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Samudra is the home of raw food and yoga in WA. I’d visited their awesome Dunsborough café many times before, so when the opportunity came up to experience one of their weekend detox retreats you could say I was pretty darn excited 😀

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DAY 1

Arriving at the café on Friday afternoon, I was greeted by the lovely retreat organiser Erin and filled out a quick questionnaire while sipping away on a fresh green juice. I then met the gorgeous group of 10 other ladies each on their own health and wellbeing journey.

Samudra has won a heap of awards for their vegetarian café (Open 7 days a week) and upon eating there it's easy to see why.

A delicious live food dinner was consumed (the BEST zucchini ‘pasta’ I have ever had!), followed by a 45 minute yoga nidra session (which is equivalent to 2-3 hours of sleep, winning!) before bedtime.

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DAY 2

I practically bounced out of bed I was that excited! 7am was our morning yoga class with the down to earth and witty Lisa. Every morning we practiced in a beautiful yoga space located within the Samudra grounds. Complete with calming music and the BEST smelling sandalwood essence, it was a great environment to practice in. Lisa was like a walking yoga encyclopedia (her knowledge was amazing) and modified the class to suit everyone. We were taught various breathing techniques and some basic Ashtanga yoga sequences.

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After breakfast (Granola and fruit, warm almond milk and beetroot juice, YUM!), we headed back to the yoga room where Erin took an informative workshop on Ayurvedic cleansing and eating. Lunch then followed and was a delightful affair of raw dips, dehydrated crackers and veggie wraps. Even though we were ‘detoxing’, at no point during the retreat did I feel starved or deprived. In fact every meal was so filling that I almost had to force myself to eat the next one (it’s a hard life, I know). The dessert cabinet (yes dessert and coffee are all still available at the cafe) had been calling my name since arriving on Friday, and after lunch I conceded defeat, sharing a raw carrot cake with one of my fellow retreaters. It was deeeeeeeeeelish 😀

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After 2 hours of free time for treatments, beach time, browsing in the eco-store, relaxation and reflection, Erin gave a fun demo on green smoothie making with some interesting flavour combinations! In the evening we practiced yin yoga with Lisa before a nutritious dinner and then bedtime.

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Day 3

After morning yoga, we had a satisfying breakfast of berry buckwheat porridge, fruit, and green juice. The rest of the morning consisted of activities including a kitchen tour (a behind the scenes look at where all the delicious Samudra goodies are made), a sprouting demonstration and a quick demo on how to make nut ‘cheese’ (because all of us were obsessed with the cashew cheese they had been serving us!).

Before lunch we were guided through an hour of mediation practice with Mike. This was absolute bliss and I know I wasn’t the only one who fell asleep to the sound of Mikes calming voice! The afternoon yin yoga session was a great way to end the retreat and was full of fun and laughs. One thing I really loved about the retreat was how personal it all was. Erin and Lisa would join us for every meal, and were always on hand to talk and answer questions. All the staff at Samudra were so welcoming and were always willing to share their expertise and knowledge.

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You can do the retreat by yourself (you'll make friends in about 3 seconds anyway) or with a friend. Accommodation isn’t included in the price but if you’re heading down with a friend or partner sharing the price of a hotel room would save money. Another bonus- if you sign up with a friend you each get $100 off the cost of the retreat!

These retreats aren’t just about detoxing your body. They’re about detoxing your mind, clearing out negative thoughts and beliefs, recognizing what triggers bad habits and learning strategies to deal with them. If you want to do something nice for yourself, be surrounded by beautiful people, eat good food, learn more about yoga, meditation and all round health, I’d definitely recommend you book yourself in for one of these awesome weekends away!

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**Note to future Samudra visitors. You MUST try their AMAZING choco mint ‘ice cream’. It’s dairy free and made from a base of almond milk and cashews. This flavour was truly out of this world! It includes the superfoods spirulina and chlorella, which are great for detoxification. My mini tub actually melted on the way home (which wasn’t so bad) because I ended up drinking it like a smoothie. OHMYGOD YUM!

Have you ever been to a retreat, detox or otherwise? Heard of Samudra before? I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below!

Review by Kavisha, who’s already making plans for a trip back and wishes they’d extend the train line down to Dunsborough…

Disclaimer: I was a guest of Samudra's, all thoughts & opinions are 100% honest and my own!

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Merry New Year! 2012 is finally here and there is so much that I’d like to squeeze out of it, so I thought I’d share my goals with you, and I would love to hear your goals as well 🙂

Main Goals

♥ Develop my sense of style

When I was younger I had a pretty ‘interesting’ sense of style, I loved (and spent a lot of time) op shopping and putting together crazy outfits and would have a lot of fun wearing them. These days I tend to stick to a play-it-safe combo of jeans, teeshirt & converse shoes which, while comfortable, doesn’t totally showcase my best features or inspire much girly confidence. I plan to develop a killer selection of dresses and skirts that will allow me to try being a bit more feminine and fun with my style 🙂

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♥ Learn GHD waves / how to use a hair curler

I’ve never been able to create pretty wavy hair with a heat styling tool, this year I’d love to be able to mix that into my very limited hair styling repertoire!

♥ Work on my posture

Sitting at the computer for long periods of time means my posture needs some work, I plan to do lots of yoga and stretching, plus get regular massages to help keep my back and shoulders nice and relaxed.

♥ Find 2 new pairs of jeans I love

For some reason this is hard for me, I’m going to try and manifest some perfect jeans into my life this year! 😉

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♥ Go on a yoga retreat

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, head somewhere quiet for the weekend eat delicious wholesome food and practice a lot of yoga. This is the year!

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♥ Learn to swing dance

A few friends of mine swing dance, and they LOVE it! It looks like so much fun and I think taking up dancing again will be fantastic for my wellbeing and fitness.

♥ Be the best in my class at school

Given that I haven’t studied for about 10 years, I’m pretty nervous and incredibly excited about going back to school to study Public Relations. I am however very motivated to do well in the course and I aim to study my derriere off in order to achieve this goal.

♥ Spend time with one friend I haven’t seen for a while each week

This one is pretty self explanatory! I have so many fantastic people in my life, as I’m sure we all do, but sometimes it’s hard to find the time to catch up or easier to spend time with your ‘usual’ friends. This year I’m going to reach out to those I haven’t seen in a while and rekindle some friendship flames.

I have more, but those are the main ones! I would love to hear your goals for the year, or what you think of mine!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo