• Come and stay in an amazing setting in the heart of a national park in and around a 16 th Century Barefoot Carmelite Monastery
  
• The retreat holidays we offer are a fusion of many things.
  
• The Down to Earth approach to Yoga hosted and taught by the Wild Flower Collective is a common sense, practical, light hearted, fun, creative, simple and spontaneous approach to yoga/meditation that can be easily integrated and brings awareness into all areas of your everyday life. It is open to everyone.
  
• What we hope to give during the weeks on offer is a chance to explore the essence of yoga through a variety of ways and means, including asana, dance, meditation, being close to nature, having fun, music, voice-work, open communication, sharing food and communal living.
  
• Through your experience with us, you will take away the possibility to express your yoga in your own unique way that inspires and enhances your life in all its aspects whether that be sustaining loving relationships, being with your children, finding fulfilment and joy in your work, pursuing an asana practice, cooking, meditating, communing with nature, or creating music or art etc etc, its up to you.
  
• As we are all different and unique people, we hope that our Down to Earth approach and our beautiful remote location will provide our guests with the space and diversity to be themselves and pursue the type of "Yoga" that is right for them whilst having as much fun as possible.
  
• We are offering both a family retreat and a womens retreat this season to honour and respect our diverse life experiences and to provide different options to cater for our differing needs.

A Typical Menu

• Light Breakfast: Organic Muesli with a variety of dried fruit, nuts and seeds to sprinkle on top, soya or dairy milk, fresh fruit salad, home made bread with choice of peanut butter or jams, natural herb teas, or builders tea and strong coffee for those in need!
• Large Lunch: Beetroot, orange and carrot salad with lime and ginger dressing, Spanish style chick peas with seeded quinoa and steamed courgettes with fresh herbs, washed down with spring water and herbal infusions to end.
• Light Supper: Miso, seaweed and rice soup, served with pitta breads and light green salad, and a hunk of home baked carrot cake to round it off.

Food is of primary importance on the retreats, we provide 3 meals a day of organic vegetarian wholefood. The menus are carefully designed along sattvic principles by Ronnie and the Karma Yogis, the
menus are a blend of Mediterranean and Asian whole food cuisine. As yogis believe you are what you eat a lot of attention is paid to the quality of the food and way in which it is prepared. We take great care to find fresh, local produce some of which is grown here at El Convento. Our food is prepared using extra virgin organic olive oil produced from our own olives and is washed down with an endless supply of pure mountain spring water from El Convento.

Climate

The times we have chosen to do the retreats at El Convento coincide with the absolute best of the weather and summer school holidays. El Convento has a microclimate and is cooler and fresher than anywhere we have been in Andalucia during the hot summer months. It is perfect weather for retreats, as there is always a refreshing breeze and the nights are never too hot.

The May/June retreat is full of wild flowers and there is a green look to the land, it is warm 25-30 degrees, blue skies, sun 99% guaranteed, and the evenings are warm enough to be outside.

The June/July retreat is Summer the temperatures are a little hotter. Blue skies and sun 99% guaranteed. The evenings are warm and you can sit outside comfortably.

The August retreat is hot, temperatures around 30 degrees. Please note this is not too hot, as we are in the mountains and there is always a refreshing breeze. It is the best place to be in August in Andalucia - perfect weather. The evenings start to cool in mid August so there are no problems sleeping.

The September retreat is a little cooler back to 25-30 degrees, cooler evenings but warm enough to be outside.

Massage and Treatments

The Wild Flower Collective offer a wide range of massages and pampering treatments ranging from ayurvedic massage, holistic massage, deep tissue massage, reflexology, indian head massage, reiki, tarot cards and natural beauty treatments depending on who is hosting the retreat.

A Typical Yoga Retreat Timetable

Amenities Surrounding and General Info

• Malaga Airport is a 1 1/2 hour transfer
• El Burgo– a classic “andaluz” white village is at a distance of 9kms from El Convento.
• El Convento is in the middle of one of Andalucias most impressive Nature Reserves: La Sierra de las Nieves designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO and containing the oldest known species of fir tree in Europe.
• The Magical city of Ronda is approx a 1 hour drive away.