Join us this autumn for a color-tour inspired Yoga, Hiking and Nature Retreat, led by Cindy Beth Davis-Dykema on Lake Michigan’s largest year-round inhabited island, Beaver Island.

Full price: $530 (including registration fees)
Yogi spaces available: 20

Daily yoga will be guided at the beautiful Beaver Island Community Center, followed by breakfast at the local hot spot Dalwhinnie’s. Then we’ll meet up for exploration and nature hikes Saturday afternoon before our community dinner, prepared and served for us at the Island Aerie.

Our focus in yoga will be on stoking the senses, increasing awareness of the natural world and our place within it, and creating a deeper connection to both our community and ourselves. Yoga tune-up therapy balls for myofascial release will be included for each person in the Retreat experience.  (*If you have the tune-up balls already, you can choose either the alpha ball or coregeous ball to add to your myofascial kit. If you already have the full set, there is a $15 refund after you make your full payment of $530, bringing your price down to $515.) 

Self-rolling massage techniques with the tune-up balls will be taught for a portion of our yoga practice, as a way to access connective tissue while honing the practice of self-study and inner-awareness. Self-rolling is a potently therapeutic style of conscious corrective exercise that strikes a balance between the worlds of yoga, fitness, pain management, and myofascial self-care.
 

While several yoga sessions, hiking and dinner Friday and Saturday, breakfast Saturday and Sunday are included each day, lunch, ferry transportation on the Beaver Island Boat Company (BIBCO)  and vehicle transportation once on-island are not. You can also fly to the island.

Options for transportation on Beaver include: ferrying your own car and sharing the cost with several friends attending, renting a car on island ($60 or so a day) or hitching a ride with a friend who is coming and has done one of the above. Bicycles are also available for rent if interested, but we’ll be adventuring all over island and you’ll want a ride in order to access all the fun we have planned for Saturday afternoon.
 

Retreat schedule:
Friday, October 9
Arrive in Charlevoix by 10:30 am
Take the 11:30 BIBCO ferry from Charlevoix to Beaver Island (*Cars being ferried must be onsite one hour earlier, and tickets to the island must be purchased onsite that day. They will not hold the ferry for latecomers and seats are not reserved. Please plan plenty of time into your schedule to arrive early.)
Arrive around 1 pm on island
Settle into your house, explore town and shop if you wish, snag lunch on your own
Yoga 4:15-6:15 pm Opening Circle and practice at the Community Center
7 pm Dinner at Island Aerie
 

Saturday, October 10
Fruit, coffee and tea
8:15-10:15 am Yoga at the Community Center
10:15 am Breakfast at Dalwhinnie’s (down the block, a walkable 15 minute distance)
1 pm Boodling begins! (Bring your own lunch or snacks for the road, or eat in town before)
Drive Indian Point on the Northern island, 

Visit Protar’s House, explore Donegal Bay on the shore or tackle the Great Hike of Mount Pisgah
5 pm Dinner at Island Aerie
6 pm Leave for drive to West side of the island. Hike to Oliver’s Point for sunset on the beach at 7 pm.
 

Sunday, October 11
Fruit, coffee and tea
Yoga 8:15-9:15 am at the Community Center
9:30 am Breakfast at Dalwhinnie’s (down the block, a walkable distance)
10:30 pack up and head to the BIBCO to depart
11:20 am Ferry departs for mainland Michigan
1 pm Arrive back in Charlevoix and head back home, with rejuvenated senses and your spirit inspired by the natural beauty of the island and the camaraderie of our Retreat Community.