Latvia & Norway Yoga Weekends with a Pharmacist-Turned-Yoga Teacher

Olga Hodasēviča runs these retreats herself, and her day job is pharmacy. That background shows up in how she teaches: a lot of attention to breath, spinal alignment, and how to move without aggravating old injuries. If you've got a desk job and a stiff lower back, the instruction tends to be specific about what to change rather than just telling you to relax.

The Latvia summer weekend runs 16–18 August 2019 — two nights, arriving Friday and leaving Sunday. It's held on a country property in Latvia, which means a garden or open ground for outdoor practice if the weather cooperates, and indoor space if it doesn't. Days follow a rough pattern of early morning practice before breakfast, a longer session late morning, free afternoon, and a gentler evening class. Meals are included and served on site. Guests sleep on site, so there's no driving back and forth — you just walk from your room to the practice space.

The Norway retreat is the bigger trip: 22–27 August 2019, five days. Olga runs it at a set location where guests stay and eat on site, with more practice time per day than the Latvian weekend and space in the schedule for walking in the surrounding area. Norway in late August is still light late into the evening, which is a real difference if you're used to practising indoors at dusk.

What separates these from the large retreat operations is simply size and who's teaching. There's no roster of guest instructors — Olga leads the classes, and the group is small enough that she can correct you individually. That also means the retreats are only announced via her own channels, with email as the way to book.

Both trips are one-off 2019 dates rather than a rolling calendar. The Latvian weekend is the low-commitment option — two nights, close to Riga, easy to fit around a working week. Norway is for people who want to go deeper and don't mind travelling further for it.

What's included

- Accommodation on site for the duration of the retreat - Meals during the retreat - Daily yoga sessions led by Olga Hodasēviča - Breathing, meditation and relaxation practices - Individual adjustments and guidance during classes

What's not included

- Travel to and from the retreat venue - Travel insurance - Any transport during free time - Personal expenses - Treatments or services not listed by the organiser