I get some version of this question every year, usually from a woman in class who has a festival ticket in one tab and a retreat page in the other. Yoga retreat vs. yoga festival — they sound like they should be close cousins. They’re not. They’re built for two completely different appetites.

Here’s the shortest way I know to say it. A yoga festival is an all-you-can-eat buffet. A yoga retreat is a five-course meal that someone planned and curated for you.

Neither one is better. But they will leave you feeling very different, and it helps to know that before you spend the money.

What’s the difference between a yoga retreat and a yoga festival?

A yoga festival is a large, multi-day event with many teachers and a schedule you build yourself; a yoga retreat is a small group with one teacher (or a few), a set schedule, and lodging and meals included. Festivals go wide. Retreats go deep.

That’s the “at-a-glance” summary. The rest of this post is the part that won’t fit neatly into a table.

What is a yoga festival actually like?

A yoga festival is a lot of good things happening at once, and you get to pick. Think Wanderlust, Bhakti Fest, or the regional ones that pop up every summer — a big grounds, a printed schedule, a few hundred or a few thousand people, and classes running in parallel from early morning until well after dark. Yoga on the main lawn. A breathwork tent. Kirtan at night. Someone selling crystals next to someone selling burritos.

This past summer I attended the Bend Yoga Festival as a sponsor. I chose the Bend Yoga Festival because I loved the programming … Tiffany Cruikshank, Amy Ippoliti, Gina Kaputo, Dr. Marsha Hamilton. By the end I found myself wanting to do more. I wanted to sign up for a handful of Tiffany’s trainings, Amy’s 300 hour, Gina’s community, and felt very called to ask Marsha to facilitate a workshop for our yoga teacher training.

The thing with yoga festivals is that they usually have one of three “vibes” — either they lean educational, geared more for teachers and it feels more like a yoga conference (Bend), they lean magically into spirituality and the divine, or they’re like a big yoga party with DJs and emcees.

The best thing about a festival is that you get to try on a bunch of different teachers and teaching styles in one weekend. If you’ve only ever done the studio down the street, or YouTube in your living room, you honestly don’t know yet what kind of teacher you respond to. Slow and anatomical? Fast and sweaty? Someone who talks the whole time? Someone who barely talks at all? A festival answers that in two days. That in itself is worth the ticket.

The hard thing about a festival is what happens when you find the one that lands. You take a class, something in it cracks you open a little, and then it’s over. Seventy-five minutes. The teacher packs up, the next class rolls in, and you’re back in the crowd holding a smoothie. You got a taste of the good thing and then they pulled the plate.

That’s the buffet. Lots of everything, and not quite enough of the one thing.

What is a yoga retreat actually like?

A yoga retreat is a small group of people, one place, one or two teachers, and several days in a row with nothing to figure out. Someone else has planned the order and the pace. You show up.

At our women’s yoga retreats in Oregon, North Carolina, and Sedona, that looks like: coffee before the sun’s all the way up. Morning practice with the same teacher every day — me, or a co-facilitator who’ll know your name by the end of the first practice. Breakfast that someone else made. A hike, a river, a long afternoon with no plan. Dinner together. A fire. Bed early, because you’re actually tired in a good way.

The thing a retreat gives you that a festival can’t is the thread. What we do on day one is still there on day four. Your body knows the routine by then. The women around you have gone from strangers to people who know how you take your coffee. Nobody pulls the plate. You get the whole meal.

Most of us rarely give ourselves this kind of space anymore. Days in a row with no decisions and no one needing you. It’s quieter than a festival, and it’s a lot more than rest — it’s where the laughing starts again.

Which is better for burnout — a yoga retreat or a yoga festival?

A retreat, and it’s not close. A nervous system that’s been running at 100 miles per hour for months does not settle down in a crowd of two thousand people with a decision to make every ninety minutes.

This is the part I’d tell a friend deciding between the two. If you’re the woman who’s fine, everything’s fine, you’re just so tired — a festival is going to feel like more of what you already have. More input. More choosing. More being surrounded by people and still somehow on your own. You’ll have moments. You’ll also come home needing a nap from the thing you took to rest (even if you skip 80% of the chaturangas).

You can’t rest deeply while you’re managing yourself. That’s the whole reason a retreat takes the schedule out of your hands. Not because you can’t make decisions — you make hundreds a day — but because for once you shouldn’t have to.

If that’s you, Unbound Patagonia, a yoga and adventure retreat for women, is April 10-17 and there are 10 spots left.

Can you go to either one alone?

Yes, and most women do — but alone at a festival and alone on a retreat are two different experiences.

Alone at a festival means you’re in a crowd. You’ll meet people in line and in class, and some of those turn into real conversations. A bit more “small talk”. You’ll also eat a lot of meals by yourself and spend a fair amount of time deciding what to do next with no one to decide with. Some women love that freedom. Some find it lonelier than they expected. As a long-time yoga teacher, someone who loves traveling solo, and sometimes an introvert, I can appreciate the anonymity that comes with attending a yoga festival.

Alone on a retreat means you’re alone for about an hour. Most of the women on our retreats book solo. By the end of the first dinner, it already feels like everyone knows each other. Complete strangers become friends before day two ends — that’s not a line, it’s just what happens when twelve women share meals for four days.

If “what if I’m the only one who came alone” is the thing keeping you up, a retreat is the easier place to be alone.

How much does a yoga retreat cost compared to a yoga festival?

A festival ticket usually runs a few hundred dollars for the weekend, and a retreat usually runs from around $1,500 to $5,000+ depending on the destination and the length. On the surface, the festival is cheaper. It’s worth doing the real math.

A festival ticket doesn’t include lodging, food, parking, or the workshop add-ons that always cost extra. Camping is cheap but not free; a hotel nearby during festival weekend is not cheap at all. By the time you add three days of restaurant and food-truck meals and gas, a “$350 weekend” is often closer to $900. And depending on the city it could start inching closer to $1500.

A retreat price is the price. Lodging, meals, all the classes, the hikes, the guides, the fire. Our Oregon retreats start at $997, our North Carolina retreats start around $1597, and Sedona around $1897. Patagonia and the international trips more. Flights are on you. That’s usually it.

So the question isn’t really which one’s cheaper. It’s what you’re paying for. A festival is pay-per-experience. A retreat is pay-once-and-put-your-wallet-away.

Which one should you pick?

Pick the one that matches what you’re hungry for right now — variety or being taken care of.

Go to a yoga festival if:

• You’re still figuring out what kind of teacher and style you like
• You want energy, music, and a lot happening
• You’re going with friends and want it to feel like an event
• You’ve got the bandwidth for a big weekend and you’ll come home lit up, not depleted

Go on a yoga retreat if:

• You already know what you need, and you’re tired of only getting a taste of it
• You’re running on empty and the idea of choosing between four classes makes you want to lie down
• You want to go deeper with one teacher instead of wider with twenty
• You want to be fed, literally and otherwise, for a few days
• You’re coming alone and you’d rather that be easy

Some women do both, and honestly that’s a good order: festival first to figure out what you love, then a retreat to get more of it. The buffet tells you what you like. The five-course meal is where you get to actually sit down and eat.

Ready for the meal? Unbound Patagonia Yoga Retreat, April 10-17 →
Not ready to book? Grab the free Retreat Budgeting & Savings Checklist and I’ll send you the next retreat dates when they open.

FAQ

The post Yoga Retreat vs. Yoga Festival: What’s the Difference, and Which One Do You Need? appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

With spring break upon us and summer break just around the corner it’s time to start planning your vacation… and why not add yoga to the mix? I’m available to travel to your vacation home, local park or other destination in Central Oregon for private yoga, semi-private/small group yoga, and yoga parties (think ladies trip/bachelorette/bridal party**). Take advantage of your much deserved vacation time with a stress reducing yoga practice that will leave you feeling both energized and restored. Each yoga practice is customized to your specific needs, whether you’re working with an injury/special condition, desiring improved strength and flexibility, or just looking for a way to unwind. I provide music, mats, props, and bottled water on request.

Individual Sessions

1 hr. $65
1 ¼ hr. $75
1 ½ hr. $85

Session Packages**

1 hr. class x 5: $300
1 ¼ hr. class x 5: $350
1 ½ hr. class x 5: $400
** Class packages expire 6 months from purchase date.

Group Rates

The above rates plus $15 dollars for each additional individual per session.

Current Service Area

No Travel Fee
Bend
Redmond
Tumalo

$15 Travel Fee
Sunriver
Mt. Bachelor
Sisters

$20 Travel Fee
Black Butte
Elk Lake
Prineville
Powel Butte

** Bridal Groups please see my Wedding Wellness page.

FAQ

1. How much will it cost to have a yoga instructor come to my vacation home in (fill in the blank ex. Sunriver)? There will be three of us practicing yoga for one hour.

Base Rate ($65) + Additional People ($15 x 2 ppl.) + Travel Exp. ($15) = Your total investment ($110)
= $36.67 per person

What if we want 75 minutes?

Base Rate ($75) + Additional People ($15 x 2 ppl.) + Travel Exp. ($15) = Your total investment ($110)
= $40.00 per person

2. Is our yoga instructor licensed, insured, and/or certified in CPR?

There is no licensing for yoga instructors in the state of Oregon, however your yoga instructor is registered with Yoga Alliance and has Liability Insurance. Your yoga instructor is also certified in CPR. To protect you and our yoga instructor(s) each student is required to fill out a Health and Liability Questionnaire and Waiver before class begins. The information obtained in this form helps our instructor(s) design fun, appropriate classes that fit our students needs and abilities.

3. Where can we practice yoga?

Ideas for a yoga practice space: living room (with furniture moved to the side), bonus room, sun room, deck, or shaded lawn. Depending on local availability we may be able to rent studio space at a local Bend studio.

4. My husband and I would like to have private yoga on each day of our vacation in Sunriver(6 days of yoga). How does that work out?

We will look at your schedule and our instructor’s schedule to plan what time for each day works best for you, understanding that we may need to schedule morning classes on certain days and afternoon/evening classes on certain days to accommodate your vacation activities and our current schedule.

Here is the payment breakdown:

5 class package ($300) + 1 additional class ($65) + 1 additional person for 6 classes $15/person ($90) + Travel Expenses for 6 days $15/day ($90) = Your Investment $545
= $90.83/class or $45.42/pp/per class

Reservation Request

Note: You will receive a confirmation email once your reservation has been processed.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Date and Time Request(required)

Location(required)

Number of Students

Notes/Comments(required)

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Namaste,

Autumn

The post Yoga Vacation: Central Oregon appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.

Our individually tailored Wedding Wellness Packages are designed to harmonize body, mind, and spirit through yoga, pranayama and meditation; they are a great way to connect with your bridal party and a great way to bring peace and balance to your wedding day.

Ambuja Yoga will travel to your venue or hotel for your yoga session or rent out space at a local yoga studio. You won’t have to worry about music or props.

Hope to see you soon.

Love & Light,

Autumn

The post 2014 Wedding Season Is Here appeared first on Ambuja Yoga.