JUNE 2027
The Midsummer Sark Yoga & Wellbeing Retreat
Friday 11th - Sun 13th or Mon 14th June 2027
A sacred portal of healing & transformation at Stocks Hotel
Sark. A place where time stands completely still, where the modern world falls away and where the earth’s natural vibration acts as pure medicine for the soul. An ancient, sacred land carpeted in crystals, dark skies and wild cliffside beauty.
You are invited to step across the water and enter The Midsummer Sark Retreat.
Held just a week before the summer solstice, this is not a casual weekend holiday. This is a deeply sacred, spiritual and healing immersion designed to harness the abundance of late-spring light and the potent ley lines of this magical island.
To preserve the sacred intimacy, deep safety, and high-vibrational energy of our circle, this container is strictly capped at 12 spaces.
Join us for two or three nights:
2-night ensuite room shared - £590 per person
2-night ensuite room single occupancy - £786 per person
3-night ensuite room shared - £738 per person
3-night ensuite room single occupancy - £1,032 per person
What’s included
Comfortable, clean and private rooms at Stocks Hotel on a single, double or twin basis, all with free Wi-Fi
A delicious and filling vegetarian brunch, and a healthy nourishing 2-course vegetarian evening meal, provided at Stocks Hotel
All yoga classes which take place in the beautiful Cider Press room at Stocks Hotel
What’s not included
You will need to arrange, book and pay for the boat yourself. The boat times are subject to change and flexibility is absolutely required due to varying tides and weather.
Bike hire
Lunch (if needed) and drinks beyond those offered with meals
Reiki treatments - offered subject to availability to compliment the healing nature of the weekend (additional cost of £85 pp)
Our Sanctuary: Stocks Hotel & The Cider Room
We will be fully held by the hospitality of Stocks Hotel, hidden in Dixcart Valley - an area renowned for its powerful, nourishing and grounding energy. Stocks treats its guests like family, wrapping you in absolute comfort and serving beautiful meals that nurture the physical vessel.
Our practices will take place inside the historic Cider Room on site. This beautiful, rustic space frames panoramic views of the surrounding nature, keeping us safely sheltered yet deeply connected to the elements as we move and breathe.
Accomodation
Comfortable, clean and private rooms are offered at the beautiful Stocks Hotel on a single, double or twin/triple basis, all with free Wi-Fi.
For more information on Stocks, located in the healing and magical Dixcart Valley, please go see here.
Catering
A delicious and filling vegetarian brunch, and a healthy nourishing 2-course vegetarian evening meal also provided at Stocks Hotel. Menus will be distributed ahead of the retreat for pre-ordering. GF options available. Drinks, beyond those offered with the meals, are not included in the cost of the weekend.
The programme
All sessions are completely optional, allowing you to honour your body’s unique rhythm, though you are encouraged to attend to fully absorb the transformative potential of the weekend.
Twice-daily intuitive yoga & meditation: moving away from rigid, forced postures and instead inviting a deep, intuitive conversation with the spine. Through gentle somatic awareness, we listen to the body's gravity, release deep inner tension, and allow movement to unfold naturally from the breath.
Sacred chanting & kirtan: an open, friendly invitation to merge our voices in the ancient science of sacred sound, opening the heart chakra and clearing the energetic body – totally optional.
Deep stillness (yoga nidra, meditation & guided relaxations): sacred spaces dedicated to quietude. Through focused meditation, soothing guided relaxations, and the restorative magic of Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep), you may well drop out of the busy mind and slide into a state of profound nervous system repair and subconscious healing.
The weekend is planned as follows but please allow for flexibility as there may be tweaks nearer the time:
Friday evening: yoga 5.30pm - 7pm, followed by the evening meal
Saturday & Sunday morning: yoga 8:30am – 10am, followed by brunch
Saturday & Sunday evening: chanting & kirtan 5pm, yoga 5.30pm - 7pm, followed by the evening meal
The time between the morning and evening sessions is your free time to immerse yourself in the magic of Sark, enjoy some solitude or have a Reiki treatment.
See below for information about Reiki and things to do on Sark.
Yoga
Emma is an intuitive yoga teacher who works deeply with gravity, breath and awareness to re-awaken the potential of our spine and allow a new harmony, freedom, and fluidity in our body, mind and life generally. Read more about this approach here.
Reiki treatments
To unlock the absolute highest potential of your transformation, you are warmly invited to book a private, 1-on-1 Reiki healing session with Emma over the weekend, in Stock’s treatment space. Reiki will compliment the weekend beautifully and further assist in your healing and personal and spiritual development.
A session costs £85 and will need to be booked with Emma directly in advance.
Find out more info about Reiki here
The Magic of Midsummer on Sark
Between our sacred sessions, you are free to roam, reflect and play in a warm, friendly and non-judgmental atmosphere. Sark is a living playground for the spirit, bursting with the abundance of late spring cliff flowers and endless light. I highly recommend you:
Walk the coastlines and hunt for natural crystals embedded in the rocks.
Meditate at Sark Henge or sit in quiet contemplation at the ancient Sark Dolmen.
Enjoy the late spring flowers abundant on the cliff paths
Wander the romantic, walled paths of the La Seigneurie Gardens.
Swim in the clear sea, cycle the car-free lanes, or simply rest under the sun.
Come as you are. Leave your burdens behind. Step into the midsummer light and remember the sovereign magic that lives inside your own soul.
More ideas of things to do
Sark Henge - built in 2015 to mark the 450 years since Queen Elizabeth I granted the Fief of Sark to Helier De Carteret, Seigneur of St Ouen, on 6th August 1565. ‘One-eye giant’ stones are found in many ancient cultures, used to track the sun and also as portals for love tokens. Many secret meanings of Sark Henge remain to be discovered.
Derrible Bay - from Sark Henge perhaps take a walk down the steep path to beautiful Derrible Bay which offers a wonderful sandy bay at low tide and caves and a creux (cave without a roof that has incredible energy!) to explore – highly recommend! You can swim here too at high tide, off the rocks.
L’Eperquerie - take a stroll out to where, in 1999, a Tibetan Buddhist monk visited Sark, and chose this spot to inscribe a rock with the sacred Buddhist mantra, meaning ‘Hail the Jewel in the heart of the lotus”.
Port du Moulin - here you can also enjoy a high tide swim and a scramble around to the cave where there is pyrite in the rock face, passing the Buddhist carvings on a rock your left on the way.
Grève de la Ville - great for a high tide swim and to watch the light twinkling off the sea, like fairies dancing!
Little Sark - visit the amazing 3,000 year old dolmen and the Venus Pool. This is the only intact dolmen remaining on Sark and is quite amazing whoever established it in the first place. Take your pendulum for dowsing! If the tide is low, you might like to swim in the Venus Pool. On a half tide, there is always a sea swim at Rouge Terrier.
La Grande Grève - fab to explore at low tide, with caves and a view towards Breqhou, there are approximately 360 steps to navigate down and up, and not for the faint hearted, but well worth the effort!
La Seigneurie Gardens - said to be one of the most enchanting gardens in the Channel Islands. Set between flower-strewn walls, mature woodland and the towers and crenulations of one of the most historic buildings in Sark, La Seigneurie Gardens provide a tranquil contrast to the windswept wildness of the island’s beautiful coast.
Dixcart Valley - walking through this ethereal, ancient-feeling woodland will certainly ground and cleanse you, and connect you with the tree spirits! It’s probably one of the most accessible paths to a beach, and Dixcart is lovely for swimming on mid and low tides especially. You can access Dixcart along the beautiful cliffs too.
Cliffs - like Guernsey, the cliff paths in Sark are stunning and make for a lovely walk
Star gazing - you do not need to be an astronomer to appreciate dark skies; they inspire poets, artists and photographers. On Sark, you can really appreciate the night sky, with or without a telescope as you can see a host of stars and planets with the naked eye. Taking a walk at night on Sark can be very rewarding or you can visit the observatory if you would like to learn a little more (up to 8 people in the scope room).
Cycling - Take a cycle around the island, exploring it at your own pace and seeing where the various paths take you, you won’t ever be disappointed
Relax - Sit back at the accommodation, read a book, chat to new friends, enjoy the peace and tranquillity!
Logistics
Getting to Sark
To ensure your pilgrimage is as smooth and peaceful as possible, your travel across the waters is beautifully straightforward:
The ferry: you will arrange and pay for your boat crossing via Isle of Sark Shipping at your own cost.
Effortless arrival: your luggage will be collected directly by the Stocks Hotel team and delivered straight to the venue, allowing you to walk, cycle, or take the tractor-bus up to Dixcart Valley completely unburdened and hands-free.
Tickets need to be booked at Sark Shipping here.
It is absolutely essential that you allow for flexibility. On the 2023 retreat, due to adverse weather, all sailings were cancelled on the Friday except for the morning sailing. On another retreat we were delayed leaving Sark on the final day due to the weather. Please note that we cannot be held responsible for the weather and disruption to crossings.
Getting about on Sark
For £1.80, a tractor can take you up the hill. Bikes can be hired from a number of local places, electric bikes are also available if booked well in advance.
Conditions
Bad weather
As mentioned earlier, due to tides and weather conditions, there is absolutely no certainty with the boat so flexibility is absolutely required on both the outward and return journey. Please note that if the retreat is unable to proceed due to bad weather then your bookings will be transferred to a future retreat. Please ensure that you have travel insurance in place.
Pandemic
Please note that if the retreat is unable to go ahead due to further pandemics, then it will be rescheduled and bookings transferred to the new date (and with the possible option of transferring to another one of our retreats). Refunds will not be available.
Terms and Conditions
We ask that you please read and agree to the terms and conditions here, and please honour these if an unexpected situation arises, regardless of your relationship to Emma.
How do I book?
Click below to a book a space on this retreat!
Please note, a non-refundable deposit of £300 will be required to secure your booking, payable via bank transfer to:
Name: E C Despres
Sort code: 20-35-32
Account number: 73230457
The remaining balance will be due 6 weeks prior to the retreat.