May 1th to 5th
From Marrakech

A trek following in the footsteps of the Bedouins, practicing yoga and meditation.
From the remote M’Hamid, which we’ll reach by car, crossing the mighty Atlas mountain range, to the majestic Singing Dunes. One night in a comfortable, fixed bivouac, immersed in the Sahara, and three nights in a nomadic bivouac, venturing deeper and deeper into the untouched desert. Then, we’ll return to Marrakech with eyes full of beauty and, inshallah, transformed by a unique experience.
This will be an introspective journey of discovery and immersion into our deepest, most essential nature. Our yoga and meditation practices will be inspired by the evocative, silent, and powerful backdrop of the desert. All while embracing the lighthearted and joyful conviviality that shared journeys and the simplicity of nomadic life encourage.

For information and bookings, please CONTACT US.

For the Sufis, the mystics of early Islam, the desert represents the zero point of the soul. It’s that crucial stage in every evolutionary journey where the illusions of the ego—that fragile castle of beliefs, theories, and habits we build throughout life—are revealed in their poverty, their inherent inadequacy to meet our deep desires for realization, completeness, and happiness.

Therefore, one must symbolically cross the desert: abandon old thought patterns, the past, the familiar, the superfluous, to embark on a journey into the new, the unknown, the essential. The desert whispers, it is said, but one must know how to listen. And this is the quintessence of yoga and meditation: to listen in silence to the voice of what the Sufis call “the Greater Self,” the Self, our true nature.

The term Yoga, moreover, seems to derive from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning “to unite.” It signifies, through practices of awareness (asanas—physical postures; pranayama—controlled breathing exercises; mantra, mudra, etc.), the indissoluble union between body and mind, between the individual and collective self, as well as the inherent interdependence between humanity and Nature, or the Universe, if you will. What better setting for such practices than the desert, so powerful in its essentiality, with its free and wild nature, the beauty of unlimited spaces, and its profound silences?

It’s not possible to stop, to cling tenaciously to the familiar, to burden oneself with useless baggage, or to return to the past. It’s pointless to seek answers outside oneself or consult maps, superfluous to try and resist change: a journey into the desert can teach surrender, the relinquishing of the need for control and that innate tendency to want to exert power over Nature (even one’s own nature), to want to make measurable, predictable, and governable that which is not. One cannot truly know, and thus truly love, that over which one seeks to exert power. The desert opens the door to new dimensions of freedom and love, to an encounter with that immanent Divine that is Nature.

Practices of hatha yoga, meditation, shamanic yoga, and Shinrin Yoku, alongside the shared journey, will offer an opportunity to cultivate a new way of seeing. We won’t merely consume an experience, as the times we live in often lead us to do, but rather we will immerse ourselves in the experience, allowing it to permeate us and—inshallah—emerging transformed.

The themes

For Hillman, everything in our existence is a symbol: events, encounters, and experiences are images that can reconnect us with a forgotten part of ourselves. The symbolic, archetypal power of the desert has permeated and nourished cultures throughout history. It’s an essential, foundational concept in the theological thought of the three great monotheistic religions and a key image in earlier spiritual traditions, like shamanic-animism.

The absence (of noise, of “fullness,” of fixed reference points, of boundaries limiting our gaze)—which isn’t non-existence but invisibility—invites us to connect with our “invisible” self, a part we can’t grasp with ordinary senses or rational thought. The silence—not a lack of sound but the origin and matrix of all possible sounds—allows us to reconnect with that calm, infinite background within us, where all our thoughts, emotions, and sensations arise and dissolve. The harshness, the gentle ruggedness of desert life, urges us to strip away the inessential, moving us toward the core of experience and a confrontation with truth. And further, the infinite, wild, ungovernable, and unpredictable spaces call us to the experience of Freedom, to the poetic experience of the real. These are the themes that will inspire our practices of Hatha Yoga, meditation, and shamanic yoga.

Our yoga, however, won’t be limited to formalized practice sessions. Yoga is also sharing a meal with simplicity and mindfulness. It’s bringing awareness to how we communicate and listen, to engaging in non-judgmental relationships with what we don’t know and what falls outside our usual behavioral patterns.

Yoga is knowing how to smile, even at yourself, taking yourself a little less seriously, and lightening your path of unnecessary burdens from roles and fixed positions.

Program

Day 1 – The journey out. Stripping away the inessential.

Early morning departure from Marrakech to reach the village of M’Hamid, at the gateway to the desert (transport by private Harmony Desert vehicle). We’ll leave Marrakech in the morning to arrive in the Sahara in the late afternoon. The journey to the desert will lead us through ever-changing, shifting, and iridescent landscapes. From the chaotic city to the Berber village, from countryside to mountains, from mountains to the desert, with a few short breaks, including one for lunch and another for a brief introductory practice. This approach to the desert will be an opportunity to strip away the superfluous: we’ll experience the chance to lighten ourselves of limiting beliefs, blocks, stagnation, and burdens that don’t belong to the present moment and restrict our possibilities for a free and complete experience. In this regard, prompts for introspective observation will be offered, to be explored individually during the journey. Upon reaching the eco-lodge, nestled among the first dunes of the Sahara in an idyllic, oriental-flavored setting, we’ll discuss our initial impressions, dine on typical dishes lovingly prepared by the Bedouin team, and savor the magic of the Sahara night and its immense starry skies. A good, comfortable bed awaits us.

Day 2 – Desert plateaus, tamarisks, and sand dunes. Absence.

We’ll depart on foot from M’Hamid, accompanied by our guide and the camel caravan. After breakfast, we’ll leave any non-essential luggage at the fixed camp (under lock and key) and load our light bags, tents, and supplies onto the camels. We’ll cross the magnificent M’Hamid palm grove via the Oued Drâa (the bed of the Drâa River), where the desert plateaus of the Sahara will open up before us. We’ll practice walking meditation, inspired by Shinrin Yoku (the Japanese art of consciously immersing oneself in nature using all five senses). The theme for the day’s practices will be Absence, of which the desert is a master: absence (of noise, reference points, boundaries, familiar comforts, visual limits…) that is not non-existence but invisibility, and as such, it allows us to connect with the “invisible” within ourselves. The evocative landscape we traverse—and through which we’ll allow ourselves to be traversed—will enable us to delve deep into our personal shortcomings and rediscover them as powerful allies on our path to self-realization.

We’ll set up our bivouac at the foot of the Sidi Naji sand dunes, where we’ll have lunch. After replenishing our energy and resting, we’ll dedicate ourselves to a gentle yoga practice (Hatha Flow, accessible to all levels) and a sunset meditation, both inspired by the day’s theme. While awaiting dinner, we’ll have the opportunity to share our impressions and reflections.

Day 3 – Towards the enchanting Singing Dunes. Silence, emptiness.

We’ll awaken gently to the rhythm of the sun. After a fluid yoga sequence inspired by the shamanic yoga tradition (a series of postures accompanied by controlled breathing and symbolic gestures imitating animal forms and movements), we’ll enjoy a good breakfast and prepare the camel caravan to set off across the Sahara’s sand dunes. During our walk, we’ll practice Vipassanā meditation, maintaining silence and focusing our attention on the physical and other sensations that the desert awakens within us. After a relaxing break, we’ll continue towards the majestic Singing Dunes (unique in their kind, named for the singular sound effects created by the wind). Here, we’ll set up camp and have lunch. Following our well-deserved rest, we’ll delve into our theme of the day, Emptiness, through yin yoga and meditation practices. We’ll discover the possibility of experiencing silence not merely as an absence of sound, but as the source and origin of all possible sounds. We’ll experience emptiness as available space, pregnant with possibilities. We’ll lightly and ironically acknowledge the illusory nature of our certainties, self-narratives, habits, and theories. At sunset, we’ll ascend the great dune: a vigorous walk that will offer breathtaking views. Upon our return, we’ll have dinner and share our impressions and reflections. We’ll also bring awareness to the relational dynamics within the group and, naturally, with our guides, using it as an additional tool (in the dynamic of the mirror) to delve deeply into self-observation and self-knowledge.

Day 4 – Among dunes and stars. Freedom.

We’ll gently awaken the body with a fluid sequence inspired by shamanic yoga. After breakfast, our journey continues with an essential break in Etonr. Afterward, we’ll set up our bivouac at Erg Bo Rabara, where we’ll have lunch. In the afternoon, Marta will be available for individual discussions and practices, for those who wish. At sunset, we’ll dedicate ourselves to a Hatha Flow practice, accessible to all levels, inspired by the day’s theme. We’ll cultivate a non-judgmental relationship with limits as an opportunity to experience new and broader dimensions of Freedom: freedom from beliefs, fears, and attachments. Freedom from our “unattainable and unacceptable” aspects. Freedom from the familiar.
After dinner, an optional Yoga Nidra practice will be offered to aid sleep.

Day 5 – Through the green palm groves. Trust, Faith.

After breakfast, we’ll engage in a concluding meditation practice. This will synthesize the themes explored during our journey and open the way for the day’s focus: trust, or rather faith (which is not belief) in our true nature—the essence that makes us a unique and unrepeatable expression of the life that substantiates and nourishes everything. This is a form of deep, active, and constructive acceptance of the events we are poised to encounter, ensuring we are not victims but co-creators.
The nomadic bivouac will be dismantled, and after loading the camel caravan, we’ll walk back towards M’Hamid. Upon reaching the fixed bivouac, we’ll have the opportunity to refresh ourselves and have lunch, thus concluding our workshop. We’ll then depart for Marrakech, arriving in the evening.

A few specifics

It’s necessary to arrive in Marrakech at least the day before departure and to leave no earlier than the day after. If needed, we can provide suggestions for accommodation.

The total price of 499 euros includes:

Outbound transfer from Marrakech, with lunch en route, dinner, and overnight stay in an eco-lodge. Guided desert trekking on a full-board basis, including bottled mineral water. Optional group practices, walking meditation, concentration, and mindfulness practices. Breakfast on the last day and transfer back to Marrakech. Excluded from the price are: dinner on the last day, tips, extra beverages, any optional hammam on the last day (which can be arranged at a reduced price), and naturally, accommodation in Marrakech.

Registration follows an introductory interview, which can be scheduled by writing to martabecco@gmail.com or WhatsApp.

Before the interview, it’s important to have read carefully

https://www.harmonydesert.com/temperatura-deserto-cosa-portare/#maggio

Additional practical information

https://www.harmonydesert.com/guida-completa-video-marrakech-trekking-nel-deserto

The sessions, courses, seminars, retreats, and materials offered by Sarangi are aimed at inner exploration, problem-solving, and personal growth. They are not a substitute for the work of doctors and psychotherapists, as they do not consider, treat, or aim to resolve pathologies and symptoms that fall within the medical and healthcare domain.