About The Retreat
Join us for a luxurious week of exploring your body and mind through daily yoga, somatic body work, and sensory explorations of Marrakech. Go inward with time for renewal, and adventure outward on our Moroccan day trips and adventures to experience all the sights and sounds of magical Morocco.
Your retreat home for the week is the fabulous Peacock Pavilions boutique hotel. This stylish and eco-friendly abode has been featured in worldwide publications, including National Geographic Traveler.
This retreat will combine yoga with somatic bodywork. Soma exploration involves witnessing and experiencing the entirety of one’s organism.
Much of our human experience has been carved into fragments of the whole self, where we’ve compartmentalized our being into the thinking vs. feeling self, conscious vs. unconscious self, physical vs. spiritual self. Somatic play aims to return us to a state of wholeness.
The essence of Align + Awaken is to leave an impression of what is would be like to be wholly present in the moment and to one’s life unfolding.
You will not only enjoy the grounds of Peacock Pavilions, the outdoor areas including a lovely pool, patio, private terraces, and covered yoga platform, but the retreat includes some amazing day-trips to the surrounding sites.
A day will be spent at one of Marrakesh’s most famous luxury hotels to enjoy the pool and a gourmet meal, and an afternoon where we’ll indulge in an abundant high tea in Morocco’s most exclusive locales.
We will pay a visit to the YSL Museum and Majorelle Gardens as well as a dinner out in one of the upscale properties and restaurants in the new part of the city. We’ll stop by to see camels on the dunes at sunset for those who may want to mark this off their bucket-list!
The week will include a visit to a luxurious spa facility, where guests can be pampered with various treatments. What better way to wrap up a week of yoga than a day of pure relaxation
Retreat Host
AASIA LEWIS
Our group leader this week will be our collaborator, Aasia Lewis. Aasia is a yoga educator, certified somatic coach + bodyworker, and clinical speech-language pathologist (SLP), who is now based in Morocco.
Recognizing that she could not “fix the mind with the mind,” Aasia’s journey into somatic coaching + bodywork stemmed from her own emerging awareness of how limiting intellectualizing and cognitive entry points were to true, embodied learning and transformation.
Upon witnessing the entirety of one’s organism; their soma, and how its unification lead to great equanimity and more radically- attunement, she completed an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accredited training in Body-Oriented Coaching from the Somatic School and a Somatic Bodywork Seminar Level One from the Strozzi Institute.
Her practice of somatic coaching and bodywork encourages the coalescing of the body-mind through conversations around a person’s desires, yearnings, and vision for their life, coupled with movement and energy analysis to identify the stories and tendencies living in the tissues and muscles, for greater harmony within one’s self and the world.
Yoga & Somatic Workshops
Alongside aligmnment-based hatha/vinyasa yoga classes, somatic workshops will be offered to explore a return to wholeness via sensory entry points, including touch, breath, movement/gesture, and sound.
Activities such as self-massage with oils, breath practices and meditations to bring one into the present moment, movement exercises to encourage embodied awareness, and use of sound as means of release and restoration from the habitual grips held in the body.
Each participant will also have the opportunity to receive up to two individual somatic coaching and bodywork sessions, as a means to awaken to ones’ deep yearnings and desires, notice how beliefs and emotions are held in the body, and learn tailored practices to implement upon ones’ return home.
Cuisine
Healthful, vegetarian food is part of the retreat experience, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily either hosted at Peacock Pavilions or out and about in town.
Some even come with a side dish of belly-dancing! Plus, there is a wine-tasting, a cocktail reception, and even a meal at the night market.
The cuisine is simple, delicious and Moroccan, using fresh ingredients from the on-site organic gardens or local markets.
Selection may include tempting dishes and libations like stuffed dates, almond couscous, vegetable terrine, avocado dip, leek tarts, mint tea, pomegranate martini, rose water, and more.
Accommodation
Breathtakingly beautiful and luxuriously designed, the living quarters where you will stay during the Marrakech retreat.
Each bedroom also has its own private terrace – “just the right place to enjoy a minty tea or a zingy cocktail”. The entire pavilion property has been decorated with care and “loaded with art, special fabrics, and exotic good stuff from all around the world.
A swanky place to relax, the salon/great room has a stunning lacy plasterwork that took weeks to complete. There is also seating and dining areas for intimate discussions and cozy meals.
A spiral staircase leads to a catwalk high in the air, where you can sit on vintage embroideries and admire the view.”
Not only is this place gorgeous, but it’s also eco-friendly. Observing “green” building and gardening techniques, you’ll feel good about the organic bounty served to your plate, and the hot water you use heated by the solar panels!
Spend some free time at the lovely, inviting pool and patio, or join us for a henna and cocktail party in the painted tent, or perhaps an outdoor cinema night on the lawn.
Peacock Pavilions is owned by Maryam and her husband Chris, both recently featured on HGTV’s House Hunters International.
Chris is an architect, and Maryam a freelance photographer, travel and lifestyle writer, and the author of the award winning blog, My Marrakesh. Both make a perfect team in putting this amazing estate together.
Retreat price
6 Days / 5 Nights (Mar 17-22, 2024)
Inclusive Retreat Price = $2,795 (shared room*) +$665 single room supplement
Deposit to hold space = $950
6 Days / 5 Nights (Sep 8-13, 2024)
Inclusive Retreat Price = $2,795 (shared room*) +$665 single room supplement
Deposit to hold space = $950
Max # Guests = 12
Includes
- Villa accommodation (spacious bedrooms each with private bathrooms, linens)
- Daily Breakfast at Peacock Pavilions
- Dinner at Peacock Pavilions or in town
- Welcome cocktail reception
- Beverages – including selected meals with wine
- Pool day at luxury Marrakesh hotel with gourmet meal
- YSL + Jardin Majorelle visit
- High Tea afternoon at Marrakesh’s most luxurious hotel
- Airport Transfers on retreat start/end days
- Transportation to/from day trips
- Daily meditation and yoga classes (mats provided)
- Use of estate premises (terraces, pool, etc.)
- Tour guide on various day trips
- Welcome Reception
- Henna & Lunch Pool Party
- Farewell Dinner Party
- Moroccan Luxury Spa Day & Treatments
- Entrance fees to sites in Marrakesh
- Taxes
Does not include
* Airfare
* Insurance
Optional activities
* Guided shopping tour of the souks of Marrakech
* Visits to sites in Marrakech Medina (Ben Yossef, walking tour)
* Visit to Atlas Mountains and Kasbah Tamadot Retreat (mule trek, chef’s tasting menu + wine pairing.)
* Le Bains de Marrakech spa day
What past guests have said
“Deciding to finally live my dream and go to Moroocco, when finding the Luxury Marrakech yoga package I was immediately sold! Erin did an outstanding job to really deliver a luxury retreat without missing a beat! Her knack for style, taste, and overall experience is bang on! I just wish it never ended!! From the food selections to the markets, hotels, spas, wine tasting, mule treks and yoga (of course), it was all around exceptional. She has created the ultimate experience, and I look forward to adding another one of her retreats to my list! Thank you, Erin, for a life altering experience that I will always cherish!.” Danielle, Toronto, Canada
“My wife and I have participated on four of these retreats. Each time we have been completely captivated by the experience. The locations are absolutely spectacular. The food and wine is local, healthy, fresh and delicious. The daily trips are personal, structured (but not overly so), enthralling, adventurous and chic. This is not your uncle’s travel guide tour. Erin offers an intimate and deeply restorative experience. It is invitation to form lifetime friendships with people who are curious, joyful and fun. Many times we feel like we are not only getting a sense for a place but being invited to peer behind the veil and see what is invisible to many travelers, all informed by Erin’s appreciative eye for beauty, story and style. Finally the yoga is inclusive and healing. I love the music, the settings, the flow and Erin’s ability to meet you where you are at in your practice. This is our first choice for international travel, personal restoration and inspiration. We highly recommend the experience!”. Rene, California, USA
“The Marrakech yoga retreat was like a dream. Every detail from the warm welcome to the departure lunch was fabulous and so thoughtful. Erin’s wonderful personality along with all the women in our group created a beautiful energy full of fun, adventure and inspiration. Everyday there were new activities, treasures to see at Peacock Pavillions, yoga postures and beautiful table settings in the stunning dinning tent. Along with Erin, Maryam and Chris were so welcoming and made us feel so comfortable. Peacock Pavilions was an amazing and perfect setting for the retreat. Thanks so much Erin – my mom and I had a fantastic week and we look forward to another one…maybe Italy next.” Michele – Vancouver, Canada
How to get here
Located 13km outside the old city (Medina) of Marrakesh Nearest airports: Marrakesh Menara Airport (RAK) Nearest train station: Marrakesh Transfers between airport or train station and villa will be provided. After signing up, we will guide guests on best options for flights and travel to Marrakesh. We recommend Skyscanner to search for the best airfare.
What to pack
Besides the basic packing and travel needs, here are a few things to think about bringing with you.
* Yoga mat (provided but feel free to bring your own)
* Smartphone or digital camera
* Bathing suit (on-site pool, spa)
* Layers of clothing for weather changes
* Comfortable walking shoes
* Plug adaptors / converters
* Journal
Booking
This retreat has a special offer on. Receive a complimentary gift when you book through Soul Seed Travel + get £25 off your first booking.
