Yoga goes to the beach

First day, 8.30am. I'm on my back on a mat on the grass, drawing circles against the blue sky with my bare toes. "Now

This is a relief. Although the brochure for Holistic Holidays looked attractive (year round sunshine in Lanzarote, R&R by the pool, rooms in a peaceful villa 10 minutes' drive from the beach), the food is vegan and there's also reiki and reflexology on offer. It could just be severely alternative.

"Don't worry," said Stuart Forster, who runs the business side of things. "We're not all candles and sandals." And, I reasoned, anyone who calls their website hoho.co.uk couldn't take themselves too seriously.

Hoho is Lynne Oliver, who teaches the yoga, and her partner, Stuart. For three years they have made themselves a home-cum-holiday retreat out of an unpromising heap of volcanic rock. Lynne, now in her fifties, is warm and full of fun. She's had a glamorous, Jackie-Collins-heroine life, having modelled and been married to both Sixties Formula One driver Jackie Oliver, and Bruce Welch of The Shadows.

After divorce from Welch, she found that yoga, which she's been teaching since the 1970s, kept her sane. Her main spot was at the Hurlingham Club where she and her class one day decided to take themselves somewhere sunny, for a yoga holiday; the idea for her company was born.

Every day started with 90 minutes of yoga - a gentle form that is nice and safe for novices - but after that, and the vast breakfast that followed, I could spend the day at the beach, or sizing up the extraordinary architectural creations of Cèsar Manrique, scattered around the island, or mixing it with the Naffia on their package holidays in the tourist blackspots of Puerto del Carmen and Arrecife, each 10 minutes down the hill. Or I could just retreat, and indulge in a bit of massage or reflexology. Lynne has tracked down a terrific bunch of therapists, one of whom visits each day to work in the specially built treatment room by the pool.

There are plenty of quiet corners to sneak into at the villa - loungers by the pool, benches among the landscaped banks of flowers, sofas inside in the lounge and, my favourite, a hammock tucked away above the yoga circle, where I would hole up for hours, enjoying the quiet and the view out to sea. No one told me what to do, nor was there any pressure, thank goodness, to share my thoughts with anyone else. It's hard not to unwind. I found that the combination of all that yogic breathing and the novelty of being on holiday alone for the first time in six years meant I spent the first two days in such a catatonic trance that massages actually perked me up.

There's room for 10 guests, but there were only two when I went, both in their mid thirties (most are female, aged 25 to 40). Kim, who runs a pub in Buckinghamshire, had abandoned her boyfriend for a "pamper week" and tried everything from " neuroemotional integration" (don't ask) to a pedicure. Katharine, a medical writer, from Reading, was keener on exploring the extraordinary windswept moonscape of the island and, once or twice, I joined her in the car we'd hired together to visit places Stuart suggested - Manrique's former house, now a museum, built on a lava flow, and restaurants in coastal villages where no one spoke English. Kim loved the pampering and the food, and took an hour's instruction from Anthea, the cook, in how to follow some of the recipes. Actually, we all loved the food - green curry with fried tofu and mung-bean noodles, for example, sounds simply appalling but it tasted sensational. Katharine, who'd done a yoga holiday before, enjoyed Lynne's attention to detail with positioning, and thought the villa an "amazing oasis".

Last day, last yoga class, 8am. We're on the beach at Puerto del Carmen doing our breathing, getting into the moment. But a young stray dog, looking for fun, is bounding across our towels and snapping at our water bottles. An elderly bather has emerged from the water carrying the trunks he went in wearing, and the first punters are queuing at the scuba-diving centre behind us. It's not great for the karma but we carry on regardless, roaring out "lion-breaths" at the black sand. Even with a yoga retreat, it seems, you can't escape the real world.

Alice Hart-Davis flew to Lanzarote with British Airways (0845 773 3377), which flies three times weekly to Arrecife. Returns from £179 if you book by 15 June and travel before 16 October. One week's yoga holiday with Holistic Holidays (020 7692 0633 for a brochure or visit www.hoho.co.uk), in a shared twin room at Villa Isis, costs from £480 (single rooms cost £585), which includes five yoga lessons, three dinners and all breakfasts. Therapies are extra (about £30 an hour).

More healthy holidays

For the best post-yoga sightseeing tips, consult This Is Travel's on-line destination guide to the Canary Islands.

www.thisistravel.co.uk