Yoga in Melbourne

The rise of the day retreat

Retreats mean an airfare, annual leave and significant investment. A quieter form is filling Melbourne’s spring calendars: one day, close to home, a few hundred dollars rather than thousands. As the city comes out of winter, it might be the most sensible eight hours you can buy.

There is a particular kind of Melbourne yoga student who has been meaning to go on retreat for years. The intention is real. Somehow though, the free time, the finances and the responsibilities just get in the way. The retreat stays a dream, but reality just won’t let it be.

The day retreat exists for that person, and Melbourne is quietly filling up with them. One day on a weekend, no flights, no accommodation, a drive within or just outside the city, and a price closer to a good dinner for two than a holiday. You are home by the end of the day, feeling refreshed, like something has shifted.

Why now?

An overseas retreat asks for a week of leave and several thousand dollars before the first om. A day retreat asks for one day on a weekend, and a few hundred. The barrier drops from a life decision to an easy choice, and whole groups of people who could never make it work, parents, shift workers, anyone whose leave is spoken for, are suddenly inside the tent.

Part of it is the season. Melbourne is coming out of winter, and the first response to longer light is the urge to get out and do something. The day happens indoors, warm, propped and held, with just enough of it outside, a gentle walk between sessions, to let the season in.

Different styles of day retreat

Like with yoga itself, day retreats come in many styles. There are those that involve multiple intense sessions of strong yoga, through to those that focus more on rest and depth.

Yintention, the retreat run by Alessia Frisina and Janita Doelken, is an example of the latter. Run at a beautiful private studio in Caulfield, on 12 September, the experience is focused more on a gentle descent. Arrival and tea at ten. A yoga workshop at eleven, followed by a vegetarian lunch. A gentle walk followed by a Yin and intentional touch session, by which time those attending will be no doubt in a state of blissful relaxation. The day finishes with tea and meditation, a reflection circle, and by six it’s time out.

By design, this kind of day retreat is more about allowing rather than demanding. This kind of day retreat allows a framework to be built for those looking to slow down outside of the daily pressures in their usual routine. The touch work in the afternoon is the pair’s particular territory, consent-led and unhurried. “It’s not just hands on a body,” Janita has said of it. “It’s really tuning into the energy and individual requirements of each person’s anatomy.”

How to book