How we travel
Why these journeys are not a tour package, what we expect from those who come, and what you can expect from us.
Ritual Roads is the travel project of Matrika Yoga School. We do not organise holidays with a yoga class thrown in: we accompany small groups through places we know from having lived in them, with a practice that carries the journey rather than decorating it.
What follows is not a manifesto. It is what we do, written so you can decide whether it fits you before you write to us.
Small groups, genuinely small
A maximum of 20 people, and each edition leaves with a minimum of 8 to 10. That is not a marketing number: above it the group can no longer eat together, no longer fits in a family-run guesthouse and can no longer change plan on the move. Below it the trip does not stand up financially, and we would rather cancel and refund than run it badly.
Semi-organised, not improvised
Route, accommodation and transfers are settled before departure. What stays open is the pace: how long we stay somewhere, whether a day is for walking or resting, whether something worth seeing appears and the plan has to move.
That means changes can happen. In Ladakh they do: weather, roads and altitude decide. Decisions are taken with the group whenever possible, and when that is not possible Pablo takes them — he is the one answerable for everyone getting home well.
The practice travels with us
At least ten yoga and meditation sessions of an hour and a half. Not in a hotel room at seven in the morning because the schedule says so, but where and when the place asks for it: a monastery, a river, a rooftop before the sun bites.
No previous experience is needed. Wanting to practise is: whoever comes looking only for sightseeing gets bored, and whoever comes looking only for a retreat gets tired of the bus.
What we are not
We are not a travel agency. We do not sell flights or insurance, and we do not handle your visa by default — we advise you, and we can help with it, but the contract is yours with the airline and the insurer. What you contract with us is the guidance, the teaching and the organisation on the ground.
We say it here and repeat it in the terms and conditions because it is the difference between knowing what you are buying and finding out late.
Money, clear from the start
Each journey's price is on its page, with what it includes and what it does not. Payments go in stages — deposit, second payment, final payment — and the dates are given in writing. The cancellation policy is published before you pay anything, not afterwards.
And one warning we would rather over-give: we never publish a bank account on
this website. Payment details reach you by email from
info@matrikayoga.com. If anyone sends you another account through any other
channel, write to us before paying.
Who guides
Pablo Ferrero, yoga and meditation teacher, lived two years between Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. The journeys run through places he knows, with people he knows and with guesthouses he has worked with for years. This is not a route bought from a wholesaler.