The Art of Slowing Down
Last Chance
The Art of Slowing Down
Cara Creek Eco Lodge, Coimbra, Portugal
Up to 16 in group
July 2 - 5, 2026
Retreat Highlights
- Start your day grounded and calm with yoga
- Creative workshops to inspire curiosity and self-expression
- Plenty of time to rest in the hammocks, journal, explore the river by paddleboard, dip in our chemical free pool or in the wild cree
- Wood-fired hottub and sauna evenings under the stars
- A long weekend to breathe deeper, soften, and return home feeling refreshed and inspired
- Private eco pod accommodation - sleep to the sounds of nature in a comfy bed
- Garden to table meals prepared with seasonal & organic ingredients
- Optional 1:1 sessions, massage/reiki/hypnotherapy
About this Retreat
Your Guides
Violet Oosterwijk is a certified Hatha Yoga Teacher, Art Life Coach and Reiki practitioner who brings a gentle, heart-centered approach to her work. With teaching experience across diverse locations around the world, she weaves together creativity, mindfulness, and embodied movement to create nurturing and meaningful experiences for her students.
Her style is warm, intuitive, and accessible, inviting practitioners of all levels to slow down, reconnect, and listen deeply to themselves. Violet believes that yoga is not just something practiced on the mat, but a way of living—one that can be infused into everyday moments with presence, compassion, and creativity. Through her classes and retreats, she creates a safe and supportive space where students can explore balance, self-expression, and inner calm, both on and off the mat.
Details of this retreat
There’s a certain kind of creativity that only returns when we slow down enough to hear it again. This long weekend retreat is an invitation to step away from constant stimulation and into a softer rhythm — one shaped by nature, rest, movement, and creativity. Over four days, we’ll gather for daily yoga, nourishing food, creative exploration, sauna and hot tub evenings, river swims, quiet moments by the water, and time to reconnect with the parts of ourselves that often get buried beneath busyness.
This is not about being “good” at creativity. It is about creating space for inspiration, play, curiosity, and expression to emerge naturally again.
There will be guided experiences, gentle structure, and plenty of room to wander, rest, journal, float on the river, laugh, and follow where your intuition takes you.
This is not about being “good” at creativity. It is about creating space for inspiration, play, curiosity, and expression to emerge naturally again.
There will be guided experiences, gentle structure, and plenty of room to wander, rest, journal, float on the river, laugh, and follow where your intuition takes you.
Schedule
Morning yoga, pranayama (breathing exercises) and meditation
Breakfast in silence to arrive to the creative workshop from a place of deeper listening, intuition, and presence
Daily creative sessions (Intuitive painting, nature collaging, etc.)
Nourishing lunch together
Plenty of time for wild creek swimming, stand up paddle boarding, journaling, relaxing in the hammocks, clay mud bath by the river, etc.
Sauna and hot tub evenings
Light garden-to-table dinner
Breakfast in silence to arrive to the creative workshop from a place of deeper listening, intuition, and presence
Daily creative sessions (Intuitive painting, nature collaging, etc.)
Nourishing lunch together
Plenty of time for wild creek swimming, stand up paddle boarding, journaling, relaxing in the hammocks, clay mud bath by the river, etc.
Sauna and hot tub evenings
Light garden-to-table dinner
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change
Getting Here
Cara Creek Eco Lodge, Cara Creek Eco Lodge, Coimbra, Portugal
Directions
3 hours by car from Lisbon
2 hours by car from Porto
1 hour by car from Coimbra
www.cp.pt train to Carregal do Sal, we provide free pick up from here or assist with arranging a shuttle service from any of the main cities.
2 hours by car from Porto
1 hour by car from Coimbra
www.cp.pt train to Carregal do Sal, we provide free pick up from here or assist with arranging a shuttle service from any of the main cities.
Accommodation
Eco-Pods - comfortable beds in large canvas tents Cabin Room - Rustic wooden room annex Granite Room - Rustic granite room
Program Price
Venue & Amenities
A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi
Spa
Sauna
Pool
Towels
Free Parking
Kitchen
Tour Assistance
Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea
Cafe
Restaurant
Fitness Center
Yoga Studio
Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent
We're nestled in a magical valley where 2 rivers meet with indoor and outdoor communal spaces & plenty of space in nature for quiet meditative moments.
Enjoy time in nature Stand Up Paddle Boarding, swimming under a canopy of trees of the creek, taking dip in our Natural Swimming Pool, passing an evening in the eco hot tub and hobbit styled sauna, lathering up in local clay on the beach before rinsing off in the river and sipping tea with fellow retreaters by the fire pit in the evening.
Enjoy time in nature Stand Up Paddle Boarding, swimming under a canopy of trees of the creek, taking dip in our Natural Swimming Pool, passing an evening in the eco hot tub and hobbit styled sauna, lathering up in local clay on the beach before rinsing off in the river and sipping tea with fellow retreaters by the fire pit in the evening.
Meals
Menu Types
Vegan
Vegetarian
Pescetarian
Ayurvedic
Includes Meat
Organic
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Nut Free
Plant based, local (our own garden!), organic
Always Vegetarian, Often Vegan. Animal Produce sourced locally.
What's Included
- Private Accommodation - shared accommodation occasionally offered but always available to friends or couples.
- All meals during your stay - cooked by out in house intuitive retreat chef
- All activities during your stay (yoga, meditation, breathwork, creative sessions including materials, stand up paddle, sauna, hottub)
- Pick-up and drop-off from Carregal do Sal (nearest bus/train station)
What's Not Included
- Airfare
- Shuttle or Private collections from train/bus (Coimbra B) or airport (Porto/Lisbon) can be arranged.
- Holistic treatments - we work with a fantastic selection of local wellness practitioners
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