Located on the shores of beautiful Port Stephens just over 2 hours drive from Sydney and 40 minutes from Newcastle, Peppers Anchorage is the perfect place to relax and unwind for a weekend yoga retreat.

Friday 23-Sunday 25 March 2012: Autumn Retreat
Themes: Autumn cleansing, respiration, elimination, improved digestion.

Friday 17-Sunday 19 August 2012: Winter-into-Spring Retreat
Themes: Spring detox, back strength, flexibility, eyesight and stress release.

Designed especially to suit beginners and intermediate levels of experience, each weekend varies to suit the changing needs of the seasons according to Ryoho (a form of yoga therapy combining traditional Indian Hatha poses with the meridian based healing arts of China and Japan). Yoga, meditation, food talks, beach and bush walks are all part of the weekend.

The weekend yoga escape at Peppers Anchorage 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.

From $536 per person, twin share the weekend retreat package includes two nights accommodation at Peppers Anchorage Port Stephens, six Ryoho yoga and meditation classes, a yoga mat, morning beach and bushwalks and a healthy wholefood menu prepared by Peppers Chefs. Optional treatments (at additional cost) available at Shayna Day Spa.

When not stretching out on the yoga mat, guests can enjoy massage and beauty treatments at the onsite Shayna Day Spa and full use of the resort’s leisure facilities including a swimming pool, sauna and the adjacent beach.

For bookings contact Delise McLean at Peppers Anchorage Port Stephens on (02) 4984 0364 or email delise.mclean@peppers.com.au.

Read about Newcastle Herald journalist, Anita Beaumont’s experience on a recent retreat here.

at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa, Kingscliff
with Kris McIntyre & Michele Chevalley Hedge
Friday 28-Sunday 30 October 2011

Nutritionist and author, Michele Chevalley Hedge, will co-host this special weekend for mums and daughters on 28-30 October. The weekend will include luxury accommodation at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa Kingscliff, morning and evening yoga and meditation classes with Kris, sessions on food and nutrition with Michele, healthy and nutritious meals planned by Michele and prepared by Peppers chefs,  pampering at the Golden Door Day Spa* and plenty of mother-daughter bonding time.

Mother & Daughter weekend packages include:

• 2 nights accommodation for Mum & Daughter
• All meals
• 5 yoga classes with Kris
• 2 food & nutrition sessions with Michele
• 1 Zumba class with the Golden Door
• 1 x 50-minute Spa treatment for Mum at the Golden Door *

Prices start at $1,076 per package ($538 per person). Please note that additional Golden Door Spa bookings can be made at a special retreat rate at the time of booking. Conditions apply.*

For bookings contact: Jolene Napper at Salt Conferences & Events, Phone: (02) 6670 5009 or email jolene.napper@conferencesandeventsatsalt.com.au

* Minimum age for bookings at the Golden Door Day Spa is 16 years of age, unless in the same room as a parent or guardian. Bookings at The Golden Door will be taken on a first in, best served basis.

The program

Friday 28 October 2011
6.30-7.30pm     Yoga (The Pavilion Room, Mantra on Salt Beach)
8.00pm               Dinner  (Season Restaurant, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa)
8.40-9.00pm     Welcome & introduction with Kris & Michele (The Pavilion Room)
& Relaxation session with Kris (Bring a pillow, shawl, sarong or blanket)

Saturday 29 October 2011
6.30am                Morning ‘joggle’ with Kris – not a run’ (meet Kris on the beach)
7.00-8.15am      Yoga with Kris: The Pavilion Room, Mantra on Salt Beach)
8.30-9.30am      Breakfast (Season Restaurant, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa)
9.30-11.00am    Food & nutrition session with Michele (Pavilion Room)
11.00-12.00        Zumba with the Golden Door (Pavilion Room)
1.00 -2.00pm     Lunch (Lagoon Poolside, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa)
2.00-5.30pm      Free time and/or Golden Door treatments
5.30-6.30pm      Yoga with Kris (Pavilion Room, Mantra on Salt Beach)
6.45-7.45pm       Dinner (Season, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa)
8.00pm                Free time

Sunday 30 October 2011
6.30am                Morning ‘joggle – not a run’ (meet Kris on the beach)
7.00-8.15am      Yoga with Kris: The Pavilion Room, Mantra on Salt Beach)
8.30-9.30am      Breakfast (Season Restaurant, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa)
9.30-11.00am     Food & nutrition session with Michele (Pavilion Room)
11.00am               Check-out (Lobby Lounge – NB. Luggage can be stored at Reception)
12.00-1.00pm     Yoga with Kris (The Pavilion Room, Mantra on Salt Beach)
1.00-2.00pm       Lunch (Lagoon Poolside, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa)
2.00pm                 Departure or relax at leisure

“The floor is covered with women, legs twisted one way, torsos in the other direction. More than two-dozen heads tilt languorously backwards as Kris McIntyre directs the room to imitate a Hollywood starlet in photographic pose. A few people breathe heavily into the stretch and then, in the next movement, a woman explodes into laughter as her feet slide off the mat, soles slick with sweat.”

Read the full article here

Located in the northwest corner of Western Australia, Broome is one of the most remote towns in Australia. Even more remote is Eco Beach Wilderness Retreat, located 119 kilometres and just over an hour’s drive south of Broome, or 27 nautical miles by boat across Roebuck Bay.

I recently checked out Eco Beach on behalf of Australian Yoga Journal – and I loved what I saw. It’s a special place that on first and lasting impressions is both awesomely authentic and in keeping with the vision for an eco-friendly, sustainable tourism project. It feels like a personal invitation to explore a very loved part of this rugged and beautiful coastline from a place that knows what it is.

On offer is the chance to explore an amazing part of Australia, stay in beautiful accommodation (the Eco Tents are like an Australian version of an African Safari), eat yummy food from their organic garden, relaz and they offer daily morning yoga.

Eco Beach Wilderness Retreat is located 1.5 hours drive south of Broome in Western Australia. Eco Beach also runs yoga retreats with visiting teachers throughout the year and offers group bookings to yoga schools and teachers looking for the perfect venue to host a retreat with tailor-made activities schedules and menus. For bookings and enquiries phone (08) 9193 8015 or visit www.ecobeach.com.au

With my Gen.a hat on, I was captivated by the country’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) index. Landlocked between China and India, it is in many ways centuries removed from the economic giants it share it’s borders with, but underpinned by its policy of GNH it also feels light years ahead of most developed economies in terms of its approach to big issues like sustainable economic development, environmental conservation and looking after its people.

Implemented in the early 1970’s, GNH was part of the former King, Jigme Singye Wingchuck’s visionary modernization plan that sought to build an economy that would serve Bhutan’s unique culture. Grounded in Buddhist values, the premise of GNH is built around the idea that social development takes place when material and spiritual development happen concurrently. In some ways it’s like a national experiment in ‘do what you love and the money will follow’.

A precursor to modern approaches to trying to make the world a better place, GNH is built on four solid pillars including: the promotion of sustainable economic development (including its approach to tourism and the management of its natural resources), the preservation of cultural values and heritage, conservation of the natural environment and good governance.

Before I arrived in this fabled Buddhist Kingdom in the Himalayas, I was captivated and intrigued by the idea of Bhutan. On departure, I am left besotted by its beauty, purity and the devotion of its people.  I also discovered a new aspect of happiness that is not dependent on good things happening, but happiness for its own sake. So maybe this Gross National Happiness thing works. As modernisation and the impact of globalisation creep in, I pray that this rare country will also keep its own single focus and stillness.

Our summer retreat at Peppers Salt Resort is fully booked. We’ll be publishing our 2011 dates soon.

Summer is the season of abundance, creative expression, power and strength – and the perfect season to stretch out on a seaside yoga escape to Peppers Salt Resort & Spa. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, summer is when the fire element is most prominent in the body giving us access to our inner strength, power and a calm still mind.

The retreat is designed for all ability levels from beginners through to experienced.  Based on Ryoho yoga therapy combining traditional Indian Hatha poses with the meridian based healing arts of China and Japan, the Summer Retreat will address specific issues relating to the heart, blood pressure and circulation, whilst at the same time improving our ability to assimilate food, relate to other people and express yourself creatively.

The aim of the retreat is to be a relaxed weekend away in beautiful surrounds with the opportunity to enjoy yoga classes, an indulgent spa treatment and wholesome food. It’s not a ‘hard core’ yoga boot camp’.

Priced from $490* per person twin share, the all-inclusive escape includes two nights accommodation, full buffet breakfast daily, six yoga classes with yoga teacher, author and TV host Kris McIntyre, a yoga mat, Golden Door workshops and demonstrations, a 50 minute Golden Door Spa treatment, wholesome meals inspired by The Golden Door cook book and prepared by Roughie’s Restaurant & Bar, full use of resort leisure facilities, unlimited in-room movies and more.

Non-residential packages are available from $351* per person including all yoga classes, mat, Golden Door Spa treatment, one dinner and two lunches.

Featuring all the luxuries you would expect of one of Australia’s leading resorts, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa offers multiple pools including a large tropical beach lagoon, a network of walking and bicycle tracks, an unspoilt surf beach patrolled 365 days a year at its doorstep, the indulgent Golden Door Spa and award-winning Roughie’s Restaurant & Bar.

Providing the ultimate beach break on South East Queensland’s doorstep, SALT is located just 20 minutes from Gold Coast Airport, 60 minutes from Ballina Airport and less than 90 minutes drive from Brisbane through the new Tugun Bypass.

For bookings or further information phone 02 6674 7777. For more information visit Peppers Salt Resort & Spa.*Conditions apply. Subject to availability.

In the heart of the World-Heritage listed Daintree Rainforest, I discovered an unexpectedly unique spa treatment combined with an authentic Aboriginal eco-tourism experience.

At the start of Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa’s guided rainforest walk our Aboriginal guide, Juan Walker, tells the story of how his grandmother escaped the plight of being part of Australia’s ‘Stolen Generation’.  With news of men on horseback traveling through the area looking to remove Aboriginal children from their families to be placed in state custody, Juan’s grandmother was hidden in a woven ‘dilly bag’ and hung from a tree as the officers passed by.

It’s just one of the fascinating stories that Juan shares about his ‘bama’ (people), country and tribe, the Kuku Yalanji, that have lived in this part of the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest for thousands of years and are claimed to be one of the oldest intact surviving Indigenous communities in the world.

Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa’s site is important in local culture. The property was occupied by forefathers of the Kuku Yalanji tribe and used as a resting place as it provided spring water, an abundance of edible, medicinal plants and bathing holes, including a natural waterfall that to this day is still considered to be sacred to women. Read more …

SOLD OUT: Winter and Spring Retreats coming up

Looking for a perfect excuse to kick start an autumn cleanse or just enjoy a relaxing weekend away in beautiful seaside surrounds? My autumn yoga retreat at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa, Kingscliff NSW (just 15 mins drive from the Gold Coast Airport) will be on the weekend of 12-14 March 2010. The weekend retreat will include accommodation, all meals inspired by the Golden Door Cookbook and prepared by Peppers executive chef Reuben Radonich, yoga classes. talks and seminars by the Golden Door and treatments at the amazing The Golden Door Spa.

About the Weekend
In nature, Autumn is a time of letting go. Trees shed their leaves and drive their roots deeper into the earth, animals make preparations for hibernation and that which is useful is broken down and used for future life cycles; and that which is useless is discarded or eliminated. We are creatures of nature so in the same way, our physicality allows us to ‘grasp’ what we need and let go of what we don’t need. This applies to all aspects of our lives including food, digestion, relationships, concepts and ideas.

We also have our ‘autumn’ period where the body naturally lets go of the old. This is the reason why autumn is a good time to ‘clean out’ and if we don’t do it consciously (through fasting or a safe cleanse) our bodies will step in and do it for us through a cold or flu.  This is the perfect time of the year to deal with digestive and respiratory problems, shoulder aches and pains and heaviness in the thighs and buttocks.

The weekend is designed to give you the option to kickstart and cleanse for Autumn or just enjoy a relaxed weekend away with your partner or a group of friends. It’s not a ‘hard core’, boot-camp style yoga retreat, but you’ll have the opportunity to work hard if you wish to.

The weekend is open to beginners through to advanced practitioners. Non-residential and non-yogi packages (for accompanying companions) are also available.

About Ryoho Yoga
Ryoho (translated as ‘appropriate’) is a unique form of yoga therapy developed by renowned Australian practitioner, Andzrej Gospodarczyk. Ryoho is Andzrej’s interpretation of his studies with Indian yoga guru Iyengar, Japanese Oki-do sensei Masahiro Oki, Zen Shiatsu master Masunaga and founder of the Macrobiotic movement Mishio Kushi. Combining traditional Indian Hatha poses with the meridian-based healing arts of China and Japan, Ryoho uses specific postures and food advice appropriate to the time of the year and to address common health issues. The style also aims to be fun, playful and unconventional in its approach to the body. The classes on the retreat will be suitable for everyone from beginners through to advanced practitioners.

About the Golden Door Spa
The Golden Door Spa at Salt Village is a haven of relaxation and healing located at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa, Kingscliff. Being one of the largest day spas in Australia, The Golden Door boasts 21 treatments areas and offering a large range of spa services including facials, body treatment, healing treatments, massages and hand and pedi spas.

Enjoy our spacious relaxation lounge before or after your treatments and take advantage of our complimentary steam room and spa bath. While you relax, sip our Golden Door signature herbal tea and refreshments on offer.

Included in your Yoga Retreat package is your choice of a 50-minute treatment at the Golden Door Spa: Aromatherapy Massage, Deep Tissue Massage, Kahuna Style Lomi Lomi Massage,  (Facial) Facial a la carte, (Body) Aromatic Salt Glow or  (Feet) Pedi-spa.

The Program:

Friday 12 March 2010
6.30-7.30pm    Yoga
8.00pm            Dinner

Saturday 13 March
6.30am              Morning ‘joggle – not a run’
7.00-8.00am   Yoga
8.00-9.00am    Breakfast
9.00-11.00am  Free time & Golden Door treatments
11.00-12.00     Yoga
12.00-1.00pm Health Cooking Demonstration – Presented by David Hunter, Executive Chef at The Golden Door
1.00-2.00pm    Lunch
2.00-3.30pm    Free time and/or Golden Door treatments
3.30-4.20pm   Women’s Health Workshop (& relaxation time for the boys!) – Hosted by Shirley Kalnins from The Golden Door Health Retreat
4.30-5.30pm    Free time and/or Golden Door treatments
5.30-6.30pm    Yoga
6.45-8.00pm    Dinner
8.00-8.45pm   Massage Workshop hosted by Amanda Varlow from The Golden Door Spa at Salt
8.45- 9.00pm   Relaxation/ Meditation with Kris

Sunday 14 March
6.15am               Morning ‘joggle – not a run
6.30-7.30am    Beach yoga class
8.00-9.00am    Breakfast
9.00am-noon   Free time & Golden Door treatments
12.00-1.00pm  Yoga
1.00-2.00pm    Lunch (Lagoon Poolside, Peppers Salt Resort & Spa
2.00pm            Departure or relax at leisure

Pricing #

# All-inclusive package price per person.
* Non-residential package excludes accommodation and breakfast.

Bookings:  phone Louise Anker on 02 6670 5027 or email louise@conferencesandeventsatsalt.com.au