Winter Retreat with Mark Stephens

Set on the lush Pacific coast near Sayulita, Mexico, Haramara is a jungle-meets-ocean sanctuary where the rhythm of nature guides your days. This retreat embraces the potent energies of the Winter Solstice, year-end transitions, and the turning toward a new year, offering a heartfelt pause to slow down, reflect, and recommit to wellbeing.

Daily Rhythm & Practice

While participation in any or all that follows is entirely optional and flexible, the retreat offers a rich schedule that supports both grounding and exploration:

• Sunrise Pranayama & Meditation: Start gently each day with breath awareness and meditative stillness as the sun rises over the jungle and sea — cultivating clarity, calm, and presence.
  • Morning Vinyasa Flow: An all-levels, energizing yoga practice that blends strength, alignment, breath, and mindfulness. Suitable for beginners through advanced practitioners, each session concludes with restorative postures and meditation.
  • Mid-Day Workshops & Tune-Ups: Held on select afternoons, these short, interactive sessions explore aspects of yoga practice such as sun salutations, alignment principles, breath techniques, and modifications tailored to individual needs.
  • Sunset Yin/Restorative Practice: As afternoon turns toward evening, slow, grounding classes invite surrender and relaxation on the floor with blankets and bolsters, supporting deep release and introspection.
  • Evening Conversations & Satsangs: After dinner, gatherings focus on inquiry, philosophy, and open dialogue — exploring questions about yoga, consciousness, life purpose, relationships, and the interplay between practice and everyday living.

Beyond formal practice, there’s ample time for joy, connection, and play — whether lounging in a hammock, swimming, exploring the nearby town of Sayulita, surfing, enjoying spa treatments, or simply watching the Pacific sunset.

Accommodations & Nourishment

Haramara’s unique open-air casitas are nestled amidst jungle and ocean views, blending rustic charm with comfort. Each unit offers private bathing facilities and open-air showers, inviting you into the rhythms of nature.

Meals are all-organic, beautifully prepared, and included, featuring local produce and fresh seafood. The dining space, perched above the jungle with expansive ocean vistas, becomes a natural hub for sharing food and conversation. Special dietary needs (vegan, gluten-free, etc.) are welcomed and accommodated.

Community & Connection

One of the richest gifts of the retreat is the community of participants — people from diverse backgrounds and levels of experience who come together in shared practice and exploration. Whether you seek spiritual depth, physical challenge, rest, adventure, or simply a break from routine, the retreat container supports individual discovery in a warm, welcoming environment.

Retreat Fee

The retreat fee, which varies based on which accommodation you choose, includes:

• Seven nights lodging in Haramara casitas
• All meals and daily yoga classes/workshops
• 19% Mexico tax

Add-ons such as spa services, private excursions, and personal transportation are available but not included. Transportation from Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR) is coordinated for guests, making arrival seamless.

The retreat fee includes:

• Seven nights lodging in Haramara casitas
• All meals and daily yoga classes/workshops
• 19% Mexico tax

Add-ons such as spa services, private excursions, and personal transportation are available but not included in the fee. Transportation from Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR) is coordinated for guests, making arrival seamless.

Pricing:

Make the $500 Registration Deposit by August 1st for these early bird prices:

• Women’s Group Casita (per person): $1,900
• Triple Occupancy Casita (per person): $2,300
• Double Occupancy Casita (per person): $2,600
• Single Occupancy Casita (per person): $3,750

Pricing Specials:

• Early Bird Discount (15% off the regular price)—make your deposit by August 1st.
• First-come, first-served priority in choosing your casita

Type of Retreat: Yoga
Style of Yoga: Hatha

Additional Information, Questions & Registration:

Contact Name: Mark Stephens
Contact Email: mark@markstephensyoga.com
Contact Phone Number: 8313313955
Online Registration: https://www.markstephensyoga.com/haramara2026
Website: https://www.markstephensyoga.com/haramara2026

About the Instructor:

Mark Stephens is a yoga teacher, educator, and author who has spent more than three decades exploring the meeting place of ancient practice and modern understanding. A practitioner of yoga since 1991 and a teacher since 1996, his work is known for weaving together classical yogic teachings, careful scholarship, and grounded, practical application.

He is the author of several widely used yoga texts, including Teaching Yoga, Yoga Sequencing, Yoga Adjustments, Yoga Therapy, Yoga for Better Sleep, andBreathing: The Art and Science of Pranayama (forthcining, October 2026). His books are known for their clarity, depth, and ability to translate complex ideas into forms that are accessible to teachers and dedicated practitioners, bringing traditional practices into dialogue with contemporary science and lived experience.

Mark teaches yoga internationally, leads teacher trainings and intensives across North America and Europe, and mentors generations of yoga teachers. His approach emphasizes inquiry, discernment, and respect for both the power and limits of our explanatory models—whether spiritual, philosophical, or scientific.

A summa cum laude graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, he completed seven years of doctoral studies at UCLA, an academic background that continues to inform his research-driven yet practice-centered work. Alongside his teaching and writing, he remains deeply engaged with questions of how breath, conscious awareness, and embodiment shape the way we live, relate, and make meaning.

Mark lives in Santa Cruz, California.