Yoga and Meditation Retreats in the Netherlands
Learn about yoga, meditation and spiritual awakening with our intensive silent retreats in the Netherlands. Retreats suitable for everyone!
Choose a week, mid week or weekend full of yoga, meditation and mindfulness. You’ll get lots of professional guidance and we’ll help you to take your practice with you in your daily life after the retreat. Learn how to live more consciously in the here and now and find your inner peace.
Participants are mostly Dutch but we’re happy to have international groups! Participants are mostly silent among each other throughout the day (though the teachers are always available for a conversation and guidance if needed). Classes are largely taught in Dutch – depending on the composition of the group – while the essence can also be translated in English. We’re always happy to give extra guidance in English individually.
From March to November at a wonderful quiet location in De Biesbosch National Park, near Dordrecht and Rotterdam in the south west of the Netherlands. Maximum 10 participants per retreat!
Check available dates here and book your retreat now by contacting us.
E-mail: contact@humanawakening.org
Phone: +31 (0) 247 26 408
Yoga Meditation Mindfulness Weekend (3 days)
Make the most of your weekend with our intensive weekend retreat ‘Living in the Now’.
Two days full of yoga, meditation and mindfulness. Learn how to live a healthier and happier life with more awareness. A perfect introduction to yoga, meditation and mindfulness, or a boost to your existing practice. A few days out of your habitual daily life with this retreat in nature.
Starts Friday 3 pm, ends Sunday 3 pm. Maximum 10 participants.
Cost: 246 euro (incl. taxes, stay, all meals and classes).
Read more about the content of our retreats below.
Yoga Meditation Mindfulness Midweek (5 days)
In need of more inner peace? In our intensive 5 day retreat full of yoga, meditation and mindfulness you can discover your true self and the ever present peaceful oneness beyond your thoughts.
Five days that can change your life. A mid week to discover what yoga, meditation and spiritual awakening are really about. Suitable for people with or without experience.
Starts Monday 12 am, ends Friday 12 am. Maximum 10 participants.
Cost: 345 euro (incl. taxes, stay, all meals and classes).
See the program and read more about the mid week retreat below.
Private yoga meditation retreat with friends or family
For families, groups of friends or colleagues it is possible to organize a private retreat. With 6 to 10 people you will have the location and classes to yourself! Design your own yoga weekend, meditation weekend or -midweek or follow our usual program.
A special, relaxing and enriching experience for a group of friends or family. Discover yoga, meditation and living in the here and now in a cozy and friendly manner. A custom-made retreat.
Cost from 65 euro p.p.p.n. (incl. taxes, stay, meals and classes).
Read more below or contact us to make a reservation or if you have any question.
Features of our retreats
- Three in one: a yoga retreat, a meditation retreat and a spiritual retreat
- 7 hours of classes per day: 2 hours yoga, 2 hours meditation, 2 hours theory, 1 hour private
- Small groups: a lot of professional guidance (so suitable for beginners and experts)
- Silence: experience what it’s like to not have to speak and discover inner silence
- Personalized plan for application in daily life, also consultation after retreat
- Straight to the point: learn the true meaning of yoga, meditation and awakening
- Affordable: we keep the costs down to make our retreats affordable
- A lot of choice: From March 2017, weekend, mid week, week retreats
- Private retreat option: design a personalized yoga weekend, meditation weekend or yoga week?
- Green and relaxing: get away from it all at our own ambient national park locationBecause of the small groups we can make sure that everyone is challenged and at the same time feels comfortable and safe.
All yoga will be adjusted to your capabilities by experienced teachers.
Reviews about the teachers
Program yoga meditation weekend retreat
Friday (day 1)
15-15.30: personal welcome, coffee, tea, juice
15.30-16: practical explanations and introduction with group. Start Silence
16-17: first yoga class
17-18 first guided group meditation
18-19: optional private talks with teachers
19: healthy vegetarian/vegan dinner
Evening: free, rest
Saturday (day 2)
7-8: meditation
8-9: yoga
9-10.30: breakfast, rest
10.30-12.00: theory class, group talk; the true meaning of yoga, meditation and awakening
12.30-15.30: healthy lunch, rest, free
15.30-16: yoga essentials workshop
16-17: yoga
17-18: meditation
18-19: optional private talks with teachers
19: healthy vegetarian/vegan dinner
Evening: free, rest
Sunday (day 3)
7-8: meditation
8-9: yoga
9-10.30: breakfast, rest
10.30-12.30: closing group talk; the true meaning of yoga, meditation and awakening
12.30-15.00: healthy lunch, end of silence, goodbye
Program Yoga Meditation Mid Week Retreat:
Daily program of days 2,3 and 4 is same as day 2 above. The program on day 1 (Monday) starts at noon with welcome and lunch, the retreat finishes Friday (day 5) at noon before lunch.
More information about the retreats and teachers below.
Available dates
Check the available dates here
Book your retreat now by contacting us!
E-mail: contact@humanawakening.org
Professional friendly guidance
Carolien Sijberden and Michiel Drost guide all retreats by Human Awakening. They enjoy life and love sharing their experience with yoga, meditation and awakening. They will help you to take what you learn in the retreat into your daily life.
Carolien en Michiel introduced thousands of people from all over the world to yoga and meditation and believe that more and more people are ready to experience spiritual awakening. It is the necessary next step in human evolution; a deeper consciousness with which we can create a livable and harmonious world.
Previously Carolien and Michiel guided intensive yoga teacher trainings in India and founded international yoga and meditation centers in Vietnam and Indonesia, where they lived until recently. They have been trained in traditional and modern yoga and meditation techniques. Human Awakening is an initiative to make yoga, meditation and spiritual enlightenment more accessible to people in the Netherlands.
What is taught during the retreats is not limited to a specific tradition. The goal is to find what is true for our selves and for every human being. That which truly makes sense and which actually works in our practical modern life. We draw just as much inspiration from traditions as (zen) Buddhism, Taoism and Yoga as out of contemporary sciences and art. Above all from nature and our own experience.
More about retreats yoga meditation and mindfulness
During a retreat you learn a lot about yoga, meditation and yourself. Retreats offer the opportunity to have a different perspective on life, to relax in nature, and to discover inner peace. We will also help you to keep practicing in your daily life. Our retreats are small in size and accessible to everyone.
The retreat is largely a ‘silent retreat’: outside of the classes participants don’t speak to each other. This will help you to be aware of yourself and to get out of habitual patterns and experience an inner silence. During the classes and in the evenings it is possible to get to know each other.
Yoga and Meditation
Everybody can practice yoga and meditation. Regardless our age or fitness level, we all benefit from it. You get to know your body and mind and simply feel better and healthier. You learn to release tensions and deal better with stress. As long as we have good weather the classes will be held outside in nature. We use a wide variety of yoga styles. The yoga classes will be adjusted to your individual needs. Our teachers have been trained (in India and in the West) in Hatha, Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga, Sivananda, Iyengar and Yin yoga, in traditional yoga philosophy and modern-day yoga anatomy.
You learn how to meditate on your own using the most fundamental meditation techniques, such as mindfulness, Buddhist meditations like zen and vipassana, standing and walking meditations and breathing- and relaxation exercises from the yoga tradition. Down to earth meditation sessions will help you improve your awareness in your daily life. Everyone can learn meditation: it’s not always easy, but it is definitely not complicated!
Freedom from habits and stress
In our retreats you’ll experience being completely present in the moment. Your habits and patterns will clearly start to show. You explore how you usually deal with life, how your body and mind react to what is going on. You’ll find that often you react automatically out of deeply ingrained habits, fears or ideas. And not in the way that would make you most happy. But your new awareness of yourself brings you great new freedom. Where before it seemed you had no choice in your reactions, now it turn turns out you can react differently. Free from old habitual patterns. Open to truly appreciate and react to what life brings.
Perspective beyond mind
For most people, the largest part of their attention goes to compulsive thinking. The voice in our head that is constantly commenting. We can get só absorbed by our mind, that we create a lot of unnecessary restlessness and misery for ourselves and others. This habit became so normal that we don’t realize that with awareness we can use our mind in a different way, instead of being taken over and used by our mind. In the retreat you’ll learn how to balance your thinking, with taking some time to go beyond the conceptual mind. What remains if you don’t think? Who are you if you don’t use words and thoughts to describe yourself?
Observing our self in yoga and meditation will teach and help you to get out of your habitual patterns and calm down the hyperactive mind. You learn not to always lose your attention in thoughts and discover an ever present inner peace. A peace born out of seeing the unity of all life beyond thought, a dimension of our experience that we had forgotten about. Through yoga and meditation life in the present moment becomes a friend instead of an enemy. You’ll live more aware, calm and ultimately more happy. We can think clearly and realistic when needed, but we can also stop and enjoy the beauty of the miracle that’s always unfolding. The miracle that also is you.
Professional practical guidance, also after the retreat
In daily two hour group talk sessions Carolien and Michiel will give guidance and support with any questions or difficulties you might have. We’ll discuss in depth the meaning and practice of yoga, meditation and spiritual awakening.
A retreat can change your life. Based on how you want to implement what you learn into your daily life, we’ll make a personalized plan for you for after the retreat. Small or big concrete changes that will enhance your well being and enrich your life. It might be physical complaints you want to work on or mental or emotional habits like stress or worrying.
We’ll select specific yoga or meditation exercises that can work for you. We’ll check in after the retreat to see how it’s going and if you need more assistance.
Cooking together
The retreats take place in a charming former farmhouse in De Biesbosch National Park, a birds’ haven and one of the most important tidal wetlands of Europe. Located near Dordrecht and Rotterdam, in the southwest side of the Netherlands.
We live simply and surrounded by nature. If possible the classes are held outside. Participants share bedrooms upstairs, clean their own dishes and help one time with cooking. Our retreats are no ‘luxury retreats’ but emphasize our inner experience: the only place where happiness can be found. This way we can also keep the costs low and the retreats more accessible for everyone.
All meals are not only tasty but also healthy, vegetarian and vegan-friendly. Besides the three meals per day everyone can help themselves to healthy snacks and drinks.
Book your weekend or mid week now by sending us an e-mail. Only 10 participants. Don’t hesitate to contact us!
Cost: Weekend: 246 euro, Mid week, 345 euro (all included: classes, meals, drinks, accommodation, taxes)
Ask for a discount if you are a student, can’t afford it or if you come together with more people.
Our Contact Information
E-mail: Contact@humanawakening.org
Phone: +31 (0)6 2472 6408
Human Awakening is registered in the Netherlands at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (the KvK) under the number: 64446522. Feel free to contact us for more information: contact@humanawakening.org