Finding peace away from the world on a yoga adventure in Mongolia with Reclaim Yourself

Jane Dunford reviews an extraordinary yoga retreat at off-grid camps in the deserts and wildflower meadows of Mongolia

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars. As night falls in the Gobi Desert, the velvet sky sparkles into life, the moon hanging low on the horizon. Engulfed by the sense of vastness and utter silence, I stare up in wonder, finding it hard to go to bed. 

I’ve come to Mongolia on a yoga holiday with Reclaim Yourself Retreats, lured by the promise of a wild, remote land, far from the busyness of daily life. Staying in off-grid camps in two distinct locations – the Gobi desert and the Khan Khentii protected area – the ten-day wellbeing break feels like a proper adventure too. 

Our group of 20 hails from the UK, the USA and Germany, mostly women aged from their mid-30s to mid-60s, with various levels of yoga practice, but all sharing a love of travel. After a short stay in Ulaanbaatar, the busy capital, a seven-hour ride on the Trans-Mongolian Express takes us east across infinite green steppes that slowly change to more arid desert. Our base is a ger camp – the round Mongolian-style yurts are central to traditional nomadic life, still lived by around 30 per cent of the population. 

“Thanks to our exceptional guides and the time spent with local herders, I feel I’ve been able to glimpse beneath the surface of this fascinating country”

With hand-painted furniture, wooden floors and comfy beds, our yurts are spacious but cosy (with single, twin and triple options). There are separate eco toilets and yurts for hot showers – as well as central yurts for yoga and dining. It feels luxurious to have this level of comfort in such remote surrounds – and everything is taken down after the season to leave no trace. 

London-based Zephyr Wildman leads twice-daily yoga and meditation classes (in 2025 it will be Jean Hall). Buddhist and yogic philosophy are woven into our physical asana practice, the mornings more dynamic vinyasa, the evenings more grounding. Richie Tewnion, a chef from the UK who trained with Jamie Oliver’sFifteen, is here from London too, working with the Mongolian team to create delicious vegetarian meals three times a day (from breakfasts of kimchi scrambled eggs or poached pear to dinners of mushroom and spinach dahl or momo in broth). We’re also travelling with a Chinese and Oriental medicine therapist, Rita Shamia, and there’s plenty of time for treatments (my massage and acupuncture combination leaves me relaxed for hours). 

Between classes and meals we explore the extraordinary landscape. Camp manager Nergui leads walks into the desert, pointing out rock art and teaching us about the varied flora and fauna (from vultures to wolves) that thrive in the harsh environment. One evening is spent at an ancient Buddhist site deep in the desert where we climb rocks to watch the sun set and join our Mongolian hosts singing around the fire. 

It’s a whole day’s drive in jeeps to our next camp, on the banks of the River Tuul in the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area to the north. This country is six times the size of Britain, with a population of less than 3.5 million, and we pass few people as the empty landscape changes once again from gold to green. We finally arrive at our idyllic base for the next few days, the semi-circle of gers surrounded by meadows of wild flowers and forested hills. 

While yoga bookends our days, we head out into the wild on foot or on horseback with local herders (Mongolia is a country famed for its horse riding) and relax in the sauna tent before cooling off in the fast-flowing river. Rafting and kayaking are usually options too – the river’s too full on our visit, but time still flies by. One afternoon we visit a nomadic family to learn more about the traditional way of life – one that’s under threat from climate change and urban migration. 

Reclaim Yourself is a B-Corp on a mission to ensure people and places visited on its retreats benefit from tourism – money from this trip will go directly to local people and conservation projects (they work with eco-conscious Nomadic Journeys on the ground). Thanks to our exceptional guides and the time spent with local herders, I feel I’ve been able to glimpse beneath the surface of this fascinating country. I leave feeling restored on all levels and privileged to have experienced such a rejuvenating adventure in one of the most remote and remarkable places on earth.