Baja Wellness & Yoga Retreat

YOGA RETREAT FOR WOMEN IN BAJA

Awaken the Spirit in Baja – Where the Desert Meets the Sea

A Full Moon Wellness & Yoga Eco Adventure for Women

December 7 – 14, 2008

The Retreat

Join HERIZEN™ Yoga for Women, Sacred Earth Journey's & Bike Hike Adventures on a unique full moon wellness and yoga eco-adventure retreat in Baja – where the desert meets the sea.

Imagine solitude, peace, calmness, serenity and a deep sense of connection with Mother Earth and your inner source – the SELF. Awaken the spirit and empower, inspire and nurture your body, mind and spirit. Revitalize, energize and restore health and vitality, and invite an abundance of well being.

Tune into the power of your body and movement through the meditative practices of Yoga, Chi Gung, Dance, and Pranayama. Challenge yourself and build your inner strength with exciting activities such as Hiking in the peaceful desert, and Kayaking in the tranquil waters of the Sea of Cortez. Indulge in a little pampering with an included Spa Treatment during your stay, and learn the magic of culinary arts with Cooking Classes in authentic Mexican cuisine.

Revel in simplicity with this unique opportunity to drop back into nature. Awaken your senses, experience a connection with the Self and reflect your light power. Align yourself to the rhythms of nature and be free from the past and the future, BEING only in the NOW.

Discover a profoundly rewarding and healing experience on this transformational journey with other like-minded women to reconnect with nature and unlock your true potential!

About our Accommodation & Destination

Our restful retreat will be El Santuario Eco Retreat in blissful Baja, Mexico just 20 miles south of Loreto, where the Baja Desert meets the Sea of Cortez. Enjoy simple living by the sea in individual secluded bungalows called “casitas”. Some casitas are nestled privately in the white sand dunes while others overlook the beach and the beautiful secluded bay.

The solar-powered, environmentally-friendly casitas are well segregated from other structures and offer much privacy for a wonderful sense of peace and calm. The showers and toilet facilities are located a short walk from your casita through the fine desert sand, and are also built with sensitivity to the environment. The showers are solar heated, and special composting toilets were specially designed just for this delicate desert location; they are user friendly and aesthetically quite pleasant. This wonderful retreat space offers you an opportunity to relax, heal, rejuvenate, and explore the stunning surroundings. Connect with the environment and your inner self and begin to move to the rhythms of nature. Slow down, let go and watch the world go by. Curl up in a hammock and let the sounds of the sea lull you into oblivion.

Re-integrate yourself with the rhythms of nature and begin to awaken the spirit with intimate encounters with animals, birds, and sea life during our Canyon Hikes, Kayak Adventures, and a local Panga Boat Excursion which will visit some of the most spectacular shoreline in the world. We will travel south to the Cosume Hotsprings which are natural spring baths in tide pools on a rocky point. Visit a huge cave that you can drive into and be mesmerized by the fossil shells lining the ceiling and walls. You can snorkel the many shallow reefs and points around some of the 5 islands that surround us and see hundreds of tropical fish, countless species of sea life, and spectacular coral. We may even experience a school of dolphins surrounding our boat and performing amazing aerial acrobats.

Each morning we will attain an ever deepening command of our inner life force (chi) through an ancient sequence of rejuvenating, balancing and healing movements and sounds through Chi Gung. We energize our youthfulness with Pranayama and keep our spine supple as we strengthen our body, mind and spirit through Hatha Yoga.

Discover the Heart of the Secret – “The Power of Clarinyms”. Learn to visualize and create your ideal dream and the life you most love through playful exercises using the creative power of our verbal focus to bring into our life what brings us JOY! Through the use of this evolutionary gift, we can cultivate happiness within ourselves and others.

Experience the positive effect of sound vibration and movement through a Sound and Dance Meditation as a way to calm the mind, settle the emotions, balance the body, and uplift the spirit.

During our eco retreat, wholesome Chi-infused food will be created in our open air kitchen located on the beach and prepared by Lala, a local Mexican woman from a nearby village. All of our food will be mainly organic and always fresh. A variety of local fresh seafood is always plentiful and locally grown fruits and vegetables will satisfy the most discerning vegetarian diet. This is a hands-on kitchen and we will offer Two Mexican Cooking Classes during your stay. The water here is pure and fresh, running right out of a mountain spring well in the Sierra de la Giganta Mountains behind our eco-retreat centre.

To enhance your rejuvenating and wellness experience, you will also be treated to either a Massage or Facial offered by professionally trained local women.

Valma is a transformational trainer. She discovered Kundalini yoga 11 years ago while working in Chile. Within a short time, Valma noticed that the benefits of her yoga practice raised her level of awareness, allowed her to stay focused, healthy and present in her physical body. This was important to her as she had lost the use of her legs temporarily in the recovery of a spinal injury some years before. In her continued exploration of yoga and other healing modalities she found her practice to create a bridge between the body and the spirit and she believes this will also play an important role in the global awakening. As an E-RYT in Iyengar & Ashtanga based Hatha yoga, Iyengar precision & Ashtanga Hatha Yoga and Chi Yoga flow are practices that Valma incorporates in her daily life as well as offerings in her women only adventure programs. She is a certified Chi Gung Master and believes yoga, Chi Gung and movement gets people into their bodies, deeply connects them to themselves, and more openly connects them with nature and others. It is truly a transformational practice. Valma is a sea Captain and has been sailing, boating and kayaking for up to 25 years in the West Coast of Canada, Chile, Europe, Belize, French Polynesia and a host of other locations throughout the world. “My purpose”, says Valma "Is to be a mirror for other women, to share my knowledge and wisdom of life and empowering them to reach their desired dreams, reach their fullest potential and live their best life. To inspire them to create miracles in their lives and be open to the present moment… creating balance through awareness, self-confidence, intention and faith. I invite you to celebrate personal success and well-being through awareness, motion and nature. Join me on the journey of freedom & magical adventure through Yoga / Chi Gung, hiking, sea experiences and let your Spirit fly!

Your magical adventure begins as you step off the plane in Loreto. Airlines servicing Loreto Airport are Alaska Airlines www.alaskaair.com , AeroMexico www.aeromexico.com , and Aero California www.aerocalifornia-usa.com .

We will meet you at the airport and take you on the last leg of our journey to El Santuario Eco Retreat which is only 30 minutes away.

The retreat is situated in an environmentally sensitive natural landscape whose front yard is a National Marine Park. A variety of native trees and plants, butterflies, birds, reptiles and small mammals abound. Uninhabited islands lie just offshore in the famous Sea of Cortez, known worldwide for its wealth and unmatched variety of marine life. Whales and dolphins are sometimes seen from the beach along with many jumping fish.

The "backyard" is an awe-inspiring mountain range rising over 3,000 feet high, called "la sierra de La Giganta".

To enhance your life enriching experience, you may select further options at an additional value:

*Energy Healing treatments by Valma Brenton – certified practitioner of Energy Mirrors $80/ USD/hr