Yoga trip to Italy
An opportunity to expand your horizons and open up new depth
Thursday 15th – Tuesday 20th October 2026
at: Villa Cares
Cares
38077 Trentino
Northern Italy
This yoga trip to Italy will be based in the small, peaceful village of Cares nestled in a Trentino mountain valley in Northern Italy. A ten minute drive away is Lundo, the home of the so-called Sun Oasis, a place of connection and dialogue for people who want to bring a living spirituality to the world. Over the last few years, a new culture has been developing in the Sun Oasis, inspired by the ideas of spiritual teacher Heinz Grill, who resides there. The idea behind this culture is that those universal principles of harmony and connection which operate on a spiritual plane should find expression in a tangible form in all sorts of areas of life. On this trip you will have a chance to experience a variety of newly emerging cultural developments. To find out what these are, read on……
Yoga
In this new yoga culture, the classical yoga asanas (poses) have been given an artistic richness and depth. Each asana is practised with thoroughness and consciousness, making it possible to achieve poses we would never have thought possible, with a lightness and gracefulness, calmness and focus. Each pose expresses a deep meaning for the soul and for our personal development, as detailed in Heinz Grill’s many yoga books.
The Soul Dimension of Yoga describes almost forty different yoga poses in their inner essence or soul-meaning.
This trip will include one or two yoga sessions every day, with individualised instruction, helping you to make real progress in your practice.
Architechture
Over the last few years, many of the old houses in this ancient mountain village have been renovated following Heinz Grill’s ideas of harmonious architecture, providing a variety of unique venues for teaching and accommodation. These are used by the Sun Oasis and by the spiritual academy that operates there. The rooms are designed to encourage a feeling of harmony and connection.
Many windows are created and sharp corners are rounded off to allow light to circulate. Each house or room is based on a theme (for example lavender, rosemary, the sun, etc) and visiting artists have painted corresponding murals on the walls.
On this trip we will stay in one of these beautiful houses (Villa Cares) and you will also have a chance to see many of the other newly designed buildings.
Food
A thriving and imaginative new art of vegetarian cooking is developing at the Sun Oasis, and two meals a day are included in the package price. We will eat together with other international visitors studying at the spiritual academy.
The schedule
Activities will include the following:
One or two daily yoga classes
These will take place either in villa Cares itself or if the weather is lovely we can either practise in the garden or walk up to the mountain meadow at Naone and practice outside.
Yoga practice in Naone meadow
The teaching building at Naone meadow.
Study and discussion of spiritual topics
A central aim of this trip is to open up new depth by studying deep thoughts of spiritual content. We will do this through a combination of reading and discussion, yoga practice, and various so-called “soul exercises”. A soul exercise involves examining an object very closely in order to acquire a feeling for its inner essence. The object might be a plant or tree, or it could be a word, or perhaps a yoga pose. These kind of sessions will not involve sharing personal emotions, but rather will train you to direct your senses outwards with more perceptiveness.
The kind of spiritual development taught aims to help people develop the inner strength to take charge of their lives, enriching it with truer content and meaning.
Living spirituality
In the evenings there may be a chance to attend the evening gathering where Heinz Grill himself shares thoughts of deep wisdom. His thoughts carry a deep content of truth, and so they speak to each of us in the depth of the heart. These times are always a very special moment as they can open up new insights for us, or bring to the surface realisations that had previously not reached conscious awareness. Thus these encounters represent an important landmark on our journey of spiritual development.
Walking
The walk up to the meadow at Naone takes about half an hour from Lundo, up a mountain path through the forest.
There are spectacular views over the mountains.
For those who prefer a flatter walk, there is a beautiful footpath around the exquisite, turquoise lake Tenno.
Other activities
Villa Cares has a Sauna and cold plunge pool. Right next door is a recently established table tennis centre in a beautiful, light and airy converted barn. There are four table tennis tables there which we are welcome to use by arrangement.
Yoga in Italy Cost
£480. This includes 5 nights accommodation, 4 days tuition, two vegetarian meals per day for 4 days, and transport from Bergamo airport.
Additional costs will be the flights and breakfast/snacks. There will be breakfast making facilities in the accommodation and we will be able to buy food in local supermarkets.
Travel
I will be flying with Ryanair from Bristol to Milan Bergamo, flying out at 13:45 on Thursday 15th October and returning at 16:10 on Tuesday 20th October. You will need to book your own flights but please check with me before doing so in case anything has changed.
I will hire car(s) to drive from Bergamo airport to Lundo and this car transport with me is included in the package cost. If you want to travel on a different flight you can either meet me at Bergamo to drive together to Lundo, or else make your own way there.
The venue address is Villa Cares, 38077, Tentino. See maps.
The nearest train station is Trento and from there there are buses to the local town of Ponte Arche from where you can be collected.
Please email Karen for more details.
Yoga in Italy Reviews
This is a description written by two participants of the holiday which happened in October 2023. Note that this trip was slightly different to the one planned here, as on that occasion we stayed in the village of Tenno.
“We arrived on Tuesday night and left Sunday morning, so we had 4 full days in Tenno. The village itself is lovely, nested between majestic mountains, with a medieval castle and breathtaking views of Lake Garda. My wife and I did not stay at the Haus der Schönheit (the B&B located in the house that Heinz Grill renovated) but in an apartment in Tenno, so you have this option as well. Every morning we met with the rest of the group at the Haus and had breakfast together before heading out for the activities of the day. All the meals they served were vegetarian and based on organic, locally-grown and home-cooked food. They were always accompanied by an explanation of the nutritional properties, how they fed the soul as well as the body and how the ingredients were combined to enhance the flavours and their nutrients.
On the first day, we drove for a few minutes and sat on a terrace overlooking Lake Tenno, where we started our study by examining and discussing extracts from Heinz Grill’s “A New Yoga Will”. We engaged in a series of exercises that taught us to discriminate between subjective and objective feelings and gave us a taste of how spiritual research is carried out. In the afternoon we had a walk around the lake, I savoured the sheer beauty of the place, the peacefulness and breathing the terse air. We then moved back to Tenno, where we had a yoga lesson in the library of the Haus.
On Thursday we drove up the mountains to Lundo, the village where Heinz Grill lives and works. From there, we hiked to Naone, and to the Casa Artistica (Art House) where most of the activities of Heinz Grill’s Schule are carried out. The hike itself is a wonderful experience up on mountain paths, through the woods and all the way up to the clearing where the house stands.
There was a yoga teachers’ course going on during our stay, so the Schule was quite busy but large enough to accommodate all of us comfortably. Some of the teachers in the team guided us through a 2-hour practice based on the idea of “overstepping your limits”, which also became our group’s main theme. We carried it over in the afternoon with further study, while soaking up the sun sitting on the grass in the clearing.
In the evening we walked back to Lundo where we dined at Heinz Grill’s house, then attended one of his lessons. The theme revolved around how strengthening our will, through the practice of overstepping our limits, translates into all sorts of beneficial physical effects, including boosting the immune system. The lesson was in German and Karen provided a simultaneous translation which allowed us to follow the discussion quite easily.
We started Friday’s activities with a guided tour of the Haus der Schönheit: Maria (who helps run the place) explained the original ideas on which Heinz Grill renovated the building, the meaning of the layout and the decorations, and the prominent role that light has in his architectural philosophy. We were led to rethink the living spaces not as static containers but as organic, breathing entities with profound connections with the people. The following yoga session was accompanied by the music coming from the piano being played downstairs, which made it a unique and special experience. After a sumptuous lunch on the terrace of a local “trattoria” (a small family-run restaurant, serving local food) we visited the Varone waterfalls and had a nice walk along the Lake Garda in Riva del Garda.
On our last day, we went back to Naone, where we were lucky enough to spend the morning participating in a lesson that Heinz Grill himself delivered to the yoga teachers. He was extremely approachable and we even had a chance to ask his opinion on some personal matters. We concluded our day on Lake Tenno, where some of us had a swim, while others simply walked or relaxed. Even in October, the weather has been warm and sunny the whole time and we made the best of our time in the open.
The retreat for us was a perfect balance between physical activity, the study of Grill’s philosophy, and holiday. Karen was an incredible group leader, tailoring her lessons to the needs of the group, facilitating extremely stimulating discussions while also providing guidance and experience as a person who studied with Grill for many years. We came back refreshed and reinvigorated, having internalized concepts and ideas that we could immediately put to use in our everyday lives.
It’s an experience that I would warmly recommend to anyone, independently from their yoga experience – we had lessons a few years ago but were still going through the beginners’ course. It is a unique chance to meet a once-in-a-generation spiritual guide, while enjoying a delightful holiday.”