News of the Retreats at the Viveka Yoga Centre

Week June 15-22 2011

Sun in the hearts, rain in the garden.

That's it ! New season starting, new friends coming and old friends coming back with the same pleasure to meet each other again.

So, friends from France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Holland arrived in this beautiful hot 15th of June to share a week of yoga, practice of asana and pranayama twice daily and meditation in the evening.
From the first day a very easy ambiance is with us with laughter and joy of sharing.

Everything is easy and that's even better because we started to get some rain for the next three days. Yes yes, even in the South of France we get rain and that makes our garden happy and us too of course cause we get to eat beautiful salads after !
We even swam in Montbel lake under the rain, that was so nice, delightful!

And then the sun came back for the rest of the week and the excellent atmosphere stayed too.

As long as there is sun in our hearts, there is joy everywhere.


Family Yoga Camp July 28 – August 7 2010

A big family

Ah ! The Family Yoga Camp! These camps are also synonymous of beautiful, very beautiful meetings…

A beautiful melting pot of German, English, Swiss and French families have participated. 7 adults, 6 children from 3 to 10, one teenager ; we even had the pleasure to welcome Eliah, a wonderful always smiling 6 months old baby, a real little Buddha!

The sun wasn’t always here but we were still able to go to the swimming pool in Rennes Les Bains, a nearby village as well as the lake in Montbel where the bravest had a swim, it was quite windy that day.

We of course went to the market in Espéraza and to the bio/organic fair in Couiza.

Children learnt songs, made all sorts of clay objects and juggling balls, decorated the garden with Land Art and beautiful mandalas, went to visit the nearby farm with ships, horses and chicken, had a long walk to the river. The children were also keen to see what their parents had been doing all week so they practiced their very own kids yoga class. Parents could quietly practice twice daily the yoga session (asana and pranayama), be introduced to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra and to meditation.

Our ten days together went really quickly (too quickly) and ended with a pizza party. Delicious homemade pizza, prepared by everyone with a little local red wine ( …and Blanquette of course !).

Some of the children showed us a dance they had learnt with Sally and her daughter Leilah.

Actually, we were just a big family.



Yoga Retreat July 17 – 24 2010

Austrialian Connection !

Incredible ! On the same yoga camp we welcomed two Australians Liza and Bree (who didn’t know each other before), Liz who lived 7 years in Australia and we also met two other Australians passing by with the Dharma Yatra. We had also one European woman! Floor from Holland.
The week went on the same rhythm as the others : two daily yoga sessions with asana and pranayama, introduction to the Patanjali Yoga Sutra and evening meditation. We also went to the lake and to the market in Limoux. A neighbor blessed us with her presence one evening after our meditation sitting and we all enjoyed a combination of worldly chants to the sound of Adri’s beautiful voice.
We were really happy to welcome the Dharma Yatra for their 10th anniversary. Ten years earlier the first Dharma Yatra started from our Viveka Yoga Centre (which was not yet our yoga centre but a Meditation Centre). What is Dharma Yatra? It is a silent meditative walk in nature, camping every evening in a different place. Teachings are given as well as sitting meditation.
Two beautiful happenings in one place, it’s magic !



Retreat July 7 - 14 2010

The secret in the sauce!

This week the viveka Yoga centre welcomed a wonderful group of individuals from England, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark and France, having all experienced a long cold winter, not one of the guests were disappointed with the great sunshine and hot temperatures that this region of South West France is known for.
Happy quiet days rocked on the rhythm of the twice daily yoga sessions. The morning yoga sessions were mainly asanas postures and pranayama, conscious breathing. The afternoon sessions were an introduction of the yoga sutra of Patanjali, specially around the ashtanga yoga, the eight limbs of yoga followed by asana, pranayama and short meditation. We had longer evening meditation with an introduction on meditation for the beginners.

The early birds had long walks before morning practice whilst others preferred to walk in the afternoon.
A short climb through the back of our garden to the mountain ridge offers an amazing view of the local ranges and beyond to the Pyrenees. This became a favorite of the week.
We all enjoyed the varied vegeterian wholesome meals and the long talks in the chaise lounge accompanied with herbal mint, hibiscus, rose, green or black tea or coffee. There was never a hurry to move on as talks about the concept of ashtanga yoga, the eight limbs of yoga from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, as discussed in the afternoon sessions, life in general, or the ingredients of Jo’s fresh vegeterian dishes kept us all amused.

During the week we went to Esperaza, a little town 20 km from the Viveka Yoga Centre with a colorful market typical of South France offering fresh fuits and vegetables as well as local honey, olives, local spices and various handycraft. From here we went to Lake Puivert and enjoyed a refreshing swim and a picnic of fresh bread, olives, cheese, fruits and other goodies that we found on the market.
On the way home we stopped at the Domaine Machore, a beautiful farm owned by Dorothee and Jean-Louis where we are always kindly welcomed. With a drink we admired the astonishing view of the mountains, getting a feeling of peace and serenity.

We also went to visit the wine cave of Jean-Claude Beirieu where we tasted his delicious Blanquette, a typical sparkling wine of the area as well as Carthagène, a local licorice speciality. It is with a big smile and a little sadness that we left him…

On the lake Montbel we spent our last evening sharing a wonderful picnic made by Jo and Liz which included a surprise coconut cake. We also celebrated the week with a drink of Blanquette and red wine made by Jean-Claude. This proved that everything can be a joy in moderation. The evening was closed by a beautiful sunset. Although, those that still had the energy (our karma yogi’s) joined in with a traditional local soiree giving a perfect opportunity to improve their dancing and French!

It is with a broken heart and the head full of wonderful souvenirs that we left each other on Saturday. Some of the guests even changed their plans to fit in some more time sightseeing and soul searching in this ancient region of Aude. But still with the unanswered question: what is the secret ingredient in Jo’s salad sauce? …