A Weekend of Wellbeing on Sark
An intimate yoga retreat
Maximum 10 spaces available
Join us for two or three nights. An intimate retreat, maximum 10 students. Immerse yourself in a healing and nurturing environment. Take time for you. Just be.
2-night ensuite room shared - £495 per person
2-night ensuite room single occupancy - £635 per person
3-night ensuite room shared - £610 per person
3-night ensuite room single occupancy - £820 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 also provided at Stocks Hotel.
All five Tantric Hatha yoga classes and taking place in the beautiful Cider Press room at Stocks Hotel with wooden floors and beautifully held by nature.
What’s not included
Your boat will need to be booked, paid and arranged independently from the retreat. The boat times are subject to change and flexibility is absolutely required due to varying tides and weather.
Bike hire - we recommend AtoB Cycles but there are other choices should you wish to hire a bike.
Lunch (if needed) and drinks taken beyond those offered with the meals.
Reiki treatments will be offered subject to availability to compliment the healing nature of the weekend, at an additional cost of £80 per person.
The programme
The yoga classes are held in the Cider Room in Stocks Hotel, a lovely space for yoga. The classes are due to take place as follows but please allow for flexibility as there may be small tweaks nearer the time:
Friday evening yoga 5.30pm-7pm.
Saturday morning yoga 8am – 9.30am
Saturday evening yoga 5.30-7pm
Sunday morning yoga 8am – 9.30am
Sunday evening yoga 5.30-7pm
The yoga classes
The word 'Yoga' is derived from the Sanskrit root 'Yuj', meaning 'to join' or 'to yoke' or 'to unite' and this is exactly what we will be doing on this retreat - uniting body, mind and soul so that you leave feeling more more whole, centred and clear than when you arrived. The retreat will support your healing and ongoing personal and spiritual development.
Emma weaves together various Tantric yoga techniques including asana (postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), mantra (sound), yantra (visualisation), mudra (hand gestures) and various relaxation and meditation techniques including Yoga Nidra. Emma tries to share Reiki where she can.
Tantric yoga is essentially about expanding and liberating, freeing vital energy so that we experience greater freedom on all levels of being, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic. The practices seek to free the spine so that the energy can move more freely.
Classes are suitable for all levels of ability and experience, except those new to yoga (i.e. who have never stepped on a yoga mat previously), who have chronic conditions and/or injuries who require one to one attention. All classes are optional but to get the most from the weekend, you are encouraged to attend the classes where you can.
Please note that students of the Sark Yoga Community may join the Sunday evening class.
Accommodation
Comfortable, clean and private rooms are offered at the beautiful Stocks Hotel on a single, double or twin basis, all with free Wi-Fi.
For more information on Stocks, located in the healing and magical Dixcart Valley, please go see here.
Meals
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. Drinks, beyond those offered with the meals, are not included in the cost of the weekend.
Getting to Sark
Tickets 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 £1.50 a tractor can take you up the hill.
Bikes can be hired from a number of local places, we recommend A to B cycles here. Electric bikes are available if booked well in advance.
Reiki treatments
Reiki treatments with Emma will absolutely compliment the weekend and further assist in your healing and personal and spiritual development, cost is £80 and the sessions will take place in Stock’s treatment space. Please book with her directly at emma@beinspiredby.co.uk. More info about Reiki here.
There will be time to enjoy additional activities as detailed below. Sark Island is a true gem, and we encourage you to explore or simply rest at your own leisure. This is your retreat and we ask you to take responsibility for your own experience, everything that is suggested, including classes, is entirely optional.
What else is there to do on Sark over the weekend?
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!
Booking & 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?
Step 1) Please click here or the button below to book your space on the retreat.
Step 2) A non-refundable deposit of £200 is required at the time of booking, to be paid directly to Emma by bank transfer to the following account:
Sort code: 20-35-32
Account number: 73230457
Name: E C Despres
Step 3) Contact Emma at emma@beinspiredby.co.uk to reserve your accommodation, stating how many nights you will be staying and the room type you want.
Please note that the balance is due 6 weeks prior to the retreat.