People ask me what a retreat with me actually looks like. Not the brochure version. The real version. So here it is.
The Night Before
The group arrives at the villa. The chef has been there since the afternoon. There is food on the table — not a formal dinner, something more relaxed, the kind of meal that invites people to sit down and stay. Wine, if people want it. The evening is unstructured by design. The first night is about arriving, not about doing.
I am there. I am not performing. I am just present, making sure people feel comfortable, learning who is in the room, starting to understand what this particular group needs.
The First Morning
Breakfast is early but not punishing. The chef makes it feel like something you would choose rather than something you have to do. Then we move to the Reformers.
The first session is always about orientation. I want to understand how each person moves before I start asking them to do anything challenging. I watch. I adjust. I ask questions. By the end of the first session I know a great deal about the bodies in the room, and I use that knowledge for every session that follows.
The first session is also often the one where people realise this is not what they expected. The Reformer is not what most people imagine before they try it. It is harder, more interesting, and more immediately effective than the idea of it.
The Middle of the Day
This is where the retreat becomes something more than a Pilates holiday. The afternoon belongs to the Algarve. I plan something different for every retreat, depending on the group and the season. It might be a walk to a beach that is not on Google Maps. It might be a visit to a local producer — olive oil, wine, ceramics. It might be time with one of the practitioners in my network: a massage therapist, a sound healer, an osteopath who works in a way that changes how people understand their bodies.
The key is that none of it is generic. Everything is chosen because it is genuinely worth doing, not because it fills a slot on a schedule.
The Evening
The chef cooks again. The meals are the moments I hear about most in the messages people send me afterwards. Not because the food is elaborate, but because it is made with real ingredients, real care, and served in a setting where people have the time and the ease to actually taste it.
Evenings are unstructured. Some groups stay up late talking. Some groups are in bed by ten. I follow the energy of the group rather than imposing a programme.
The Last Morning
The last session is always my favourite to teach. By this point I know the group well. I know what each person needs. I know who has been holding back and who is ready to be pushed. The last session is where I give them the best of what I have.
And then it ends. People pack. There are long goodbyes. I get messages for weeks afterwards.
If this sounds like something your group would value, email [email protected]. Tell me about your group and what you are looking for. I will come back to you personally.
Victoria x
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