The goal is to provide yoga retreats at their properties as an added attraction in the increasingly competitive hotel market. Chloe Yoga retreats were launched at the Krystal Beach, a four-star graded contemporary hotel in Gordon’s Bay’s Harbour Island development.
Although Chloe Yoga is grounded in the Kundalini tradition, their approach is a multidisciplinary one that uses yoga to bring transformation of, in their words, body, mind, and soul. “We’re about putting the treat back into the retreat,” says Chloe Guilhermino, explaining that the whole experience is intended as a nourishing one.
For Brenda Munro, a partner in the Fine Collection, this offering is yet another differentiator and way to increase interest in and sell more bed nights in the collection’s portfolio. For Guilhermino and her business partners, the retreats are a way to strengthen the regular yoga classes and growing online platform which includes a weekly free Facebook Live yoga session every Wednesday evening.
For the person seeking a weekend away with a little more, the retreat, which includes a wonderfully written and illustrated e-book about yoga and meditation, is a great way to begin or re-energise a yoga practice. And because Chloe’s focus is on the individual - any level of fitness or flexibility is welcomed. I can attest to this personally as I have very limited mobility in my back and neck as a result of an arthritic condition, Ankylosing Spondylitis, which I raised with her before joining the session. Unlike some yoga practice, where the goal is to attain perfect position and posture, her approach is much kinder and softer and works to explore, in a gentle and nurturing way, what works for you. That said, there were experienced yogis at the retreat too who were given more advanced and challenging positions to consider.
The Saturday afternoon session began with a greeting and introduction, which was followed, a little later, by a one-hour class. After a delicious meal together (curried butternut soup, beautiful cob with choice of sides or a steak and vegetarian option and dessert), the evening ended with a candle-lit meditation before bed. I don’t recall when last I slept as well.
There was another hour-long session before the hotel’s lavish buffet breakfast, the next morning. The goal was to have the morning’s yoga outside, overlooking the yacht marina and onwards to the mountains of Gordon’s Bay, but the weather didn’t play along.
I was lucky enough to be at the launch event of this hotel, which you can read about here, and what impressed me at this return visit was how solidly the hotel had developed. It felt comfortable in its skin and there was a vibrant energy about the place. Their art gallery space is still an exciting one and our one-bedroom suite was as elegant and pristine in its grey and soft blue-colour palette as the day it was built.
Contact Chloe Yoga on 083 688 1819 or www.chloe-yoga.com and The Fine Collection at thefinecollection.co and on oc.noitcellocenifeht@adnerb.
