Summer yoga and meditation intensive for beginners
Sun 26th August to Sat 1st September 2012

This is an intensive retreat designed for people who want to effect positive changes in their lives using yoga as a background practice and are prepared to work seriously. The emphasis of the retreat will be on building a home practice which you can continue after the retreat. To apply for this course, you must have a sincere desire to integrate yoga practice in your daily life.
This retreat will involve periods of noble silence, and for the duration of the course, we ask participants to abstain from contact with the outside world, so your mobile phone will have to be turned off for the whole week (we will pass on any emergency calls if need be), and you won't be able to access the Internet or check emails.
In the afternoon, we invite you to join us for karma yoga (work :) in the garden or in the kitchen. This Karma yoga practice is intended to give you an insight into the many practical challenges involved in living an ethical and sustainable life.

Cost:
There is no fixed price for this retreat. When applying for the retreat, you will be asked how much you are planning to pay for it. We will let you know within two week if your application is successful, and if so, you will be requested to send a 50% deposit on this basis.  Note that this is not an auction :) and the price you put on  the retreat is not the main criteria to decide on the success or failure of your application; so if because of your current financial circumstances, you cannot afford to pay much for the retreat, just explain this in your application.

To apply for this retreat, please fill in an application form (click here for a application form in MS Word format or here for a PDF version).

The teachers:
Between them, Christophe and Ciara have over 25 years of experience teaching yoga retreats in Ireland and abroad. Their practice and teaching have been influenced by a number of  yoga styles, particularly ashtanga (which they have studied with  John Scott, Graeme Northfield, Nancy Gilgoff and a number of other senior teachers), and the atma vikasa style of Venkatesh (from Mysore).  Ciara  has also studied Vanda Scaravelli's teachings under the guidance of Rossella Baroncini. Christophe originally trained as a Iyengar teacher in the late 90s and has studied pranayama with Sri OP Tewari.
In addition to their daily asana practice, both Christophe and Ciara regularly practice Vipassana meditation.

Daily time table:
08:30 Morning meditation
09:00  Morning asana session
12:00 Lunch and rest
15:00 Karma yoga, working in the garden or in the kitchen, house cleaning duties, etc.
17:30 to 18:00 Yoga Philosophy
18:00 to 19:00 Afternoon asana session
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Evening meditation
You will be asked not to communicate with other course participants (noble silence) between the evening meditation and lunch the following day