RETREATS
2020-2021 Retreats
Sonoma Coast - April 10-12 - cancelled
Kripalu, MA - June 15-21
Montana - August 15-21
Morocco - October 18-28
Mexico - January 23-30, 2021
The Power of Nature
a weekend retreat
Ratna Ling Retreat Center
Sonoma County Coast
April 10-12, 2020
Cancelled by Ratna Ling due to the COVID 19 pandemic
Melina and Baxter can attest to the power of nature to connect us with our authentic selves, especially at places like Ratna Ling Retreat Center. Our weekend together will be an opportunity to take advantage of the natural environment to help us rest, restore and recharge. At Ratna Ling, enjoy your own bedroom in a gorgeous cottage, wholesome vegetarian meals, soaring, timber-frame retreat facilities, and an environment that fosters an appreciation for the boundless potential within each of us.
Located just 90 miles north of San Francisco in the redwood forests of Sonoma County, easily accessible from the San Francisco area, this is a great getaway for Bay Area folks as well as those coming from farther afield!
Our weekend will include indoor and outdoor meditation sessions, daily Yoga for Healthy Aging classes, a Saturday hike to the beach or enjoy some R & R in your gorgeous cottage.
Yoga Therapeutics, Ayurveda, and Nutrition Practices for Healthy Living
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Western MA
June 15-21, 2020
Feathered Pipe Ranch
Montana
THE POWER OF NATURE 2.0
The Potential of Ayurveda and Yoga
August 15-21, 2020
The wisdom of the ancient yogis tells us it is never too late, or too early, to sequence your life today for a healthier tomorrow. It illuminates the power of the three key ingredients for you to look and feel your best: a sustainable yoga practice, a wholesome diet, and a healthy lifestyle. Kripalu is delighted to once again host Baxter Bell and Melina Meza for a fun and nourishing week of Hatha yoga classes and creative ideas on how to create well-rounded practices focused on for healthy living.
During our 5-day retreat, we will cover Yoga and Ayurveda for the following: bone and muscle strength, digestion, inflammation, arthritis, insomnia, and heart health.
As a yoga teacher, physician and acupuncturist, Baxter has a vast repertoire of wisdom and knowledge to share with you about this subject and a gift for making it accessible and doable for the long run. He’ll lead you through a series of informational talks and guided practices designed so you can take home what you learn and implement it with ease.
Melina, a senior yoga teacher, Ayurvedic educator and nutritionist, weaves in healthy living. With Baxter’s expertise in yoga therapeutics complemented and spiced by Melina’s mastery of holistic nutrition and Ayurveda, you’ll leave knowing what it takes to make the whole enchilada on your own.
Ayurveda, yoga's sister science, is one of the world's oldest systems of healing. It stresses the importance of synchronizing your personal rhythms with those of Nature for promoting true wellness. You’ll have ample time each day to tune in and make choices to be in sync with life, whether you choose to hike, receive bodywork, or just simply bask in the nature’s abundance and beauty.
After breakfast, Baxter or Melina will lead an asana class followed by an experiential talk on practical yoga therapeutics (Baxter) or diet, nutrition, and Ayurveda (Melina). Late afternoon sessions will weave gentle therapeutic practices together with relevant health topics for everyone. Using the framework of Ayurvedic teaching, we’ll explore how you can best adapt your diet, exercise or yoga practice and the daily rituals to promote quality of life, longevity, and physical health.
This retreat will leave you well equipped to make grounded and informed choices in your daily living so you move in harmony with life!
The Ranch Always Delivers! With the amazing week that all experienced for the Power of Nature 2019 from the powerful weather changes to Forest Bathing and Impermanent Art in Nature, we decided to expand this perfect match for the Feathered Pipe Ranch, with an upgraded 2.0 version!
Melina and Baxter can attest to the power of nature to connect us with our authentic selves, especially at places like the Ranch. So our week together will be an opportunity to take advantage of the natural environment to help us rest, restore and recharge, with walking meditations in nature, yoga practices and talks out on the front lawn when weather permits, evening hikes to the Skye Ranch and beyond.
We also know that our everyday lives don’t always have the time or access to this kind of powerful setting on a regular basis. The good news is that Ayurveda and Yoga for Healthy Aging practices can help us bridge those times away from nature with powerful tools to improve our overall well-being and help us to recover in times of greater need. Our practice sessions twice a day will focus on sharing the most relevant practices for you to take back home with you to maintain the reboot that the Ranch will provide.
And as in past years, we will enjoy silent mornings until the start of the morning class.
30 Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Program credit hours are available for this retreat.
A limited number of partial scholarships are available.
If you invite a friend new to the Ranch you can each save $100!
MOROCCO
Yoga Retreat and Travel Adventure
October 18-28, 2020
YOGA and PURE LIFE
Yelapa, Mexico
January 23-30, 2021
Another Magical Mystery Yoga Tour with Baxter Bell, MD and Melina Meza!
Labyrinthine medieval cities, sprawling sand dunes, shops piled high with exotic spices, rugs and pottery, kasbahs, camels, mountains and ocean, Morocco is a land of vivid contrasts. It is the gateway between two continents, Europe and Africa, and home to ancient traditions and diverse peoples. This tour is a cultural immersion of Arab, European and African influences.
We meet in the famed Casablanca, travel north to the capital, Rabat, and then on to Fes, the Atlas Mountains and end in Marrakesh. All along the way we will visit souks, medinas, mosques and other important sites, led by an educated and informed English speaking guide. We’ll have yoga classes with Baxter and Melina, eat excellent and interesting food and immerse in the beauty, diversity and mystique of Morocco.
Join Baxter for his 7th season in the magical town of Yelapa, and his second year hosting this yoga adventure at the lovely retreat center, Pura Vida. Located at the end of the bay an easy 10 min walk from the pueblo of Yelapa, Pura Vida is a perfect place to cultivate what Costa Ricans call “Pura Vida” or Pure Life.
In yoga, we call the underlying energy of life Prana, and there is lots of it here, including on the open-air yoga deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean that will be our home base for our twice daily yoga sessions, designed to be accessible to students of all levels, including those new to yoga.
Yelapa, reached only by boat, takes people back in time enhancing the feeling of “getting away from it all” and invites participants to remember the simple life. Walking the beach, hiking in and out of the village, crossing the lagoon, walking up river, getting in waterfalls all create a sense of grounding in this other cultural world steeped in nature...
