed that local fresh Greek yoghurt in the morning 😉
After breakfast we started our clean- up hike to the ancient columns in the area. We were real troopers, as it was extremely hot that day, but we were also very dedicated. Luckily there wasn’t too much garbage to collect, I found a plastic bottle up at the mountain, but that was about it.
Along the hike we had a breathtaking view. With every turn the ‘ahhs and wows’ just kept coming and we were even more rewarded when we reached the top and the columns.
Back down just in time for our vegan lunch we had a free afternoon and two more massages waiting for us. As we only have one massage girl, Sofia a physical therapist who is just amazing, we have to split up the massages during the week.
As for our evening session we had a women circle and cacao ceremony planned.
So nutritious is the peruvian cacao – the ambrosia (food of the gods)
Cacao is rich in minerals and antioxidants; contains anandamide and energy hormones and stimulates the production of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. So far, scientists have been able to identify around 1,200 chemical substances in the beans of the cocoa fruit. Magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, chromium, potassium and vitamin E are particularly worth mentioning because they are contained in relevant amounts.
The contained theobromine widens the blood vessels and thus improves the oxygen supply. Cacao contains a lot of natural compounds and more antioxidants than blueberries, pomegranates, cranberries or grapes. The high calcium content supports the transmission of muscle and nerve signals and strengthens the bones.
Cacao is heart-opening
The effect of ritual cacao can unfold in a very profound way. From relaxing to euphoric, the fruit can be therapeutic as well. By „working“ with the spirit of the plant, emotional blockages can be released and self-knowledge and personality development can be supported.
Cacao helps us to strengthen the connection to ourselves and others. It is said that cocoa has a heart-opening effect and shows us exactly what is important in our development. Cacao increases access to intuition, inspiration, creativity and life itself.
That said, one can imagine how intimate our women circle was afterwards. Everything and everyone have their space, without pressure. Love and support all around us. I guess this is the part that matters to me most during the female focus retreats. Every woman has her story. We can be vulnerable without feeling ashamed. Leaving stronger realizing we aren’t alone and that once you start sharing, you see that every woman has her story. During this magical circle a bond is formed, that connects us long after the retreat.
But the day wasn’t over just yet after this. To conclude our fully vegan day, we had an olive oil tasting in store. I am always happy and proud to work with Mia Elia during the retreats who generously sponsors our olive oil to make all the meals even more delicious. A wonderful family business, run by Eirini who has also become a dear friend of mine. Via Zoom she gave us an overview of the olive harvest and the production while we got to taste the different nuances of the Mia Elia Olive Oil.
A perfect end to another perfect day.
