om travel
Cleverly created to offer multiple classes over the course of three
days, in five different locations throughout the village, the deliciously
varied yogic sessions were complemented with carefully considered
nutritional options. INSPIRE partnered with select healthy
restaurants and cafés to serve especially curated menus so that yogis
and guests could feel immediately at home in the Verbier village and
gather and connect over hot chai, green juices and, in the evenings
on long tables during the communal evening festival feasts, offering
haute vegetarian cuisine, using the finest local seasonal produce.
“We wanted INSPIRE to feel like a ‘boutique’ and personalised
experience, but accessible and appealing to yogis of all nationalities
and levels,” says co-founder Kim Taylor. “We hoped that participants
could genuinely experience the joy and empowerment of a true Yoga
Kula (community) through getting to know each other personally
over the three days, to form meaningful, lasting bonds.”
And INSPIRE did just this. It brought the community together
in fresh new ways and welcomed international and local festival
guests to feel part of this village vibration and to explore the
mountain air and experience the natural highs that outdoor
mountain yoga enables.
Variety
Flawlessly executed, every location had its own Puja, or place of
connection and awakening, from the mountaintop ‘Le Mouton Noir’
deck (one of my favourite places to teach) at 2200 metres, to outdoors
on the lawn of the Hotel La Poste, where warrior flows could be done
with feet on the grass warmed by the sun. Restorative Yoga, Nidra,
meditation and ‘internally focused’ workshops were in Chalet Orny
and the Wholeycow Studio, where the energy of the spaces invited a
depth of practice that saw even beginners diving within.
The event was about sowing seeds of consciousness and the
potential of yoga to unify, enhance community spirit and to offer
opportunities to heal, strengthen and restore.
“Verbier residents and home owners are normally hardcore fitness
junkies, hiking and mountain biking in the summer and skiing
and snow-boarding in winter,” says co-founder Claire Wardle. “We
wanted to offer them yoga as a revitalising balance to the adrenalin-
fuelled sports ethos here, offering both athletes and mountain-loving
families the space to explore the many benefits of yoga, physically,
emotionally. We also saw in action, yoga’s unique ability to cultivate
relationships between like-minded souls whose paths may otherwise
not cross. It sincerely brought the community together in fresh new
ways and welcomed international and national festival guests to feel
part of this village vibration.”Journey
Whilst hiking, biking and ‘Trotinette’ (non-motorised scootering)
down the flower-flanked mountain paths were also on the cards
(alongside massage, spiritual intuitive counselling and other
complementary therapies) the diverse gifts and teaching styles of the
talented international team offered a thorough journey through all
eight limbs of yoga that is rarely encountered elsewhere.
In the gardens of Hotel la Poste (where teas and juices were
served throughout) INSPIRE opened with vital joint care techniques
to create ‘Stability for Mobility’ as the opening class, facilitated by
international yoga teacher trainer, former World Cup skier and multi-
level bodyworker and long-time Verbier resident, Lisa Nicholas. More
dynamic and active asana-based options included Sunrise Hatha
Yoga, Flow and Glow Mindful Vinyasa classes (which left me glowing
as the teacher!). These were balanced with mindfulness techniques,