Song Sea Yoga Retreat – 2027
A unique week-long retreat by the sea where singing and yoga come together in perfect harmony. Nourish your heart, relax your body and bring joy to your soul.
4 to 10 July 2027
The week is lead by Candy (song) and Elles (yoga), who are both experts in their field with a lifetime of practice and decades of teaching experience between them.
Over the week we will learn many simple songs by ear (you don’t need to be able to read music) and to harmonise with your fellow singers, letting our voices merge to create a sound bigger and more beautiful than we could ever achieve by ourselves alone.
The yoga is slow and kind (you don’t need to be able to touch your toes) and designed to bring more awareness to the way you move and breathe, creating more space inside the body.
We will also gently explore the common ground between yoga and singing: the vibration of sound, the space of the breath and the heart, the inner experience of outer expression…
Ultimately, we’d like to involve every fibre of our being into our song and into our joy.
The retreat is open to people of all abilities. You don’t need to have sung or done yoga before. Just bring you!
Alongside the songs and the yoga there will be ample time to slow down, hang out, swim, walk and breathe in the sea air. This week is a chance to deeply restore yourself, have fun, meet others, share good organic food and connect to the natural world.
The Othona Retreat Centre is right on the coast of Dorset with direct access to miles of beach. It has a beautiful chapel with great acoustics, a separate yoga space, organic veggies from the garden and six acres of land to roam free.
Sample schedule Monday to Friday:
8:30 Breakfast
9:30 – 12:30 Yoga and/or Singing
13:00 Lunch
Free time
16:30 – 18:00 Yoga and/or Singing
18:30 Supper
20:00 – 21:00 Relaxation and/or Singing
Sunday 4 July:
16:00 Arrivals
18:30 Supper
20:00 Welcome and introductions
Saturday 10 July:
8:30 Breakfast
10 – 12 Yoga, Song and Goodbyes
13:00 Lunch
In order to honour the spirit of community at Othona we are invited to help with some household tasks during the week. This involves laying or clearing the dining room tables, washing up and cutting vegetables. You won’t be called upon daily and it won’t interfere with our program.
We are also invited to join ‘Seedtime’ at the morning chapel from 9.10 to 9.20 am (optional).
Prices:
The rooms are simple but clean and have plentiful shared bathrooms.
Double Room TBC shortly
Twin Room TBC shortly
Single Room TBC shortly
To book or for more details please contact Candy or Elles:
candy@candyverney.co.uk
elles@kishoriyoga.com
More about Elles:
Elles Theulen has been teaching yoga since 2012 and practising since 1992, when she stayed for several years at a meditation centre in India. Now based in Stroud, UK, she teaches regular classes and workshops, organises special events outdoors and retreats worldwide. Her style of yoga has become ever more gentle and inquisitive, focussing on inner awareness rather than the outward shape of a ‘pose’. Over the past thirty-five years she explored various styles within the fields of yoga, meditation and holistic therapies. She is trained in Hatha, Yin and Scaravelli Yoga, studied somatic movement, Trager, self-massage, dance improvisation and regularly attends meditation retreats. (www.kishoriyoga.com)
More about Candy:
Candy Verney’s passion is to inspire and create, through singing, a sense of harmony which gives an experience beyond the ordinary. After completing a degree in classical music she forged her own way, combining her musical expertise with her philosophy around fellowship, kindness and respect, and sharing with boundless enthusiasm the joy of simply singing together. For 30 years, Candy created and developed 6 community choirs in and around Bath and Wiltshire, and ran week long singing holidays in remote parts of the UK called Singing on the Wild Side. These led to the setting up of The Song House, a unique retreat centre between mountain and sea in Co. Donegal, Ireland, which she ran for 10 years. She now directs the Pan-European Choir, as well as teaching regularly in Germany and Stroud. (www.candyverney.co.uk)
More about Othona:
Othona is a special place with an unusual history. Based on Christian values, but open to all, it is settled into beautiful Dorset hills, right next to the sea. It offers us sensational wild beauty and beautiful home cooked food, a communal cosy sitting room, as well as a wonderful chapel to sing in and a separate yoga space. The bedrooms are not en-suite, but almost all rooms have wide views of the garden and the sea, and otherwise over the courtyard and the Scots pines. With grounds managed for biodiversity and buildings increasingly powered by renewable energy, the beauty of the natural world is all around. From a host of wild orchids to a starlit night sky. Othona overlooks the beach, a short walk from the back gate through woods and National Trust meadows. (www.othona.org/west-dorset)
To book or for more details please contact Candy or Elles:
candy@candyverney.co.uk
elles@kishoriyoga.com