Beauty
A hot yoga weekend is the perfect way to unwind after a busy and stressful week
A hot yoga weekend
The treatment
Heat Fitness’s all inclusive two night One Hot Weekend takes place at Eastwood House in Dunkeld. The next available dates are 15 to 17 March and 17 to 19 May 2019, £385pp sharing a twin room or £485 per person for a single room with a double or kingsize bed. No previous yoga experience is required, all meals are “plantbased and mostly gluten and dairy free”, and there is the option of a 45 minute Indian head massage (£30) with therapist Angela Spence to aid further relaxation.
Why go?
It’s billed as the only hot yoga retreat in Scotland currently, set against the tranquil backdrop of the River Tay looking towards Birnam Wood and Hill in a property combining luxury and comfort.
Our spy says
The weekend is timed perfectly at the end of an extremely long and intense week at work, and not enough sleep the night before I arrive to meet my final deadline means I’m feeling more than a little withered. But my mood improves considerably on arriving at the house – which sleeps up to 20, is set in nine acres of garden and woodland, and whose previous guests include Beatrix Potter, who spent several months there.
Hot yoga is not something I’m used to, and at the start of the Fierce Grace Classic class – led by welcoming Juliette of Stirling-based Heat Fitness – I wonder if I’ll be able to withstand the temperature for nine minutes – never mind 90. But while I’m soon an undignified vision sweating bucketloads in the effective makeshift studio – which uses the fireplace and heater and to raise the mercury – I find the pace perfectly manageable and my next hot class much easier. There’s also a guided meditation and yoga nidri session, which I swear was five minutes although I’m told at the end was an hour, and a non-heated yin session.
Saturday afternoon is at our leisure, and I use the time to have a muchneeded nap under the giant fluffy duvet in my lovely room, although other options could include popping into Dunkeld for a walk, or sitting outside overlooking the river. There’s also a large living area with sofas and magazines.
The food is excellent, including post-morning yoga juices, breakfast including pecan-heavy nutty granola, toast with chia jam, and dinner of flaxseed-coated burgers that lack the often-dry texture of veggie burgers.
On Saturday night I have a superrelaxing, post-dinner head massage, and after heading up the fairy-light decorated staircase to my room, I’m asleep before my head hits the pillow.
The following day we go for a stroll though Dunkeld, past its cafes and boutiques and further along the river.
The results
Having arrived under a cloud, I leave almost floating on one, wondering if it would be feasible to do a yoga retreat every weekend. n