Embodied, Mindful Yoga: A Transformative 5-Day Retreat

5-9 August 2020, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Join Gernot’s yoga retreat intensive in the mountains of Northern Thailand and learn how to make your practice smarter than your habits. Learn how to turn your yoga practice into an embodied mindfulness practice, and start reaping the benefits of greater joy and increased wellbeing. Embodied, mindful yoga involves bringing more mindfulness to your movement by cultivating awareness in parts of your body where your attention doesn’t naturally reside. As a result, you not only become more present in the moment, but you also make your movement patterns more deliberate, more enjoyable, and more beneficial. It’s a win for your mind, and for your body.

In this retreat you will learn simple but effective techniques to begin this physical and mental transformation. You will:

• Learn exercises to reconnect your brain with your core and with your breath
• Practice moving from the inside out
• Replace our default goal-oriented movement focus with a focus on enjoying each movement
• Explore relevant concepts from physiology and neuroscience that help explain why we get stuck in detrimental movement ruts
• Learn how an understanding of these phenomena can be used to free us from our movement ruts and finally heal chronic injuries

Bringing awareness to our existing limiting patterns and developing new possibilities for movement gives us the opportunity to respond intelligently to our surroundings, rather than feeling trapped in reactivity. Embodied mindfulness increases our physical and our mental wellbeing in a mutually reinforcing, beneficial feedback loop.

Gernot Huber has been teaching yoga full time for over 10 years, and practicing yoga for over 20. Click here to learn more about Gernot’s teaching style.

Location: The Chiang Dao Nest 1, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand

The Nest is a boutique eco resort shaded by majestic old-growth dipterocarp trees at the foot of stunning Chiang Dao Mountain. The Nest has two restaurants that feature some of the best food in Northern Thailand. The resort is 75km north of Chiang Mai and has been our favorite getaway in Northern Thailand for the last 10 years. Enjoy nature walks, excellent birding, sacred caves and local temples all within walking distance of the resort.

Daily Schedule

Each day I will lead an asana practice from 9:30 to 12:30, and a meditation and pranayama practice from 15:30 to 17:30. This schedule allows for in-depth yoga explorations, but leaves plenty of time to explore the local hiking trails, temples, villages, caves, and hot springs. You can, of course, also simply relax by the pool and make friends with like-minded yogis in the midst of stunning tropical mountain scenery.

On the third afternoon of the retreat we will take a trip to a beautiful local hot spring. This excursion is included in the price of the retreat. 

Please arrive no later than 15:00 on the first day. We will start promptly at 15:30.

Accommodation Options

Choose between standard and deluxe cottages, single or double occupancy. There are 3 deluxe cottages and 9 standard ones, two of which have twin beds instead of a queen bed. All cottages have air conditioning, private bathrooms with hot showers and a porch or balcony. The deluxe cottages are more spacious and have in-room fridges and coffee and tea. (There is a hot water dispenser near the restaurant accessible around the clock, so you can still make your 6 am tea even if you didn’t snag one of the deluxe cottages.) If you are coming with a partner or friend who is not participating in the retreat, book a cottage for one person and your friend stays with you for free. There is an additional charge for food for the second person. An extra bed for a third person (child) is 395THB per night.

Pricing Details

All prices include accommodation for 4 nights, 12 hours of asana practice, and 6 hours of meditation, pranayama, and discussion sessions. Also included is transportation from and to Chiang Mai’s old city, as is a trip to a national park with a gorgeous waterfall and lovely natural hot springs. Dinners are included in the cost of the retreat as well, but breakfast, lunch, and beverages are not included. Budget $50-100 (1500-3000THB) for those meals and beverages for 5 days

• US$529 for 1 person in a private standard cottage
• US$910 for 2 people in a private standard cottage ($455 per person)
• US$549 for 1 person in a private deluxe cottage
• US$930 for 2 people in a private deluxe cottage ($465 per person)

Get 10% off the regular prices (for the first 5 cottages booked) by using the discount code “Robin” at check out.

Other Registration Options

If you prefer to pay by bank transfer or in person at one of my classes, do not to use the “Book Now” buttons on this page. Instead click here to generate an email message to register for the retreat. (If you use a web browser to read your email, click here instead.)

If you have a bank account in Thailand, the US, EU, UK, Australia, or New Zealand, you can make an in-country bank transfer to my account without paying foreign transfer fees or credit card currency conversion fees.

Enjoy Some of Northern Thailand’s Best Food

The Nest 1 has a highly regarded European restaurant. The Nest 2, a 10 minute walk away, has an equally outstanding Thai restaurant. Both restaurants have vegan, vegetarian, seafood, and meat options. Dinners are included in the price of the retreat: On Thursday we will have a group barbeque at Nest 1 (Western style, with lot’s of vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian options). On the other nights we will have family-style Thai dinners (again with plenty of vegan and pescatarian options) at Nest 2.

For breakfast and lunch you can eat at The Nest or any of several other resorts within walking distance. You can also eat at nearby street stalls serving simple but delicious Thai food. I recommend eating a light breakfast at 8 am, so that you can digest your food before the morning practice. Breakfast and lunch entrees at The Nest are 100-200THB ($3-6). Thus please budget 1500-3000THB ($50-100) for those meals and beverages for 6 days. If you are planning on eating at the less fancy Thai restaurants in the village, you can budget less.

Weather in August

The Nest is located at about 600m elevation outside the small town of Chiang Dao in Northern Thailand. Due to the elevation, August temperatures tend to lie in a comfortable range from 20 to 35 degrees Centigrade (68-95 degrees Fahrenheit). For example, August 2019 was much hotter in Germany than in Chiang Dao. August is towards the end of the local rainy season, which typically means a short downpour every couple of days. Occasionally there may be a day of drizzle, but since the temperatures don’t drop below 20, that’s actually quite pleasant. It’s our favorite time of year in Northern Thailand. Most of the time it will be sunny with good air quality, stunning clouds, and tropical vegetation at its lushest.

Wait List

Space is limited to a maximum of 18 participants. If the retreat sells out, you can choose to be added to the waitlist by using the “Book Now” button.