Go Portugal: Grace Garveywent with a group of 20 to a holistic centre in the Algarve for six days of yoga camp - and came back tingling with life and feeling positively high
ARRIVING AT Faro Airport, in Portugal, I had my eyes peeled for anyone exuding a Buddha-like calm. Instead I spotted a guy who looked as if he might play the ukulele carrying the telltale yoga mat. Tilting his bushman's hat, he pointed to a lithe woman darting about the baggage area, rounding people up.
The woman was Orla Punch, a Dublin-based Iyengar instructor, who was taking a group of 20 of us to a holistic centre in the Algarve for a six-day yoga camp. I hadn't been near a yoga mat for more than a year, but I remembered being fond of lying around on the ground, breathing in to the count of 10. Besides, I felt worn out and figured it couldn't hurt.
Darkness had fallen when we got to Quinta da Calma, near the town of Almancil, so most people drifted off to bed. Early next morning we gathered in the octagonal yoga room of this "School of Life", and Punch suggested we start by stretching each other's legs, to counteract stiffness after our three-hour flight.
My partner, a 193cm (6ft 4in) Iron John, proffered a muscle-bound limb for the task. "Higher," he said, oblivious to the fact that this was a job for a JCB. I levered the leg until my arms threatened to pop off at the sockets, and wondered if I should have gone fly-fishing instead.
Shortly into the class it became clear that Iyengar is more dynamic than the gentle hatha yoga I had previously done, but Punch's instruction was so lively that one couldn't but get swept along. An hour and a half later, melting into the ground in corpse pose, it struck me how peaceful the place was. Deep in relaxation, I could hear nothing but birds chirping outside and the soft flow of my breath.
Quinta da Calma was set up by an American doctor, Sylta Kalmbach, 25 years ago. Kalmbach, who looks like one of the Golden Girls, wasn't happy with the impersonal medical care she observed around her - "there's a leg in room 24 that needs seeing to" - and set about providing an alternative.
Along with her late husband, Al, she conceived her holistic healing centre on four and a half hectares of Portuguese land. Although just a leisurely cycle from Denis O'Brien's golf course and Quinta do Lago beach, it felt like the back of beyond.
Our days soon took on an easy rhythm, starting with a 15-minute meditation at 8.15am. Yoga followed until 10am, after which we would amble through lush gardens to the organic restaurant. The food was vegetarian and packed with taste. It was the kind of roughage-heavy fare I would normally avoid, so I was surprised to find it delicious, satisfying and light.
Salads came fresh from the garden, and everything was cooked with flair. After breakfast we would pile on to bikes and head for the beach, free to roam until evening Pilates, at 5.30pm. Pedalling along country lanes, in line or two by two, felt like being on an adventure with the Famous Five - aged 15 and carefree again. There were no lashings of ginger beer in Gigi's, the beachside restaurant of choice, but it provided a caffeine hit in an otherwise stimulant-free day.
None of this would have been such fun if the group hadn't gelled so well. There were artists and social workers, lawyers and scent buyers, all with something to say. Some had taken a partner or friend, and more had come alone. A few were at a crossroads and needed time to think. Everyone contributed to the easy chat.
Which is not to say we were at one all day. Meals were punctuated by vociferous disagreements on everything from whether the protagonists in Ang Lee's film Lust Caution were in love (of course they were) to the best way to make porridge.
Although the Iyengar experience was firmly grounded in the physical realm, there was a definite Obi-Wan Kenobi aspect to life at Quinta da Calma. Offered in kindness, this was nurturing rather than preachy and called for a degree of openness. Books available to borrow from the shop tended towards mysticism, with a proliferation of titles devoted to the US psychic Edgar Cayce. Reiki was a big hit with those who tried it, and past-life therapy was an option. But within our group the most heated debate was reserved for the clairvoyant Peter Tadd.
I'd been scheduled for a session with Tadd and met him coming from qigong class. A tall, laid-back American, who lived for a time in west Co Cork, he became animated about "a beam of white light" coming from my third eye. This, he said, meant I was "connected". He made a number of spot-on observations about my character and values before drawing my attention to "a block in the chakra around my abdomen". I had apparently been tortured during the Inquisition in a past life. I lay on a plinth as he set about healing this block, during which vivid colours and textures floated before my eyes. This cost €70 and as experiences and conversations go was an interesting one.
The atmosphere in Quinta da Calma is playful, so, when told there was an hour of chanting one evening, quite a few of us filed into the round wooden-and-glass Lotus room. Cushions had been arranged in a circle on the ground. In the centre a candle burned. The chanting, led by a core group of three, began with the primeval "Om". The sound rose from the belly through the chest, and the overall effect was that of a human didgeridoo, resonating down the spine. Next was a Native American chant that conjured up Navajos dancing around a bonfire as the outlaws moved in. "Hay yah-ah, hay ay-oh," we sang louder and louder. There was something elemental and exhilarating - and a little bit daft - about giving free rein to the voice in song. As one of our group said afterwards: "All that was missing was a pint."
By the end of this trip I tingled with life from head to toe. I smiled at strangers and felt positively high. Back in the real world, I was sensitive to noise and crowds and couldn't bring myself to watch TV.
I continued sleeping soundly and waking full of energy at the crack of dawn. My old pals chocolate, meat and wine held little appeal, and I began making inquiries about yoga classes. Whether this will lead to lasting change remains to be seen, but for now it feels good.
And, of course, I can't wait to go back. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said you can never step in the same river twice, but since when did that stop us wanting to try?
• Quinta da Calma (Apartado 3053, 8136-901 Almancil, Algarve, Portugal, 00-351-289- 393741, www.quinta-da-calma.com) is open all year round. Orla Punch (www.orlapunch yoga.com) is giving her next course there from April 25th to 30th, 2009. The holiday costs €550, excluding flights. Take some yoga classes before you go, so you're not thrown in at the deep end on arrival
5 other places for a yoga holiday
1Purescapes Retreats (PO Box 1343 STN K, Toronto, Canada, 00-44-207-6446120, www.purescapes.com) runs luxury week-long retreats on a 16-hectare farm in the Algarve. Power yoga in the morning and restorative yoga in the evenings, with boxing lessons in between. A week's stay costs £2,160 (€2,700) per person for two sharing.
2If you're on a tighter budget, Sunflower Retreats (11 Via Tito Tazio, Casperia 02041, Rieti, Italy, 00-39-076-5639015, www.sunflowerretreats.com) is a purpose-built centre high in the Sabina mountains, an hour north of Rome. Focusing on hatha yoga and suited to both novices and experienced yogis, its six-night retreats start at £340 (€425), staying in a village house with shared bathroom.
3Yoga Plus (Agios Galini, near Agia Pavlos, Crete, 00-12-73-276175, www.yogaplus.co.uk) runs ashtanga yoga classes on a deserted stretch of coast in southern Crete. Chose from a range of options, including yoga, t'ai chi and Pilates, plus Cretan history and salsa dancing. A two-week stay costs €1,030, sharing a twin room with a balcony.
4Or how about a yoga and horse-riding holiday at Finca el Moro, in Andalusia (Fuenteheridos 21292, Huelva, Spain, 00-34- 959-501079, www.fincael moro.com)? A typical day combines two yoga sessions with a three-hour ride in between. Costs €1,275 per person sharing, including transfers from and to Seville.
5Closer to home, Burren Yoga Meditation Centre (Lig do Scith, Cappaghmore, Kinvara, Galway, 091-637680, www.burrenyoga.com) has classes year-round. Priced at €730 for seven days, its courses include accommodation, vegetarian meals, classes and a trip into the Burren most days.
• Sandra O'Connell
Go there: Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com) flies to Faro from Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies from Dublin and Shannon. Quinta da Calma is 20 minutes from the airport by taxi; it can be hard to find, so take the map from www.quinta-da- calma.com.