Top 10 Yoga Retreats

When scouring the Internet for the top 10 yoga retreats, there are some characteristics of the facilities, organizers, and even gurus that come to the surface time and again. While it is next to impossible to rate the top 10 yoga retreats by either location, discipline, or spiritual exercise, there is a way to differentiate the attributes of these events and summarize them into a handy glossary that will help you choose whether or not to attend the next retreat you see advertised.

First on the list is the facility. The setting is toward the top of the list of the top 10 yoga retreats. While it does not matter what state you are in, or even which country you may be visiting when a retreat is being held, the setting of the facility itself must be conducive to contemplation, quiet introspection, as well as mental regeneration. Thus, if your retreat is being held at a downtown luxury hotel, the odds of finding mental regeneration is slim; on the other hand, the little known hotel outside of town, in the middle of nowhere by the river, in the mountains, at the edge of the desert, or facing the lake during off season might be just what you are looking for! By and large, you will want to avoid retreats that are being hosted at local area hotels where bustling waiters, concierges, guests, and others will interfere with your attempts to achieve a higher state of mind.

Secondly, it appeared that the top 10 yoga retreats feature a balanced mix of spirituality and physical exercise. Unless the retreat is specifically billed as a spiritual breakthrough experience or a physical workout the likes of which never seen before, you probably will benefit from a healthy mix. The best events cleverly build on the heightened ability to achieve introspection by alternating physical exertion with meditative contemplation.

Another aspect common to the top 10 yoga retreats is the issue of food, dining, and also snacking. While spiritual and physical health is part and parcel of the yoga experience, the food choices offered at a retreat will spell success or failure for many attendees. If the food offered is outlandish, hard to prepare at home, and by and large not quite palatable to the attendees, then the odds of the occasional bags of snack chips cropping up is good. On the other hand, if local ingredients are used to create a scrumptious fare that may be prepared at home with just a bit of input and guidance, then the retreat will be a resounding success on more levels than one.