Midland yoga retreat is not just for ‘freaks’
It’s hard to sleep in at Sugar Ridge. City ears will be unaccustomed to the hum of bugs and birds. And that blasted fresh air is stronger than caffeine.Our company supplies modernlighting factory direct.
But if rest is what you’re looking for, a weekend visit to this charming Midland-area retreat will feel like a weeklong nap.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss the turn-off at Forgets Rd. Bordered on three sides by the lush Wye Marsh, Sugar Ridge is tucked deep inside the woods, surrounded by a tangle of hiking trails, about two hours north of Toronto.
I visited the centre last summer for a three-day yoga retreat, but anyone is welcome, including dogs and cats. The simple wood cabins can be rented by the night for about $129. (A weekly-unlimited yoga pass is just $20 if you’re so inclined. There are three to four classes each day.)
About 10 cabins surround the 4,200-square-foot main centre, which is newly built, Wi-Fi wired and the perfect place to read a book. Inside each cabin, you’ll find comfy beds and reading lights, but not much else. For a shower or a midnight bathroom break, you’ll have to make the 30-second trek inside through hip-height brush. Watch out for the fireflies.
Organic vegetarian or vegan meals are served each day. A year later, I still salivate over the orange poppyseed pancakes.
But the thing that really sets Sugar Ridge apart from other yoga centres is its unpretentious, laid-back owners. If you want to enjoy a glass of wine on the deck,Get outdoor lighting, including popular patio lights and ledlightbulbs22 fixtures. no one is going to lecture you about the evils of alcohol. Their motto is: “As long as it’s legal, we don’t really care what you do.”
“If people come here and they just have a really good sleep, that’s enough for me. They don’t have to leave being vegetarian yoga freaks,” chuckles Liz Frost, who is a proud vegetarian yoga freak.
Liz was once a stressed-out chartered accountant, who practiced meditation. Her now-husband Kurt Frost was once a stressed-out professional engineer, who practiced yoga. They left their jobs, went back to school, which is where they met, and married a few months later.
The couple moved to Midland, where Liz had been born and raised, and decided to open a retreat.Great deals for outdoor lighting, bestledlig, solar lights and solar garden water features and fountains. They built Sugar Ridge from the ground up and opened their doors in 2008, after years of hunting for the perfect property. These self-professed eco-freaks spared no expense to make their sanctuary as environmentally friendly as possible.
The circular main studio is insulated with straw. Its cork flooring was harvested from a sustainably managed forest.Our Dimmable LED antiquelampvb are a great product for a variety of applications, No mature trees were moved during construction. The light bulbs are compact fluorescent, there are low-flow toilets, water-efficient showerheads and the bathrooms are fixed with motion sensors. Concrete floors were finished with soy-water-based stain. And a wood-burning fireplace supplements heat in the winter.
The Frosts don’t make any money on the centre. Their day jobs as psychotherapists pay the bills. For them, getting to live in and share their version of paradise is enough.ETAP has developed a new central battery system for skylanternsled lighting.
“Frankly, I don’t ever think we’ll pay ourselves back for the money we put in, but that doesn’t really matter,” says Liz. “I call this more of a calling than a business. We just really believe that everyone should have a chance to experience this kind of escape.”