August 6 - 11, 2024

Exploring freedom: Yoga, Art & Nature

Exploring freedom: Yoga, Art & Nature Retreat in Ordesa & Monte Perdido National ParkYoga, Art & Nature

“Happiness is impossible without freedom”.
-Thich Nhat Hanh

Get some days of “retreat” from your busy life to take perspective. Live the present moment with freedom, and make space in your life for what really matters to you. 

You will have the opportunity to tune in to the rhythms of nature, in full season of expansion and expression. A retreat designed so that you can breathe deeply, find your own rhythm and explore freedom and creativity in you.

Give yourself a few days at the foot of Monte Perdido to:

  • Take a break and listen deeply.
  • Integrate the teachings of yoga and meditation into every aspect of your life.
  • Immerse into Nature, contemplate it, breathe it, and be inspired by its beauty.
  • Explore movement and painting as a means to connect with you and the world from creativity.

Who is this retreat for?

For everyone, regardless of physical condition, level of practice or age. Because yoga practice is for everyone. During these days we will practice daily:

  • yoga asanas,
  • pranayama,
  • meditation,
  • art and creativity sessions,
  • meditative hiking,
  • mindfulness techniques.

Rates include

All meals made with love in our vegetarian kitchen.
5 Nights of accommodation.
Guided meditations.
5 Yoga and movement sessions.
1 Tea ceremony.
2 Satsangs.
2 art and creativity workshops.
1 Guided relaxation.
2 Meditative hikes in nature.
2 Long half-day hikes in the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park.
All taxes, public liability and accident insurance for activities: hiking and yoga.

Not included

Transportation
Rates per person on a scale by room type

We propose a sliding scale, where contributions vary, according to the economic possibilities of each person. They are based on trust, solidarity and reciprocity. More information in the SLIDING SCALE tab.

Rates per person
Type of accommodationAssistedStandardGenerous
Without accommodation575 €675 €770 €
Shared bedroom670 €785 €900 €
Double room with shared bathroom- 840 €967 €
Single room with shared bathroom-925 €1055 €
Double room with bathroom-950 €1075 €
Single room with bathroom-1108 €1235 €
Double room with daybed and bathroom-1017 €1150 €
Single room with daybed and bathroom-1147 €1270 €

To reserve, you will only have to make a payment of 200 euros as a deposit.

SEE THE ROOMS

Casa Cuadrau is a Cooperative Society of Social Interest.

We want our programs to be accessible to the greatest number of people, regardless of their economic situation.

This is why we put forward a sliding scale contribution system, to adapt to the economic capabilities of each person. The sliding scale is based on trust, solidarity and reciprocity.

Rates vary depending on the type of accommodation. There is a minimum price (assisted rate*), a standard price and a maximum (generous rate).

Minimum prices are available for the shared dorms or for the “no accommodation” options (if you stay in your van).

Please consider paying the highest rate you can afford, to support others in a more difficult financial situation. You will also be supporting Casa Cuadrau to continue renewing its facilities.

To reserve, you will only have to make a payment of 200 euros as a deposit.
You can make the remaining payment at the end of the retreat by credit card or cash.

Remember that you can also make a donation here.

*If you cannot afford any of these fees, consider applying for a Karma Yoga/Volunteer program (minimum stays are of 8 weeks).

At the end of the retreat we will open a space for donations. With your generosity you are supporting Casa Cuadrau (Cooperative of Social Interest) and its team. You are also enabling other fellow practitioners, who are in a more difficult financial situation, to attend our programmes.

Activities

There is one yoga class per day. Yoga classes are for all levels of practice.

Yoga classes are progressive, variations for different levels of practice and particular limitations are always offered. The sessions combine Hatha Yoga and Vinyasa Yoga principles, as well as movement and mobility exercises.

The afternoon sessions are Yin Yoga, a gentle, therapeutic and meditative yoga. The main objective is to relax physically and mentally and let go of self-demands and the need for control.

Meditative walks and hikes are esencial practices in our retreats. They are very simple and accesible for everyone.

They help us to understand, through experience, our deep connection with nature. It makes us notice in each step and in each breath, that the energy that exist inside us it is just the same as the energy that exists out there.

Nature is our greatest teacher. Silence and deep listening helps us enrich the experience She offers.

There will be a daily 90 minute meditative walk in nature, opening the senses and developing mindfulness.

Two days will be dedicated to meditative hiking, starting just after breakfast and coming back for a gentle yoga session. It is a perfect opportunity to enjoy the wonders of the the Ordesa National Park or surrounding areas.

Some of the hikes we will include Forest Bathing activities.

Allow yourself to stop and relax in the nature. Immerse yourself in it, listen to it and feel it with every pore of your skin. With a forest bath you can recover your energy, connect with the natural rhythms and your inner voice.

  • Recover your vitality with simple practices that can transform your daily life.
  • Reconnect with nature and its cycles.
  • Enjoy the natural movement, breathing in and out and simply being in nature.

In the 80’s the term shinrin-yoku emerged in Japan, to give an ecological alternative after the exhaustion of the technological boom and to bring people closer to nature again. This term can be translated as Forest Bath.

In the 1990’s, science began to investigate the physiological benefits of this practice. To name a few:

  • lowering blood pressure
  • lowering cortisol levels
  • improving concentration and memory
  • it was also discovered that a chemical released by trees and plants, called phytoncide, stimulates the immune system.
  • and that the benefits are evident even several hours after exposure to trees, the sky, birdsong ….

We believe that the benefits are not only evident a few hours later, but for days and months. In our retreats, it is one of the fundamental practices.

Everyday there will be guided meditation sessions, in the morning and some nights before going to sleep. The best way to start and finish the day.

We practice simple techniques that are easy to carry on at home. We use universal elements to all of us as concentration objects, such as the breath, the body sensations, sounds, etc.

After the meditations we open a sharing circle for questions or to offer mindfulness tools and practices to guide us during the day.

In Sanskrit, Sat means truth and Sang means group or community. Satsang is a gathering to share our concerns, questions, and our deepest insights. It is also a time to meditate together, contemplate nature and sing meditative songs or mantras.

During the retreat we will have 2 sessions and some other moments activities to awaken our creativity being inspired from the connection with nature and with ourselves.

We will explore art through dance, painting and writing, to name a few proposals. It will be a time to experience and feel, and thus allow us to get to know ourselves better.

Through silence, calmness and the awakening of our senses it gets easier to connect with our creative power. In some of us this power is forgotten, asleep. We just need space, practice and care to cultivate it.

These activities are intended to connect us with our listening skills and our intuition, so we can let emerge what we carry inside. The essence is in the process, in self-discovery and exploration. The result does not matter, but our ability to be present, to relax and to rediscover ourselves, without judging. In this way, we broaden our vision with another perspective, from which we recognize, accept and embrace what arises.

At the end of the retreat we will have a moment of silence to connect with nature, with yourself and with the group. Sharing a bowl of “living tea” we deepen all the richness that dwells in “the way of tea” (Cha Dao).

We give ourselves the opportunity to make from something ordinary something extraordinary and full of meaning.

Karma Yoga is Yoga in action = finding skillfulness and integration in any action.

We bring the principles of Yoga in everything we do. We invite you to practice Karma Yoga by helping us with simple tasks of the house as fetching water from the fountain, chopping vegetables, drying dishes, etc.

6:30 Wake up
7:00 Meditation
8:00 Breakfast
9:00 Meditative Hike
11:30 Yoga class
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Free time
16:00 Art & creativity workshop to explore freedom
17:30 Satsang
19:00 Dinner
22:00 Rest

DATES: August 6 to 11, 2024
LEVELS: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced

Duration

The retreat starts on Tuesday, August 6th at 16h. Check-in is from 15 to 16:30h. Then, there will be a yoga class and an introduction, followed by a dinner and an opening of the retreat. The retreat finishes on Sunday, August 11th at 12h, after brunch.

Facilitators

Katya Ríos

Yoga and meditation

Daniel Benito

Mountain guide and meditation

Discover yoga as an Art of Living