Ayurvedic Spring Retreat with Noël and Elitza at Menla
Ayurvedic Spring Retreat at Menla (upstate NY)
Guided by Noël (Ayurveda) and Elitza (Yoga)
May 2-5
Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word meaning 'life knowledge'. It is the name of the world's oldest, most comprehensive health system, which offers unique insight into creating balance among all facets of wellness — physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual — using tools such as diet, plant remedy, daily schedule and lifestyle practices, movement and yoga, meditation, breath work, color, and aromatherapy to establish coordination and cooperation between body, mind, and the natural world.
Ayurvedic medicine teaches us how to observe the way our body/minds are influenced by the transitions within our environment — the basis of our existence — so that we may practice yoga, the remembrance of our interdependence and unity with all of Nature. In doing so, we can consciously work with the ever-changing tides of life around us, strategically aligning ‘internal and external rhythms’ to create a healthy, harmonious, content state of body/mind.
Ayurveda and Yoga recommends a cleanse to accompany a change in season, to clear and open physiological and psychological channels in the body/mind. Spring is an especially important time of the year, when nature re-awakes from the long, heavy winter and provides us with all the dietary and herbal tools we need to rid our bodies of excess fats and proteins which keep environmental, hormonal, and emotional toxins bound in bodily tissues; allowed to remain, they disrupt functionality of the tissues, establishing foundation for disease.
A Spring cleanse helps the body to identify stored fat tissue as use-able energy, retraining and firing up digestive capacity within the GI tract, bodily tissues, and the mind. Accumulated and stored toxins are brought to the surface of tissues and gently escorted out through elimination channels.
During this group-oriented Spring cleanse, Noël and Elitza will introduce traditional Ayurvedic and Yogic cleansing techniques through diet, daily ritual and somatic movement to restore functionality to your digestive capacity, organize communication within your tissue layers, increase endurance within your nervous and immune systems, and awaken peace within your mind, so you may transition gracefully and energetically into the light, auspicious Springtime. Our intention is to teach you how to create the conditions internally for body/mind cooperation using yoga, breathwork, bodywork, meditation, simplified diet and educational workshops.
*No previous cleanse or meditation experience is necessary.
This retreat will include:
A preparatory (group) Zoom call
Cleanse-week Manual PDF (sent ahead of time)
An Ayurvedic mono-diet of organic kitchari and tisanes (herbal teas)
Appropriate herbs to support detoxification (triphala, Aloe vera)
A ‘dinacharya’ kit with tools to use during the retreat and at home including: copper tongue scraper, nasya (nasal) oil, neti pot (nasal rinse) and salts, body massage oil, rose eye drops, essential oils blend, eye mask, acupressure mat
Two 30-minute sauna sessions are included for each participant during the cleanse at the Dewa Spa ○ *Participants are highly encouraged to book a massage at Dewa Spa (not included in retreat package)
Daily group meditation, pranayama (breath work), and yoga, including evening yoga nidra and a sound bath
Daily Ayurvedic theory classes
A cooking demonstration to learn about spices, kitchari, and ghee
Daily opportunity to convene with Mother Nature
