yogaAyurSoma · Kerala
Ayur Yoga Retreat
AyurSoma’s Hatha yoga retreat with an Ayurveda package — Rejuvenation or Body Purification — sold as seven or fourteen nights.
FromUS$1,890per person
Wellness goal · Life stage & travel style
First-time wellness retreats
“I have never done anything like this and I do not want to get it wrong.”
A first retreat
What to know before you choose
The booking where getting it wrong does the most damage — and the reason half of this site is written the way it is.
Read more about a first retreat
The failure mode is predictable: somebody books the most serious programme they can find, because seriousness reads as quality, and arrives at a twenty-one-night Panchakarma with no idea that there is nothing to do after dark and the food is medicine. They last four days and conclude the whole field is not for them.
A first stay should be seven to ten nights, at a house with a timetable you can take or leave, food you would eat by choice, and something to look at outside. It should include a real consultation — that is what separates it from a hotel spa — and it should leave you wanting to come back rather than relieved to be leaving.
The second one can be the hard one. Almost everybody who does a serious Panchakarma has done something gentler first, and it is not a coincidence.
Programmes
The first-time wellness programme we plan
Where to stay
Houses suited to this kind of journey
Programme approaches
The traditions that address it
Yoga
A structured week with a proper teacher and an optional timetable. The lowest-risk entry point there is, and it teaches you what you actually respond to.
The guide
Ayurveda
A rejuvenation or shamana programme rather than a purification one — real treatment on the gentler line, with a physician’s consultation behind it.
The guide
What to expect
What a programme for this actually does to your fortnight
A good trip starts with realistic expectations — these are the routines you are likely to meet.
- 01
A consultation on arrival, which is the thing that makes it a programme rather than a holiday.
- 02
A timetable you can opt out of without anybody minding.
- 03
Food you would order, cooked for you rather than merely permitted.
- 04
Two or three difficult days somewhere in the middle. Everybody has them; nobody is warned about them.
- 05
A conversation at the end about what to do next, and an honest answer if the answer is nothing.
Questions
First-time wellness retreats, answered
First-time wellness retreats by place
How long should a first-time wellness retreat be?
Seven nights is a practical introduction; ten allows a little more time without committing to an intensive multi-week programme.
Where can I go for a first-time wellness retreat?
On this site: Kerala (India) and Rishikesh (India). Each destination page shows its best months, its houses and how to get there.
How much does a first-time wellness retreat cost?
Programmes for this goal start from US$1,890 per person. Every stay is quoted individually — the room, the length and your dates set the final figure, confirmed in writing before you pay.
Is a first-time wellness retreat right for me?
Be suspicious of your own ambition here. If you are drawn to the hardest-sounding programme on the site, that is usually a reason to book the one before it. Also: declare your medications and any diagnoses even on a gentle programme — the consultation is only as good as what you tell it. Whether a programme is medically suitable is a decision for your own doctor and the qualified team at the property — our role is the travel planning.