Marbella Lifestyle Workshops, Raw Food Classes and Art Retreats
Water sports are probably the most popular leisure activities in Marbella, but there are plenty of things holidaymakers and semi-permanent residents can enjoy that don't involve adrenalin-driven activities in the water or at the beach. Lifestyle classes, cookery classes and retreats are leisure activities particularly suited to those who come to live in their Marbella holiday homes for longer periods of time.
One can build up on the knowledge acquired and enrol for an "advanced" class and socialise with new friends met at classes and workshops. Here are a few ideas how you can change your lifestyle this summer:
1. Find your Calling
Experience Box Group, to which Watersportsmarbella.com belongs, is a leading activities provider at the Costa del Sol, offering more than 400 different holiday activities. Their lifestyle workshops embrace a wide range of subjects, from make-up courses to learning how to be a DJ, from discovering the art of making cocktails to learning how to dress to one's best advantage.
These workshops are held at a dedicated lifestyle academy based in Marbella, although larger groups sometimes meet in hotels, bars and restaurants, depending on the theme of the workshop.
The lifestyle workshops aim to show participants alternative ways of making a living or having fun in retirement or simply to take one's hobby one step further and become professional. Workshops range in length from a couple of hours to 3-day workshops. Become a professional photographer, learn how to set up a catering company, become a multi-lingual event manager, a DJ or learn how to record your own songs. The workshops are tailor-made for groups and private parties, corporate events such as team building or reward trip or conference entertainment.
2. Veggie Workshop
Liveloveraw.com runs raw vegan food workshops in Marbella that are fun and informative. If a vegan lifestyle is totally new to you, this is your chance to learn new recipes, get general advice on becoming a vegan and guidelines on living healthy with a raw vegan diet. It's a great way to meet other like-minded people, taste some fabulously healthy food and discover new recipes, such as sweet & spicy mango wraps, Portobello burgers, Okroshka soup and apricot cake. The sessions cost 45.00 euros per person.
3. The Art of Relaxation
The next of Jasmuheen's Sacred Art Retreat takes place from 10th June to 14th June and should prove a fun-packed week. Held in Benahavis, the retreat includes relaxation techniques, enhancing creativity and expanding intuitive capacity exercises to help your inner artist reach their full potential.
4. Yoga & Ayurveda Retreat
Marbella boasts several excellent yoga and ayurveda retreats that offer courses, workshops and seminars to people in search of inner peace and relaxation. At Lotus Blooming Retreat participants can enjoy daily yoga classes, starting with one 90-minute morning session that is dedicated to the practice of yoga, a blend of Viniyasa with several Ashtanga poses. Classes take place in a purpose-built yoga studio or outside on a large terrace when the weather allows. The session is followed by a hearty, but healthy breakfast. After that, guests can enjoy leisure time, swim in the retreat's pool, go for a walk (Puerto Banus is not far), or enjoy a rejuvenating Ayurvedic massage with the retreat's qualified therapist.
Another 90-minute afternoon session awaits guests at 5.30 pm, this time focusing on meditation, chanting and deep relaxation. Afterwards, a predominantly vegetarian dinner, sometimes augmented with seafood dishes, rounds off the day.
The Lotus Blooming Retreat is located just 10 minutes from Marbella town centre and 5 minutes from Puerto Banus, occupying a quiet spot in a residential area in the Urbanización Los Naranjos de Marbella.
5. Learn Tai Chi in Marbella
Marbella has its own Tai Chi Association, proof that the Chinese discipline is very popular among expats who have chosen to make the town their permanent residence and semi-permanent residents who come to stay in their Marbella holiday homes for a few months at a time.
The Association offers workshops, courses and conferences throughout the year. Tai Chi is believed to promote wellbeing and good health, help people to relax and improve concentration. It's also a sociable way of spending an hour or so in the morning, since up and down the Costa del Sol one can spot people along the beaches and in public parks who practice Tai Chi. The ancient Chinese discipline is a blend of exercise and meditation, but began life as a non-violent form or martial arts. Promoting spiritual awareness as well as good health, Tai Chi was founded more than 100 years ago by Chang San Feng, a Taoist monk and martial arts expert.
Andalusia has several organised Tai Chi groups and alternative centres are dotted around the Costa del Sol. Escuela de Artes Marciales, Hung Sing Gwoon-Marbella in c/ Notario Luís Oliver - Instituto Río Verde is just one of them (maestro José Cabero, josecabero6@hotmail.com, tel 637 234348)
Embracing Spain's more relaxed Way of Life
For many relocating to the sunny Costa del Sol the change of scenery coincides with the wish for a total change in lifestyle. Since Marbella is located just a 45 minute drive from Malaga Airport and about 1-hour drive from Gibraltar Airport, there's not need to wait until retirement before effecting relocation and a different way of life.
Quite a few people choose to buy their Spanish dream home now, when prices are still low, and "commute" between their UK, German, French, Swiss or even Scandinavian workplace and Marbella. Why not enrol in a Tai Chi class at home or begin a course in aromatherapy, beauty treatments or yoga at home, then transfer this new lifestyle to Marbella when you move there permanently?
And if none of the above examples have tickled your fancy, here are a few upcoming events that might:
• Self-Sufficiency in Health and Living Workshop 11th to 14th September
• Shamanic Retreat, 10th September
• Edible Forest Course, 9th to 12th October