Workshops & Retreats
For now, events will be held in accordance with government guidelines for hospitality. Please bring your own mat as well as a Shavasana blanket and eye pillow, if you use them. Bolsters will be provided (covers are washed after every use). Jade Yoga mats are available to buy at my online store or in studio.
Introduction to Intermediate Series workshop
Sunday, August 22nd, 9am – 1pm
If you’ve been practising Ashtanga for some time and focusing only on Primary Series, it might be time to introduce a little of the Intermediate series into your practice. The opening asanas of Intermediate (also known as 2nd series) are particularly helpful for backbends and add a variety to your practice that can help to keep you motivated in your self-practice. In this workshop, we’ll open with the standing sequence as usual, then move into a detailed introduction and breakdown of the opening asanas of Intermediate series. There are options for these asanas for all body types, and these will be explained and demonstrated so that you can integrate them confidently into your practice. You will also learn how to create a self-practice that works within the time you have available and effectively balances Primary & Intermediate series into your routine.
There will be a short tea break after asana class, then the morning will finish with Pranayama, Meditation and a deeply relaxing Yoga Nidra.
The workshop will be held in line with government guidelines for indoor dining. The space is very well ventilated and props (bolster, belts, blocks) will be available (these are washed and sanitised after every use). Please bring your own yoga mat and Shavasana blanket and eye pillow, if you use one.
Time: 9am – 1pm
Cost: €60
Places limited to 8.
Contact me at hello@rionachoflynn.com
Adjustment Workshop (on hold due to restrictions)
Skilful adjustments are a much-loved part of the methodology of Ashtanga yoga. Teaching through touch, going beyond the cerebral, beyond communicating with the mind and being in a class where silence prevails is something very special.
As Gregor Maehle says, “I think there is an absolute sacredness to a teaching setting that is touch-based. There is a magic to those classes where there is just movement, people are going through their sequences and I can teach them by assisting them through touch. As humans, we are wired to thrive on touch. When we see someone in distress, for example, our instinct is to hug them rather than try and talk them out of their pain.”
A common misunderstanding is that adjustments are about pushing a student closer to some idealised version of a pose. Instead, an adjustment should support the student, teaching them to find stability and ease within the version of the pose that works for their body so that their experience on the mat is deeper; their body awakened yet comfortable and their breath steady. An adjustment can also guide the student away from risk to the body, towards a place of safety.
When the skill and intent of the teacher are absolutely beyond doubt and the student has made it clear they are happy to be adjusted, a good adjustment will enhance the student’s experience of the pose and help to deepen their practice. Without the beautiful, supportive adjustments I have received in my 20-year yoga practice, I wouldn’t have fallen in love with yoga and developed the practice that has been of such extraordinary benefit to me over the last 20 years. That’s why I am enthusiastic about sharing what I have learned from my own teachers over the years with teachers and practitioners who want to know how to adjust safely, skilfully and with compassion.
This workshop is open to teachers and practitioners from all yoga traditions who are either new to adjusting or want to refresh and enhance their existing adjustment techniques. It will include a deeply relaxing Yoga Nidra to finish.
You will learn how to adjust key poses in the Standing and Seated Sequence, focusing on:
- How to observe. No two bodies are the same. No one adjustment fits all. Understand how to really see and help the unique body on the mat in front of you.
- Keeping your student safe. Learn how to adjust safely and how to encourage your student to practise mindfully, within their limits.
- Taking care of yourself. Learn how to keep your own body safe as you adjust.