About us

Our Story

Every person needs to take responsibility for their own health; physical, mental and social health. As working professionals, we barely find time to go for a walk in a forest, walk up a mountain, wash face in a stream, sit down on a grass, admiring living habitat around us.  We need to slow down from time to time and remind ourselves, that we are part of the nature, not blue chip companies and tax offices.  At the same time we choose to live in our society, which is fine, we just need to find the balance so that the busy lifestyle literally doesn’t kill us prematurely.  The problem is, many people don’t even realise this. Yoga, meditation, regular exercise and other healthy lifestyle choices should become part of our lives. In order for the ‘aha’ moment to happen, we need individuals to be ‘extracted’ from their familiar and habitual environment, that they’ve circled in for years without realising. It is about re-connecting with ourselves, which naturally guides us what to do.   And that’s where we step in.  We designed the transformational retreats, held in Slovakia.  

We use beautiful nature environment, together with energy created amongst the group over the days at the retreat.  The program also includes a life coaching sessions performed by Lucia Hoxha.  This stay is totally stress free.  We are focused, not stressed, when working, have loving relationships with friends and family, get the energy from the nature, exercise, found a different meaning of mammon, we learned to love ourselves and to trust life.  We listen to our instincts.  We care.   

We knew how important it is investing in ourselves to increase the level of our consciousness to find the balance. The feeling of this realisation is something that cannot be described.  We have an ‘urge’ to help people, so we do. It’s who we are and we are proud of it. 

Who We Are

Katarina Ferencik
Founder of Gaudium Retreats
"During my secondary school I found a passion in learning about other cultures and languages. The urge to see other countries led me to come to London when I was 18, just finished my A levels.  I fell in love with London and even to this day, I get a sense of admiration and respect for this amazing city.  

Along the way, I met some incredible people, I got a BS(Hons) degree at Computing Science and gave birth to the most beautiful son and a daughter. 
The kids became my number one priority and nothing and no one in the world could change that. They taught me what unconditional love is, and what life is about.  I am very proud of them, and many times they show me my strength I didn’t know I had.

Thanks to skydiving I met my caring husband. I realised what love is, with him by my side, I can be myself. He became my best friend, I feel totally loved, secure and aligned with him. We spend so much time together and I still long for more.  
We got married in a lovely, traditional Marlene Hotel, where the ceremony and the reception were held, surrounded by tranquil and beautiful nature. In a stunning Slovakian Kysuce region, where my husband ‘fell from the sky’ on our wedding day. I will cherish the memories of that day forever, it was a true celebration of love.  

Despite the fact there were so many dear friends and family, I wish there could be absolutely everyone that I met in my life. And that’s how the idea to organise retreats in Slovakia was born. I wanted to ‘show off’ our beautifully humble, unfamiliar Slovakia to all my British friends. I then designed the program, where we see ourselves as an outsider. We are not our body, we are not our mind, we are spiritual beings, part of the nature, get reminded of the world being holographic, including powerful, ‘little’ us. 

It is not just about yoga, even though I believe yoga should be part of our every day life. It is not just about spending time in nature, although we are part of it and belong to it. It is not just about mountain walking, swimming, exercising, playing sport, that we need to do on regular basis. It is not just about meeting new, amazing people and spending time with them, despite the fact that us, humans, are social creatures. It is not just about getting to know our unique, Slovakian nature, which is still undiscovered by many. It is also about having JOY in our lives.  (Gaudium’ means ‘joy’ in Latin).

It is difficult to know how to put all that in one word, in one title. So, we came up with a description ‘Yoga’ retreats. Everyone can make up their own title, depending on where they are in their life. I would call it ‘Stay in the present moment’ retreats.  It represents my fulfilment to help others, raise the consciousness of wellbeing, proudly show off my admirable country and spend much-needed time in nature, whilst having the privilege to ‘work’ with amazing people - my life long friend, Katarina, whose organisational talent was soon discovered and together with her big heart beautifully compliment Gaudium Retreats and incredible Lucia, who has helped and transformed many lives and continues to do so with her energy, that radiates the purpose of her life.  

Stop the endless cycle, stop being stuck in every tasks and problems, that cause us ‘surviving, not living’ and join us on one of our retreats. What retreat title would you choose?"

Role within Gaudium Retreats: Sales, Customer support
Happy Number: 22  
Favourite Season: Summer 
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius 
Favourite Colour: Yellow, love yellow  
Favourite Book: Jack London – Martin Eden 
Favourite Film: Invictus, Armageddon, Negotiator 
Favourite Meal: Indian cuisine 
Favourite Quote: Don’t take life too seriously 
Hobbies: Kid’s and Teenager’s activities, Mountain Walking, Travelling, Sky diving, Socialising, Music 
Source of energy: My kids, my friends, being outside on a sunny day 


Katarina Kumka Panakova
Co-Founder of Gaudium Retreats

    • "I was born in an amazing town Zilina, and have lived in Slovakia all my life, precisely for the past 42 years. It is a small, European country with a big heart, beautiful nature and wonderful mountains. After graduating from University, I started planning and organising corporate events. I gained most of the experience and learned most of the skills during the 11-year period, whilst working in a strict, banking industry environment.
    The biggest challenge was making sure everything was planned and went smoothly during Formula 1 driver, Mark Webber’s visit (in Slovakia, in 2002).

    Through Gaudium Retreats I can put into practice my strong organisational skills, ensuring the customer’s needs are always met on a professional level. I am very grateful that I can do what I love and what I’m best at. This is where my professional strength meets my personal mission – be a better person today than you were yesterday.

    Moreover, doing retreats with my very close friend Katarina fulfils me with the feeling of happiness, trust and fellowship. We have been friends for 30 years and I am grateful that our paths also crossed on the professional level.  Also, Lucia is such a unique, lovely woman and is so important for our retreats. I deeply admire her way with people, 120% commitment and the atmosphere she can create during her yoga and life coaching sessions. With compassion, she can get people to open up, so they can move on.  

    Self-awareness has been part of my life as well for the past few years, when I started looking for answers to ‘what is life about’ questions. I read many books, discussions, watched many videos and films. I was tessellating the life pieces together and finding the meaning of them. I was longing for a change; letting go of a mammon, pretence, hypocrisy, getting rid of the inherited thumbprint, that wasn’t serving me.  And now? What more can I wish for than help others on their self-discovery journey?"

    Role within Gaudium Retreats: Marketing, Event support
    Happy Number: 8
    Favourite Season: Winter
    Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
    Favourite Colour: Navy Blue
    Favourite Book: Dan Millman – Way of the Peaceful Warrior
    Favourite Film: Sherlock (BBC series)
    Favourite Meal: Chia dessert
    Favourite Quote: Happiness is within us, we won’t find it outside of us
    Hobbies: in-line skating, reading, homeopathy
    Source of energy: my daughters, close friends, nature, music

    Yoga Teacher Lucia Hoxha

    Lucia Hoxha is a professional yoga teacher, lifestyle coach and social entrepreneur. She has been practicing yoga since 2002. She trained in Himalaya Yoga Valley in India and is a member of Yoga Alliance UK. 

    "In life we need to go back to basics to realize which way to go forward and what is truly important to us.  By joining us on yoga retreat, we aim to introduce to you the beauty that comes from finding your version of peace of mind from which you can create your future life. This one week experience is designed for you, so you can ‘come back’ and enjoy the times when there was nothing but joy, playfulness and ease being a natural part of your life, as from here anything is possible."
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