Yin & Yang Awakening – A Yoga Immersion
with Esther Jones Yoga
1st till 15th August 2027
Ulpotha, Sri Lanka
Find your balance. Reconnect with yourself. Immerse yourself in nature.
TOMORROW · 5.45
Tomorrow, the birds again
The day repeats. You change a little each day without noticing. Ulpotha, Sri Lanka, is one of the few places on Earth where profound well-being comes naturally from simply being here.
What stays with you long after leaving is harder to name, but the imprint that Ulpotha leaves is unmistakable.
Welcome to Ulpotha - A pocket of Heaven on Earth
Nestled in the heart of Sri Lanka, beneath the Galgiriyawa mountains, Ulpotha is a traditional village offering a rare opportunity to live in close connection with nature.
This is not a conventional resort. No televisions, busy roads, or constant digital distractions. Instead, you’ll discover handmade open-air huts, sandy pathways, ancient irrigation lakes, paddy fields and lush jungle.
You’ll sleep beneath a mosquito net, enjoy freshly prepared vegetarian meals and practise yoga surrounded by the sounds of the natural world. There is time to swim, walk, read, explore, enjoy an Ayurvedic treatment or simply rest.
Life here follows a gentler rhythm. Without the usual distractions, you may find yourself noticing things you normally overlook — the sensation of your breath, the changing light, the pleasure of a quiet moment or the joy of a conversation that has nowhere else to be.
Ulpotha has a very special way of bringing you back to the present moment.
Imagine waking to birdsong, practising yoga in an open-air shala surrounded by jungle, swimming in a beautiful natural lake and watching the evening sky fill with stars.
For a little while, life becomes simpler. There is space to breathe, to move, to rest and to reconnect with yourself away from the usual demands of everyday life.
I’m delighted to invite you to join me at Ulpotha for my Yin & Yang Awakening Yoga Retreat.
This immersive yoga experience combines movement, stillness, breathwork, mindfulness, & deeper exploration of the mind-body connection.
With 30 years of teaching and study, my approach brings together a love of traditional yoga, therapeutic understanding and the belief that wellbeing involves much more than what happens on the mat.
This is an opportunity to nourish yourself, explore your practice and experience one of the most extraordinary natural settings on Earth in which to do yoga.
Nourishment, nature and a slower pace of life
Food, rest and connection are all part of the Ulpotha experience.
Enjoy fresh, plant-based meals prepared with seasonal ingredients; everything is picked steps from the plate: village-grown, cooked over fire, served on banana leaves. Spend time swimming in the lake, exploring the surrounding countryside or relaxing in your own natural sanctuary.
Traditional Ayurvedic consultations and treatments are available for those who wish to experience them, at an additional cost.
Ulpotha is intentionally off-grid, with minimal connectivity. It offers a chance to step away from screens, reconnect with nature and rediscover the pleasure of having time without needing to fill it.
Sometimes, the most valuable part of a retreat is the space it gives us to listen.
Sleep like a baby
Open-air wattle-and-daub huts, simple in design yet deeply comforting, offer off-grid, eco-friendly places to stay where you can rest fully and feel closely connected to the natural world. Ulpotha offers 11 beautifully simple guest mud huts, each built using traditional wattle and daub. Open and airy by design, they provide both cosiness and a deep sense of being at one with nature.
Inside, you’ll find comfortable beds with voluminous mosquito nets, cupboards, fresh water from the spring, towels, and a cotton sarong to wear and take home. Every mud hut is hand-painted twice a year with natural coloured clays, reflecting Sri Lankan village traditions. They are some of the most beautiful eco-lodges in Sri Lanka.
The mud huts are made for deep rest and a close connection to the jungle and the earth. You’ll fall asleep to the night chorus, wake with the sun and breathe fresher air than you have in years. Sharing a twin hut is recommended and part of Ulpotha’s philosophy of community, connection, and embracing village life. It enhances the social, shared-retreat atmosphere, where you can bond, chat, and feel less isolated in the jungle setting. For an extra supplement, though, you can take a hut for yourself.
Staying at Ulpotha means living lightly on the land and feeling part of its natural flow. Our yoga retreat is also known as one of Sri Lanka’s most eco-friendly hotels.
A rich and varied yoga immersion
Here, at Ulpotha, people and place move in harmony. Yoga at Ulpotha is part of everyday life, not an add-on.
Yoga classes generally unfold in the open-air yoga shala, accompanied by birdsong and the rustle of leaves. Mornings tend to be more energising. Evenings settle into quieter work with restorative shapes, breathwork, meditation or time to reflect or simply relax. There is time to pause, notice and simply be.
Whatever your level or experience, you’ll find warmth and clear guidance from Esther, your teacher. Yoga isn’t performance or competition. It’s presence, connection and quiet discovery where you tune in, switch off, and let the land and the surroundings do some of the teaching.
Ulpotha feels made for yoga and yoga retreats. Though it was never planned as a yoga retreat, a few happy turns put practice at the heart of life here. Now it’s hard to imagine a place better suited to this timeless discipline.
Esther will be offering a practice that goes beyond the physical postures and invites you to explore the relationship between your body, breath, thoughts and feelings.
Our morning Rise & Shine sessions begin with kriya (cleansing practices), pranayama (breathwork) and Yin Yang Yoga, followed by mantra and mindfulness.
Yin and Yang complement one another beautifully. The more dynamic Yang practices build warmth, strength and energy, while Yin invites you to slow down, become still and explore sensation with patience and awareness.
Together, they offer an opportunity to experience both movement and stillness, effort and ease, strength and softness.
Our evening sessions turn towards rest and restoration, combining Yin and Restorative Yoga with guided breathwork, stress-management practices and Yoga Nidra.
Throughout the immersion, we’ll explore mindfulness and the art of observing our thoughts and feelings without becoming caught up in them. Rather than trying to force the mind to be quiet, we practise noticing what is happening, allowing space for our experience and gently returning our attention to the present.
These are skills we can carry into everyday life — helping us respond more consciously to stress, recognise familiar patterns and cultivate greater ease and self-awareness.
Your retreat at a glance
Dates: 1st till 15th August 2027
Location: Ulpotha, Sri Lanka
Teacher: Esther Jones
Retreat: Yin & Yang Awakening: Yoga Immersion
Stay for one or two weeks. The full retreat runs for two weeks, with one-week stays available through Ulpotha’s booking system, subject to availability.
Your stay includes accommodation in a traditional Ulpotha hut, daily yoga (usually two sessions) and all meals. Ayurvedic treatments and transfers are additional.
If you feel drawn to a retreat that offers more than a holiday — an opportunity to move, breathe, reflect, reconnect and experience life at a different pace — I would love to welcome you.
For current prices, available dates and booking information, please visit Ulpotha’s official website.
Come as you are. Bring your curiosity, give yourself permission to slow down and enjoy the experience of being fully present.
Let’s share two weeks, or perhaps one of meaningful practice, laughter, discovery and the simple joy of being in this very special place.
Yin & Yang Awakening — a journey into balance, connection and the joy of simply being.
With love,
Esther x