Combining the beauty of Italian small-town life with certified yoga teacher training, homemade meals, and wine to boot? Where do we sign?
Rome is chaotic. Honestly, life is chaotic, no matter where you live, and while we’re all generally rocking it, there are times when we struggle to rebalance, to find a quiet space in our head, to center ourselves. I know that in my personal experience, working in an office 5 days a week leaves me feeling cramped, and I ache to find that connection with my body again, to run around and be outside and let the sun soak in. No, I’m not a puppy. Now, only recently has Rome really properly jumped on the yoga bandwagon, and I’m eternally grateful that it finally has, because if you live here you know it can be difficult to find a really good yoga studio (although, take heart, they do exist). I’ve always thought that Italy would be one of the best places in the world to host yoga retreats, because why not take advantage of the tranquility and my-soul-feels-cleansed quality of the Italian countryside? And while we’re at it, can we throw some wine and delicious food in there? And this leads us to telling you about this little gem right here.
Drishti Yoga teacher training has organized an English-speaking retreat from October 3rd-27th in the walled medieval town of Casperia, about 90 minutes north of Rome in the Sabina mountains. They’re being hosted by Sunflower Retreats Holidays, and the training is a Yoga Alliance accredited program, which means you’ll walk out of it being able to confidently teach full classes of Vinyasa Yoga with roots in Ashtanga. Maybe the best part is that after a day of cleansing, rigorous training in the mountains, you get the evenings off to enjoy the quaint little village of Casperia and eat amazing food, drink local wine, and wash off the stress of city living. Vegetarian breakfast and lunch are included, and there are a few days off during the month to relax and explore the surrounding wine regions. Wine? Yoga? A tiny medieval town tucked away from mass tourism? I’m picturing something along the lines of the movie Under The Tuscan Sun (manly yet sensitive Italian male not included).
Carri and Sarah from Drishti Yoga are amazing, and mentioned that although the training is ideally for the full 23 days, they’re willing to make it open to those who just want to go for a week, enjoy breakfast, and do the twice-daily yoga classes without doing the full training. Prices for this would vary, so get in touch with them at info@drishtiyogateachertraining.com if that’s something you’d want to do! Otherwise, if you want to sign up for the full experience, go here.
Over at YiR headquarters we’re scrambling to rearrange our schedules to try and be there for at least a week of it, because this sounds like an adventure we don’t want to miss. If you end up going, please do let us know, and if somehow our city lives get in the way and we don’t make it, reach out and let us know how it went! Send us pictures! Bring us back a manly yet sensitive Italian male! Kidding. Just kidding.
Namaste, and happy August everybody!
(photos courtesy of Drishti Yoga)
