Location: Azulfit , Villa Azul, Villaverde Fuerteventura
Duration: 1 week at the end of September 2015
Price: €770 based on room “California”
Fuerteventura is an island with its own character. You look
at a Volcano landscape with lots of cactus, Aloe Vera plant and palm trees.
The beach was beautiful along the sand dunes and I just wanted
to dive into the blue see.
On the map you find it close to Africa and that
explains the hot temperature around 26C during my stay at the end of September.
The perfect autumn escape from home.
Being an active person I was looking forward to a holiday
where I can relax. As I’m not someone lying on the beach the whole day, I was
super excited when I booked a week of Yoga, Pilates and Meditation.
My colleague recommended Azulfit and I took some Yoga
classes in the run up to the holiday.
Being able to choose from different locations in
Fuerteventura, I decide to stay at Villa Azul which was a 30 min bus ride from the beach away.
The week started with a Pilates class by Nicola. Throughout the week we repeated the exercises with and without elastic bands or other tools. Nicola was always correcting everyone which I really liked. I was quite new to Pilates and realised how good it worked the deep muscle. I will practise some of the exercises at home for sure.
Breakfast: Home made bread, granola, fruit salat and a warm dish every day.
Super tasty and nutritious after 1,5h of Yoga or Pilates.
Our group was getting on very well so a few of us were taking a bus to Corralejo and were strolling around till the late afternoon. Dirk (left) was sent to the retreat by his wife. Duncan (right), Choreograph, contemporary dance teacher was mainly in for the treatments. Mollie is my fitness blogger friend I met in London at a 24h relay race. I told her about my wellbeing holiday and met her at Fuerteventura for the second time.
Spanish tapas which we had for lunch.
Villa Azul had a beautiful garden with a small pool and space to meditate or exercise.
Or just relax and reed a book.
The first Yoga pose shows one leg up from “down facing dog” before you step between your hands.
Second picture was “Warrior 1” during which I felt strong and elegant at the same time.
Yoga was taught by Valentina. The class always began sitting cross leg, chanting while Valentina was playing the portable accordion. Chanting, singing was a new experience for me. I enjoyed it and felt very harmonised and looking forward to the physical exercise. I knew all yoga poses from my class in London but was challenged by Valentina correcting my posture. Each class had a different focus to learn the yoga poses the right way. On Friday all came together for the whole sun salutation as shown in the picture below.
Vegetarian Burger, Quinoa salat, beans with sesame and lots more.
Dinner was amazing. I was impressed how versatile Vegetarian food can be. I was not graving for meat at all.
The Villa Azul team made me feel welcome and I had a happy face on every day.
I felt amazing especially the day when I experienced Meditation with Frauke for the first time. Frauke is a Kundalini Yoga teacher. I heard about Kundalini before but didn’t really know what to expect. We did physical and breathing exercises I never experienced before. “Breath of Fire” was the most powerful one for me. Getting the technique right was important not to feel lightheaded. I was challenged but when I let go I felt the energy flowing. In combination with the chanting, music and listening to Fraukes voice I was surprised by my emotions and was overwhelmed when tears were running down my cheeks. She said “Let go”, and I did.
Thai Chi with Paco was challenging for everyone.
This week was full of new experiences and Tai Chi was one of them. The arms and legs warm up was intense but during that time it worked for me quite well. We did isolation movements with the upper body and also hips. Basically you try to make small circles with your chest or hip only. I remember these exercised from my Jazz dance classes years ago, therefore I was enjoying it. The new Tai Chi movements like the one on the pic above, I could definitely improve. It was difficult to describe Tai Chi so you better try a teaser class if you can. The next few days everyone had a stiff neck and shoulders except of me. Why did I feel fine? Regularly gym and exercising strengthen my upper body and I just finished an obstacle course race in Oslo.
What happened to my shoulder was very unlucky as I overstretched my neck during the shoulder stand in the Yoga class. But my pre booked full body massage was ideal. I also decided to go to a Chiropractic session. There were so many different extra treatments to choose from.
This holiday had everything to offer for me. It was physical, the mediation and additional information to learn like a Nutrition and Chakra workshop. And I had an amazing time these lovely people…
I would absolutely recommend this wellbeing holiday.
Challenge, explore, taste, relax and enjoy a week at …
PROS
- ECO friendly environment.
- For everyone’s budget.
- Beach towel hire. (I forgot mine)
- Great for singles as you meet likeminded people.
- Vegetarian food was amazing.
- Good for couples with the option to book surfing, if “he”
fancies a different challenge. - I experienced Yoga, Pilates in a more original way compared to the usual gym one.
CONS
- No general towel in the bathrooms.
- It would also be handy to have a hanger as well as I had no
option where to leave my cloth/towel when was having a shower. - Deserts tasted great but the were all chocolate based. Could
be more versatile as not everyone likes dark chocolate.
Thanks for reading. All of the above is my opinion, honest and my own one.