GAELIC ROOTS
Storytelling and Traditional Herbalism
EcoYoga Centre in Scotland
May 2023
Reconnect with Earth and the healing power of the creative process in intensely beautiful Scottish landscape.
Join author, herbalist, and Sacred Warrior founder Vanessa Chakour, Gaelic Cultural Activist, Àdhamh Ó Broin, and chef, Nicola Orr to explore the healing power of the creative process and deepen intimacy with land. We’ll explore the rich cultural mythology of Scotland as we dive into the roots of our own stories.
Powered by a hydro-turbine and solar panels, our retreat site is surrounded by hills, lochs, rivers, and forests in the old kingdom of Argyll. Dwellings overlook the gorge of the River Liever and feature under-floor heating with a calming ambiance soothed by the sounds of the nearby waterfalls. Inspired by the Japanese bathing house tradition of ‘Sento’, you can soak in the natural wooden hot tubs in the Center’s Dome, or choose a more private hideaway tucked into the forest or alongside the river bank.
The mornings will be yours for writing, wild bathing, hiking, a dip in the loch, or a nap under the linden tree. Optional afternoon workshops will explore healing rituals through herbalism, foraging, creative writing, and cooking. In the evenings, we’ll share dinner, a wee dram of whiskey (perhaps), and storytelling.
With fully-catered vegetarian meals featuring foraged food and vegetables fresh from the Center’s garden, we will hike, wildcraft, write and share to deepen our intimacy with the natural world and explore the intersection between healing and the creative process.
If you live in the Scottish Highlands, you are invited to join us for afternoon workshops and evening storytelling on select days. Contact us for times and rates.
THE EXPERIENCE
• Gaelic herbalism in folklore, healing & ritual
• Storytelling, Creative writing & journaling
• Time for creative practices and self-reflection
• Plant Medicine & wildcrafting
• Delicious Organic Meals by Nourish By Nicola
• Outdoor Bathing, Sauna & Hot Tub
• Immersion in Nature
THE DETAILS
Set in magnificent Scottish scenery; hills, lochs, rivers, and forests abound. The EcoYoga Centre is totally off-grid, powered by a 550Kw hydro turbine and a large bank of solar panels. The EcoYoga Centre comprises seven buildings: The dining hall and kitchens, The studio, The accommodations, The workshop/cafe, The Bothy, The Spa Dome, and The Artisan Sauna.
DAILY THEMES
Earth: Grounding & Growth
Getting to know the land where we are. The West of Scotland is one of the oldest landmasses in the world and we can feel the ancient life beneath our feet. Here we stand on the back of the great mother, admiring her glacial curves and appreciating her exposed beauty. We’ll explore our relationship to our bodies & the body of the earth through movement, meditation & creative writing. Root medicines. Earth Ally work. Grounding meals in-house. Free time for self-reflection.
Water: Cleansing & Flow
Here, we are never far from water. We’ll hike between loch and sea, between sweet and saltwater, appreciating always the flow and communication that water brings. Until the 19th Century people used water to move through this landscape: it was transport, community, livelihood, and life. We can experience the beauty of this soft water through the dynamic, babbling brooks to the passive reflective waters of the lochs. Water medicines. Letting go. Creative writing exercises. Wildcrafting.
Fire: Passion & Purification
To the Ancients, fire meant life; ceremonies centered around it, the hearth fire never went out and embers were carried and gifted on journeys. In prehistoric forts and ceremonial centers, we’ll look deep into the magic and perhaps even smell the smoke from their altars. We’ll share a bonfire & release ritual.
Air: Movement & Breath
Nodding foxglove and swaying broom, rustling reeds, and the sombre music of oaklands: there is a stillness in Nature that encompasses the movement of air, a quietness that embraces the lonely sound of the peewee and the plip of a seal breaking surface water. Today through our breath we shall become one with the beings around us, both seen and unseen. The air here is damp and gentle, embracing, drawing us out and into the land.
Ether: Vision & Space
The magic is palpable, in our journey we have come close to the Ancients, we have touched and been touched by Nature and we have experienced ourselves as stories and storytellers. We are capable of standing between the known and unknown. Today we shall seek out a special place, a portal between the worlds of water and air. We shall go to the very brink and see ourselves reflected there.
Departures
A last soak in the waters of the EcoYoga Center, a farewell walk by the loch or through the woods, an ending circle.
ECOYOGA CENTRE BATHING
The ecoYoga centre believes there is nothing better than a good long soak, chin-deep, in hot water. They offer a choice of bathing places for guests from a simple cleansing shower to deep immersion in one of their wooden hot tubs. All their bathing is powered by 100% renewable energy and the water used is from our own private spring – a wonderful ‘soft’ water that leaves the skin soft and shiny.
Spa Dome
ecoYoga Centre’s bathing facilities follow the natural flow of the river. The sento dome, close to the spacious yoga studio, offers rainforest showers and a hot tub that comfortably sits half a dozen people, set within a geodesic glass dome filled with natural light.
Hot Tub
Inspired by the ancient purification rites of Japanese bathing, this bath offers a sensual feeling of well-being and harmony. Protected by a geodesic dome it is wonderful for hot soaks in all weather.
Artisan Sauna
Follow the river from the sento dome and you find yourself at the artisan sauna, built with sustainable Scottish Douglas fir wood, with its own natural spring water plunge pool. The sauna can be reached via a few steps or a secret passage!
Upper Gorge Bath
Just below the sauna, the river pours past the Upper Gorge Bath. Built into the rock, with hot and cold running spring water, this beautiful bath offers you the perfect opportunity to scrub, soak and contemplate, or just dream.
Lower Gorge Bath
Here, where the river plunges into a natural gorge and joins the mighty Liever River, they’ve created the Lower Gorge Bath. This deep bathtub – that easily fits two- has piped hot and cold water, and stands on a solid wooden platform overlooking a waterfall. Draw yourself an afternoon or evening bath that you will never forget. Alternate a hot soak with a wild river swim. The ultimate luxury wild swim!
RATES & ROOM OPTIONS
To make our retreats accessible, our rates sliding scale when needed.
We also have community rates for select workshops and storytelling sessions so locals can be involved.
Contact us for options.
Private Spaces
10 double rooms (as private or shared). Each room has an en-suite toilet and sink. There are two showers at either end of the building. The rooms are all individually heated with electric heaters which are controlled by the guest. There are also two showers in the dome, with the hot tub and another in the main house along with an indoor bath tub.
Private: $2100
Couple (or two people): $2950
The Bothy
The Ecoyoga Centre’s bothy was an orginial Scottish bothy. These are scattered around the Scottish countryside, mainly for walkers. If you get lost amongst the hills you can find a bothy for shelter for the night.
The Ecoyoga Centre has converted their’s so it has under floor heating and is light, spacious and modern. It has three double bedrooms inside all sharing a toilet and basin. The dome is right outside so only a short dash to the hot tub and showers too.
The front room is a family room, with a ladder and a children bed up in a ‘nook’. It has a large sofa and living space. The bothy can be sleep up to 7 people, three double beds and a single bed. You choose this whole space as a group for the retreat, or as individual guests. It is warm and homey and even has solar panels on the roof for capturing extra electricity.
Room 1: $2295
Room 2: $2100
Room 3: $2250
Entire Bothy: $6150
Meals
All food is organic wherever possible, locally sourced, and made from scratch. The menu has been inspired by the founder’s love of middle eastern cuisine and spices also with added input from our experienced and knowledgeable chefs. The brunch menu has a typical middle Eastern touch, with hummus and babaganoush, homemade pitas, and delicious olives and salads.
Our morning practice will be followed by a big brunch. We then have soup and artisan bread in the workshop, we do a fairly light lunch (we will have occasional lunches to go), followed by dinner at around 6.30pm. All meals are included.
Travel Details
Airlines & Airports
Glasgow Airport (GLA) is the country’s main airport and is closest to our retreat centers. It is well served by flights from the East Coast, check for charter flights which are less expensive from the following carriers:
Thomas Cook, WOW, Ryanair, EasyJet. AerLingus, Icelandair and Norwegian Airlines also offer good deals.
Edinburgh Airport (EDI) is another option, sometimes with better savings. While this is on the east coast of the country, it is only 70 miles from Glasgow and the airport has a good shuttle service to Glasgow.
Prestwick Airport (PIK) is on the west coast and is a small airport, but also with good rail and bus connections to Glasgow. Rail travel takes about 40 minutes to the center of Glasgow.
Travel to the Eco Yoga Centre
From Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station, take service 926 to Lochgilphead (the bus continues to Campeltown). Bus schedule can be found HERE. If you can let us know which bus you are taking we can pick you up in Lochgilphead.
Of course, we recommend you arrive in Scotland a few days prior to the retreat and explore this beautiful country. Ideas for side trips and explorations will happily be supplied.
For each retreat, we will have a group chat or WhatsApp group to share travel details and times.
What To Bring
Our retreat locations are on the same latitude as Moscow and the Alaska peninsula, but thanks to the Gulf Stream and our maritime climate, not quite as cold! However, our summers tend to be cool and wet compared to the rest of Europe. July averages about 59F to 63F, though temperatures can be higher or lower. Scotland also enjoys changeable weather, meaning it can be sunny, windy, rainy, and stormy all in the space of an afternoon. Days are also long in July, with about 16-18 hours of sunlight.
With this in mind, we recommend:
Layering clothing, it can be warm and sunny and then cool winds, so bring lots of layers.
• Rain gear
• Good walking shoes, ideally waterproof
• If you have trouble sleeping when it’s light, an eye mask will help.
• Insect repellent which works for no-see-ums. The Scottish midge is famous the world over. They are active early in the morning and at night.
• Adapter for your charger. Uk electricity is 240v.
• Swimwear
YOUR GUIDES & CHEF
Vanessa Chakour is the founder of Sacred Warrior whose mission is to deepen relationship with ourselves and the living earth. The concept and method of teaching evolved out of her journey of healing and teaching as an herbalist, artist, activist, meditation teacher, former pro boxer & trainer. With connection to Nature as Self at its core, Vanessa’s unique blend of sensitive awareness and deep ecology plus over twenty years of inner work and refining her skills, creates an opportunity to experience the “inner wild”. Having lived her adult life in New York City, Vanessa is familiar with the disconnect so many feel from the natural world. It’s this that drives her work: helping others to understand that they are not alone, or apart from Life. Her work, from holistic training to herbal apprenticeships to retreats focuses on reconnection. A spokeswoman for nature, Vanessa works as a mediator and match-maker, helping people form one on one relationships with plants or animals, building bridges, and creating bonds. It’s these small understandings and relationships which develop that create eco-defenders and sacred warriors: so necessary at this time. Many of Vanessa’s ancestors lived and loved in Argyll, not far from our retreat site, so this land feels like home and holds a special place in her heart.
Àdhamh Ó Broin hails from Cowal in Argyle and is of mixed Irish and Highland descent. He is the first person in 80 years to raise a family of fluent speakers of his local Gaelic dialect which remains on the verge of extinction. Àdhamh has absorbed a huge storehouse of lore over many years traveling the length and breadth of the Scottish Highlands, spending time with the few mainland tradition bearers who now remain. This experience has fostered a particular concern with the maintenance of the native cosmology of the Highlands and in particular with the manner in which the natural world has come to be viewed as incidental to the human experience. Although globally renowned for his work as Scottish Gaelic advisor to the Outlander film production, Àdhamh’s daily preoccupation keeps him much closer to home and the long-overdue decolonisation of Scotland’s people through reconnection with the carrying stream of indigenous culture, language, and spirituality.
Nicola Orr began her career as a microbiologist. However, she felt drawn to travel and seeing an ad in a local paper, got her first job cooking in the French Alps. This is where her journey with food began. She was called to use her skills in nutrition, wellbeing, and holistic health around the world and has traveled extensively to study and cook for retreats. Now grounding back home in Scotland, Nicola is integrating her teachings and experience to create nourishing and delicious food that blends science, ancient wisdom and reconnects us to the land. She is committed to a sustainable lifestyle through foraging and ethically sourced food. Her passion is to empower people to heal themselves by giving them simple tools toward healing through food and rekindling the hearth in all homes.