Pokhara Yoga & Ayurveda Retreat

Overview

Pokhara sits at 822 metres on a lake, with the Annapurna massif twenty-five kilometres north and 7,000 metres higher. On a clear winter morning you can see Machhapuchhre from a yoga mat, which is the reason the town has become the centre of Nepal's retreat industry.

This is a seven-day residential week on a hillside above Phewa Lake: two yoga sessions a day, a meditation session, an Ayurvedic consultation with four treatments, and vegetarian food, most of it grown on site.

The schedule

Mornings start at 06:30 with pranayama and a hatha practice, before the heat and while the mountains are clearest. Afternoons are free. Evenings are yin and restorative, then meditation.

One morning is given to Sarangkot for the sunrise — a pre-dawn drive to the ridge above the lake, where the Annapurnas light up from Dhaulagiri round to Manaslu.

The Ayurveda

A consultation on arrival with a qualified physician: dosha assessment, and a conversation about sleep, digestion and stress. Four treatments follow over the week — abhyanga, the warm-oil full-body treatment, and shirodhara, in which oil is poured in a continuous stream across the forehead, among them.

You leave with a written daily routine. This is complementary practice and is described as such; it does not replace medical care.

Who it suits

People who want a structured week rather than a spa. The schedule is full, the rooms are simple, and the day starts early.

It pairs unusually well with trekking — either as preparation, or as the best possible thing to do with a body that has just walked the Annapurna Circuit.

Best season

October to April. Autumn and winter give the clearest mountain views of the year; spring is warm and green. From late May the monsoon closes the skyline for three months, though the retreat itself runs year-round.