Outdoor Area
OUR WELLNESS PRACTICES
YOGA, MINDFULNESS, & NATURE IMMERSION THERAPY
We teach the following yoga modalities: Himalayan (Joints Health) yoga, and gentle approaches to Hatha Yoga and Vinyasa flow, using the Iyengar method. We also offer over 50 yoga therapy classes. Flexibility is vital. Yoga classes are available in groups or online. We also offer one on one sessions both in-person and online.
Mindfulness is a short type of guided meditation that brings awareness to your thoughts, emotions and sensations in the present moment without any judgements or interpretations. It is a technique used to create a mind, emotion, psychic, intellectual and spiritual space for you to explore, understand, and perhaps also discover who you are in relation to yourself, or in relation to the world.
Nature Immersion, which some call eco-therapy, shinrin-yoku or even tree-hugging, involves a series of programmes that are based around improving your mental and physical wellbeing by connecting with nature and doing activities outdoors in a mindful, conscious fashion. This can range from simply being present and alert in a natural environment using mindfulness techniques, to actively engaging with your surroundings: from hikes or fluvial beach swimming to full involvement in our agro-ecological project, partaking in winemaking, oil making, gardening, and more.
** Casa do Moinho also invites professional teachers during the annual retreats it organises in summer**
ABOUT YOGA
We offer one on one and group yoga and yoga therapy sessions. We also offer sessions that specialise in helping over 50’s find greater flexibility. The sessions are not vigorous but designed to be relaxing and calming to your nervous system. Flexibility building and nervous system calming are a major aspect of our practices. Lessons are tailored to beginners and intermediate practitioners. We also hold annual events designed for all levels of practice.
We also invite mobility, pilates and aerial yoga teachers for weekend intensives or week-long retreats in summer. Please check our yearly schedule in the Event section of this website and subscribe to our mailing list for regular event updates.
Yoga sessions vary in length, from 60 to 90 minutes. We may use the pool area in summer or the atrium and/or library during the winter months. We have indoor and outdoors dedicated spaces. Group lessons are held either at 9 am weekdays or 4 pm weekdays and Saturdays in summer. They are held in the afternoon in winter. Please contact us to discuss your individual needs and suitable schedules.
Although we provide yoga mats and equipment (blocks, straps, etc.) we recommend that you bring your own for in-person classes. But not to worry, we have all you need to keep things safe and hygienic. Due to Covid restrictions, we are currently limiting in-person attendance to 6 persons outdoors (summertime) and 3 persons indoors (winter time). We also offer online sessions.
ABOUT MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness is a type of meditation that brings awareness to your thoughts, emotions and sensations in the present moment without any judgements or interpretations. It is a technique used to create the mind, emotion, psychic, intellectual and spiritual space for you to explore, understand, and perhaps amend who you are, and who you are in relation to the world.
We conduct sessions that are 60 minutes in length, in person or online. As we understand that beginners may not be used to stillness for a long amount of time, we start with 10-minute mindfulness follower by a 50-minute discussion and other active awareness exercises and then progressively move on to increasing the period dedicated to mindfulness (up to 40 minutes) over a number of sessions. We offer various arrangements to cater for the physical needs of our in-person clients (floor sitting may not be available to all, we hence have chairs, banks and sofa chairs)
We provide a space where you can change clothes and we recommend that you wear loose, comfortable, yoga or sports type clothing. Although we provide cushions for you to seat on the floor, we encourage you to bring your own for health reasons. Group sessions are currently limited to 2 persons indoors, 6 persons outdoors. Please contact us for our weekly schedule. We offer shorter online sessions too: please contact us for details.
ABOUT NATURE IMMERSION
We often complain of increased anxiety and greater stress. These are a normal byproduct of living since we all deal with personal or work issues such as health, finance, over or under work and more... However, these symptoms have sped up since 2008, with the explosion of the use of connected devices and social media. Now it is getting far worse with Covid and social restrictions. There are newer, so far hardly known sources of stress, leading to torpor and apathy, such as forced isolation and lack of movement, limits on social gatherings, and social interaction restrictions (There's a name for this kind of novel stress, "acedia").
And there's more....
A new phenomenon is taking hold in the world as news about our planet’s state and Covid19 accumulate. As a big mouthful of a word, it is also called “solastalgia” and is only now becoming more prevalent in our conversations. It describes a form of emotional or existential distress caused by environmental change and experiencing or hearing about severe natural phenomena. Solastalgia is a kind of eco-anxiety, save that the former mourns what is already lost and the latter is a feeling of dread about what may happen. It is a kind of pre-traumatic stress.
Both refer to" the homesickness you have when you are still at home" and your home environment is changing in ways you find too rapid, unmanageable and distressing. People who feel solastalgia and acedia are lucid in a world that is not. At this point, an urban yoga class, a spa holiday or a daily session of app-driven mindfulness may no longer be enough. Nature immersion may help bring your system to more relaxation and help build your resilience up. We go beyond walks in nature and tree-hugging. We use mindfulness techniques to alleviate the stress, while we engage in all sorts of activities (from walks to gardening, to open brainstorming discussions or to sharing of experiential knowledge and feelings) to build your resilience up. We offer sessions that range from 1 hour for beginners to our usual 4 hours experience. We also regularly organise weekend and 1 to 3 days retreats.
Our Nature immersion course is not compatible with online sessions. Please contact us for detailed information.