This summer retreat with Vonetta and Sean will provide a great opportunity to learn or to deepen your practice of Yoga and Tai Chi. Daily morning yoga classes with Vonetta are complimented by 3 afternoon Tai Chi workshops with Sean. Tai Chi is a gentle form of exercise suitable for all ages and abilities. It works in accordance with the theory within Traditional Chinese Medicine that Qi, or life-powering energy, flows through our bodies keeping us healthy and enabling us to fulfil our potential. Classes will combine simple exercises, Tai Chi and Qi Gong practice, all designed to promote the flow of Qi, stimulating the pathways that channel energy throughout the body, promoting the bodies own internal healing and reducing anxiety tension and stress All are welcome and no previous experience of yoga practice or Tai Chi is required. VAL DE MOSES Vale de Moses is in the heart of the forested foothills of the Serra de Estrela. Life in these valleys 40 years ago was full of hard working Portuguese small holders who cultivated with their families every available piece of land by creating stone terraces on the hillsides. Small stone houses, adegas (wine making sheds), corals and water mills pepper the riversides and the valleys for miles around. Hence the name Moses, meaning a place of many millstones. These days, like so many rural communities across southern Europe, those small holdings have been deserted by younger generations of the families that built them, needing to emigrate to the cities or abroad to find work. Exploring the surrounding areas by foot, by bike or by car, you enter a by gone age, and marvel at both the views and the stonework of the river and terrace walls that seem to go on forever in all directions. An old forest farming life that thankfully is still being lived here by a handful of our neighbors, so we still can learn how to do it before those old ways are lost forever. DAILY SCHEDULE Retreats may differ slightly from each other,but generally you will follow a schedule similar to this, with a full orientation around the houses and valleys on Monday morning after yoga class and breakfast. 8.00-10.30am Morning silent walk followed by Yoga 10.45am Breakfast 11.00am-2pm Massages (if it’s one of your slots) 2.00-3.00pm Lunch 3-4.30pm Massages (if it’s one of your slots) Free time / swim / guided hike / trip to River The forest and River pools 5-6.30pm 3-4 afternoon Yoga Classes / Workshops, or More Massages (on no workshop afternoons) 7-9pm Dinner 10pm Begin a full, restorative night’s sleep.