HAND-PICKED EXPERIENCES

Editor's Picks

Curated events selected by the BrightStar team — transformational gatherings worth your time.

58 events curated

yoga retreat

Meeting Anger with Compassion

A weekend retreat at Ratna Ling that examines anger through the lens of Buddhist philosophy and embodied practice. Rather than suppressing or resisting anger, participants explore how to meet this emotion with understanding and wisdom. The retreat weaves together seated meditation, gentle accessible yoga, and subtle energy work designed to settle the nervous system and clarify perception. Two sessions of Feeding Your Demons, the five-step practice created by Lama Tsultrim Allione, invite participants to meet inner obstacles with compassion and awareness. In this tradition, a demon represents anything obstructing freedom, including the ego-fixation that keeps suffering in place. Through skillful inquiry and embodied practice, anger transforms from a poisonous mental state into a resource for wisdom and joy. Teacher Gretchen Donovan brings two decades of experience in multiple yoga lineages, along with her training as a Vajrayana Buddhist practitioner.

Fri, Oct 2, 2026Ratna Ling Retreat Center, Cazadero

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yoga retreat

Inner Sanctuary

Inner Sanctuary at Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa — Phoenicia

Fri, Oct 2, 2026Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa, Phoenicia

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yoga retreat

Inner Sanctuary at Menla

Inner Sanctuary at Menla at Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa — Phoenicia

Fri, Oct 2, 2026Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa, Phoenicia

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yoga retreat

Chakra Radiance Yoga Retreat

A three-day immersion into the seven chakras through the lens of tantric yoga. Led by internationally recognized teacher Sianna Sherman and sacred musician Masood Ali Khan, this retreat guides participants through the energy centers using asana, pranayama, mantra, mudra, visualization, and self-inquiry. The retreat unfolds across four thematic sessions, beginning with grounding practices rooted in earth and water elements, progressing through fire and air work centered on personal power, ascending into the upper chakras associated with space and transcendence, and culminating in a radiant celebration integrating all seven centers. Held during the full moon at Omega Institute's Rhinebeck campus, the retreat emphasizes both the mystical dimensions and embodied practices of chakra work, exploring how these energy portals support transformation in health, creativity, relationships, and spiritual connection.

Fri, Oct 2, 2026Omega Institute, Rhinebeck

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yoga retreat

The Power to Heal: Yoga Therapeutics for Body, Mind, and Heart

This six-day residential program explores how self-limiting beliefs and misalignment patterns interrupt the body's innate capacity to heal. Led by Todd Norian, the training examines the Four Essentials of Ashaya Yoga and applies therapeutic principles to common areas of restriction, including the hips, shoulders, lower back, feet, knees, and neck. Through postural practice, hands-on partner work, pranayama, mantra chanting, meditation, and yoga nidra, participants learn to recognize and release obstacles to equilibrium. The curriculum draws on Nondual Tantra philosophy and is designed for yoga teachers and experienced students seeking to deepen their understanding of alignment and its relationship to emotional and spiritual ease. Norian's live music and sacred chanting accompany the teachings throughout.

Sun, Oct 4, 2026Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Stockbridge

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yoga retreat

Flow de Vida Pilates Retreat

Caroline Ponto and Carly Tomei lead a five-night retreat in the Portuguese countryside, where Pilates practice forms the spine of a larger immersion in natural rhythms and rest. Held at Vale de Moses, the program balances structured mat and equipment work with time spent moving through the valley, swimming in rock pools, and simply sitting beneath olive trees. The retreat welcomes practitioners of all levels, from those returning to movement after injury or illness to seasoned students seeking to deepen their technical understanding. Each day weaves mindfulness, optional hikes, and workshops into the schedule, creating space for both challenge and genuine recovery. The instructors bring specialized knowledge of hypermobility, low back pain rehabilitation, and biomechanics, emphasizing movement without pain and the integration of breath with body awareness.

Mon, Oct 5, 2026Vale de Moses, Cerdeira

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yoga retreat

Ritiro Yoga alle Isole Eolie in Sicilia: 5 giorni tra Mare e Vulcani

In early October, when summer fades elsewhere, the Aeolian Islands retain their warmth. From October 9-13, 2026, SerenYque leads a five-day retreat on Lipari, woven from daily yoga practice, coastal exploration, and passage between islands. This is neither a conventional yoga vacation nor a structured tour. Instead, it unfolds as a shared experience where asana, movement, landscape, and human connection intersect with ease. Participants practice yoga each morning and evening, navigate the island on foot and by boat, and return to listening to what their bodies need before autumn fully arrives. The rhythm balances formal practice with unstructured time, inviting both deepening and rest.

Fri, Oct 9, 2026Lipari

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yoga retreat

Gentle Yoga Retreat: Cultivate Presence, Resilience, and Renewal

This weekend immersion at Kripalu invites practitioners of all levels to experience gentle yoga as a meditation-deepening practice. Rather than pursuing effort for its own sake, participants learn to locate the middle path in their practice, where strength meets ease and movement becomes a form of witness consciousness. The retreat emphasizes Kripalu's lineage approach, grounded in compassion and individual care. Through daily classes, contemplative meals, and guided explorations, participants reconnect with their bodies as sources of insight and renewal. The practice honors all seasons of life and varying degrees of flexibility, offering a spacious container for rediscovering yoga as a lifelong companion. By attending, practitioners return home with a clearer understanding of what sustainable, self-compassionate practice can offer.

Fri, Oct 9, 2026Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Stockbridge

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yoga retreat

Rise Up, Rooted: Yoga and the Work That Reconnects for Personal and Planetary Healing

Senior yoga teacher Barrie Risman guides a four-day immersion that interlaces the Work That Reconnects, an experiential group process developed by eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, with heart-centered yoga, breathwork, and meditation. The Work That Reconnects offers a structured approach to meeting global challenges with clarity and resilience, transforming despair and overwhelm into meaningful engagement with the living world. Over five decades, it has supported individuals in moving beyond isolation toward collective consciousness and active care. Yoga practice amplifies this integration, replenishing vitality and nurturing the embodied presence necessary for sustained activism rooted in compassion rather than burnout. The retreat creates space to deepen resilience, reconnect with purpose, and develop concrete tools for transforming emotional overwhelm into grounded, compassionate action. Participants explore their relationship to the wider world while strengthening their capacity to contribute to healing, both personally and collectively. Daily practice, silent meals, and group sessions weave together contemplation and engagement.

Fri, Oct 9, 2026Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Stockbridge

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yoga retreat

Kripalu Outdoors: Nature Connection, Hiking, and Yoga

The Kripalu campus in the Berkshire hills offers a setting where forest and stream become sanctuary. This retreat weaves together meditative hiking beneath Eastern Hemlock and White Pine, gentle yoga practice, and moments of stillness by flowing water. Led by Kripalu faculty, the program combines forest therapy with an emphasis on deepening one's relationship with the natural world. Participants move at an accessible pace, with no vigorous hiking required. Each day balances guided outdoor exploration with structured yoga classes and group meals. The curriculum draws on both ancient wisdom and contemporary nature-based practice, offering concrete tools to integrate earth connection into ordinary life. Designed for those seeking to unplug from screens and inhabit their senses more fully, the retreat creates space for solitude and community alike, grounded in the Kripalu lineage of compassionate presence.

Fri, Oct 9, 2026Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Stockbridge

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yoga retreat

Ignite to Write: A Writing and Yoga Retreat

Ignite to Write weaves together yoga, somatic movement, and guided writing practice across a long weekend at Kripalu. Led by Susanna Barkataki, the retreat uses the seven chakras as portals into deeper creative expression, moving from grounded roots through to voice and vision. Participants work with trauma-informed yoga, pranayama, mantra, and mudra alongside liberatory writing practices, including timed writing sprints and chakra-inspired prompts. The program bridges embodied movement with written expression, helping writers move past self-doubt and perfectionism to claim their stories and take up space. No prior yoga or writing experience is required. Participants leave with a toolkit for ongoing practice, a finished piece ready to share, and practical visibility strategies for publishing their work. The retreat emphasizes belonging, accessibility, and the act of writing as remembrance and resistance in a world that often silences voices.

Fri, Oct 9, 2026Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Stockbridge

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yoga retreat

Shakti Sadhana: A Women's Retreat in the Yogic Path of Power and Peace

Shakti Sadhana unfolds over seven days at Sat Manav Yoga Ashram in rural Maine, a living lineage of classical yoga practice. The retreat honors the feminine principle—Shakti—as the animating force of existence. Participants join six women guests alongside ten resident yoginis in an intentionally small gathering designed to provide intimate, personalized guidance. Days begin with morning asana and pranayama practice. The schedule includes daily fire ceremonies honoring goddess worship, evening chanting and meditation in a hand-built temple, sauna purification, herbal therapies, and henna application. Meals are organic, whole-food, plant-based fare prepared by initiated practitioners. The setting—forested mountain land with rivers and trails—reinforces a complete digital detox. There is no wifi, no conventional electronics. Water comes by hand pump; composting toilets and wood-heated buildings connect residents with the resources that sustain life. This is not a wellness commodity packaged for consumption, but an embodied return to how women have lived in community for millennia, grounded in the teachings of a traditional guru lineage.

Fri, Oct 9, 2026Sat Manav Yoga Ashram, Industry

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