Dancing Yolates Retreat
Dance into a new version of yourself!
Probe your body in whole new ways
in the wildest surroundings:
In Zanzibar, with a view over the Indian Ocean, three Danish women safely guide you through a transformative
week focusing on inner peace and balance.
-And it works, even for a skeptical business women!
Hotel visits and holidays don’t have to be just about relaxing and having fun.
And Tiensuu@hotels loves to visit hotels with a strong purpose and I promise you this is it!
I find myself in paradise on Zanzibar surrounded by palm trees and an azure blue sea wondering why I am are standing in the middle of a group of women that I didn’t know a few days previously, with tears running down my cheeks. The answer can be Wellness.
I signed up for Dancing Yolates retreat ;- a week of dance, yoga, yolates, meditation, talking, relaxing, healthy living and lots of laughs, all perfectly organized by three very strong and talented women. They each have their unique talent, and in this group they live it out completely.
Three very strong and talented women
Camilla has worked with local initiatives in Zanzibar to improve public health on the island and has the travel agency, Maishamove where she organizes wellness retreats in the most amazing locations, where mind, body and soul are the focus.
Mikkala Marilyn Kissi has combined her dance education with basic yoga principles and developed the discipline of Living Yolates. Her fusion of yoga, meditation and the sliding movement of dance becomes an intense workout. In recent years, she has trained over 100 instructors in her method. The intention with her work is to open up to your essence, joy of life and your own unique power.
Toniah Pedersen began her career as a dancer in clubs and the theatre and is recognized as one of the best choreographers in Denmark. She choreographs major TV shows and coaches participants in talent shows and she brings these experiences with her to Zanzibar.
Because both dancers Mikkala and Toniah, are used to working with people of different levels of training, they push you to your extreme without leaving you behind. By bringing together what each of the three have to offer, they create a week of varied and challenging experiences in some very special surroundings.
The energy that they bring spreads quickly to the whole group, and you feel an incredible joy and a strong presence. There are lots of laughs, even when it is VERY hard, yet it loosens up and all the participants quickly become a lovely, unified group.
After a few days at the Dancing Yolates Retreat, all participants have gone through their own little crises, shifting something within, whether they are athletes, long-time yoga practitioners or business women who have never really explored their own body through physical activity. It is actually the daily meditation that opens us up to things that can only now be properly treated. It can be tumultuous, but because it happens in a safe environment and everyone is on an equal footing, it becomes such a powerful experience.
Coming as one who isn’t used to hard physical activity- or, not even thinking about it in a stressful everyday -the experience is incredibly strong. In one week, I went through 28 hours of intensive training and I realized just how much the body is capable of. Even if you think you are too old or too out-of-shape, this retreat is still for you.
NOTHING TO STEAL THE FOCUS
You come to Sunshine Marine Lodge on the northern tip of Zanzibar's main island, Ugunja, after driving for quite some time along a dirt road. Along the way you come across naked children playing in front of huts, women with big baskets balancing on their heads and you really feel that you have come to Africa. Then the four-by-four turns onto a bumpy dirt road and drives up to a heavy metal gate, and behind it the lush oasis reveals itself with small huts between the palm trees and the beach with the most beautiful, azure blue water.
We have arrived at the hotel Sunshine Marine Lodge, and there is nothing to steal your attention out here; you can focus on what you came here for.
The week
Each day during the weeklong stay begins at sunrise, where you eat some fruit before meeting with the rest of the group in the yoga room. Here you do Yolates for two hours, where the classic yoga poses are slowly increased in tempo until what you are really doing is dancing, and you are out of breath and sweating from the workout.
Between 10-5pm there is free time, where you can swim, use the dive centre (which is part of the resort), go for walks along the beach or just hang out and talk to the other amazing women from the group. And yes! The other women…. That’s another thing to get used to: spending a whole week with 19 other women you don't already know. You quickly become friends and have fun together, because in advance you have something to give each other: the three organizers take great care in getting the participants within the group to fit with each other's chemistry. That is in fact important before you can get a spot on the team!
It can seem difficult to make that happen, but Mikkala and Toniah are professionals and know what it takes to get people to go through the inner and outer transformation that the stay promises for the individual. Everyone comes here eager to undergo personal development, and when they are simultaneously cast as they are, it also means meeting some inspirational types that are exciting to talk to. It has been ensured in advance that you are at roughly the same wavelength with each other and everyone has something to offer.
At 5 pm, participants meet with Toniah
and dance for two hours. It's demanding if you are inexperienced; the steps and moves can be hard to follow and you can feel that some of the exercises go very deep. You feel your body in a different way than what you are used to. It's a pretty amazing feeling, but it can also be depressing when you suddenly stand there and can’t follow the steps , because you are so exhausted that you don’t even know where your heels are. And then you suddenly succeed, without knowing how, and it feels like a huge victory. Toniah has this very special energy and vibe around her that you simply feel special just being in her company. She is the groovy itself.
Mikkala and Toniah work together on the theme of the day, some days the focus is on DETOX & MIND, on others it is POWER & INNER STRENGTH. This gives the week a strong direction.
While the exercises are on, you can occasionally see participants standing with tears running down their cheeks, simply because they are challenging their inner as well as outer development. But Mikkala and Toniah’s incredible energy makes the tears quickly turned to laughs again: one has won; one has broken a barrier. Suddenly, you become very aware of where your buttocks end and your back begins, or you discover a muscle group that you didn't even realize you had!
It can also happen when you force yourself to sit completely still for a long time and try to shut down all the thoughts that knock around your head.
You let go and loosen control, and that experience can be so liberating that it releases some energy and emotion that you have difficulty to control - nor is it intended to control them. Instead, a safe space has been created here to help you let go.
UNPRETENTIOUS ATMOSPHERE
The familiarity in the group means that the mood stays informal. Although it is a yoga and meditation retreat, serving vegetarian food all week, there is not the religious dimension that might scare some away. There is laughter and fun - even when you're having a hard time. And we even had some colourful cocktails in the evening!
Within a week you undergo a personal transformation. You simply get so much energy from the physical activities, which help to open you to the depths in the meditation. When the week is over, you have not just discovered new potential in your body but you have also become much more relaxed. Both towards yourself and others. And you are filled with a giant surplus of energy that you can take back into your everyday life.
A massive thank you
Camilla, Mikkala and Toniah, thank you for an experience of a lifetime; a retreat I will always remember. And even more thanks for getting me in shape. After no exercise in my entire life, with a deep desire to exercise as i get older, I now run every other day and do light exercise a couple of times a week.
This new routine started after the retreat! You got me started!! It means everything to me.
Thanks.
XOX Mette
want to go? - the 3 women behind
LIVING YOLATE
YOGA, PILATES & DANCE MELTS TOGETHER IN A HOLISTIC TRAINING METHOD
Get an energy boost, feel rejuvenated, and fill your heart with happiness
Work through the entire body and get lean, beautiful, and toned muscles
Feel inner peace and remove stress with Living Yolates
MAISHAMOVE
MAISHAMOVE creates wellness retreats and adventures in East Africa. Soon Europe
Personalised travels for groups by the danish @camillagilling
Toniah Pedersen
is an autodidact world-class choreographer and dancer with a distinct street style. She has extensive experience choreographing movies, theater, commercials, music videos, tv- shows and dance performances and covers hereby all areas within the entertainment industry. She has worked with international names such as Mary J. Blige, Lenny Kravitz, Backstreet Boys and Sugababes