International ski and yoga retreats for 2012
I’ll be the first to admit that a ski trip is not always the most healthy excursion.
The skiing lifestyle tends toward drinking and a fair amount of carousing. Something has to kill the pain from all day in those boots and sore muscles.
So a yoga and skiing retreat seems a bit counter. But it’s a different way to take the edge off of the body after a day shredding the mountainside. These retreats also mix in healthy and frequently vegetarian meals, again counter to most of what I’ve had on ski trips. And as with all yoga retreats, it gives you specific poses to do before and after skiing so you can continue that on your next trip.
I’ve written before about some of the skiing and yoga retreats in the U.S. but today I’m focusing on European options.
France and Switzerland both have several ski and yoga retreats, and most don’t even require you to downhill ski. It’s a choice of cross-country, snowshoeing or reading a book by the fire if you’d prefer. And being that it’s France and Switzerland, these aren’t exactly lacking wine and I hope there would be a little cheese.
- Yoga with Altitude had one ski and yoga retreat last month and is offering another in April. At resorts of Val d´Isere and Tignes attendees may enjoy morning yoga classes with brunch and access to a sauna and hot tub.
- Villars Yoga has one retreat that starts tomorrow and another in March. The small groups stay in a private chalet in Switzerland by the Villars-Gryon ski area. The weekend includes restorative yoga sessions, post-skiing tea and cakes and a three-course dinner with local wines. The organizers also arrange private ski and yoga retreats for groups of four or six if you have a group of friends or fellow yogis from your studio who want to go.
- Adventure Yoga Retreats Europe is leading a seven-day retreat in the French Alps that they’re marketing as “Eat, Pray, Ski.” The farmhouse setting also comes with organic and ayurvedic meals as well as twice daily yoga and your option of skiing or snowboarding. Days are bookended with yoga and finished off with a yoga nidra session, a deep relaxing meditation that helps with sleep.
- Symmetree Yoga has the longest trip with a nine-night stay in a Swiss ski town. The package include train and gondola passes for the week to ski as well as travel the area exploring other towns that cannot be accessed by car. The daily yoga classes are worked in with a seven-day ski pass to three major ski areas.
- Teacher Michelle Riordan leads yoga retreats all over the world but has returned home to Switzerland to host them there. The two yoga and ski sessions are coming up in March and if you don’t yet know how to ski or board you can mix it with lessons. And if you don’t want to do either of those, she has options for sledding and snowshoeing as well.




















