Space to ground // Space to feel // Realign //
Experience the wildness of Iceland on a completely unique, luxurious yoga retreat this Fall 2024.
With a focus on restorative yin, dynamic vinyasa, and scenic adventure, this retreat is the first of its kind.
//Ísland
October 13-18, 2024
Cultivated and created by master teacher Rae Helsel of The Rest Movement, and Alexandra Ulmke, yoga teacher and professional wanderer - this retreat was born from a synergy of rest and adventure: the need to wander while finding home in yourself.
Iceland is a land of extremes. Wild landscapes. Unexpected weather. A place of pivots and strength. This yoga retreat is purposefully designed to bring you into the heart of Iceland, to show you her beauty, while providing luxurious lodging under the northern lights (with ample time for you to reflect and restore).
Join us this October to experience Iceland and Yoga like never before.
‘2024 may bring the best aurora in 20 years’
-NAT GEO
With 2024 gearing up to the best year in decades to see the northern lights - if you’ve ever wanted to see this once in a lifetime phenomenon from your back porch, or deepening your yoga practice, or pausing from your busy life, our retreat is designed to give you multiple opportunities to see the lights.
Many Northern lights expeditions will only give you 1-2 windows to see the lights, however, we will be checking the aurora forecast nightly and will be ready to depart at a moments notice if the forecast is looking strong within an hour of the retreat space. Most likely we will be able to see them while relaxing in our outdoor hot tub.
Unique Accommodation
Under the Northern Lights
Located 1 hour outside of Reykjavik, the Old School House is unique and quintessentially Icelandic. Featuring various bunk rooms, an outdoor hot tub to watch the lights every night of the retreat (and a dedicated yoga space), this cozy lodge is roomy enough for everyone to reflect privately or within the group.
Our itinerary is curated by Alex, our retreat co-leader, who has visited Iceland half a dozen times and was married there in 2022. Her knowledge of the land, people, and landscape will provide us with a truly unique and “insider” experience of this beautiful country.
Hiking to a geothermal river to soak, toasting the end of the retreat from a glass dome in downtown Reykjavik, hiking between two continents on the continental divide, and restoring during The Ritual at Skylagoon…our retreat is designed to bring you breathtaking adventure and the ultimate relaxation.
When was the last time you paused?
When was the last time you dug in?
Inhale //
Exhale //
Góðan daginn
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RAE HELSEL, E-RYT 500, NYI 1000
Rae has been teaching yoga for almost 15 years, and is a mindful restorative yin instructor who incorporates meditation, medical qi gong, and neuroscience into the classes and trainings she leads. She discovered yoga and meditation while living through the uncertainty of a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatments in college, and she has experienced in the very depths of her cells that this practice can heal, restore, and empower the mind, body, and spirit.
True to her belief in living a life of balance, Rae lends the other hemisphere of her brain to her career in software development with her agency RANA DEV. The yin to that yang is The Rest Movement - her way of inviting others tolearn what she has found to be the most restful, restorative, and seasonally rhythmic approach to existing as a human being.
Rae has over 2,000 hours of education and continues to study with her teachers Jane Fryer, Judith Lasater, Sarah Powers, Bernie Clark, Lorie Dechar, Thomas Droge, and Mimi Kuo Deemer.
Her mission is to normalize slowing down in an over-worked and under-rested culture.
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Alex first began her yoga journey in Seattle, WA learning under former Olympian Jamie Silverstein at the Grinning Yogi. Since her initial yoga teacher training over 10 years ago she has learned and lead classes around the world - namely in Bali and her hometown nestled in the Cascades of Washington State, Leavenworth.
With a deep belief in movement, Alex finds the balance between functional movement, yoga, meditation, and strength. Moving through each in dynamic vinyasa class designed to make you feel and to breath into your body. Teaching beyond the physical practice Alex focuses on the philosophy and spirituality of yoga and brings these subtle cues into each class.