Pamela Goodman's busy schedule left no time for yoga, so a mother-and-child course in Cyprus sounded ideal.
I have been trying to jump on the yoga bandwagon for years, but it keeps leaving me behind. On holiday I have dabbled in the odd yoga class and at home I have signed up for regular lessons only to be defeated by the irregular hours of work and motherhood.
Secretly, I'm rather envious of all those people who have their own roll-up mats and co-ordinating outfits, and who can get their heels flat on the floor in a downward facing dog. So the idea of a half-term break on a mother-and-child yoga retreat in Cyprus last winter seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
The children weren't quite so sure that "opportunity" was the right word, fearing that this was to be another holiday experiment with them as guinea pigs. The youngest, a girl aged eight, had wished more than anything to go on the school ski trip; the eldest, a boy of 13, had fancied a week of sleep and lots of food; only the middle one, a girl of 10 who models herself on that queen of sun salutations, Gwyneth Paltrow, thought that yoga was the coolest way to spend half-term.
Yoga retreats are a new departure for the Anassa Hotel. Unlike most Mediterranean hotels which close their doors between October and April, the Anassa battles it out during the winter months, quietly ticking over with a handful of guests who are wise to the pleasures of the southern Mediterranean off-season.
You can't depend on the weather, of course, as you can during the summer, but Cypriot winters are short, mild and often sunny. In February, the fields are awash with fruit trees weighed down by oranges and lemons, the sea is warm enough to swim in if you're brave and the sun has that revitalising, invigorating strength that you don't get in the UK until May.
So why the yoga? This is a rather happy story of the coming together of two unlikely enterprises - a small, dynamic yoga company based in London and a large, successful family-friendly hotel in the Med - who realised that together they could offer something rather different during off-peak periods. My children were right because our yoga retreat was the first collaboration between Yogaloji and the Anassa - it was an experiment and we were the guinea pigs.
There were 14 of us in our group - six adults (five of whom were women) and eight children (all girls, bar one) ranging in age from three to 13. Most of us were friends already and most of the children knew each other, too. In charge were the two Yogaloji founders, Francesca Quaradeghini and Liisa Halme.
In this great era of holistic revolution, with yoga retreats becoming particularly fashionable, it's sometimes hard to ascertain whether your yoga teacher will know their bhujangasanas from their balasanas, so it is important to check their qualifications.
In Liisa's case (who is the yoga half of the duo) you can rest assured - this is a girl who can not only speak seven languages, but also has four years of full-time teaching under her belt (despite being only in her early 30s) and is fully qualified to sit with one ankle tucked behind her neck.
Francesca, a Cambridge graduate who speaks four languages, is working towards her yoga-teaching qualification, but in the meantime is a registered practitioner of Ayurvedic massage. We're not talking dippy hippies here, but smart, savvy women who mean business. They both have winning smiles and a radiating feel-good factor - we all fell for them instantly.
Each adult day began at 7.30am for 90 minutes' energising yoga, while the older children stayed in bed and the younger ones went to the children's club for pre-breakfast brownie-making. On fine days, the session took place outside - each puff and pant accompanied by the rhythmic sound of the sea. On less nice days, the candle-lit yoga studio came into play.
Mid-morning was the children's turn, starting with the "Teeny Yogini" for three seven-year-olds and moving on afterwards to the eight-to-12-year-olds (teenagers can join in either the adult or the children's classes). Can I hear you stifling a laugh at the thought of children doing yoga? I bit my own lip at the prospect. But they loved it and being the supple, bendy creatures that they are, they all could pop into poses that take most adults months to achieve. My son was the most reticent, my older daughter the most enthusiastic, joining in all the adult classes.
There were few other guests to disturb and that whole, beautiful hotel with its garden and beach was ours to enjoy. The afternoons were free, either for tennis, an excursion or a spa treatment.
By 5.30pm, we were back in the yoga studio, winding down with a few flowing bridges and universal spinal twists into a state of such deep relaxation that by 7pm it was hard to scrape us off the floor.
So was the experiment a success? We thought so. It was decided that four days weren't enough (Cyprus is not quite as close as you think) so the retreats have been lengthened to six, with the next one scheduled for October half-term before February again next year.
Although the course is perfect for mothers and children, we decided that fathers would rather have enjoyed it, too, and my son, in particular, would have quite liked his dad there. But being with friends was a definite plus and essential for that general camaraderie of shared mealtimes and cosy yoga sessions.
I now have my own typed DIY yoga instructions which Liisa distributed to all of us on our departure, and on Sunday afternoons I can be found with my girls in our candlelit sitting-room-cum-yoga-studio deep in the throes of yogic meditation.
I have been trying to jump on the yoga bandwagon for years, but it keeps leaving me behind. On holiday I have dabbled in the odd yoga class and at home I have signed up for regular lessons only to be defeated by the irregular hours of work and motherhood.
Secretly, I'm rather envious of all those people who have their own roll-up mats and co-ordinating outfits, and who can get their heels flat on the floor in a downward facing dog. So the idea of a half-term break on a mother-and-child yoga retreat in Cyprus last winter seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
The children weren't quite so sure that "opportunity" was the right word, fearing that this was to be another holiday experiment with them as guinea pigs. The youngest, a girl aged eight, had wished more than anything to go on the school ski trip; the eldest, a boy of 13, had fancied a week of sleep and lots of food; only the middle one, a girl of 10 who models herself on that queen of sun salutations, Gwyneth Paltrow, thought that yoga was the coolest way to spend half-term.
Yoga retreats are a new departure for the Anassa Hotel. Unlike most Mediterranean hotels which close their doors between October and April, the Anassa battles it out during the winter months, quietly ticking over with a handful of guests who are wise to the pleasures of the southern Mediterranean off-season.
You can't depend on the weather, of course, as you can during the summer, but Cypriot winters are short, mild and often sunny. In February, the fields are awash with fruit trees weighed down by oranges and lemons, the sea is warm enough to swim in if you're brave and the sun has that revitalising, invigorating strength that you don't get in the UK until May.
So why the yoga? This is a rather happy story of the coming together of two unlikely enterprises - a small, dynamic yoga company based in London and a large, successful family-friendly hotel in the Med - who realised that together they could offer something rather different during off-peak periods. My children were right because our yoga retreat was the first collaboration between Yogaloji and the Anassa - it was an experiment and we were the guinea pigs.
There were 14 of us in our group - six adults (five of whom were women) and eight children (all girls, bar one) ranging in age from three to 13. Most of us were friends already and most of the children knew each other, too. In charge were the two Yogaloji founders, Francesca Quaradeghini and Liisa Halme.
In this great era of holistic revolution, with yoga retreats becoming particularly fashionable, it's sometimes hard to ascertain whether your yoga teacher will know their bhujangasanas from their balasanas, so it is important to check their qualifications.
In Liisa's case (who is the yoga half of the duo) you can rest assured - this is a girl who can not only speak seven languages, but also has four years of full-time teaching under her belt (despite being only in her early 30s) and is fully qualified to sit with one ankle tucked behind her neck.
Francesca, a Cambridge graduate who speaks four languages, is working towards her yoga-teaching qualification, but in the meantime is a registered practitioner of Ayurvedic massage. We're not talking dippy hippies here, but smart, savvy women who mean business. They both have winning smiles and a radiating feel-good factor - we all fell for them instantly.
Each adult day began at 7.30am for 90 minutes' energising yoga, while the older children stayed in bed and the younger ones went to the children's club for pre-breakfast brownie-making. On fine days, the session took place outside - each puff and pant accompanied by the rhythmic sound of the sea. On less nice days, the candle-lit yoga studio came into play.
Mid-morning was the children's turn, starting with the "Teeny Yogini" for three seven-year-olds and moving on afterwards to the eight-to-12-year-olds (teenagers can join in either the adult or the children's classes). Can I hear you stifling a laugh at the thought of children doing yoga? I bit my own lip at the prospect. But they loved it and being the supple, bendy creatures that they are, they all could pop into poses that take most adults months to achieve. My son was the most reticent, my older daughter the most enthusiastic, joining in all the adult classes.
There were few other guests to disturb and that whole, beautiful hotel with its garden and beach was ours to enjoy. The afternoons were free, either for tennis, an excursion or a spa treatment.
By 5.30pm, we were back in the yoga studio, winding down with a few flowing bridges and universal spinal twists into a state of such deep relaxation that by 7pm it was hard to scrape us off the floor.
So was the experiment a success? We thought so. It was decided that four days weren't enough (Cyprus is not quite as close as you think) so the retreats have been lengthened to six, with the next one scheduled for October half-term before February again next year.
Although the course is perfect for mothers and children, we decided that fathers would rather have enjoyed it, too, and my son, in particular, would have quite liked his dad there. But being with friends was a definite plus and essential for that general camaraderie of shared mealtimes and cosy yoga sessions.
I now have my own typed DIY yoga instructions which Liisa distributed to all of us on our departure, and on Sunday afternoons I can be found with my girls in our candlelit sitting-room-cum-yoga-studio deep in the throes of yogic meditation.
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