A nourishing week in the Algarve to come home to your body
Has your body started to feel different? Perhaps more aches and stiffness, less energy, or simply less like your own?
Sometimes the body doesn’t need to be pushed. Sometimes it just needs attention. Gentle, curious awareness is often where change begins.
This is a retreat about feeling better: in your body, in your breath, and in the rhythm of a week that belongs entirely to you.
It takes place in the hills of the Algarve, at Casa Mukta, our small, warm guesthouse on an organic farm. The retreat welcomes a maximum of seven participants. It is for anyone aged 45 and over who has noticed their body changing and asking for something different.
You will move, breathe, rest and eat well. You will understand more about what happens in the body as it ages, not in a clinical way, but in the way that comes from actually feeling it. And you will leave with practices you can carry home, not because you have to, but because you want to.
What we’ll explore together
Move with intelligence. Each morning we practise together: mobility, joint health, slow strengthening, stretching, gentle speed work and yoga. The aim is to move smarter, and to feel the difference between effort and ease.
Understand your changing body. Through conversation and guided exploration, we’ll look at what happens inside the body as we age, including inflammation, stress and the nervous system, and how fascia responds to movement. It won’t be a lecture, but a living experience of the body we are actually in.
Reconnect from the inside out. In the late afternoon, breathwork helps settle the nervous system and reconnect you with your own rhythm. Then yoga nidra, meditation or relaxation for deep rest, which supports the body’s natural recovery.
Rest, nature and spaciousness. The early afternoon is yours. Sleep by the pool, walk in the hills, read, have a massage, or do nothing at all. Ageing well includes recovering well, and we take this seriously.
Who this retreat is for
This week is for you if you feel your body changing and want to understand it better. It’s for you if you’re curious about what it might feel like to move with ease, or if you have been running at full capacity for a long time and your body is now asking for something else.
No yoga experience needed. No particular fitness level required. Just a genuine curiosity about your own body and a willingness to slow down.
If you have read Taming the Walrus, this retreat is an opportunity to live the science and philosophy of the book, not as theory, but as practice.
A Sense of the Days
The timetable is not set in stone and we can adapt to your needs and preference, but this is an indication of what a day would look like.
Day 1 (Sunday)
Arrival after 2 pm — settle in, rest, evening Breathwork or restorative yoga
19:00 – Dinner
Gather for a relaxed, shared meal
20:30–21:15 – Opening Circle
Days 2–6
7:45–8:15 – OPTIONAL : Meditation
Begin the day in stillness, walking or sitting in awareness
8:15–9:15 – Nourishing Breakfast
Enjoy a slow, wholesome breakfast and connect with others.
9.30 – 12:00 – Morning Practice
Based on participants’ needs, each practice deepens your relationship with your body’s wisdom
Example session: Stress, the nervous system and the vagus nerve
– Meet the vagus nerve, a major communication line between the brain, heart and gut, and part of the system that helps the body calm down after stress.
– Explore how long-term stress affects the nervous system, and how many women find it makes perimenopause and menopause symptoms feel harder to manage.
– Look at the links between chronic stress, inflammation, sleep and energy, and what current research does and doesn’t yet tell us.
– Practise slow breathing and gentle yoga that support the body’s relaxation response.
– Leave with simple daily practices you can use anywhere to help you feel calmer and more at ease.
12:30 – 13:30 – Plant-Based Lunch
Fresh, colourful, and energising meals
13:30 – 17:00 – Relax & Rest or Massage
This is your time to rest, read, write, take a nap by the pool, or enjoy a massage.
17:00 – 18:30 – Afternoon Breathwork
Guided Breathwork, Relaxation, Restorative Yoga or Yoga Nidra
19:00 – Dinner
Gather for a relaxed, shared meal and some laughter, stories…
Day 7 (Saturday)
Early morning practice, breakfast, and farewells
Casa Mukta
We live in a small village, in a cul-de-sac, on an organic farm. We renovated a building into our guesthouse and now have 4 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a breakfast room, a TV snug, a kitchen, a patio. We also have a beautiful bright yoga studio, fully equipped (with props and yoga ropes).
Note that the property is not easily accessible to wheelchairs as there are small steps here and there.
Getting There
The nearest airport is Faro, which is 25 minutes from here. You can also travel by train from Lisbon to Loule train station, which is 10 minutes away.
Investment
To book, please email me at [email protected] to check availability and to make sure this retreat is adapted to your needs.
| Deposit on booking | Balance due date 16th April | Total | |
| Shared room (twin) Price per person | €250 £220 | €700 £600 | €950 £820 |
| Single occupancy Price per person | €250 £220 | €875 £755 | €1,125 £975 |
| Single occupancy (ensuite) only 1 available | €250 £220 | €1,015 £875 | €1,265 £1,095 |
The above prices include accommodation, food (breakfast, lunch & dinner), tea and coffee, yoga, meditation, Breathwork and activities such as walking but exclude extra activities like massage or transfer from and to the airport.
Cancellation policy
If we cancel the event, you get all your money back.
If you are unable to attend the retreat due to a force majeure and cancel your booking at least 30 days before the start of the retreat, we will either send a full refund minus €50 administration fee or we will transfer your payment to another of Veronique’s events if you wish so.
If you cancel your booking later than 30 days before the start of the retreat, we will refund 50% unless we can fill up your spot.
Please note that any refunds issued do not cover personal expenses you have incurred, such as flights or other costs not paid directly to us. We strongly recommend obtaining travel insurance to cover these expenses.