Our Morocco retreat takes place in three locations over eight days. We start in the hustle and bustle of Marrakech, move onto the serene quiet of the Agafay desert, and end on the coast when we’ll be lulled by the sound of the crashing waves in Essaouira. When you come on a yoga retreat to Morocco with us, you experience this beautiful, diverse culture with someone who has actually lived in-country and has deeply studied the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region and Islam.
Who are my guides?
A bit about me: Hello there! I’m Sarah. I am an experienced yoga teacher who has run five yoga yoga retreats, three of which were yoga retreats in Morocco specifically. I lived in Morocco from 2016 to 2017, and I speak both French and Arabic. My co-lead, Courtney Erwin, is an expert in public international law, Islamic law, and Sufi Islam. Originally from the Seattle area, Courtney has lived in the Middle East and North Africa for over fifteen years, eleven of those in Morocco.
Together, Courtney and I will guide you on an unforgettable yoga retreat journey. Here’s what you can expect from our retreat to Morocco!
Getting to Morocco for your retreat
We begin our retreat in Marrakech. You will arrive in Marrakech on Sunday October 18 and our private driver will pick you up. Your flight will likely route through a European hub like Paris, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam.
The first night is all about settling in and trying your best to stay awake until a semi-normal bed time. Courtney and I accompany those who want to venture out to dinner in the bustling Jemaa el-Fna, where we can watch the smoothie vendors hustle for business, the snake charmers play their tunes, and countless kids toss bright light-up toys high into the hazy night sky.
The structure of retreat
Our retreats are 50% structured, 50% unstructured. Every day we move through 1-2 yoga classes, which I custom design to suit the abilities, needs, and goals of my participants. Each morning your yoga practice centers you for our full days of exploration and inquiry. The structured elements of retreat also include guided meditations, journaling sessions, and group activities like a guided tour of the ancient medina and a rooftop group dinner serenaded by traditional Moroccan musicians.
In terms of unstructured time, we block off free time every retreat day for you to rest, read, journal, and explore on your own. This is the fundamental quiet, alone time you need to process everything you’re learning and absorbing.
What a typical retreat day actually looks like
Each morning begins with yoga. Depending on where we are in the itinerary, that might mean a courtyard practice at our riad in Marrakech as the city wakes up around you, or a flow poolside at our desert ecolodge, illuminated by the light the rising sun.
After practice comes breakfast, and after breakfast, the day opens up.
We move through three distinct locations over eight days: the ancient medina of Marrakech, the stillness of the Agafay Desert, and the breezy Atlantic coast of Essaouira. In each place, my co-lead Courtney Erwin and I bring the kind of cultural context you simply cannot get from a book or a giant tour group. We visit historic monuments and Islamic religious schools. We take a private cooking class on a permaculture farm.
Who comes on a yoga retreat
When you come on a yoga retreat to Morocco, you know that all of you have chosen to be here, on retreat, together. You already have a good deal in common! You all care about yoga, mindfulness, and traveling to new, exciting places. Of all the ways you could have spent your time, you chose to be here and invest in yourself in this way.
Participants come on retreat for unique, diverse reasons, but, generally, retreat participants are natural seekers, natural question askers. Over the course of retreat everyone reflects on their why: why they are there, why Morocco, why retreat, why now. These are the big questions we never give ourselves the time and space to answer in the day-to-day busyness of our lives.
Ultimately, retreat is about time and space. On retreat you finally have time to rest, to reset, to press pause on your busy life at home and take stock of your health, your habits, your priorities, and see what’s working for you and what’s not.
Retreat is a breath of fresh air. Retreat is an immense investment in your wellbeing. No one but you can make this leap, and what a gift you’re giving yourself and your spirit by coming on retreat!
I have led small-group yoga retreats for the last four years (since 2022). One thing I absolutely love guiding and witnessing is that tangible shift, that tangible exhale, as everyone collectively lets go, surrenders to the journey retreat will take them on, if they can only quiet their minds enough to listen.
When’s the last time you paused? When did you last take a full, deep breath, let alone a week of intentional, deep breaths, restorative yoga, and healthy meals? Retreat is the structure you need to step away from it all and let go.
Do I have to be an experienced yogi to join retreat?
Most people who come on my retreats have done some yoga before. Some of my participants have been practicing for decades. A few are relatively new to yoga.
You do not need to be an experienced yogi to join. I design our practices to meet everyone where they are, and the group tends to include a wide range of experience levels. What matters more than your flexibility or your knowledge of Sanskrit is your openness to new experiences, some flexibility to adjust to the unpredictable (when Morocco has its own plans), and a willingness to be present with the group.
The retreat is open to all genders. The community that forms over eight days in a place as immersive as Morocco is altogether unique. People arrive as strangers and leave as friends. I have past participants who now travel the country visiting each other, that’s how quickly they became fast friends!
A few practical things to know
Rooms are double occupancy, and each room has their own bathroom. The trip covers all accommodations, most meals, transportation between all three cities, local guides, and entrance to monuments. Flights to Marrakech, travel insurance, and alcohol are not included.
You will want to bring a yoga mat and strap, comfortable walking shoes for uneven medina streets, and clothing layers for the cool, desert nights.
We cap our small groups at 12 participants to preserve the intimacy of the experience. If you are considering it, the time to reach out is now before all the spots are gone.
The deadline to sign up is August 1, 2026.
You can learn more about my Morocco retreat here.
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