This intensive retreat is a joint collaboration between Emil and Sue, a Vinyāsa yoga teacher and dance/ theatre artist. Sue is also a musician (violonist), and brings to our retreat a wonderful creativity, a movement and an ecstatic letting-go. Sue teaches most, but not all of the Āsanas, and of course the Kirtan and creative afternoon workshops. It leaves Emil with the classic, more ascetically-oriented instruments of yoga: Prānāyāma, Mantras and Mudrās, as tools for a still meditation. We will also have quite some exposure to yoga philosophy - dedicated to the understanding of India in general, and of what we are doing every day on the mat or the meditation cushion (in ordinary life, I am an instructor in yoga teacher trainings).
This particular workshop, however, is not addressed to teachers only. The Āsana section is a vinyāsa flow - Hatha Yoga background - with inspiring twists and tempi, and quite some depth. Both Sue and me, though, are not considering Āsanas our main focus - so perhaps you wont reach new heights if you have perfected the physical as a master of Ashtanga Vinyāsa, or Hatha. We both feel that there are so many good Āsana teachers out there, and then a considerable lack of instructors in the deeper practices - filling part of those gaps is where we feel home.
Prānāyāma is an essential part of the retreat. It'll entail a bouquet of breath work, in the Indian tradition. Ujjayi, Sama Vritti, Viloma, Nadi Shodhana, etc to start with in the first week, then work with stonger retentions, and Mantras and Kriyās, in the second. I am confident that within these Prānāyāmas introduced there is a deeper experience for all the participants and lots to progress for the intermediate to advanced yogin.
