Magical Marrakech Retreat! Sept 16-23 2011 – Sold out

“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again—to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.” Pico Iyer

Join Jayme Barrett in Marrakech for 8 magical days and learn techniques to energize your body, mind, spirit, love-life and spaces! We’ll be staying in a beautifully restored 18th century Moroccan courtyard mansion, eating delicious food, practicing daily yoga, walking amongst waterfalls in the mountains, shopping in the ancient market place for every kind of Moroccan decor, enjoying the breeze of a North African coastal town, learning to cook Moroccan food and relaxing with spa indulgences!

Magical Marrakech retreat & adventure includes:

• Daily Life Enhancement and/or Feng Shui Class
• Daily Vinyasa Yoga Class
• 1 Free Day (No Classes)
• 7 nights accommodation (single, double & triple occupancy)
• 7 Breakfasts, 4 Lunches, 5 Dinners
• Airport transfers
• Group Transportation for Day Trips to Essaouira & Ourika Valley

• Welcome Mint Tea & Pastry Reception
• Guided Cultural tour of Historic Marrakech & Palaces
• Day trip to North African coastal town of Essaouira
• Day trip to Ourika Valley (hike amongst waterfalls & lunch in Berber village)
• Moroccan Cooking Class (includes lunch)

Accommodation

Les Trois Palmiers El Bacha Riad is a magnificently restored 18th century riad (traditional Moroccan courtyard mansion) in the heart of the medina (old walled city) of Marrakech, a 10 minute walk to the famous Jemaa-El-Fna square. Restored by a lovely French couple, the riad has many dining and lounge areas, two pools, and two rooftop terraces with great views of Marrakech and the Atlas mountains. The guest rooms are all different, luxurious, spacious and air-conditioned. They are equipped with separate bathrooms, extra large towels, bathrobes, a hairdryer and a safe. The riad has free Wi-Fi.

 Local Area and Flavor

Marrakech is made up of an old walled city (Medina) and a new city (Gueliz) where there are hundreds of shops, cafés and gardens to enjoy. Staying in the medina, you will experience the polarity of life in Morocco. Moroccans are very friendly, especially to Americans. They speak French, Moroccan Arabic and some English. The currency is Moroccan Dirham.

The famous Jemaa El-Fna square is the most exciting spot at sunset where you’ll see hundreds of food stalls as well as snake charmers, dancing monkeys, henna artists and musicians. In addition to Marrakech, we will take two days trips to the beautiful coastal town of Essaouira and to the Ourika Valley, where we will hike amongst waterfalls and have lunch in a Berber village.

Meals

Every morning you will be served breakfast at the Riad. The included four lunches and five dinners will be split between the Riad, restaurants and the famous Jemma El Fna square. The last evening there will be a special dinner and belly-dancing show.

Classes

We will have a daily yoga class, mostly held in the morning around 8:00am. Our feng shui and life enhancement classes will be held at the Riad and others will be given on location during our outings. You will learn how to: 1) energize your spaces for health, wealth and love 2) use inner feng shui to harmonize your mind, body and spirit 3) employ manifestation techniques to bring your goals into reality and 4) integrate the beauty of Moroccan culture, architecture and spirituality in your daily life.

Weather

The weather in Marrakech in mid-September is very warm. The average high is 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The average low is 66 degrees. The nights are warm and breezy.

P.S. – November 20, 2011 – Here is my blog post from the last day of our retreat in this September retreat. It has links to everything we did and videos from some of our retreat participants!