All in the Family

These kid-friendly camps and retreat centers welcome yogis of all ages.

By Meryl Davids Landau

When it was just the two of us, my husband and I attended numerous yoga retreats. Between hatha classes, we'd relax and rest in Massachusetts, quietly bask in a glorious upstate New York autumn silence, or savor a snowy Christmas celebration, ashram-style, in Virginia. Then children blessed our lives. Not only was it tougher to travel with little ones, but most retreat centers would not have welcomed them.

In the past few years, however, parents looking for yoga-based family vacations—or for places to send the kids solo—face a widening array of options, a testament to the yoga world's belated acknowledgment that some serious aficionados have a life with children outside their practice. If you're planning a kin or kid's vacation this year, consider packing your yoga

mats and heading to one of these family-friendly retreats.

Ananda Village

Nevada City, California

The Ananda Seclusion Retreat, located six miles up the mountain from Ananda's main 700-acre village, opens its doors for a weeklong "Families Welcome Program" in August, with adult- and child-oriented hatha yoga and meditation, parent discussions (mostly on spiritualizing family life), satsang, and fun. (Adults $275, children $175.)

A month-long "Summer Performing Arts School & Camp" at the main village, for kids 7 to 18 years old (with work/study options for older teens), begins with brief daily asanas and meditation.

Then the children launch into drama and music, with afternoons reserved

for hiking and swimming. Last summer's program ended with the kids performing "The Life of St. Francis." (Rates are $200 a week for day students; $450 a week for boarders.)

(530) 292-3004 or Margie Bazan at (530) 478-7640 for kids camp; www.ananda.org.

The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health

Lenox, Massachusetts

When Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn bring their "Mindful Parenting" weekend to Kripalu, the ruckus created by the roomful of roaming toddlers loudly announces the center's embrace of kids. Home to numerous other children and family programs, Kripalu's roster of child-oriented yoga-based events includes teen "Coming of Age" programs for both genders, a "Circus Yoga for Kids" weekend (8- to 13-year-olds perfect balancing, partner yoga, storytelling, and clowning) and, for the first time this year, a weekend "Family Retreat." (Prices vary by program.)

Plus, a weekend or weeklong "Children's Program" in July, August, and over Thanksgiving and Christmas has staffers entertaining kids age 5 to 12 with yoga, dance, art, games, and swimming (in summer) while parents take their own courses nearby. Kids room with parents at night. (Rates for children are $120/weekend, $300/week plus $25/night housing; young adult weeklong programs are $594, all inclusive.)

(800) 741-7353; www.kripalu.org.

Satchidananda Ashram-Yogaville

Buckingham, Virginia

Although the previous two summers featured a weekend of family togetherness, this past summer Satchidananda Ashram decided to split the program in two: one for children 5 to 13, and another for parents. Held in late August, the weeklong "Children's Summer Camp" and simultaneous "Parents Yoga Camp" features age-appropriate hatha yoga, multicultural stories, inner tubing on the James River, and nature walks for the kids, while parents enjoy meditation and lectures. Everyone comes together for evening folk dancing, skits, volleyball, and campfires. (Parents $520 and up, kids $500.)

(800) 858-YOGA; www.yogaville.org.

Sivananda Ashram

Val Morin, Canada; Woodbourne, New York; Paradise Island, Bahamas; and Grass Valley, California

Sivananda founder Swami Vishnu-devananda pioneered a children's yoga camp in his Canada ashram back in 1972. Since then, hundreds of 7- to 12-year-olds have spent the month of July combining traditional summer camp fun (arts and crafts, games, swimming, singing, and storytelling) with hatha yoga, meditation, karma yoga, and environmental and multicultural programs. At the 350-acre Sivananda ashram located one hour north of Montreal, kids sleep in cabins with counselors. ($1,200 Canadian, $800 U.S.) Sivananda ashrams in other locales also sponsor family and kids programs: The Ranch in New York's Catskill Mountains hosts an August weeklong "Family Yoga," combining yoga, humor, and play; the Bahamas retreat holds a January "Family Week"; the Northern California Sivananda Farm runs its own two-week "Kids Camp" and weekend "Family Harmony" programs.

(819) 322-3226 (Canada); (914) 436-6492 (New York); (242) 363-2902 (Bahamas);

(530) 272-9322 (California); www.sivananda.org.

Small Hope Bay Lodge

Andros Island, Bahamas

When Columbus, Ohio-based hatha yoga instructor Marcia Miller first vacationed in this tropical island paradise, her first thought was to bring back her family and yoga friends the following year.

Thus was born Miller's annual "Yoga & Scuba Diving/Snorkeling" spring trip for families. The week includes one and a half hours of hatha yoga each morning and afternoon, bookending optional snorkeling or diving runs to one of the world's largest and most breathtaking coral reefs.

Children of all ages (and adults) who don't want to hit the water can relax at the kid-friendly beachside lodge, which features 20 hand-built cottages. (Adults from $1,225, children from $345, plus airfare.)

This year, Kripalu Yoga instructor Deva Parnell of Discovery Yoga in St. Augustine, Florida, will also sponsor family trips to the lodge, including a February "Discovery Retreat" combining hatha yoga and Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, and an Easter-week "Yoga & Scuba" trip. (Prices same as above.)

Marcia Miller, (614) 252-0827; Deva Parnell (904) 827-9046; www.discoveryyoga.com.

YogaKids

Mexico and Costa Rica

Marsha and Don Wenig bring their famous YogaKids program to Maya Tulum, Mexico, for a week in January. Parents do two adult hatha yoga classes daily, and join children for a fun class of their own. Playful visualizations, drawing, drumming, swimming, and storytelling help families "connect from that place where yoga really is," as Marsha Wenig explains. (Adults from $850, children under 12 $150, plus airfare.)

Another excursion in June and December takes families to the Costa Rican rain forest, where activities range from hatha yoga and meditation to rafting, hiking to waterfalls, and visiting an animal conservatory. (Adults from $1,095, children 5 to 12 $400, under five $100, plus airfare.)

(800) 968-0694; www.yogakids.com.

Meryl Davids Landau is a certified Integral Yoga instructor, whose work has been published in national magazines including Self, American Health, and Cosmopolitan. She and her lively brood reside in Coral Springs, Florida.

See All Family & Parenting Articles »