Yoga Retreat with James Cassidy in Portugal - 26 June - 1 July 2023

Accommodation

There are a range of accommodation options. Choose from one of the lovingly restored Xisto stone cottages or for those looking to be even closer to nature, and keep costs down, the Soulpad bell tents offer a immersive yet comfortable experience.

Wherever you stay you will have nearby access to indoor bathrooms and newly built modern showers. There are no en-suite rooms but there are plenty of showers and bathrooms near all the options. Beds are quality Portuguese-made mattresses, all with memory foam toppers, cotton sheets, blankets, mosquito nets, good pillows and duvets. Restorative sleep is an essential part of your retreat with us.

Our SoulPad canvas bell tents are a short walk from our courtyard and Shala and sheltered amongst the trees. Each SoulPad has electricity access and is equipped with wood burning stoves, stocked daily with the materials from the forest you need to keep yourself warm during the colder Spring and Autumn nights. Surrounding the SoulPads you’ll find a number of hammocks and seating spaces to enjoy.

The toilets utilise a dry compost system that both preserves our water and nourishes the lands that surround us. Showers are open air and solar heated, minimising our reliance on electricity and instead utilising the power that is naturally available to us. Gas powered showers are also available nearby whenever needed.

A stay in our SoulPads offers a real insight into a way of life that is tied to our natural surroundings and the changing of the seasons. Immersing you in the daily rituals of a more connected, grounded and sustainable approach.

Our cottages offer an opportunity to experience the local Portuguese style of living. Built using the traditional methods, these buildings retain heat from the fires during the colder months and remain cool during the summer heat. These are shared spaces so perfect for solo travellers or a group travelling together.

FOOD AT VALE DE MOSES

You won't be hungry with three lovingly prepared, delicious and nutritious vegetarian/vegan meals every day. Fresh vegetables, salads and fruit available from the Vale de Moses gardens during the season and from their favourite local greengrocers in Oleiros. Rich in pulses and grains, low in salt and high in fresh herbs and spices. Honey from local wild bees is preferred over sugar.

Their talented plant-based chefs bring passion and joy to their cooking. They have years of experience with vegetarian and vegan food in a variety of settings around the world. Their fusion of ingredients, spices and flavours, according to the principles of Ayurveda, mean every dish is not only tasty but also easy to digest.

Start the day with warming tea, fruit and nuts. After morning practise, they serve a nourishing breakfast of rice, millet, quinoa or buckwheat porridge with fruit salad, toasted nuts and seeds, and freshly squeezed juice. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day when our stomachs are best able to digest. Dinners are light to help us sleep more deeply. Food is plentiful at Vale de Moses.

They are well versed in looking after those who have specific dietary requirements. The majority of their menus are vegan and gluten free. Please do let us know any other requirements in advance and introduce yourself to their chef when you arrive.

TREATMENTS AT VALE DE MOSES

Over the years we have curated a team of intuitive, compassionate and highly knowledgeable therapists. Each specialised in a unique area of natural healing, working on every level of your being from the physical to the energetic self and guided by ancient wisdom. Your therapists will work with you and your body’s own innate healing capacity to realign, cleanse and harmonise.

With each visit we offer you a simple invitation to rest, to take the time for yourself that is often so hard to find. To give yourself over to their trusted, nurturing hands. To reconnect, restore and rebalance.

TUI NA MASSAGE

Chinese Tui Na Massage is a deep tissue treatment on a clothed or covered body excellent for chronic complaints such as whiplash injury, tension, disc problems, rheumatoid arthritis, headaches, migraines, neuralgia, depression, insomnia, chronic strain, frozen shoulder, lumbar pain, and other illnesses of repetitive strain. You will be kneaded into a state of health.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture re-balances the energetic potential of your body by stimulating energetic points or pools of energy through the insertion of needles. Acupuncture examines your physiological and psychological health as a whole to look for patterns of disharmony or imbalance in your body, you are viewed as a whole being in need of re-tuning so to speak. Symptoms of disharmony may be pain in legs, sciatica, insomnia, stress, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, however, in acupuncture the symptoms are treated within the context of the whole of your body.

Energy Healing

One of the greatest benefits of energy healing is stress reduction and relaxation, which triggers the bodies natural healing abilities, and improves and maintains health. Energy healing is a natural therapy that gently balances the body’s life-force and brings health and well being to the recipient.

When the flow of the “Life Force Energy” is disrupted, weakened or blocked, emotional or health problems tend to occur. Imbalances can be caused from many situations occurring in our lives, such as: emotional or physical trauma, injury, negative thoughts and feelings, including fear, worry, doubt, anger, anxiety, negative self-talk, toxicity, nutritional depletion, destructive lifestyle and relationships, neglect of self and lack of love for oneself or others, from emotions that are not expressed in a healthy way.

Energy healing is excellent for healing any physical, mental, emotional and spiritual issues of any kind and it gives wonderful results.

About James Cassidy

Yoga found me about 13 years ago. It started as a purely physical practice then slowly, slowly, bit by bit the more subtle aspects of yoga revealed themselves to me. My body became stronger, my breath deeper, my mind stiller and my attitude, or spirit, more positive. My once a week practice turned into twice a week, three times a week...every day. You get the picture!

I don't just mean standing like a tree or balancing on my head either. You can 'do' yoga walking down the street, interacting with others, doing your job or hobby, watching a sunset and yes, balancing on your head!

After yoga became integral to my being I journeyed to India to study for my 200hr Yoga Alliance Teaching Certification with Tribe Yoga, where ancient teachings were married with modern anatomical focus.

After establishing my teaching practice, I returned to India and travelled to Rishikesh at the foothills of the Himalayas where I completed my 500hr Yoga Alliance certification. Since then I have studied with some of the worlds leading teachers including Richard Freeman, Shiva Rea, David Swenson, Jason Crandell, Max Strom, Rod Stryker, Anodea Judith, Manju Jois and Mimi Kuo Deemer amongst others. I have also completed my advanced Yin Yoga teacher training with the wonderful Norman Blair

In subsequent trips to India I studied Buddhist meditation at Tushita in Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama. Also vinyasa flow, meditation and mantra chanting with Shiva Rea in the holy city of Varanasi. Most recently I spent a month at Kopan Monastery in Nepal in Buddhist study and meditation.

As well as teaching studio classes, I offer private tuition and am an associate teacher on the Centric School of Yoga 200hr TTC.

I continue to be a diligent student of yoga and feel blessed to share my knowledge with others. Namaste to you all.