The week runs from a 4pm arrival on day one to an 11am check-out on day seven. Day one is gentle: you settle into your room, there's a welcome ceremony at 5pm, an opening practice with Louise at 5:30pm, dinner at 7:30pm and a Yoga Nidra session at 9pm to send you to bed.

Days two to six follow the same shape. Tea and fruit are out before an 8am meditation, then Louise teaches a 90-minute yoga class at 8:30am. Brunch is at 10:30am, and from noon you're free to walk the grounds, swim, read, or head down to the beach. Snacks and drinks come out at 2pm. From 3:30pm to 6:30pm you're back in the studio for longer sessions of movement, meditation and breathwork. Dinner is at 7pm. On the last morning there's a closing practice at 8am and breakfast at 9:30am before you leave.

What sets this week apart from a hotel-based yoga retreat is the house. You're staying in a private villa with only a handful of bedrooms, a wood cabin and a dome tent, so the group stays small and the place feels like yours. The villa has two outdoor dining tables, an outdoor kitchen with a BBQ and pizza oven, an infinity pool facing the Atlantic sunsets, a sunken fire pit, a fruit orchard, a sensory garden and a permaculture vegetable garden that supplies the kitchen.

Louise de Menthon teaches all the yoga, workshops and meditation and hosts the week. Dom runs the villa and cooks. The two of them plan the food and the schedule around eating well and resting properly, so the menu leans on clean, simple food grown on site.

Melides sits on the quieter southern stretch of the Comporta coast, about an hour and fifteen minutes' drive from Lisbon airport. It's pine forest and rolling hills that run down to long Atlantic beaches, and much less built up than the coast near Lisbon. The villa is secluded, but Melides town is only five minutes away if you want a coffee or a wander.

Extras are kept simple. Ayurvedic massage, other massage and reflexology can be booked on request, with prices on enquiry. Airport transfers are included if you take the recommended flight, so you don't have to sort out a rental car.

What's included

- 6 nights' accommodation at Pinhal da Coutada (7 days) - All meals, snacks and non-alcoholic drinks - Mushroom tea, spirulina shakes and herbal mocktails - Daily yoga classes with Louise - Breathwork sessions - Meditation sessions - Live music evening - Sound session - Somatic dance - Housekeeping for bedrooms, bathrooms and communal spaces - Airport transfers from Lisbon (on the recommended flight)

What's not included

- Flights - Travel insurance - Alcohol - Ayurvedic massage, massage and reflexology (price on request) - Transfers if you can't take the recommended flight

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