Rounding the twisty bend by St. Barth’s airport — famous for its nose-dive, small-plane landing — Diana Bourel (pronounced Dee-ahn-na), a world-renowned transpersonal therapist and yogi, smiles impishly from the driver’s seat. “It’s like the Joni Mitchell song, ‘Big Yellow Taxi,’” she says, softly singing the refrain. “They pave paradise and put up a parking lot. Ooh, bop-bop-bop-bop.”
Having lived on St. Barth for decades, Diana easily recalls a time when this small mini-Paris island — and its capital, Gustavia — was not a showcase for superyachts, chic French restaurants, or designer stores: Louis Vuitton, Dior, Hermès, Chanel.
“St. Barth wasn’t always this bourgeois,” she says. “There were many niceties we didn’t have — like French chefs, French wines, French croissants.” Maneuvering another sharp curve, the sea shimmering in full view, she smiles again. “So it’s a tradeoff.”
We are en route from Hotel Manapany in Anse des Cayes — where I am staying and Diana is teaching — to one of St. Barth’s most notorious stretches of sand: Saint-Jean Beach. Home to Nikki Beach Club, Saint-Jean exudes St. Barth glamour with its barefoot-chic vibe, live music, celebrity clientele, and tabletop dancing. Today, however, there will be no flutes of Champagne, and our dance will be of a different kind: an aquatic tango.
With colorful swim noodles, we will dip into the calm, aquamarine Caribbean Sea to stretch, float, balance, and shimmy our buoyant bodies into postures with whimsical names like mermaid, roman holiday, geisha, and rambo. The aqua yoga class is part of Diana’s month-long St. Barth Summer Yoga Challenge that she has been leading every summer on the island for the past 17 years.
Summer Yoga Is Born
I have known Diana for all of those years and remember her first summer yoga camp, attended mostly by locals. “Summer yoga is a love story built out of necessity,” she explains. “One of the specificities of St. Barth is that there is no high school, so parents must either send their children to boarding school or leave the island for the school year. We went to Montreal and while there, I earned additional wellness certifications. On returning to St. Barth for the summer, I decided to bring the ashram to the island. Back then, the off season was truly the off season: there were no tourists. So yoga camp gave locals — many returning themselves from months in Paris or Canada — a way to reconnect and stay healthy.”
The execution was not without challenge. “For many years, we had no home,” she says. “We used the weather station, a private villa, and a friend’s apartment in Gustavia. We also used the hills — and still do — for hiking, and of course,” she adds with a grin, “the sea.”
Hotel Manapany: an Island Sanctuary
In 2019, Hotel Manapany, a five-star, eco-luxe resort in Anse des Cayes and part of B. Signature Hotels & Resorts (which has luxury hotels in Paris and Brittany, France) gave Diana’s yoga program a permanent summer home. Anne Jousse, founder and CEO of B. Signature, owns a beautiful home on St. Barth, Villa Nan, which she visits often, and shares with family and friends. When on island, she practices yoga with Diana.
Their synergy is magnetic.
“You don’t come to Anse des Cayes by accident,” says Jousse. “Simplicity, wellbeing, and serenity reign here. Hotel Manapany is a place of rejuvenation after the tumult. This is also what St. Barth is about.”
Set on a shell-strewn, surfing beach, Hotel Manapany offers 43 rooms, suites, and villas. Some sit beachfront with winding pathways to the water’s edge; others rest high on the hill with stunning ocean and lush foliage views. All feature natural materials (bamboo, teak), whimsical artwork including originals by French artist Mayon Hanania, creole-inspired architecture, and a color palette of bold reds, yellows, and Scandinavian blues. Handwoven throws from Chiapas, Mexico — personally sourced by Jousse — add vibrant splashes of color to the crisp all-white bed linens.
More signature touches are found at Rockies, the hotel’s al fresco restaurant overlooking both pool and sea. Over fresh ceviche and lobster salad, Kader Bendjeddah, general manager, gestures to two bottles of Longueteau rum from Guadeloupe on the table — one passionfruit, one classic. “At the end of the meal, we bring shot glasses, sugar cane, lime, and voilà. It is a tradition,” he laughs. As are the beautifully boxed ivory-white dominoes, prompting games that spill into the late afternoon and sunset hours.
“We value the authentic traditions of the French West Indies,” Bendjeddah continues. “Hotel Manapany — albeit a high-luxe version — is designed to feel like the St. Barth of 20 years ago. We love to tell the stories of the island through our artwork, decor, and cuisine. Once a week, we even give our kitchen to [an invited] local restaurant to cook island specialties for guests.”
The authenticity mantra also spills into the spa where therapies include classic French lymphatic massage and décolleté treatments, locally made products from nearby Saint-Martin, and holistic Dr. Hauschka facials (from Germany) — which Jousse kept on the spa menu after purchasing the hotel. The spa is open the entire season, but in summer (as I can attest), serves as a perfect complement to Diana’s intensive yoga program.
The Flow
While summer yoga spans four weeks and offers 25 classes per week — including “Yoga University Workshops” with master speakers — I am only here for three full days. But that’s the beauty of the experience. Unlike most yoga retreats, the offerings here are à la carte. Some (particularly locals) immerse for the entire month, others drop in as schedules allow, and some, like me, combine with a Hotel Manapany stay.
Once settled into my creole-style suite — adorned with eclectic paintings and etchings, colorful glassware, wooden shutters, and a private terrace overlooking the sea — I slip into a rhythmic flow. Mornings start with yoga (7-9 a.m.) on the spa deck, the waves serving as a natural soundtrack. Breakfast (try the açaí bowl and fresh-pressed juices) is followed by wake-up or aqua yoga in the sea, while afternoons are reserved for spa treatments and an Iyenger-style yoga class.
Evening sessions focus on restoration and include Zen yoga, the precursor to an extraordinarily restful night’s sleep. Seated on chairs, waves crashing behind us under an inky sky, Diana (with voice) and Gregoire Bosc (on sound system) lead us through beautifully choreographed stretches and meditation. The next evening reveals a similar nocturnal bliss with a 90-minute sound bath session. Pillows and bolsters tucked under heads and knees; blankets draped over us, Gregoire begins with calming, high-pitch crystal singing bowls before moving into an orchestra of gongs, Tibetan bowls, and rattling drums. Once a week, a candle-light evening meditation class is held in the Anglican Church in Gustavia, a modest, intimate stone chapel built in 1870, with whitewashed walls and wooden interior.
Every day, between the yoga and meditative sessions, I slip into the Hotel Manapany spa for treatments: a Dr. Hauska facial, lymphatic and deep-tissue massages. Laura, an elegant Parisian in flowy pants and beautiful smile, is my therapist for each. I love the consistency of having her, and love too that my facial includes a foot and leg massage; my full-body massages, a scalp treatment. But mostly I love that Laura endearingly ends each treatment session saying, “take care of you.”
It’s a concept that permeates Hotel Manapany — from the hotel reception staff who insist on refilling my water bottle (I drink a lot of water) to Bendjeddah who spontaneously takes me on an island tour. Zipping along narrow roads past brightly colored houses, he slows to show me beaches, neighborhoods, and culinary landmarks like Le Select (the island’s first bar), La Creperie (for just-like-you-find-in-Paris crêpes), L’Épicurien, for cheese), and L’isola (“the best Italian in St. Barth”).
“Welcome to small France,” he laughs. “A very short flight [from the U.S.] and you are in France.”
Walking Each Other Home
“Take care of you” is also the heartbeat and DNA of both Diana’s summer yoga intensive and her larger The Art of Self Care program which encompasses her private, one-on-one transpersonal work. It was Diana who — more than two decades ago — first introduced me to the phrases “self care, digital detox, and transformational travel,” now ubiquitous in today’s wellness dialogue. Always, she has been ahead of her time, and always, she has created a safe space for vulnerability, healing, and growth. “Yoga makes you a better person,” she once told me.
Now, back in Saint-Jean, balancing on our colorful swim noodles, we form a circle for our final savasana. Traditionally a pose of deep rest and surrender, it takes on a new dimension as the gentle waves caress our skin. A sea turtle glides past, lifting its head as if in greeting, and a profound calm washes over the once-chatty, mostly French-speaking group.
“Namaste,” Diana says, opening her eyes, her smile bright. “I invite you now to take the hand of the person next to you as we move back to shore. We’re all just walking each other home.”
Feature image, courtesy of Hotel Manapany
