Saoirse Yoga & Vipassana Meditation Retreat in the Czech Republic

Each day follows roughly the same shape. At 8:00 there's Saoirse Yoga, then breakfast at 9:30. At 11:30 it's Yoga Nidra or a flute meditation, followed by Vipassana at 12:30, then lunch at 13:00. There's a gap in the afternoon before the 17:00 yoga workshop, the 18:30 evening meal, and a meditation workshop at 20:00. Days 1 and 6 are shorter — you arrive any time after 16:00 on the first day, dinner is at 18:30, and the last day wraps up after lunch around 14:00.

The five afternoon workshops each take a different theme. The first covers twisting and balancing postures, using Samasthiti to work with Prana and bring lightness to movement. The second is back bending — how to work toward deeper backbends and what that does for breathing and nerve pathways. The third is inversions and hand balance, which is the most physically demanding of the five. The fourth is Pranayama, covering the main breathing practices and how to fold them into your own sequence. The fifth is Vipassana itself, going deeper into the technique and how it interrupts ingrained reaction patterns.

The yoga here is not a gentle stretching holiday. Saoirse is built on the challenging end of Ashtanga, so you'll be doing demanding asanas and pranayama, and the meditation is Vipassana — long stretches of sitting and observing. What makes it different from a standard yoga retreat is that the two halves are designed to work together: the physical practice is explicitly there to prepare you for the sitting. If you already practise Ashtanga Vinyasa, this slots in well. If your main interest is going deeper into meditation, the yoga is the doorway.

The centre is in Bělá nad Svitavou, a small village in the Czech countryside. It's quiet, wooded, and there's a steep road up to the house. Guests are collected from the train station at Březová nad Svitavou, roughly 3km away — or you can walk it through the forest in about 45 minutes to an hour. Trains run there from Prague, Prague Airport, Brno, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. Driving from Brno takes about 52km north; from Prague it's 204km via the D11 and road 37.

What's included

- Daily Pranayama and Saoirse Yoga classes - Daily asana workshop - Daily yoga philosophy discourse - Vipassana and Yoga Nidra meditation sessions - Meditation workshops each evening - 2 vegetarian or vegan meals per day - Dormitory accommodation or camping - Pickup from Březová nad Svitavou train station

What's not included

- Travel to and from the Czech Republic - Transport to Březová nad Svitavou or Bělá nad Svitavou (pickup from the station is provided) - Travel insurance - Personal expenses - Additional meals and snacks outside the two daily meals