Join us in the lush mountainside jungle beside the crashing waves of Yelapa Bay for a week-long yoga and creative writing retreat. Go kayaking, hike to mountain-high falls, paraglide or ride horses; there are exotic birds to watch and walks to take through the peaceful village. It's the old world with no cars, abundantly lit with candles and a sky filled with stars.
Includes: 8 days, 7 nights, shared accommodations in thatched palapas; all meals (& they are wonderful); daily writing and yoga sessions; all instruction and materials; workshops on the craft of writing; manuscript critiques; transportation by boat from Puerto Vallarta.
Cost: $1,650, $1500 before 12/1/06. $500 non-refundable deposit required to hold space. Balance due by February 5, 2007. Alums of previous retreats led jointly by Patricia & Charles will receive a $100 discount. These discounts may be combined.
(does not include special excursions, gratuities, airport taxi (return), or airfare.)
Our retreats include people with a wide range of yoga and writing experience, from beginners to professionals. We are all enriched by the diversity. While we will offer a daily schedule of suggested activities, writing and yoga sessions are optional: your time is your own. The yoga is practiced in the early morning and some afternoons in a safe, supportive environment with a deep respect for individual strengths as well as for areas of challenge or difficulty.
The writing is done in structured groups each morning and several evenings. You will have opportunity to write in an encouraging, confidential and inspiring setting, in response to exercises we suggest. You will be invited to share what you have just written, and to respond to the writing of others with what is fresh, what you like, what you remember.
All activities are optional, and the entire week should be considered free time. Pick and choose from organized activities to make your own schedule. Take as much time each day as you'd like to set off on your own or with others. Explore the peaceful little village of Yelapa. Meet the locals and Native American artists who have chosen to live in this village. Venture on trails up into the valley seeking the high waterfalls. Swim in the ocean. Go snorkeling, kayaking, or bird-watching. For a small fee you can get a massage, go horseback riding, scuba diving, para-sailing, or para-gliding. Purchase local handicrafts. Or simply nap in one of the many hammocks with a favorite book. Of course, when you are in the mood to participate, there is always a yoga class, workshop, meditation, or other organized activity.
Two optional outings will be available for a small fee: taking ponies into the mountains to a remote waterfall to swim in the beautiful lagoon, and a boat trip to remote beach to swim, snorkel and rest under swaying coconut palms.
The retreat is designed and facilitated by Patricia Lee Lewis and Charles MacInerney, with the help of award-winning writers and teachers.
Combining Yoga & Writing
The practice of yoga, the joining of body and mind, can open pathways into the feelings, memories, stories and images embedded in the tissues. Writing workshops during the retreat are designed to help you shift your awareness and write from those deeper levels of consciousness.
Through Hatha Yoga, we will get in touch with our kinesthetic sense of self. We will use special meditation techniques to slow the mind and create a sense of the sacred. No writing or yoga experience is required - only a sense of adventure. Beginning and experienced writers will find a supportive, encouraging context in which to write from their deepest selves. We will write in response to exercises offered by Patricia Lee Lewis, MFA. In a small group, writers will be invited to read their work aloud, and the group will offer simple affirmations of what is done well and what stays in the memory.
About Yelapa
This will be our eleventh year in Yelapa, Mexico, a very special place. Yelapa is a small fishing village on a bay of Mexico's west coast and has a population of only 1200. There are no roads going into the village. The only way in or out is by a 45 minute boat ride from Puerto Vallarta (your air destination) or by mule back over the mountains. The village only recently installed electricity. The residents speak Spanish and their primary industries are fishing in the blue waters and assisting adventurous travelers like us. We recommed that you come early and stay for a few days after the retreat if you can. Here are some wonderful places: Casa Isabel, a group of thatched palapas on a hillside above the best small beach in the village. Contact Isabel Jordan. Casa Paloma is a lovely polapa near the center of the village. For information and photographs please go to www.casapaloma.info.
We will stay near the wide, white beach (the playa) which is at the heart of the village. Behind us rise lush, jungle-covered mountains; nearby are thatched outdoor cafes and shops; and across the bay, near private palapas (thatched cottages), food shops and busy pack mules, small, open boats offload visitors and all provisions for the tiny village.
Villagers live in the mountains and along a winding river which enters the bay near our accommodations. Transportation is by horse or mule, and you will have opportunity to see more remote parts of the enchanting village and its surroundings by horseback or on foot. You can choose to snorkle off a boulder-strewn beach, paraglide from a mountain-top, kayak along the shore, or relax in a hammock. And don't forget birdwatching -- it's the tropics!
Bring $100-$200 US to spend on extras, plus cash to buy Huichol art, rosewood carvings, textiles, jewelry at thatched shops on the beach. Casa Isabel, owned by American, Isabel Jordan, has a fine collection of Huichol art; Isabel takes personal checks.
If you arrive on Saturday, March 18th, you will be met in Puerto Vallarta. At 4 p.m. we all board a water taxi for the 45 minute boat ride down the beautiful Pacific coast line to the bay of Yelapa. If you choose to arrive earlier, we will instruct you in how to get to Yelapa on your own. The first evening will be spent enjoying a wonderful dinner and the tropics by candlelight. Most lighting at Los Naranjos is by candle. This peaceful atmosphere is further enhanced by the absence of traffic. There are no roads into or out of Yelapa!
Los Naranjos Retreat Center (also known as Yelapa Falls) is a rustic, beautiful and peaceful haven located along the Tuito River that runs through the jungle intoYelapa Bay. We will be housed in several thatched palapas. We will practice yoga on a series of wide terraces, and write in circles indoors or among the flowering trees, according to our desires. There are hot showers and toilet facilities scattered on-site.
We will have maid service daily, clean linens (except for beach towels) and drink water specially filtered for us from a pristine waterfall located on the property. [Note: we suggest for the boat trip to Yelapa, that you carry your own drinking water, which can be purchased in PV stores]. There is a fully operational and modern kitchen with appliances fueled by propane and staffed by excellent chefs, overseen by the extraordinary April Jones, who will prepare all your meals, snacks and soft beverages as part of your package price. Beer, wine and liquor are available for purchase in the village and April will gladly arrange to bring in a supply of whatever you prefer.
About the Staff
Patricia Lee Lewis lives and works at Patchwork Farm Retreat in western Massachusetts. She shares the world with trees and stones, chickadees, writers and bears, and leads weekend writing retreats and weekly workshops in her mountain cottage at Patchwork Farm, throughout the United States, and yoga and writing retreats at sacred sites around the world - Guatemala, Mexico, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Costa Rica.
Patricia holds an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Vermont College, and completed her undergraduate degree at Smith College, Phi Beta Kappa, in 1970. She is affiliated with Amherst Writers & Artists, and leads national training workshops in the AWA method for workshop leaders on the east and west coasts. Patricia's poetry, fiction and feature articles have appeared in journals & anthologies, The Los Angeles Times, Hampshire Life, and The Boston Sunday Globe. Her poems have most recently appeared in The Berkshire Review, Vol. 11, and Crossing Paths: An Anthology of Poems by Women, Mad River Press. She was supported by a grant from the Chester Cultural Council under the auspices of the Massachusetts Cultural Council to perform her poems to a full house to benefit the Miniature Theatre of Chester. Her poem "Two Hundred Wings" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry, and her book of poems, A Kind of Yellow, won first prize in Writer's Digest's International Self-Published Book Competition in 2005. Copies of the book are available at the shop.
Patricia has spent much of her life as an advocate: for women, for civil rights, for peace, for a healthy environment, for small farms and rural communities, for the arts. Born and raised in Texas, she moved north years ago with her children. She has been a business owner, tree farmer, director of several organizations, including women's centers, community economic development corporations, district congressional offices, and served as an elected county commissioner for four years. In 1985, when she joined Pat Schneider's Amherst Writers & Artists writing workshop, she finally found the courage to write for others to read
Patricia is responsible for the writing program at all retreats and serves as retreat coordinator.
Charles is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the 500 hour level (the highest registration currently available), and is the co-founder and serves on the faculty of the Living Yoga Teacher Training Program. He is also the co-founder of Texas Yoga, and helps organize and presents at the Annual Texas Yoga Retreat.
Charles is a guest writer for Yoga Journal's "Ask Our Expert" column, and has been interviewed for articles in Yoga Journal four times, on yoga retreats, creativity, heart disease, and Yoga for overweight students. One of Charles' essays (written on retreat with Patricia) appeared as the lead essay in a National Chess magazine in India. He has numerous essays published in regional publications through out the US, and on the internet.
Charles MacInerney has studied Yoga and Meditation since 1971. He teaches classes on Yoga, Meditation, Posture, Visualization, Breathing, Balance, Creativity, Concentration and biofeedback for a variety of businesses, corporations and institutions. He has worked with over 12,000 students in Austin, where he lives.
Charles has led over 50 retreats since 1992, including 15 international retreats. For more information please visit his web-sites at www.yogateacher.com and www.expandingparadigms.com.
D M Gordon, Phi Beta Kappa, M.M. from Boston University, started the Writer-In-Residence at Forbes Library In Northampton MA, establishing and leading writing workshops and a weekly forum on contemporary poetry. Her prize winning poems and short stories have appeared in a variety of journals. Providing freelance editorial services for poetry and prose, she is also the senior poetry editor for Patchwork Journal. She has led workshops for Word Street, the Great River Arts Institute, and is currently on the faculty of Writers In Progress. She was recently chosen as a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant finalist.
This is Diana's third year as part of the leadership team in our international retreats; she offers workshops on the craft of writing and works with individual writers on their manuscripts.
Testimonials
Click here for David Salahi's beautiful scrapbook of our writing & yoga retreat in Yelapa, 2005; includes David's photographs and pieces written by participants during the retreat
“After just 2 years of doing this, I find it to be the most valuable, therapeutic, and hilariously funny thing I do all year. The combination of Jarrett's beautiful setting, the magnificent people who participate, and of course the warmth and genius you and Charles provide-make for an unparalleled experience. The way you make it such a safe and nurturing environment we can't help but let ourselves be broken open to the richness of all there is to experience within ourselves and each other.” Jane Bowling, Louisville, KY (Mexico, 2003)
“It was amazing how much yoga and writing we did each day, and still had time to walk, read and enjoy all Yelapa has to offer. The blend of yoga and writing practice felt absolutely synergistic to me.” Kalee Powell, Sebastpol, CA (Mexico 2002)
”Being in a jungle on a river near the ocean with gorgeous crazy birds singing in every tree was a rich setting for the gentle deep work of yoga and writing. I was able to go to places inside of me that aren't normally accessible.” Gayle Miller, Austin, TX (Mexico, 2002)
”A rare and magical experience for me. I was challenged to stretch body and soul...I felt nurtured and safe...and I sensed an open-heartedness and joy that I often miss at home. I discovered delight and a new understanding of myself in the jungle.” Laurel Kallenbach, Boulder, CO (Mexico 2002)
”…I think about our wonderful retreat at least a hundred times a week.” Hillary Yablon, Princeton, NJ (Mexico '02)
“It was a magical time away and it has also spurred me back into a regular writing practice at home… When I got home lots of people asked how my trip was, and the response that always came to me was that I was lucky to spend the week in a beautiful place, but luckier still because it was a week spent with extraordinary people. Your leadership skills are a great example/role model for me.” Bridget Boland, Chicago, IL (Mexico, 2003)
“I thank the good goddesses that I had the foresight to plug Yelapa into my life. I feel the writing really did 'jump start' me again and I plan to hang onto it… Your leadership is invaluable and so very insightful and even. It is a great pleasure to be with you and part of the workshop.” Susan Lantz, Northampton, MA (Mexico, 2003)
“This has been the best experience I’ve had in my life-and with a group of seemingly strangers. What developed between us all in one week-a bond of family-surpasses relationships I have at home that span decades.” Kate Davis, Downingtown, PA (Mexico 2004)
“Yelapa is a magical place; Charles and Patricia are inspiring leaders; and the people they draw to their retreats are full of a beautiful energy and spirit. A truly wonderful experience.” Arianna Romairone, New York, NY (Mexico, 2004)
“Yelapa, the writing, the yoga, Los Naranjos together brought us closer to our own hearts than works, even brilliant ones, can tell. I love this retreat, the moments of fear, of sadness, of exquisite magic-all.” Peggy Gillespie, Belchertown, MA (Mexico, 2004)
“The environment provided by Charles and Patricia created a combination of magic and the most super experience of groundedness. I have never had a more loving, generous experience with a group. Thank you from the essence of my heart.” Caryn Markson, Northampton, MA (Mexico, 2004)
“Patricia and Charles are extraordinary leaders and I much appreciate their efforts and talents at making this a very relaxing productive, rewarding experience.” K.V. Rao, Los Altos, CA (Mexico 2004)
“The Yelapa retreat is a unique blend of mentorship and encouragement. Patricia and Charles have perfected the null of positive guidance that allows us to grow individually and as a group. It is a magical experience that has to be lived to be fully understood.” Lydia Nettler Khan, Northampton, MA (Mexico 2004)
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