Yoga Retreat

A Jewel in the Lotus: The Yoga of Feeling Happy

Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor
March 15 – 25, 2025

About This Retreat

Yoga is freedom. It is insight into the nature of being that, like a lotus growing out of mud, takes root and blossoms into great joy, compassion, and connection to others, within the challenges of everyday life. The process of this unfolding is simple and spontaneous when we practice yoga with the sincere effort to wake up in the here and now. With an open heart and inquiring mind, we become fully embodied, able to settle into life and the truth of who we really are. Postures are smoother, more spacious, and deep. The breath flows with soft vigor in pranayama. And meditation transforms into stillness within the boundless refuge of pure awareness. This is when the gem, nestled in the heart of every yoga practice, is revealed, and the capacity to find equanimity and a profound, lasting happiness, becomes a natural and integral part of everyday life.

Join us for this ten-day retreat where we will practice asana (some guided, and some Mysore style, sculpted for individual needs), pranayama, chanting and meditation. We will study the Isha Upanishad as it relates to the Lotus Sutra. All this will revel a clearer understanding of how to engage skillfully in life and experience the profound joy of showing up just as we are in this moment, at this time where there is support for ourselves within connection to others.

Richard Freeman & Mary Taylor

Richard Freeman has been a student of yoga since 1968, beginning with one simple sitting posture in the Zen tradition. He spent nine years in Asia studying yoga asana, Sufism, Sanskrit language, and Indian philosophical texts, contextualizing them within the turbulent political times of that period in history. In 1974 Richard began working with B.K.S. Iyengar, with whom he studied precise alignment principles, applying them to his own internally rooted experience of the forms. Drawing from this variety of contemplative traditions, and from Buddhism, in which he cultivates a deep interest, Richard teaches the Ashtanga Vinyasa method of yoga as taught by his principal teacher, the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. Richard’s metaphorical, often humorous, teaching style appeals to students of many backgrounds and nationalities. He teaches workshops and trainings throughout the world, and remains an avid student fascinated by the linking points between different traditions and cultures. He is the co-founder, with Mary, of the Yoga Workshop in Boulder, Colorado; has produced a number of highly regarded yoga audio and video recordings; and is the author of The Mirror of Yoga and co-author of The Art of Vinyasa (Shambhala Publications).

Mary Taylor began studying yoga in 1971, soon after she came home from France with a grande diplôme from Julia Child’s cooking school, L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes. She found yoga at first a means of finding equanimity during the stress of University, and it was that thread of balance that got her hooked. It was not until 1988 and finding her primary teacher, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and the Ashtanga Vinyasa system that she experienced the profound and transformative impact that a dedicated and daily practice can have on all aspects of life. She continues to study and practice yoga and Buddhist teachings with great enthusiasm and inquisitiveness, with an eye on how the residue that is produced on the mat (and cushion) through these teachings informs and supports all aspects of everyday life. Mary travels and teaches with Richard and also within the caregiver and hospital setting as part of the core faculty of the Being with Dying program (Upaya Zen Center) and the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Trainings. In 1988 she co-founded, with Richard, the Yoga Workshop. Mary is also the author of three cookbooks and the co-author of What Are You Hungry For? Women Food and Spirituality (St. Martins Press) and The Art of Vinyasa (Shambhala Publications).

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Daily Schedule

The program begins at 5pm on the first day of the retreat with a group welcome and departure is at 12pm on the last day. The schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the teacher.

7:30 – 10:30 am Morning Practice
10:30 am – 1:30 pm Brunch
1:30 – 4pm Free time
4:00 – 6:00pm Afternoon Session: chanting, meditation and philosophy
6:00 – 8:00pm Dinner Buffet

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Need to arrive earlier or Stay Longer by joining YogaCoreCycle?

Rates

Rates are in US Dollars, are per person, and are fully inclusive of your chosen room, all buffet meals, use of full facilities, and all training and practices for the duration of the program dates.

NEW
“Inhale” Beachfront Rooms		 Beachfront Private $3,220
Beachview Private $2,820
Beach Private $2,620
“Exhale” Gardenview Rooms Garden Private $2,220
Garden Semi-Private $2,020
Garden Shared Loft $1,820

Need to bring a friend, partner or family member?

Subject to availability, we have Friends & Family rates for any registered Samahita Retreat guest’s partner, family member or friend, who is not interested in participating in any of the programs but will stay in a room and board capacity. Shared accommodation, food, and the facilities are open to them. If they prefer to engage in the selection of yoga, breath, meditation, and fitness classes every day then a separate booking under YogaCoreCycle is advised.

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Guest Rooms

Guest Rooms

The Heart of Samahita is found in its impressive mix of facilities that provide the space for your experience, as well as through the food where tasty and healthy merge powerfully, and in our quality mix of guest rooms, where you can stay in the highest of standards right at the beach or find rooms to suit all budgets from beach to garden. And when here you can also paddle board, kayak and snorkel, amongst other activities. Feel free to take a tour and find out where Samahita is located.

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