Yoga District - Yoga Intensive in Winchester, VA

I was feeling the need to get away when I saw that Yoga District was hosting a yoga retreat that was being run by some of my favorite teachers -- Mike Graglia and Hannah Allerdice. I signed up knowing that Mike's classes were the hardest at Yoga District so I knew the classes would be challenging, but figured it would be balanced out by Hannah's calming practice.

It was being held in a huge farmhouse in the country of Winchester, Virginia. We all settled in on Friday night and began with an opening circle sharing why we had all come to the retreat. Many of the individuals knew Mike and Hannah, but several did not. Most were just looking for a way to get away from their day-to-day lives.

Friday night, we had our first practice with Hannah who said she was channeling her inner Mike so her class was harder than it typically is and I really enjoyed it. The dinner was a raw walnut and tomato-based chili over rice with avocado, cilantro, and olives. It was great.

In fact, all of the food was great!  The next day began with meditation followed by fresh smoothies and juices as we prepared for Mike's class. After a 3-hour kick-my-butt class, we were all ready for some grub. For lunch, we were served three delicious, raw salads. There was a marinated mushroom salad with fresh herbs, a beet salad with scallions, and a cabbage salad with carrots and raisins.

After that, we took a walk, then took a nap, and prepared for our next class. After another 2-hour yoga class with Hannah, it was dinner time. For dinner, we were served a delicious sweet potato curry dish with kale. Scrumptious!  For dessert, we had macaroons!

We stayed up for a while doing Thai massage on each other and just relaxing.

Sunday morning started with meditation and fresh juice and smoothies again. Then we all headed into our last 3-hour class with Mike. By this point, many realized this was more of a yoga intensive than it was a retreat as 10 hours of hardcore yoga is pretty intense.  We ended the day with fresh raw collard green wraps filled with nut cheese, hummus, and lots of veggies.

Oh, and did I mention there was a yoga kitty as well? So cute.

This was a great retreat/intensive filled with awesome like-minded people, great teachers, intense yoga, and delicious, healthy vegan food. I'm already looking forward to my next one.