Yoga Retreat

Yoga Retreat Guides: Choosing Well and Arriving Ready

A yoga retreat is a week or more of practice, rest, and being somewhere you are not usually. Done well, it changes how you practise for a long time afterwards. Done badly, it is an expensive holiday with a 6 am schedule. These guides exist to help you tell the difference before you book, and to make the most of the trip once you do.

Who these guides are for

First-timers who are weighing whether a retreat is worth it at all. People deciding between a retreat and a teacher training, which are often confused and serve very different purposes. Solo travellers, who make up a large share of every retreat we have run. And anyone coming to Bali who wants to know which months are best for practice and what actually belongs in the bag.

We have hosted retreats and trainings in Bali for years and now run them in India and Japan as well. The advice here is what we tell our own guests.

How the yoga retreat guides are ordered

The path follows the order of the decisions you make. First, do you really need to go: an honest look at what a retreat offers that a home practice does not, and when it is the wrong call. Second, retreat or teacher training, since the second is a bigger commitment and a different experience.

Third, travelling solo, which covers the practical and the emotional side of arriving alone. Fourth, the best time of year to visit Bali for yoga, with the dry and wet seasons explained. Fifth, the packing checklist, written for Bali's climate and for the kind of days a retreat actually involves.

Start here

1. Do You Really Need to Go on a Yoga Retreat?: what a retreat gives you that home practice does not, and when to skip it.
2. Yoga Retreat vs Yoga Teacher Training: Which Is Right for You?: two very different commitments, compared on purpose, cost, and outcome.
3. Travelling Solo to a Yoga Retreat: What to Know: arriving alone, safety, and why most guests come solo anyway.
4. The Best Time of Year to Visit Bali for Yoga: seasons, weather, and crowds, month by month.
5. What to Pack for a Yoga Retreat in Bali: The Complete Checklist: the full list for the climate and the schedule.

If you would rather practise with us than read about it, our next retreat is Rishikesh, India, from 29 March 2027, and we also host a cherry-blossom Zen retreat in Kyoto.