This retreat is now SOLD OUT.

Reconnect with Mother Nature, your resilient core being and fun-loving compassionate community on a 3-day Yoga in Nature wellness retreat with Michelle Chua by the Pacific Ocean.   ​
This retreat is for you if you’re seeking space to… 
  • Step outside of your daily momentum for personal reflection
  • Explore immune-boosting healthy lifestyle activities
  • Learn and practice yogic and mindful ways to de-stress and balance your inner and outer being
  • Reframe your perspective to alchemize your struggles into compassion, strength and insight
  • Gather with like-hearted people physically-distanced outdoors in nature 
  • Re-inspire your childlike joy and ability to immerse in the present moment
  • Cultivate soul-centered relationship to life, the world and those who walked the planet before us
LOCATION AND ACTIVITIES
 
Nestled on over 300 acres of seaside land about 20 miles north of Santa Barbara, our nature lodging offers both simplicity and luxury.  
Nourish your whole being with locally-sourced plant-based meals, nature walks in the surrounding protected state park and free time strolling the nearby beach.
Energize yourself each morning with Vinyasa Flow Yoga and Meditation.  Relax with evening Yin Yoga and guided introspective practices.
Enjoy nature lodging amenities, such as swimming pool and complimentary bike rentals or book spa services on-site at additional cost. 
Celebrate your aliveness and connect in the spirit of community through campfire rituals.
MEET YOUR RETREAT HOST + YOGA FACILITATOR
Michelle Chua has been facilitating yoga classes full-time since 2010, when she founded Root 2 Rise Yoga.  Through hosting yoga retreats in California and abroad in Bali and Costa Rica, she loves to share her main passions: healthy active lifestyle, attuning with nature, yoga with meditation, personal growth, community connection among diverse beings, eating healthy delicious meals and empowering joy and creativity through play and movement arts.
Michelle's intention for this retreat is to provide a fun, reverent, creative, revitalizing, courageous and supportive space for people of different backgrounds to connect with each other genuinely and with deep presence, align to their inner wisdom, feel lighter and re-charged and renew their ability to see the pure love that's in all of life, including themselves.  
COMMUNE WITH NATURE AND YOUR INNER NATURE
 
Set on an ancient Chumash celebration site, people of diverse backgrounds are welcome to join us wholeheartedly, playfully and reverently to reunite with nature as our teacher.  Autumn’s falling leaves and changing colors reflect the beauty of life’s inevitable ebb and flow. Nature, in all her wisdom, guides us through cycles of rest, renewal, release and reinvigoration. Change is the only constant, and our perspective shapes our reality.  Let’s open our hearts and minds to reframe our lens with loving curiosity and follow nature’s lead in shedding inhibiting mind-body patterns to awaken our inherent peaceful vitality. Gift yourself a breath of perspective and let that empowerment overflow into the communities you touch when you return home.
Meet Ayurvedic Chef, Nimita Dhirajlal, of Nimita's Cuisine in Santa Barbara.  She'll be preparing our lunch and dinner on the retreat!
Picture
One of my dreams come true was to delight in being able to present the alchemical spices to the inmates taking a break from their chaotic lives at the Santa Barbara County Jail. It was in these still moments that the Ayurvedic elements could be most admired and appreciated. The colors, aromas, medicine and a treat to the palette were fully experienced with curious eyes. A satisfied feeling in my belly as I would hear someone saying over a mouthful of a vegetarian curry, “so, did you say tumeric is good for the memory?” The spices had already started their magic in stirring their curiosity.
I prided myself secretly in being an alchemist of spices, but little did I know that I would soon to be graduating to a kitchen at a monastery under the guidance of a pure, traditional and Vedic master of spices.

In the monastic heavens nestled in the mountains of Carpinteria, Swami Vydhiadishananda Giri, a noble Hymalayan monk, taught me daily with such sweet patience the art behind Ayurvedic cooking. A meditation in itself it becomes, designed to respect each spice in its full essence, to envelope these with healing, local, organic vegetables and to cook these at slow heat, ever so mindfully as we monitor our thoughts. When the dish is savored after such a ritual, you can feel so much gratitude in the way the body receives the Ayurvedic remedies that you know immediately that it’s got to be good for you.
Energize and ground your being with a superfood-enriched breakfast with seasonal fruit and warming spices from our oatmeal buffet!
Breath of Perspective Fall Retreat Includes:
 
  1. 2 nights, 3 days accommodation at nature lodging
  2. Use of on-site swimming pool and bikes
  3. 5 deliciously plant-based, healthy and locally-sourced meals from dinner on Day 1 to breakfast on Day 3 
  4. 4 Yoga in Nature group sessions facilitated by Michelle Chua (includes guided meditations, morning Vinyasa Flow and evening Yin/Restorative Integrative Yoga)
  5. 2 Campfire rituals for honoring our ancestors on Day of the Dead (Nov. 1st), intention-setting, purification/renewal and gratitude celebration
  6. Optional group nature walks and visit to local farm and nearby beach
  7. Access to nature trails and protected state park
  8. Welcome gift from Root 2 Rise Yoga
  9. ​Your retreat price also includes Santa Barbara's 12% Tourism Tax, Tourism Business Improvement Fees and the nature lodging's occupancy tax.
TENTATIVE ITINERARY

MONDAY, NOV. 1 (Day of the Dead)
4:00pm Arrival: Check-In to your accommodation
4:30pm Join us on the canopy-covered deck for tea 
4:45-5:30 Opening Circle and Ritual (Honoring the land, our ancestors and what we hold sacred from our diverse roots)
5:40-6:45 Yin + Restorative Yoga with Breathwork, Soundbath, Gratitude Meditation (to ground from travel and set personal intentions for our retreat) and Journaling
7:15-8:30 Dinner in nature
 
 TUESDAY, NOV. 2
8:00-9:00am Vinyasa Flow Yoga with Breathwork and Meditation on Self-Compassion and Befriending Difficult Emotions  
9:30-10:45 Breakfast by the cabins
10:45-1:30pm Free Time: Optional group hike, visit to organic farm, walk to the beach, ride bikes, swimming at the pool, wander the campground, visit the on-site market, lounge at your accommodation or just go with the flow!
1:30-2:45 Lunch in Nature
2:45-4:00 Free Time to play however you choose, together or solo!
4:00-5:45 Integrative Yoga: Yin + Restorative Yoga, Breathwork, Metta (Loving Kindness) Meditation, Journaling and Conversation on Power of Perspective (Explore thought-monitoring mindfulness techniques and yogic teachings to help alchemize struggle into compassion, insight and strength.) 
6:00-7:15 Dinner in nature
8:00-9:00 Campfire Purification and Celebration Ritual, Shed and Renew Like Autumn, with Soundbath Under the Stars 
 
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3
7:00-8:30am Vinyasa Flow Yoga with Breathwork, Meditation, Journaling and Closing Circle
9:00-10:00 Breakfast 
10:45-11:00 Check-out from Accommodations
ACCOMMODATION CHOICES
Early Bird rates end September 1, 2021.  
For *shared accommodations, please secure your own roommate prior to registration.  
(1) Cedar Cabin: Single or Shared for 2 People
The cabin has a queen bed and 2 twin sleeping pads with linens in the upstairs sleeping loft, accessible by secured ladder.  It includes a kitchenette with coffee maker, bar-size refrigerator, microwave, kitchen sink and private bathroom with shower.  The cabin has a porch with 2 deck chairs and an outdoor grill, fire-pit and picnic table for our group meals. 
 
Early Bird Single Cabin  $1015
After Sept. 1st  $1065
 
Early Bird *Shared Cabin  $725 Per Person
After Sept. 1st  $775 Per Person
(2) Safari Tent: Single or Shared
The canvas tent measures 12’ x 14’ and is built on a raised wooden deck. It includes 2 double beds, linens and towels, bedside tables, a storage trunk, electric lamps and a space heater. It also has screened windows and zip down flaps.  Outside is a picnic table, grill and fire-pit.  Modern, clean and private bathroom and shower facilities exclusively for Safari Tent campers are conveniently located in nearby buildings.
 
Early Bird Single Tent  $780
After Sept. 1st  $830

Early Bird *Shared Tent  $600 Per Person
After Sept. 1st  $650 Per Person

To register for this retreat...

1. Complete the retreat form.
2. When space is confirmed for your reservation, submit 50% as deposit or all of your full retreat amount to secure your accommodation.  Full retreat amount is due by October 1, 2021.  See payment options and cancellation policy on registration form below.
If you have any questions about this retreat, ​email here.