Looking for an affordable getaway to unwind from the pace of life? Catch your breath at Mana Relax Weekend, where you can experience recreation in a way that supports your vision of well being. An opportunity to rest and replenish with an optional daily schedule designed to cultivate relaxation.

This is a weekend Retreat that the Mana Team has created, including all of our favourite practices that we like to share with each other including meditation, yoga and qi gong, combined with an opportunity for you to explore the wonderful walking tracks on the Mana Land, receive a massage or just rest. There is no set agenda and you are welcome to join in with our class offerings or just take the time for yourself and nourish your Being with your own plan. Massage treatments, wholesome vegetarian meals, beautiful tranquil surrounds and plenty of space to relax and unwind.

What your Relax weekend at Mana includes:

• 2 nights shared accommodation
• 3 delicious vegetarian meals each day
• optional classes suitable for beginners or those wanting to refresh a daily practice of movement & stillness
• Massage therapists are available for bookings (additional costs for massage)

Who is this retreat suitable for?

This retreat is ideal for families, individuals or small group gatherings. Suitable for all age groups.

What others say about this retreat:

Words come into mind for the weekend.. Relax! Nourished! Restock!! – Grace Lang

An oasis of peace & tranquility, nurturing and supporting you in many ways while you try to relax and find your peace – Annemarie McCambridge

Fabulous. It’s a treat and a privilege to come to Mana every time. – Janet Moyle

Introducing

The Mana Teaching Team

Hedwig Bakker

Hedwig has been practicing meditation since 2000 and has completed many individual and group retreats. She has been leading meditation classes, courses and retreats since 2004 in India, Nepal, the Netherlands and New Zealand. These many years of personal practice and leading retreats & courses have resulted in a richness of experience and genuine joy in sharing, guiding and leading others in meditation practice. Hedwig’s courses & classes are universal and suitable for people from all walks of life, with or without any spiritual inclination. Her approach is joyful, gentle, practical, down to earth and yet with a sense of lightness and humour.

Rebecca Leaker

QUALIFIED YOGA TACHER (500hr RYT)

Yoga provides a pathway for deep self-discovery and transformation from the inside out. It provides practical tools for everyday life so that we can be the best version of ourselves on and off the mat.

I am passionate about making the ancient science of yoga accessible to people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of experience. I have been practising yoga for 23 years and have experience teaching beginner, intermediate and private classes, preconception and pregnancy yoga, workshops, workplace yoga, meditation, yoga for children, yoga for people experiencing mental health issues, at festivals and for students over 70. Our practice is to explore yoga with humour, playfulness and compassion, to learn more about ourselves, the way and why we do things if our patterns are serving us and other ways we may approach situations. Then the real magic occurs when we take lessons learnt on the mat into our daily lives.​

I bring this understanding and compassion to my role as a yoga teacher and am passionate about making yoga accessible to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. I give a portion of my yoga earnings to inspiring projects responding to social and environmental issues with practical, innovative solutions.

Grace Sorensen

Grace shares a love of the beauty of the land and “finding family, finding community” – and wanting “to be able to extend that to others who come
here.” Growing up on a dairy farm at Matatoki, she trained as a doctor after leaving Thames High School and worked as a GP in Auckland. In 1998 she left for the UK, where she retrained in psychotherapy and mindfulness meditation and facilitated workshops in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Grace offers a gentle qi gong movement and mindfulness practice for our relax weekends, as well as leading our silent walks to the Sanctuary.