Farm Retreat in Rural Denmark with Daily Meditation, Gentle Yoga and Vegetarian Cooking

Ananda Gaorii sits on 13 hectares of farmland in Vig, about an hour from Copenhagen. The centre runs different programmes through the year, so what you actually do depends on which one you book. Standard yoga and meditation retreats run twice a year, in April and October. Yoga detox retreats run in March and September. Meditation intensives run in May and November — for example, the Meditation Teacher Training arrives 27 May with teaching from 28 May to 3 June. There's also a spiritual adventure retreat with canoeing and hiking in May or June, a six-day spiritual activist retreat in July that combines yoga and meditation with workshops on social change, women's retreats, spiritual warrior camps, and an accredited 200-hour yoga teacher training in August.

On any of these, the furniture of the day is the same. Yoga postures in the morning — gentle, controlled movements synchronised with the breath, starting with warm-ups. Meditation sessions led by monks and nuns who have spent their lives practising; the course content covers mantra meditation, visualisation, working with the breath, mindfulness and practical yoga philosophy. Meals are vegetarian and cooked on site, and there are vegetarian cooking classes with teachers like Dada Ambareshvarananda if you want to take something home. Free time in the afternoon is yours: walk the fields, sit in the garden, read, or help out on the farm if you'd rather be useful than still.

What separates this from a resort yoga week is that the people teaching are residents. Dada Krsnasevananda teaches the weekly online meditation sessions; Dada Ambareshvarananda leads the Cook 'n' Dine vegetarian classes. The teaching isn't a contractor flown in for the season — it's the same monks and nuns you eat dinner with. The centre also runs a 200-hour accredited yoga teacher training each August, so the instruction is substantive rather than ornamental.

The location matters here. Vig is rural Zealand, farmland in every direction, and after dark it's genuinely quiet. Copenhagen is reachable — the centre also has a city address on Kongelundsvej — but most people come out here to be away from it. The farm grows a lot of what gets eaten.

Costs are kept low because the whole organisation runs on a non-profit basis, and because retreats are staffed with a mix of residents and volunteers. If a few days of farm quiet, sitting practice and vegetarian food sounds better than a schedule packed with excursions, this is the place. If you want a spa, an a la carte restaurant or a sunset cocktail, it isn't.

What's included

- Accommodation at the Ananda Gaorii farm and retreat centre for the length of the programme - All vegetarian meals, cooked on site and largely grown on the farm - Daily yoga sessions with warm-ups, postures, regulated breathing and deep relaxation - Daily meditation sessions with monks and nuns - Practical yoga philosophy teaching - Self-massage and relaxation sessions - Use of the gardens and farmland for walking - Evening programmes and group sessions - Option to help with farm and garden tasks

What's not included

- Travel to and from Vig, Denmark - Transport between Copenhagen and the retreat centre - Travel insurance - Personal expenses - Any additional personal instruction arranged separately