New Year yoga retreat in Spain

Planet

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## CARBON REDUCTION
Flying is a massive CO2 producer. We encourage all our guests and staff to use public transport or car sharing where possible. Every booking receives our travel information document, which is full of ideas and links to local and national public transport services in Spain. For our teaching team, we cover travel expenses when they use public transport or car sharing; we do not subsidize travel for flights or solo car journeys.
For guests traveling from overseas, we advise using the local transport system, which we actively help navigate and arrange. If guests prefer to hire cars, we connect them with fellow attendees to facilitate car sharing.
Our accommodation consists of cotton glamping tents. The interiors were handmade using sustainable wood, and all feature a bespoke 12/24-volt solar power system. The sunshades over the tents are our own design, crafted from recycled car tires with the aim of reducing the use of inline voltage reducers common to most gadgets. We provide the necessary connections to enable guests to utilize this system directly.
The main house is 400 years old and was rebuilt using original methods with stone and mud collected from the riverbed. The roof is constructed from wild bamboo and clay, finished with the original, replaced tiles.
Our meditation dome and shower/toilet zone are built from recycled rice bags filled with a clay and mud mix—a technique known as earthbag building. No machinery was used during this construction, and the internal materials required were sourced directly from the riverbed on our land. For those interested in earthbag construction, we feature a demonstration video on our YouTube channel.
Our treatment cabin was handmade using sustainable wood sources and also operates on our 12/24-volt solar systems, featuring an ensuite shower and toilet. The entire site is powered by a comprehensive solar installation set up over 20 years ago, making us one of the first properties in the region to operate entirely off-grid.
If a Sunday falls within the retreat dates, we invite guests to walk up to our local village along an old Roman road. We all take backpacks and source our provisions at the local market. All our meals are vegetarian and vegan, prepared by Elliot, our chef with over 40 years of experience. Everything is homemade using ingredients sourced from local markets.
## ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE
Our water comes from a natural spring. We belong to a cooperative and share this water with four other properties, with all maintenance managed collectively by the cooperative members. Our hot water system is gravity-fed and solar-heated. Because this system functions with no moving parts, it benefits from an exceptionally long operational lifespan when maintained every two years.
As we avoid synthetic chemical products, our greywater is safely diverted back onto the land to nourish our vegetable gardens. Our blackwater passes into a biological treatment system before being naturally reintroduced to the land via a dedicated bamboo and reed bed.
Our swimming pool uses a magnesium filtration system that creates negative ions, significantly reducing the need for standard, harsh pool chemicals. If the pool ever requires emptying, this water can be safely used to irrigate trees, unlike a standard chlorine pool.
We maintain a strict single-use plastic-free policy across our operations and ask all guests to avoid bringing single-use plastics to the retreat. We host dedicated talks on how to easily eliminate single-use plastics from daily life and explain how all waste is managed on-site.
Included in all our retreats are interactive discussions on sustainable living and how we achieve it, offering practical ideas on how guests can transfer these skills back to their everyday lives in urban environments.
We encourage guests to explore the local area, as we are situated at the base of the Sierra Espuña mountains—a protected national park spanning over 17,000 hectares. The park office provides maps and routes, and the local wildlife rehabilitation center is truly inspiring. Access to the park is free. The retreat is nestled in a landscape of rural beauty that, until 21 years ago, had been forgotten for nearly a century. The ruins on the estate date back over 400 years.

People

## LOCAL ECONOMY
All our accommodations are owned by us and have been lovingly built and maintained by local professionals employed from Totana and Aledo.
We visit the Totana market on Wednesdays and the Aledo market on Sundays. Because Totana is a celebrated artisan center, guests also have the wonderful option on market days to tour and support local traditional potteries.

On one day of each retreat, we offer an alternative treatment day featuring Reiki, Reflexology, and Massage. These sessions are carried out by Ama, a fully trained local practitioner based in Murcia who has been collaborating with us for over 10 years. She operates out of our earthbag dome, which we provide to her free of charge.
We work closely with local organic vegetable producers, allowing us to provide the freshest seasonal produce to our guests. These producers are located in our immediate agricultural area, known as La Huerta, which is close enough for us to walk to directly.

## EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY
We are deeply committed to fair labor practices. 100% of our operations team comes from Totana or Aledo. We believe in providing strong economic support to our community, which is why we ensure a baseline wage of €10 per hour—a rate that sits well above the statutory Spanish minimum wage. On top of their hourly pay, we provide our team members with complimentary transport to and from Totana/Aledo, as well as fresh meals during their shifts.
Our specialized team members are highly compensated: our 500-hour certified yoga teachers receive upwards of €28 per hour depending on retreat experience, and our experienced chefs receive €28 upwards per hour. Both roles include full accommodation and all meals on-site.
As LGBTQIA+ owner-operators, we actively celebrate diversity. EVERYONE is welcome here.