A nourishing week in the Algarve to come home to your body
Are you unhappy with the way your body feels? Struggling with persistent aches and pains, or feeling a bit heavier than usual?
Sometimes, the body doesn’t need to be pushed or fixed. Sometimes it just needs attention. By shifting your focus to gentle awareness, you can bring your body back into perfect harmony and remind it of what it already knows how to do.
This is a retreat about feeling better: in your body, in your breath, in the rhythm of a week that belongs entirely to you.
Set in the hills of the Algarve, at Casa Mukta (our small, warm guesthouse on an organic farm) this retreat welcomes a maximum of seven participants. It is for anyone 45 and over who has noticed that their body is changing, asking for something different.
You will move, breathe, rest and eat well. You will understand more about what is happening in your 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, yoga… The aim is to move smarter. To feel the difference between effort and ease.
Understand Your Changing Body Through conversation and guided exploration, we’ll look at what is actually happening inside the body as we age (chronic inflammation, stress and the nervous system, fascia and how it responds to movement). Not as a lecture, but as a living experience of the body we are actually in.
Reconnect From the Inside Out In the late afternoon, we’ll do some breathwork to settle the nervous system and reconnect with your own rhythm. Yoga nidra, meditation or relaxation to bring deep rest, the kind of rest that the body needs to repair.
Rest, Nature and Spaciousness The early afternoon is yours. Sleep by the pool. Walk in the hills. Read. Receive a massage. 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. If you are curious about what it might feel like to move with ease. 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 the book Taming the Walrus, this retreat is an opportunity to live the science and philosophy in 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 focusing on the Vagus Nerve, Chronic Stress & Inflammation
– Learn about the vagus nerve, the direct highway between your brain, gut, and heart that acts as your body’s natural brake pedal for stress.
– Discover how chronic stress alters your nervous system, worsening perimenopause and menopause symptoms like hot flashes, mood shifts, and night sweats.
– Understand how a dormant vagus nerve fails to turn off inflammation, leading to stubborn ‘midlife aches,’ stiff joints, bloating etc.
– Explore why a stressed nervous system keeps you stuck in ‘fight-or-flight,’ causing midnight waking, brain fog, etc.
– Explore soothing yoga and breathwork practices designed to immediately stimulate your vagus nerve.
– Walk away with quick daily exercises you can use anywhere to cool inflammation, lower anxiety, and reclaim your energy.
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.