A Family Yoga Retreat in Provence

If you’re looking for a truly relaxing gite holiday in France, one that will bring you presence, calm and kindness into your daily family life then head to the peaceful Villa La Bastide Avellanne in Provence Côte d’Azur this July.

Bastide Avellanne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between 10th – 16th July, 2016 you can practice and share your passion for yoga with Rikke Lauritzen, M.A, cert. mindfulness MBSR teacher and family therapist and Ulrika Dezé, Master of Education and yoga teacher, founder of Yogamini, Paris.

Find out more by visiting the website click here, or email familyretreatprovence@gmail.com

This is an opportunity to meet like-minded families and be inspired by a holiday which is fun, relaxing and nourishing for the whole family. You’ll come away feeling fresh, calm, centered and with tools to bring home into your daily lives.

Bastide team

Themes you will look at include:

• How can we bring more presence, calm and kindness into our daily lives?
• How do we get more quality time with our children while they are young?
• How can we prevent ourselves and our children from being stressed with illness?
• How do we get more joy, playfulness and love into our family?
• How do we support and strengthen our relationship as parents, lovers and friends?

 

This French gite retreat is for all the family, parents and children. 
It is an international training course for families with children of age 4-12 and their parents, single parents, grandparents or friends. It is also an opportunity to have a holiday with your family in this beautiful and peaceful gite in Provence, southern France. A relaxing combination of training yoga and mindfulness from morning to evening, with many rests and siestas to enjoy with your family, swim in the pool, play tennis, etc.

 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT YOGA AND MINDFULNESS

Yoga is a mindful, non-competitive form of exercise, in which the emphasis is placed on movement and breathing. Traditional yoga techniques have been adapted in a fun, simple way to appeal to children.

Today’s children are under a tremendous amount of stress, coping with body changes, school, exams and peer pressure. Yoga is a wonderful outlet; it enhances awareness, self-acceptance, self-confidence, and provides them with the skills necessary to cope with stress and promote relaxation. The positive atmosphere and dynamism, music, breathing exercises, quiet reflection (mindfulness) encourages children to relax. Reading, story telling, music, creative arts and ecology blend seamlessly with yoga movement to educate the whole child.

 

YOGA PROGRAM
We will practice warm ups, child friendly breathing techniques, mindful movements – all with emphasis on having fun.
Style and class levels will be determined and moulded to fit participating students’ needs, and with a small intimate retreat class size, students will be able to get personalised attention and comfort to deeply explore their practice. Classes will be held in a dedicated indoor yoga space and also outside.

Bastide Avellane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness is a new wave that also addresses to children and adolescents as a support in their daily lives with a lot of demands, full schedule, social contact and stimulation throughout the day in institutions, schools, after school activities and home. The modern child needs some daily pauses to relax and sense the presence and calmness in the body and mind in order to handle the stressfulness it meets in the environment. Mindfulness offers inner tools that are easy to practice even for young children as they are simple, experimental, sensational and can be quite playful and funny to do.
The program comprises mindfulness meditations, mindful body awareness, mindful walking, mindful eating, loving kindness and gratitude, all adapted to the age group and as activities for the child itself, together with the parents or with peer friends. The exercises will be brought home as tools adaptable for daily life for the whole family.

 

PERIODS OF SILENCE
Both adults and children will be offered each some periods of silence together with walks to appreciate the nature you. The children will experience short periods of silence during the yoga classes and also they will go out on ‘a safari’ to explore sounds, tastes, smells, sights, touching the nature, lying in the Sun, touching Wind, Water and Earth and bringing their experience and small findings back to their parents.

Testimonials
“Sometimes, at night, I do my yoga breathing to help me fall asleep. I do it before tests as well, to take away stress. Yoga has made me feel stronger inside. “ Nicolas, 8 years old, yoga student since 2012. (Astrapi Magazine).

 

YOUR TEACHERS
Ulrika Dezé is the Franco-Swedish founder of YOGAMINI, a fun, educational program aimed at children and families. She has a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Geneva and is a qualified yoga instructor. She is introducing yoga techniques and mindfulness into Parisian primary schools, hospitals (Paris hospital Necker), museums and offering training courses in yoga and mindfulness for teachers and health care professionals.

Her classes provide a friendly, non-competitive and reassuring space for her students’ creativity and emotions to express themselves. She helps her students acquiring the skills that will help them to meet challenges and develop their physical, mental and emotional strength. Her classes explore different ways of incorporating music, arts, ecology and foreign languages with the discipline of yoga.

Ulrika is the author of Le yoga de Kika, an illustrated yoga book for children published by Milan (Bayard).

YOGAMINI has been featured on tv (National news – France 2), Le Monde, in various magazines including Vogue, Milk, Figaro Madame, l’Express style and websites such as family TV and Doctissimo.

Rikke Lauritzen is Danish but originates from South Korea and is the mother of two adolescents. She holds a Master of Arts in languages and intercultural studies, and is a certified psychotherapist, family therapist, and internationally certified Mindfulness/MBSR-teacher and Interpersonal Mindfulness/IMP teacher from the Centre for Mindfulness, UMASS, USA.

She is the founder of a new Danish mindful school program for adolescents and has success in bringing mindfulness into the school curriculum as a tool for better concentration, calm and kindness. She is the author of a few articles about mindfulness and mindfulness in schools. Her school project has been featured in the Danish TV2 News and local newspapers.

Bastide pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE VILLA
This yoga retreat will take place at the beautiful Bastide Avellanne French gite. The Bastide is a charming fortified Provencal demeure dating back to 17th century. Totally refurbished in 2011 it welcomes you with spacious light rooms in country style, all with modern en-suite bathrooms and independent apartments with every comfort.
 In the Bastide you will find a vast air conditioned lounge with old leather sofas, a stone chimney, exposed beams and a bar, a dining room in the veranda overlooking the garden and a workshop-come-meeting room close to the pool.

Surrounded by vineyards Bastide Avellanne is set in a private park of three hectares, where the colours of the olive trees and centuries old oaks blend with the perfumes of lavender and rosemary, creating a small Mediterranean paradise in where you will find a heated swimming pool and summer bar, giant chess, tennis and petanque courts. The Bastide Avellanne was awarded TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence.

CUISINE
Healthful food is part of the retreat experience, including breakfasts, lunches and dinners daily. Enjoy our cuisine which combines creativity and flavours with a special attention to creating balanced meals. Wholesome ingredients, freshness of the foods, cooking times and methods are present in every meal you will enjoy at the Bastide. Meals will be enjoyed on the terrace in the shade of the oak trees, or served by candlelight under the pergola. We’ll feast on traditional flavours of Provence mixed with the French, Italian and Mediterranean styles.

Bastide beach

SURROUNDING AREA
Families will not only enjoy the villa and encompassing estate, but also the richness of the French cities and villages from the hills to the coast.
 The French gite Bastide Avellanne is the ideal location to visit Provence.

Situated only 30 minutes from the sea and from the Cote D’Azur between Cannes, St Tropez and Hyeres, with its hundreds of kilometres of white beaches, rocky capes and wild bays is considered the most beautiful coastline of France – 300 kilometres of coast accompanying the Mediterranean Sea, white sandy beaches, a preserved landscape, protected islands and famous locations renowned worldwide. It looks just as you see in postcards, fields of lavender, medieval villages, chateaux, markets full of colours where you can find local products and exotic spices, lively small towns with a slow way of life.

WHO CAN JOIN
All families are welcome including complete beginners, single parents
, grand parents with children, friends and colleagues and professionals.
The training course is beneficial for educators and health care professionals to explore the yoga and mindfulness practice with their own families.

Group size: 20 people maximum
AGE OF THE CHILDREN
4-18 years old.
LANGUAGES
English is the main language with translation in French or Scandinavian languages according to the needs.
WHAT TO EXPECT
• 6 nights full board accommodation
• Daily meditation and yoga classes for the whole family
• Creative workshops for children and parents
• 
Use of the Villa facilities (pool, tennis courts, ping pong, bowl court etc)

Find out more by visiting the website click here, or email  familyretreatprovence@gmail.com

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