Daoyin & Qigong Retreat at Le Puget - Beginners

 6 Days/ 7 Nights - June Retreat

Training days Sunday 6th June to Friday 11th June, 2027 inclusive (check out Saturday 12th 10am)

Beginners

This retreat offers a welcoming introduction to Daoyin and Qigong in the peaceful surroundings of Le Puget. It is suitable for complete beginners as well as those who have had a little previous experience in the context of weekly gym or online classes and would like to develop a sound foundation to further their practice.

Through carefully structured daily sessions, participants will explore the essential principles of Qigong: posture and alignment, relaxed and natural movement, breathing, coordination, balance and focused awareness. The teaching progresses gradually, allowing time to become familiar with each movement and to experience how the practices work within the body.

The programme brings together traditional and contemporary Qigong routines with therapeutic exercises drawn from the rich history of Daoyin in China. Historical talks and discussion offer a deeper understanding of the cultural and medical traditions from which these practices developed.

No previous Qigong experience is required, and you do not need to be especially fit or flexible. Movements can be adapted to individual needs. The emphasis is not on performance, but on attentive practice, enjoyment and discovering a more comfortable and harmonious way of moving in a mindful manner.

Away from the pressures of everyday life, participants have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the practice, enjoy nourishing food and beautiful countryside, and experience the benefits of learning within a supportive group. By the end of the retreat, participants will have gained a practical foundation and a selection of exercises that they can continue at home, including Emei Shenzhangong (Mt Emei Medical Daoyin), Ba Duan Jin and Yi Jin Jing.

This retreat is led by Feixia Yu and Professor Vivienne Lo.

Feixia Yu is an award-winning practitioner and teacher of many styles of Taiji and Qigong and a senior instructor at the British Health Qigong Association. She holds Duan 5 in Health Qigong. In 2024, she won first prize in the Ba Duan Jin section of the European Health Qigong Games in Vienna. In 2025, she won two first prizes in the Six Healing Sounds and the Daoyin 12 sections of the World Health Qigong Games in Vancouver. She originally qualified as an Exercise and Recuperation Instructor at Beijing Sport University, and now runs weekly Taiji and Qigong classes on-line and gives guest lectures and workshops on the Chinese health enhancement tradition. She regularly features in local media including BBC Radio Lancashire and the Lancashire Evening Posts on various aspects of Chinese culture. She also designs and delivers corporate wellbeing events. Her area of research interests is in Qigong as an exercise intervention tool for a range of chronic conditions including Long Covid, hypertension, Parkinson’s, and spine misalignment.

For a video about Feixia Yu and her work, click here

Vivienne Lo is Professor in the Department of History at UCL. For more than twenty years she has been teaching the Ancient and Medieval history of China and specialist modules in the History of Asian Medicine and Classical Chinese Medicine at BSc and MA. Vivienne's core research concerns the social and cultural origins of acupuncture, therapeutic exercise, and food and medicine. She translates and analyses manuscript material from Early and Medieval China, and publishes on the transmission of scientific knowledge along the so-called Silk Roads. She has a long-term interest in visual cultures of medicine and healthcare. Current projects include a history of nutrition in China.

Dolly Yang will be working with us remotely this year. She is a researcher in the History of Chinese medicine. Her main research explores the social and cultural aspects of bodily practices in pre-modern China. She received her PhD in 2018 from University College London, UK for her investigation into the institutionalisation of therapeutic exercise in Sui China (581–618 CE). She was a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, between 2020 and 2021. Her book on therapeutic exercises from the 7th-century Chinese medical text Zhubing yuanhou lun was published by Purple Cloud Institute with illustrations by Jessica Chiang.

Model Daily Schedule

7:00 – 9:00 am Health Qigong

9:00 – 10:00 am Breakfast

10:30 – 12:30 pm Ancient/Medieval Daoyin

1:00 – 2:00 pm Lunch

2:00 – 4:00 pm Break

4:00 – 6:00 pm Health Qigong

7:00 – 8:00 pm Dinner

Dates

Check-in after 5 pm on Saturday 5th June 2027.

The retreat begins on Sunday 6th June 2027.

The retreat ends with a farewell and dinner at 7 pm on Friday 5th June, 2027.

Check-out by 10 am on 12th June 2026.

Pricing

Duration Twin-Share Room Private Room

6 days/7 nights £1200 £1400

Day rate £50 (meals extra)

Pricing includes:

• 6 days of retreat activities as per schedule above

• 6 days of all meals and drinks with full vegan/vegetarian options.

• 6 days/7 nights of accommodation with en-suite bathroom (except one family a dounlr twin rooms with separate bathroom)

• Walks/Swimming

Extras: Riding, cycling, excursions in the Pyrenees

Travel: The closest airport is Carcassonne, with Toulouse-Blagnac a little further. Both are within the hour, with Carcassonne a small airfield and a pleasant drive to Le Puget through the vineyards. We can normally arrange airport transfers for around 30 euros if we can coordinate three or four guests arriving at the same time.

For further enquiries please email Vivienne at ucgavlo@gmail.com