Casa Lawa — Sicily, September 12–17 2024

Cuisine and yoga activities.

Mise-en-scène Sicilienne featuring Chelsey Forbes and Clo Chaumet at Casa Lawa. A 5-day yoga and Italian cuisine by cool teachers at a cool Casa for cool people. It is not just about yoga and Italian cuisine, but also about emotion and gender and the playlists.

Chelsey and Clo met at a Katonah yoga training that Clo was taking in NYC in May 2023. Chelsey offered Clo to try her Honey Mama’s chocolate bar between all the Katonah yoga assists, and that is where the friendship became le miel de la crème.

Some friendships happen just like this: over yoga, good snacks, fun practices, and beautiful moments. The idea of continuing the fun and bringing it to a co-teaching retreat project in Sicily was the best excuse to extend our 2024 summer together, doing yoga and cooking fresh food in Italy.

Obsessively attracted by colors and anything playful and tasteful, Casa Lawa felt like the perfect casa for our Italian yoga experience.

We are extremely happy to be able to host a 5-day yoga, meditation, and Italian cuisine retreat at Casa Lawa. This unique casa is an artistic, Sicilian welcoming guest house created by amazing human Lukas. Another local Italian house will be our annex for the week to be able to welcome more people to the fun.

Now you can easily picture yourself in the late Italian summer, flexing muscles and getting joy-stoned at the daily yoga classes but also with the daily practice of “far niente”. Please plan to read books by the Casa Lawa pool, go for walking meditation in the countryside, do spiritual swims in the Mediterranean sea, and meet great people.

Our idea behind this retreat is to do yoga, try Italian activities, and eat good Sicilian food. For that matter, we have some culinary and cultural ateliers planned, like a cooking class with the amazing Casa Lawa chef in Residence and a pasticceria russo breakfast, meaning a pastry cooking class that we will obviously eat afterward. We will also add some liquid fun with a local wine tasting session to learn and discover Sicilian wine culture.

Chelsey and Clo will lead daily and twice yoga, including Katonah yoga, Chinese Medicine inspired flows and workshops, sound healing sessions at the casa and at the beach, playful vinyasa classes, deep and restorative end-of-the-day sessions, meditation and pranayama will be part of the daily schedule as well.

Teachers

CHELSEY

Chelsey Forbes is a Yoga Teacher based in NYC and teaches at Sky Ting. Her classes blend practical sequencing with somatic curiosity and humor by weaving various traditional philosophies in tandem with Katonah Yoga.

Chelsey’s classes are rooted in Hatha, Vinyasa, Katonah, Kundalini & Ayurveda. Expect pranayama and meditation in the mornings, restorative practice in the evenings, dance parties, and self-inquiry. We will make time for workshop-style classes as well, depending on the group's energy, and may be subject to change.

CLO

After living in Los Angeles, Clotilde Chaumet went to train in Ashtanga yoga in Mysore, India, where she obtained her yoga teacher diploma. Enriched by these experiences, she decided to return to Paris in 2015 to create her yoga concept called TIHHY.

That same year, she was part of the launch of Dynamo, which she really left her mark on thanks to her transcendent courses and by becoming the only Senior Master Coach.

In 2019, Clotilde deepened her training and obtained her 500h RYT diploma with Dylan Werner. She also trained in sound healing and sound bath meditation in Los Angeles with her teachers and mentors, Jeralyn Glass and Susy Markoe Schieffelin. Through this experience, Clotilde also had the chance to learn and share with Rnb Artist Jhéné Aiko, singer and sound healer.

She also recently trained in the principles of Chinese medicine at the American Yoga Medicine School founded by Tiffany Cruickshank and is currently training in Katonah Yoga at the New York school Katonah Yoga Center.

A reference in her field, Clotilde has been featured in several international campaigns for major brands such as Maison Margiela and Nike or in portraits in magazines such as the New York Times, L'Officiel, Sport-Étude, or Vogue again. In 2018, she was even invited to TEDx Paris to share her moving story and her experience during her TED Talk.

But it’s really when she teaches and shares her passion for yoga that Clotilde finds all her inspiration and her particular energy.

Clotilde’s classes are inspired by everything she practices, like traditional Ashtanga and vinyasa flows, including handstands, arm balances, or even long, deep stretches. Clo always brings inversions very playfully, making them accessible to everyone. Her teaching is also very much influenced by my music and meditation, and she considers her discourse as important as the asanas. Expect Traditional Chinese Medicine elements, a lot of assistance, and last but not least, a good dose of sound healing.

Food and Cuisine

Casa Lawa is a place for creative and unique chefs. The Residences and menu are constantly inspired by Italian family dinners, re-created for guests and other curious, hungry travelers. It is a perfect setting for you to enjoy the company of friends and family, whether you're staying with us or dropping by for the evening. During our stay, Barney and Bhāvinī will be in Residence and our chefs.

Barney Pau

Barney Pau is a culinary artist who curates alternative eating

experiences, crossing sculpture and cooking to create edible tablescapes. His signature foods focus on foraging and fermenting, and he specializes in developing unique and specific menus which reflect the themes of his research, or his collaborators’ practices.

Some of his previous culinary experiences include Ecology of Dereliction for the launch of Eyesore Magazine, which celebrated urban ecologies; ‘Unnatural’ Nature in collaboration with photographer Hannah Morgan at Have a Butchers Gallery, which explored being queer in nature; and Out of the Peat at Flatlands Projects Gallery.

@barneypau / barneypau.com

Barney’s intentions for this residency:

Exploring the deeply ingrained food culture the region is famous for to better understand how its people connect with their land through what they eat. Experiment with the place's microbial terroir through fermentation and how this might develop flavors unique to the region.

Bhāvinī

Bhāvinī is an interdisciplinary artist using the mediums of food and filmography to create immersive experiences, with a focus on ritual, symbols, and the expression of inner worlds through these actions. She uses a similar process with her films, delving into deeper conversations, sounds and ideas with a layered theme of cooking transformations, examples of which can be seen on her website.

www.bhavinij.com

Bhāvinī’s intentions for this residency:

Exploring the conversation between the people and produce in the region through sounds, smells, tastes, and sensory mapping of the place through film and food. Researching into what sustains the food that sustains us? Looking at local food cycles (tending, growing, environment, care) linked in with rituals that we hold for ourselves and each other in the same way.

« We believe that food, as our most communicable medium, can create community through its shared consumption. »

« Our intention for this residency is to get to know the place, its people, and their practices through the lens of food. As such, we want to spend time researching, visiting producers, and familiarizing ourselves with the local food landscape to understand how its terroir shapes tradition and ritual and vice versa. Through this, we hope to create a dialogue around our research through the daily meals we cook. »

« The multi-sensory food-based experience we create will embody our interpretation of the place. » Barney and Bhāvinī

Payment option

When registering, pay a non-refundable deposit of 800 euros for Casa Lawa or Italian Etna house.

The remaining amount must be paid by May 15th, 2024, by credit card or bank transfer. If we do not receive your payment on time, your place will be made available to those on the waiting list, and you will lose your deposit.

Cancelation Policy

Deposits secure your spot on the trip and are not refundable. Payments are also non-refundable and non-transferable. It is your responsibility to ensure you can attend the program before signing up. It is also your responsibility to purchase travel cancellation insurance.

Sorry but no refunds given, no exceptions. Nobody books a retreat with the intention of canceling it, but unexpected events do occur, so please consider purchasing travel insurance. Exceptions cannot be made for any reason, including weather, injury/illness, or personal emergencies. No refunds or credits will be granted for failure to attend, complete, arrive late, or leave early.

Insurance

It is your responsibility to read and understand our cancellation policy before making a reservation. Naturally, no one books to cancel or postpone their retreat or training, but unexpected things do happen, some of which are beyond your control. We strongly recommend purchasing travel cancellation insurance to cover any possible loss. Depending on the policy and conditions, travel cancellation insurance will pay for some or all cancellation fees. With most agencies, insurance must be purchased within 14 days of reservation.