Experience India and get inspired by the colorful and spiritual place Varkala
Two weeks in the South of India
in a SMALL GROUP OF WOMEN
Next Experience: November, 4 to 18, 2023
You’ll be traveling with a small group of women to the richest state of India, Kerala in South India.
We’ll be staying at one place: a spiritual and historical spot at the seaside called Varkala.
You can choose whether you want to do:
YOGA, MEDITATION, AYURVEDIC TREATMENTS, MASSAGES, SINGING BOWL SESSIONS, or BOOK WRITING COACHING SESSIONS with Esther Bürki
or
Just working on your mindset and your fears of not being good enough once a day with Esther.
And you’d like to go for long walks on the beach or sit in a cliff café, enjoying the view of the sea and discovering the dolphins passing by. You’d like to write your diary, think about your life, find inner peace, and just relax from your life at home.
You’ll have the choice to enjoy time with yourself or with the other women of this group. You can go shopping in all these cliff shops, finding amazing jewelry, wonderfully handmade gifts, and beautifully printed fabrics, or you might order your individual trousers or skirts from the tailor with your favorite colors.
You might go to the beach, swimming and jump in the waves of the ocean and eat fresh fruit.
You might stroll around the marketplace with your camera and find beautiful subjects.
You might be talking to other travelers from all over the world and learning about their countries.
You might be visiting the capital of the state Kerala, enjoying an Indian train ride, and going shopping.
You’ll be living in a comfortable place, but not too fancy in order to get a real touch of India.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
If you’ve never been to India, because you were afraid of traveling alone to this country, this is the possibility to make your dream come true!
WHERE ABOUT IN INDIA?
We’ll be staying for 2 weeks in Varkala, a place that has grown a lot in the last 19 years since I visited it the first time.
It became more touristic, also for Indians from the North, but still kept its charm because of the beautiful view from the cliffs over the ocean.
You can also feel the great energy because of a lot of yoga and meditation classes as well as the 2000-year-old Temple that many pilgrims visit, and the spiritual healing ceremonies on the beach that many Indian families bring to Varkala.
ENJOY A BEAUTIFUL YOGA CLASS
My Indian yoga teachers, Shibin and Ramesh, are just awesome. Their Hatha Yoga classes with a lot of breathing and relaxation exercises are, even for total beginners, a very beautiful and unforgettable experience.
The atmosphere in the yoga hall at six or eight o’clock in the morning is already meditation itself – together with the harsh croaking of Varkala’s crows.
RELAX WITH BODY MASSAGES
Do you want to treat yourself like a queen? The Namaste Ayurveda Center with the kindest female doctor Tattiline Titus will put together your individual treatment program for the whole stay in Varkala or just one week, as you like, according to your health issues. Dr. Tattiline’s therapists will take care of you in a way you rarely felt treated… «I felt like a baby», said one of my former participants. «It was one of the most beautiful experiences in a long time».
Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medicine, can help you with its plant-based substances and oil treatments for many different health issues such as eczema, insomnia, migraine, PMS, fertility, etc. I bet, you won’t regret one single treatment.
WHAT KIND OF GROUP OF WOMEN?
It’s a group of open-minded women, who are powerful individuals, but also care for and share with other women what they experience.
These women wouldn’t have had the courage to travel alone to India, but are feeling safe in this group to discover this foreign country under the guidance of the experienced traveler and Indian connoisseur, Esther Bürki.
WHO IS THE ORGANIZER?
Esther Bürki, a Swiss Journalist, International Book Writing Expert, and Children’s Book Author, 59, mother of two boys (16 and 18), fluently speaking German, English, and French, had this vision to introduce other women to India, especially Varkala, since a few years.
Her first travel to India was in 1999, four weeks totally on her own. She had booked an Ayurveda Retreat in the South of India for the first two weeks and spent the rest with other travelers.
She fell in love with the colors, the rich vegetation in South India, and with the smiling faces of these people, who don’t have a lot but feel happy.
Many years later, she traveled for six weeks through India with the father of her boys and got to know the place Varkala, where she also saw a lot of European children playing around on the beach.
This memory is the reason why she came back to Varkala with her two boys, aged 6 and 8, for four weeks in 2012.
It surprised her how easy it was to travel with children in India. Everybody loves children, and her children loved to be in Varkala.
Two years later, she even dared to experience with the 8- and 10-year-olds a train ride from the South to the North of India, which meant two full days in a sleeper car to go the New Delhi and two days back to Varkala.
The boys loved this, too, and wouldn’t mind to re-do it.
Read some other stories of these travels with her boys, also to Egypt, on her blog here.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
The flight to Trivandrum Airport (Thiruvananthapuram, TRV) departing from Zurich will be around CHF 1500 depending on how early we’ll book it.
The total costs including coaching, flight ticket, accommodation, meals, beverages, transfer, and visa will be around CHF 5400 per person for 14 days.
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
You need a valid passport, which does not expire within the next six months. You might refresh your tetanus shot if it hasn’t been done in the last ten years.
DO YOU STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
If you want to clarify other things, which haven’t been mentioned here, write to me on WhatsApp + 41 78 670 50 63 or contact@swissmadestory.ch
Application Form
After your registration, you’ll get a confirmation email and you’ll be asked to pay CHF 500 to reserve your spot for this experience.
The rest (costs for the visa, flight ticket, transfer, accommodation, and coaching with Esther) will be due later.