Our home for this 10 Day Silent Retreat is the wonderful Tuscan farm "I Moraioli" (http://www.moraioli.com/) near Montebenichi. It sits on a beautiful Tuscan hill overlooking a peaceful valley and surrounded by wooded hills and olive groves. Accommodation is in beautifully restored traditional Tuscan houses that sleep 2 or 4 people. All the houses have their own sun terrace and share a delightful garden, a gorgeous infinity swimming pool and a divine hot tub.
The deep peace of the surroundings supports us n our personal retreat into deep silence - that place where we can simply be, at one with the divine Presence, that place where we can touch the presence of Love itself within us and allow it to shine ever brighter through and around us. And we have lots of time for simply relaxing or reading, deeply resting and nesting and soaking up the Italian sunshine.
We will be living ashram style, which means we share the shopping, preparation & clear up of meals, as well as washing the dishes! Your day starts at 5.30am with an angelic wake up chant, meditation 6.00-7.00am, Hatha 7.00-8.30, followed by breakfast, family meeting to decide what we would like to cook etc., followed by a morning workshop.or satsang. There is daily meditation before lunch and deep relaxation after lunch. In the afternoons you can enjoy Pranayama and/or Heart Yoga sessions in the garden. After dinner each evening, we gather for Satsang and Kirtan before our evening meditation and bedtime at 9.30pm.
There are 3 days of pilgrimage during our stay, one to Assisi where we visit the hermitage of St Francis as well as his tomb in the famous basilica and the church of St Claire. The second pilgrimage is to La Verna where St Francis (and also Gurudev) received the stigmata. The third pilgrimage is a visit to Ananda Ashram where many lovely people live together in community following the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda.
We fly into Pisa airport and you will need to book your own flights, from where we will continue in hire cars to our accommodation. So we do try to co-ordinate our flight times as much as possible so that no one has to wait around for too long and the cars can all leave together. Anya will be able to guide everyone together on this.
The cost for the retreat is €375 Euros which includes accommodation and car hire. You will need to book your flights to/from Pisa (around £120-£150 from the UK) and allow around €100 for food and fuel contributions, plus whatever extra you want to take for gifts, meals out and of course Gelato!
Please email Anya at bookings@heartoflivingyoga.com to ask any questions and to book your place.
This will be the 4th Italian retreat following in the footsteps of the saints. We run it by request every 2 years, so if it calls to your heart, please book as soon as you can - it's very popular and tends to book up quickly.
Padma is very much looking forward to sharing the deep peace of the Heart with you here - in Italy in September 2020.
Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthii