Viveka Yoga Holidays and Retreats
South France

Classes in Limoux and Cacassonne Check Yoga Classes - 2013

An impressive, quiet place (eighteen acres) in pure, unspoiled nature only surrounded by old oak forest, meadows and a fantastic view.

Away from the stress and pollution of city-life, you can share with us a community based on a healthy, simple, family-friendly and sustainable lifestyle in a harmonious atmosphere.

Upcoming yoga retreats Yoga Retreats 2013 Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga What is Asthanga Yoga ? Discovering the eight limbs of yoga and their impact in our yoga practice as well as in our daily life. Understanding Asthanga Yoga will help us to understand ourselves and the relation we have with the outside world, with our environment. This teaching is inspired by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. Yoga of the Heart - according to the teaching of Sri Krishnamacharya and T.K.V.Desikachar Based on the respect of each individual, different tools are used : postures, breath, awarness, concentration, visualisation, meditation to help to developp consciousness. The final goal is the freedom of the individual integrated in the world. With Sophie Geulin

What to expect on our yoga holidays & retreats:

beautiful location in pure nature

rejuvenate and relax

two guided yoga classes daily

delicious healthy food

comfortable accommodation

vitalising body treatments

inspiring and sustainable lifestyle

meeting like-minded people

feel-good factor


Our Yoga Holidays & Retreats is a place to develop your daily yoga practice, supported by experienced teachers.

Spoil yourself with different kinds of massage treatments, enjoy our organic vegetarian food, walk through beautiful nature, or simply relax in the hammock.

Viveka yoga holidays and retreats:

We offer weekly yoga classes for:

Vini yoga holidays

10 day courses for:

Family yoga holidays with children

including: Pranayama and Meditation.


Last but not least, our Yoga Holidays is also a place to have fun, meeting like-minded people, enjoy music, singing and creative artwork (felt-making, eco building, healthy cooking, bread making…)

Enjoy our Yoga Holidays and Retreats in france and feel the luxury of being in beautiful nature and the adventure of holistic and organically living.

One´s own thought is one´s world. What a person thinks is what he becomes. That is the eternal mystery. If the mind dwells within the supreme Self, one enjoys undying happiness. Maitri Upanishads

Yoga Retreats Reviews:

Bonding
"Thank you for one of the most beautiful experiences in Helena's and my life! Helena and I often talk about our stay with you, and it has strengthened a bond between her and I that can never be broken.
My family is looking for a place to go away for a month next summer with yoga and massages, peace and family time, and also fun for the kids and affordable. Based on our great stay with you, we are considering whether to come and stay with you all four of us for both family camps! What do you think?"
Maiken and Helena, summer 2012

Opened heart
We finally arrived at home. I would like to thank you once more from the bottom of my tiny heart ;-) This week was one of the most beautiful thing that ever happened in my life. Sophie, Joe, Boyan, Tango the dog, the cats Loustic and Luna and the place where you live opened my heart in a way that it never had opened before. When we arrived I felt like coming home and when I left I felt like ready to leave and join my life. Rebekka also could open herself in a way she never did. I think that her brain stopped running. We would love to come again next summer... we'll see :D
Samuel and Rebekka

Yoga really is a way of life!
A leisurely train ride from Carcassonne brought me to the beautiful haven of Viveka, where I had come to improve my physical ashtanga practice.

On arrival I was embraced by a warm welcome and the tranquility of the forest. But it wasn’t long before a rich learning experience opened up to me.
The Sanskrit meaning of Viveka suggests the ability to discriminate between what is real and what is not.

It seemed that this yoga retreat did live up to its name through simple but comfortable living. For me this meant going to sleep in the bell tent to the sound of the crickets and waking up with the dawn chorus; flowing through the primary series with a slight breeze filtering through the dome; sharing the company of genuine and open people; and hearing the sound of the conch summoning us all to enjoy the delicious veggie meals, cooked with thought and care.

It felt like such a luxury to have the time to read, find out more about the Yoga Sutras and practice pranayama. And it was a rare delight to shower outside in the solar powered shower (especially in the rain!). These simple yet inspiring things meant that a week of Viveka living not only deepened my physical practice but brought me closer to the heart of yoga.
Colleen

Truly inspirational !
What a better place to practice yoga than in a quiet retreat tucked away in the hills just north of the Pyrenees and one hour south of the Medieval French City of Carcassonne.  This quiet and enriching retreat left me wanting more!

“Viveka Yoga Retreats” far exceeded my pre-conceived expectations.   As the Sanskrit name suggests Viveka describes the power that enables people to know what is real and what is not and knowing the truth supports us in our practice and in our daily lives. 

The week was truly inspirational and what I really appreciated was the focus not only on the physical aspects of yoga but also on the mental  and spiritual aspects of the practice which can be often overlooked. 

In between the morning’s more dynamic Ashtanga practice and the afternoon’s more relaxing Pranayama (breathing) practice, the rest of the day was our own, to spend as we chose;  enjoy some nature walks around the grounds of the retreat, visit the local French markets or just simply enjoy a blissful afternoon relaxing in our hammocks with a cup of tea and our favourite books.

My sojourn was spent in a comfortable and relaxing environment with fun and engaging fellow guests and warm and welcoming hosts who produced delicious vegetarian meals for us every day. 

I loved the simplicity of sleeping in the bell tents, the environmentally friendly and clean outside compost toilets and waking up and taking an refreshing outdoor shower in the mornings before practice – some more refreshing than others depending on the amount of hot water generated by the solar power panels!

Either way, it made me feel at one with nature and helped distance myself from the hustle and bustle and often too complex and material world in which we live.

I left one week later with a true feeling of calm and serenity and could not have wished for more.
Ruth


Yoga holidays ?
Holy days, sacred days for me. I am used to waking up and feeling pain in my back, my shoulder, my neck. Herniated disc in my lower back, 2 scoliosis, computer soulder......What a relief – no pain during my holy days at Viveka.
After 3 days my face changed, from a stressed look to a happy, relaxed face with eyes shining! I don't know how to thank you guys for that. My beloved boyfriend looked at me when he picked me up at the airport and said: „You are a different woman, you shine like a star!“ I never had done any yoga before, but I sure will stay with it.
Sophie's emphatic way of showing me how to relax my aching bones and Roni's Thai massages got the daily stress out of me and turned it to my old-fashioned way of happiness. You guys are so lucky to be there!
Viveka is a place where one can enjoy sunshine not only because of one's own comfort, but also feeling how energy (both the solar panels and the cosmic) is being recharged, as well as you might enjoy the rain as you can actually here the plants calling for it.
Good food, loving human ambience – you find it here. I can start my new working project relaxed and full of positive energy. Thanks a lot for the joyful time I could stay with you and love to all of the friendly people I got to know there!
Gaby


A Holiday with a Purpose

‘I’m afraid there might be problem with that’ the amiable lady on the other end of the phone explained. ‘We can’t insure a holiday with a purpose.’ I frowned. ‘It’s a yoga retreat; the purpose is to relax. Much the same purpose as any other holiday I imagine.’ Wasn’t it?

I’d decided a month at a yoga retreat in a sunny clime was exactly the break I needed. An Internet search had yielded the answer to my idealised imaginings of tranquillity, heat and bending on a budget; Viveka yoga holidays. Located in the lush forest of the Aude region in Southern France, Viveka – the word means clarity – promised twice daily yoga, organic home-grown vegetarian cuisine and abundant nature all for €400 a week.

Not wanting my yogic karma undone by a guilt laden short flight (or foray into Stansted Airport) I travelled by coach from London Victoria to Toulouse with Eurolines. From Toulouse two chic French trains whisked me first to Carcassonne then Limoux where I was warmly greeted at the station by the retreat owner.

Viveka Yoga Retreats is just half an hour by car from Limoux, and soon I was climbing the steep grassy steps of the entrance. Dancing butterflies and fat, clumsy bees flirted with my shins as fluttering Tibetan prayer flags suddenly peeked through the trees. Something fluttered deep within me, too; a delicious, breathless expectancy.

Once settled in my accommodation – a large, luxurious bell tent set in a private clearing – I explored Viveka. Bridges over streams and pathways through the trees surrendered their secrets; spacious wood cabin compost toilets, a charming outdoor shower, extensive vegetable patches, ethnically-inspired communal kitchen, and the piece de résistance, a hand made, open sided yoga dome set atop a hill with breathtaking views of the Pyrenees. My home for a month melded comfort and simplicity into a beautiful, eco-friendly haven.

As the days passed, the sun layered heat upon heat until the heavy, damp air bubbled into a tremendous thunderstorm. Awoken from a contented sleep by an orchestra of ear-splitting thunder, drumming rain and flashes of lighting, I felt exhilarated by a new proximity to nature, humbled by her power and majesty. In the morning the world was sparkling and new, and I felt both in it and of it – a sensation that is all too absent from city life.

Yoga in the morning, reading in my hammock or walking in the hills followed by more yoga in the afternoon – the pace of life was slow and rejuvenating. Sharing stories with other guests, meditating and learning about the spirituality of yoga, I began to rethink the ‘purpose’ of my holiday. I hadn’t realised until I arrived just how much I had needed to pause, to reflect, to re-fill my well. I began to understand that Viveka had beckoned me at a point in my life when I needed guidance. The purpose of my journey far surpassed stretching my body and relaxing my mind; it had opened the fledgling wings of a seeking spirit.
Susanne