Uplifting and nourishing Yoga Holiday! We are heading back to the foot of the breathtaking Atlas Mountains in Morocco to strengthen and mobilise, provide inner harmony, relaxation, the luscious rush of feel-good hormones – and of course a wide range of spine-tinglingly blissful nature, fun, connection, immense creativity and social time. All created to see you and your yoga blossom! All experiences are welcome with space to expand ones yoga and work/ playshop anything specifically requested! The group is kept up to 19 so there is a lot of individual attention.
Bab Zouina, an enchanting place surrounded by olive trees, still lives with the rhythm of nature. For those wanting to take in our beautiful landscape, we have many lounging areas designed with authentic Moroccan materials as well as a cozy fire pit.
Yoga Shala – Bab Zouina is dedicated to welcoming yoga retreats. The yoga shala is fully equipped with mats and all needed supports including blocks, ropes, belts, blankets, iyengar chairs, etc. There are also 2 rooftops where you can practice facing the Atlas Mountains, and amongst the chirping birds and the sunlight.
Garden – By walking through the garden, your senses will experience the purity of the air, the invigorating smells, the chanting of birds, and the red soil sprinkled with varied hues of green. The stone trails, framed with thyme and lavender hedges, lead you to browse our lantana bushes, rose trees, agave plants, and exotic flowers. During the day, the garden transforms magically with the alternation of light and shadow; at night it reveals a clear starry sky framed by the Atlas Mountain.
The garden owes a lot to the amazing Swedish artist and landscaper, Catharina von Unge. While designing Bab Zouina’s garden, she tastefully combined the British aesthetic with the rusticity and simplicity of the Ourika valley.
Pool, Petanque & Tennis – Besides your yoga sessions, there are uplifting outdoor activities. The pool is available for those who enjoy swimming & sun bathing. The petanque pitch provides nice entertainment amongst friends. Whereas, the tennis court offers fun competition for experienced players (please bring your own racket and appropriate shoes for clay courts).
Food
Meals are prepared with care and love using local produce as well as from the garden and emit the pleasant scent of Oriental spices. There is amazing Moroccan and Berber cuisine that can cater to any food constraint including vegan, gluten or lactose free. Each meal is prepared to be a therapy of healthy and tasty foods to nourish your body.
On a daily basis bread is baked in a traditional Moroccan earth oven. The kitchen staff also squeezes delicious fruit juices, so you get your shot of vitamins. On top of this, tea, coffee, fresh and dried fruits are available throughout the day. A balance and healthy diet for guests is centre to the venues’s philosophy.
Bab Zouina has several ecological buildings spread across its wide domain. Its buildings are based on beautiful traditional earth architecture. They are spacious and have various terraces and peaceful places that allow guests to relax.
We can accommodate you in single, double or triple bed rooms. All rooms include ensuite or adjacent bathrooms with complimentary towels for your comfort. Bab Zouina is our special venue.
triple or 4 room ( with 3 people £915 with four people £845 each) Have to have 3 or 4 wanting this room otherwise pay for how ever many in room. Private bathroom.
double/ twin £1140 each
double / twin w bathroom 1330
single room £1450
single room w bathroom
£1530
If doesn’t have private bathroom , share bathroom with one other room.
Includes 7 nights, 3 meals or 2 substantial meals if late brunch and dinner , seasonal fruits and dried fruits always available. Gluten free can be accommodated. Tea, herbal tea and coffee always included. Price includes all taxes.
Deposit is 25% to reserve your space and non refundable.
Balance for everyone paid by 12 weeks before holiday start date. If paid before 12 weeks and cancellation is made it will be refunded except for deposit
The classes shall vary.
The morning sessions can be be general yoga classes, a great start to your day, with varying focuses. They can start with some pranayama/ meditation. In the afternoon, we shall focus on group requests such as handbalancing,, backbends and yin/ restorative. With the handstand work, everyone shall find a place to be comfortable in some handstand variation and everyone shall find that they expand their abilities.
You will be lead to great physical posture and confidence to embrace to world as your own. The whole art of handstands provides perfect fitness. In the back bending, or opening the front of the body workshops you shall find great happiness, ease and a transforming consciousness. Backbends are magical. Backbends are transforming and handstands are about creating the life you love.
Beginners will be encouraged to find their first handstand, and all will experience the various ways to enter a handstand from kicking to the various pressing up ways (such as straddling, tucking up or pressing up), to finding movement within a handstand to learning the steps to one arm handstand.
You shall experience optimum handstand alignment, with partners and solo. You shall warm up the body, strengthen the abs and back muscles, open the shoulders and experience alignment in plank and in many handstand variations.
The classes are geared for developing the teacher within, even if you are not a “teacher”! So you can develop your understanding/ experience/ focus of each exercise. We are doing this retreat together . We can see how different body types can approach certain positions differently to get the best fruit.
Your hosts/ class facilitators
Catie is the author of “This Is It, Enlightenment with CYoga and teaches internationally. Catie shares a core approach that with exploration and “practise” what seems impossible can become possible. She is spontaneous with an original and integrated approach to yoga.
She conducts all types of classes ( in person and online) including one-on-one and group yoga, master classes and yoga training intensives at some of the worlds most naturally beautiful locations including Balinese oceans/ jungles, Turkish gulets on the Azure sea, Italian farmhouses, presenting at the red rocks of Sedonas yoga Festival; anywhere and everywhere.
She has a strong hub of yoga family/ friends/ students/ teachers she mentors/ clients! Catie has studied many yoga approaches and handstands and is always studying something that informs her sessions.
Sylvia
Sylvia began her yoga journey in 2001. Coming from a strong dance background yoga and Pilates were always a part of her daily training and continue to be. She has trained and practised extensively with many styles including Ashtanga, Rocket and Dharma yoga. Sylvia is also an acrobat and handbalance practitioner and likes to spend most of her day inverted in some way. She has been teaching yoga, hand balancing, acro and Pilates for many years and is London based. She trains with London School of handbalance regularly and has attended the San Diego Circus Centre training for handbalance and sport acrobatics. She also travels extensively to share her teachings all over the world. She likes to combine a strong flow with time to break down peak poses and transitions with precise detail and although you are most likely to find her upside down she does also enjoy practising and teaching yin and Thai massage to balance things out!
