La Alcantarilla is now offering holidays involving yoga, pilates and movement workshops. We shall be hosting two during the Spring and two in the Autumn 2012.

The week long courses, hosted by Ali Mudge will involve daily morning Yoga classes and an evening Pilates matwork class.

All meals will be professionally catered for by Lucy Verney, providing  delicious and healthy food using local and seasonal produce. There are spaces for between five and six participants. There are two twin rooms and one double.

We shall also be offering the opportunity to experiment with movement in two beginners contemporary dance workshops led by Rambert-trained Gabriella Chidgey.

Additional massages, walks, cycles, vineyard tours and drawing excursions can all be arranged for your visit.

The first course will start on Friday the 11th May 2012 ending Friday 18th May. It will cost 850 euros per person, which includes all classes, accommodation and meals.

Please contact us for details.

Your yoga and pilates tutor Ali Mudge writes...

"I love yoga and pilates and also love having fun, so my approach to teaching reflects this.  I have been practising yoga for nearly 20 years and teaching for 10 years.  I have recently completed a pilates mat course from the Spanish Pilates Federation which I found enriched and refined my yoga practice and teaching.   Currently, I  teach both yoga and pilates and enjoy mixing them up.  They both bring benefits and round off a complete fitness regime, such as the principle of core awareness from pilates and long stretching from yoga.

I was born and bred in Spain, and began dancing ballet and flamenco when I was eight until I was 15.  I moved to England to go to university in Manchester to study Comparative Religion, which opened my eyes to eastern philosophy and ideas.  It was there that I discovered buddhist meditation and yoga, and found that the moving meditation that is yoga suited me best.  It has been a part of my life since then.  I trained under some of the best yoga teachers in the west, such as Danny Paradise, from whom I learnt the basics of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga.  My dear friend Nick Poruchnik has taught me the precision of the Iyengar approach and finally, due to a back injury, I was introduced to the more gentle, hatha yoga through Greg Wilson.  Through patient and gentle practice and through remedial pilates, my back is now cured, but the whole experience has given me an awareness for adapting both disciplines to suit all physical levels.

Finally and more importantly, I truly enjoy meeting new people, so for me the pilates/yoga holidays are an opportunity to get to know people, work with them to bring their body on to a new fitness level and enjoy myself.  If you are looking for an earnest and purist holiday then this is not the one for you -  I am a firm believer of the middle way and everything in moderation."