5 Day Trekking and Yoga Retreat in Dali Yunnan, China

About This Retreat

A Dali and Shaxi retreat for families, combining yoga, dance, mountain walks, Tea Horse Road culture, Shibao Mountain, and time beside Erhai Lake.

Since ancient times, Dali has been a passage for pilgrims traveling to Jizu Mountain, for caravans on the Tea Horse Road, and for travelers moving along the Southwest Silk Road. Legend says that the Buddha's disciple Kasyapa saw the beauty of this mountain and settled on Jizu Mountain, facing Erhai Lake.

The journey west once crossed the Himalayas, passed the sacred peak of Namcha Barwa, moved through Buddhist lands, and looked toward India, scriptures, and the Ganges. Dali carries this sense of passage: mountain, lake, ancient town, village life, and spiritual memory meeting in one landscape.

The body is a gift. It is the small universe of life, and every joy, discomfort, fear, or opening is a signal. In Dali, we listen to the language of the body through yoga, dance, walking, art, and parent-child connection. Thoughts are energy, emotions become movement, and the body becomes a doorway back to presence.

Dance is a central practice in this retreat. It can build strength, confidence, personal charm, and communication. It can also reduce stress, fear, anxiety, loneliness, and depression while improving circulation, breathing, and emotional release. Through movement, children and adults learn to meet each other with more openness and joy.

We stay in a renovated traditional retreat house near Dali Ancient City, surrounded by farms, gardens, mountains, and Erhai Lake. Daily practice may include yoga, Taichi, mountain hiking, hot springs, shamanic dance healing, tea ceremony, incense meditation, music healing, natural art, and quiet family time.

Dali and Shaxi Combined Retreat: This retreat can now combine Dali with Shaxi, one of the best-preserved towns on the ancient Tea Horse Road. Shaxi was once an important caravan post station, and after the decline of the Tea Horse Road it was gradually forgotten, preserving the atmosphere of an old tea-horse town.

In Shaxi, we explore the ancient stage, Yujin Bridge, Xingjiao Temple, Sideng Street, traditional bridges, temples, houses, and the old caravan route. Xingjiao Temple is one of China's most representative Buddhist tantric Azali temples. The Shaxi section of the Tea Horse Ancient Road runs about 4.2 kilometers, from Aofeng Village to Beiguzong Lane on Sideng Street, passing ancient roads, walls, bridges, temples, and traditional homes.

Shaxi also carries living Bai culture: traditional Shaxi cave music, the Bai overlord whip dance, and local foods such as ginseng, matsutake mushrooms, and sheep's milk cheese.

Dali Women's Kingdom and Shibao Mountain: Dali is remembered in local stories as a woman's kingdom. One legend tells of Guanyin transforming into an old mother to protect villagers during wartime. She carried a huge stone and warned invaders that every young person in the village carried three times as much; frightened, they ran away. The story reflects the strength of local women, who have long carried heavy work in the fields and village life.

Shibao Mountain, north of Dali, holds more than 1,300 years of Buddhist stone carvings and temples from the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms, including Guanyin images and fertility symbols still worshiped by local people.

Two-Day Shibao Mountain Study Tour: Day 1: Hike the ancient pilgrimage road, practice hatha yoga, join an improvised hymn concert, walk the ancient Tea Horse Road, and gather for a bonfire dance at night.

Day 2: Riverside yoga dance meditation, shamanic drum singing, hatha yoga, meditation chanting, musical instrument and body interaction, and an introduction to the relationship between basic sound therapy, body rhythm, and the organs.