Effective ways to make your yoga retreat a real success. By Cintia Silva
Te acher zone
G
reat businesses are built on
great relationships. This was
one of the first things that
I learned from books and
later from people who had
mentored me when starting my own venture
designing yoga retreats around the world.
It is one of the best insights that I have
applied when dealing with my guests, not
only from a business perspective, but also
for my personal growth.
While doing my yoga teacher training we
had an open debate about boundaries. The
tutors were encouraging a strict professional
relationship between yoga teacher and
student, reasoning that teachers should not
attempt to be friends, or to hear students’Do a little more
problems or accept invitations for coffee
after class.
I silently disagreed: all the businesses
that I have great memories of had a very
personal element that made feel valuable
as an individual. A sincere compliment or
suggestion, totally detached from the sale,
something that created space for human
connection.
My decision was that the retreats that I
was going to be involved with would have
a familiar feeling of ‘hominess’ (this means
comfortably informal or inviting, cosy and
homelike).
I aimed to apply my experience as a
mother and my memories of when I was
being looked after to design the way I wasgoing to approach my clients and shape
their experiences.Soulful connection
The plan sounded ambitions, but it was
easily executed. On my latest retreat in
Ibiza, I had a small group of just six women,
making it easier for me to be attentive to
details such as preparing a cup of tea for
someone and then carrying it out to them
while they were chilling out reading a book
by the pool. This little, perhaps obvious
(and free of cost), action would make such
a difference in our interaction that I took
immense pleasure in the feedback received;
their response was a thousand times bigger
than my gesture.