I’ve locked in the dates for my 2012 weekend yoga retreats at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa with The Golden Door Spa at Salt Village on the North Coast of New South Wales.

Designed especially to suit beginners and intermediate levels of experience, classes for each weekend will vary to suit the changing needs of the seasons according to Ryoho Yoga Therapy.

17-19 February 2012: High Summer Retreat
Themes: good digestion, weight loss, improving energy levels and kicking sugar cravings!

18-20 May 2012: Mother & Daughter Retreat
Themes: women’s health, sugar cravings, stress release and core strength.

20-22 July 2012: Winter Retreat
Themes: lower back strength, stress release and sexual energy.

12-14 October 2012: Summer Retreat
Themes: power & strength, upper back release, blood pressure & circulation, happy hearts!

Based on the teachings of my renowned teachers, Andzej Gospodarczyk and Lisa Foster, Ryoho yoga combines traditional Indian Hatha yoga with the principles of Yin and Yang, the Five Element Theory and the healing arts of China and Japan. In addressing specific conditions through yoga and food advise, it is also efficient and effective in dealing with conditions ranging from back and neck pain to women’s health issues, weight control, joint problems, stress, anxiety, respiratory and circulatory problems.

My aim in creating these retreats with Peppers and the Golden Door was to create a yoga escape that is approachable, both financially and in terms of accessibility of the program – something that sits between the existing offerings of intense, strict and often expensive health retreats and, at the other end of the scale, the more hippie, bunk-style intense yoga camps which aren’t for everyone.

The weekend yoga escape at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa isn’t a yoga ‘boot camp’ and we don’t have any ‘rules’… we instead provide a platform for attendees to get as much as they want out of the weekend.

Priced from $557* per person twin share, the all-inclusive escape includes two nights accommodation, full buffet breakfast daily, five  Ryoho yoga and meditation classes with yoga teacher Kris McIntyre, a yoga mat, workshops and Zumba hosted by The Golden Door, a 50 minute spa treatment at The Golden Door Spa, wholesome meals including lunch supper on Friday and lunch and dinner on Saturday inspired by The Golden Door cook book and prepared by Peppers Salt Resort & Spa’s  onsite restaurant Season, full use of resort leisure facilities, unlimited in-room movies and more.

Non-residential packages are available from $407* per person including all yoga classes, mat, The Golden Door Spa treatment, one dinner and two lunches.

When guests aren’t striking a pose, they can step out into nature and enjoy a network of beachside walking and bicycle tracks, unspoilt surf beaches, the resort’s large tropical beach lagoon pool, or head to The Golden Door Spa for a wide range of soul soothing spa treatments.

Peppers Salt Resort & Spa is located just 15 minutes from Gold Coast Airport, 60 minutes from Ballina Airport and less than 90 minutes drive from Brisbane.

For bookings call Jolene Napper at Conferences and Events at Salt on 02 6670 5027 or email jolene.napper@conferencesandeventsatsalt.com.au.

Read Lance Richardson’s article in the Sydney Morning Herald here.