Morocco facilitated by Mark

The price includes 7 nights accommodation, all meals, mindful stargazing sessions, a trip to an argan oil co-operative, guided walks, transfers, meditations and yoga.

You'll find Mark in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco - a beautifully calm and peaceful oasis in North Africa. You'll be enjoying the hospitality of the Amazighe (Berbers) team who look after you with their amazing food and great hospitality for your week of mindful stargazing and finding the cosmic you!

Join Mark for this retreat centred around mindful stargazing and connection to yourself and the Universe – what he calls the Cosmic View. Set in the unique and spectacular beauty and easy pace of Morocco. Prepare to be deeply rested, invigorated and inspired…

In order for us to experience the boundless universe we have to discover and loosen the boundaries of who and what we are. Through practices of introspection, meditation, body awareness and movement and stargazing, we’ll discover how to bring together the vast and infinite space of our inner universe and the vast and infinite space of the outer universe. The notion of physical and mental boundaries will start to drop away as we mindfully stargaze under a blanket of twinkling stars in the dark skies of Morocco. The retreat will create the conditions for a transformative change in your perspective on what it means to be a human, allowing fresh inspiration and creativity into your life.

There will be optional daily meditations, yoga, yoga nidra and mindful stargazing.

There will be plenty of time for lounging around, reading books, enjoying the weather (whatever it brings!) and daydreaming. We've included three guided walks and a trip to a local argan oil co-operative in the week too. And this wouldn't be Serenity Retreat if we didn't tell you that nothing is compulsory.

The weather is usually good at this time of year but the temperatures drop quickly in the evenings so make sure you bring plenty of layers to fully enjoy the mindful stargazing!

• Solo ensuite accommodation
• All meals
• Transfers to and from the airport on Tuesday
• Trip to a local women's argan oil cooperative
• Three walks of about 4 miles with a local guide. One to a local village, one to the nearby dam and one into the Atlas mountains.
• All stargazing guidance, yoga and meditations with our astrophysicist and Zen buddy, Mark Westmoquette. You can learn more about him and his astrophysics degree here!

• Flights to and from Marrakech Menara Airport
• Holiday insurance
• Souvenirs!

Direct flights are from Gatwick, Southend, Luton, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester with Easyjet, Ryanair, British Airways, TUI, Jet 2 and WizzAir.

The transfer takes about an hour and ten minutes from the airport. We'll meet all flights, but some may be grouped together. The maximum waiting time will be an hour.

Bread is a huge part of the Moroccan food-scape. It's baked freshly every day outdoor in little mini ovens on the premises. Think more pitta style bread than loaf type bread. There are gluten-free alternatives available.

Breakfast: eggs, yoghurt, lots of bread (!), butter, jam, a special local peanut butter with honey (amlou) and Moroccan mint tea.
Lunch: normally a delicious fresh salad and bread
Dinner: three courses! Normally soup for starter, then there are meat, vegetarian and vegan options. There may be grilled meat, meat or vegetable tagine, meat or vegetable pasta dishes, meat or vegetable couscous, other traditional and freshly cooked Moroccan dinners and always a dessert.

I'm afraid that owing to the way that the kitchen runs we are unable to cater for any diets other than vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free.

• You'll need to bring your own black tea - it's strangely quite hard to find, as the Moroccans drink mint tea using green tea (mint tea is freely available!)
• The rooms are allocated on a first come first served basis.
• A kettle and mug is provided in the room. Milk is available from the kitchen. If your preference is for something other, please bring it with you.
• This is an alcohol-free retreat
• You'll need to bring your own decaf tea or coffee...
• Rather than having salt and pepper, the custom is to offer salt and cumin at the table. Pepper is available.
• Mattresses throughout Morocco are firm to very firm. Please be mindful of this.
• The last half hour of the drive to the retreat is on windy roads. If you suffer from car sickness, bring something to combat this with you.