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Information on the Teachers

 

Gillies

Gillies and Fiammetta have been living in Kenya for many years and moved to Shela in 1998 where they set about carefully restoring the ruins of Fatuma's Tower. When they arrived in Shela, the Tower had been abandoned for almost 100 years. Gillies’ lifelong work with antiques led to a detailed restoration of the building, successfully retaining the original feel of this historic house. Gillies and Fiammetta live on the first floor of the Sand castle and welcome you personally to their home.

Also a qualified yoga teacher Gillies teaches daily yoga classes both for visitors and the local community.

"I have been practicing yoga since I first went to an Ashram in India in 1987. In 2000 we opened our yoga centre here at Fatumas Tower and the teacher failed to turn up so I was thrown in the deep end. In 2002 I did a one month teacher training course at the Sivanada Ashram in Kerala. In the same a year I was introduced to ashtanga yoga and like to combine it with my general classes.
 
I hold a class here every day except Sunday and tailor the class to whoever comes: on the whole I like active yoga and am not an Iyengar perfectionist. I always feel the first priority is to get bodies supple and then they can go to teachers who can really perfect the asana."

Margherita Dal Pra  

 

Dynamic Hatha Yoga with Margherita Dal Pra 

"I took my very first yoga class 17 years ago and didn't realised that it signed the beginning of a total transformation and a radical change in my whole life. It was as if I had taken my first breath of fresh air and could finally relax into being me. I started practising daily. My health, emotional well-being and my whole life took gradually a positive transformation.

I explored various styles of yoga (Iyengar, Astanga, Vinyasa flow) - with many gifted yoga teachers.

In 2003 I met Rod Stryker (Parayoga) with whom I am still studying and draw inspiration from.

In 2008 I discovered the heart opening grace and therapeutics of Anusara Yoga, a style of Hatha yoga that incorporates all the aspects of yoga that I love. Studying with John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga, Bridget Woods Kramer, Sianna Sherman, Zhenja La Rosa and Ross Raybourn .

My philosophy is to inspire students to better understand themselves and support them in discovering who they really are. In my practical approach to yoga, its my belief that one of the key to enlightenment is to "lighten up", so having fun is always part of the process, with sense of humour and commitment I provide a safe place for students to explore, break boundaries, and release layers of physical, emotional, and psychic weight.

It is a great joy and honour to teach yoga. Passionate about sharing the wonderful benefits of incorporating yoga into our lives, I see yoga as a way to experience and celebrate our True Nature and individual potential. Combining the energetics of tantric hatha (part of her ParaYoga lineage) along with Anusara's biomechanical principals of alignment and the heart quality, my classes are powerful, contemplative, dynamic, challenging and fun. Guiding students with precise instructions, I endeavour to support and inspire them to develop a deeper understanding of their bodies, minds and hearts, unveiling their True Nature: to be vibrant fearless and joyful beings.

My deepest thanks to all my students and teachers."

www.yogam.co.uk


    

 

Susan Chopping

Flowing Hatha Yoga with Susan Chopping

Susan Chopping has an eclectic teaching style and adjusts it to the best interest of the people she is teaching. 

She started practising yoga after a back injury and has been teaching for four years.  Susan is influenced by her background in dance and has been inspired by 'Shadow Yoga', and 'Vinyasa Flow', the movements follow the breath to discover a little juice 'rasa' within the breath. 

She uses music and endeavour to inspire a deeper understanding of yoga practice.
 
Her training is ongoing, beginning at 'Yoga Arts' in Byron Bay and continuing in India and more recently in London at 'The Life Centre'.

 

David Sye tbc

Yoga Beats with David Sye

David Sye, listed as one of the top ten Yoga teachers in the UK and a Yoga Elder, has developed over many years "Yogabeats", his own brand of Yoga.

Yogabeats has now been touring in various festivals, cities and countries, gaining international success and recognition.

He has been practising yoga for over 20 years in International locations such as America, India and Israel. His “gentle power” yoga fuses Hatha, Astanga, Mridu and Vini. Gentle at the beginning and end but with dynamic and powerful periods at the core.

A regular teacher at Finca Argayall, David will take you on a journey to touch all your senses. The Yoga class is for all levels and is driven by music that matches the pace and the flow of the Yoga

Jilly in the Free Spirit Office regularly attends David's holidays and is happy to chat and answer questions.

It is an enjoyable and fun class, the ages of yoga students attending David's yoga holidays range from 20 to over 70, including beginners and yoga teachers.

It really is yoga for everybody!

 

Ken Eyerman

Flowing Yoga with Ken Eyerman

Ken Eyerman has 30 years experience with Yoga & Bodywork, and is a trained practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method. He will bring his wealth of learning to this weeks' unique blend of dynamic flowing yoga with gentle inner sensing Feldenkrais movement awareness lessons. Ken's intuitive and spontaneous, hands-on approach places an emphasis on using the breath, an awareness of your inner process and how to use your body efficiently. This combination of approaches will ease you into the postures. The workshop is suitable for all levels and consists of two classes a day. The morning class will be dynamic and flowing, based around the Astanga form, with the afternoons improvised, developmental and restorative, bringing in the vast body of knowledge of the Feldenkrais Method.

Ken Eyerman is an American based in London since 1980. His main Yoga influences are Derek Ireland, an inspiring astanga teacher, and Angela Farmer, an early student of Iyengar. He attended his first London Feldenkrais training in 1987 after the publication of his book 'Massage'.

Since this time Ken has developed his own style of teaching, bridging the space between the dynamic power of Astanga and the gentle understated, spiralling Feldenkrais movements. Ken teaches his unique Yoga with Awareness Holidays internationally.

right: on the roof of the yoga hotel in Dahab!

Feldenkrais

The developmental movement technique, The Feldenkrais Method, has been Ken's lifelong study, especially in how it relates and is complementary to yoga, through the awareness of movement and being attentive to detail. For Ken, The Feldenkrais Method forms the bridge between hands-on healing, touch and the spontaneity of life as a dance. The Feldenkrais Method named after its originator, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, is an educational system that uses gentle movement and directed attention to improve posture and human functioning. One can increase the ease and range of motion, improve flexibility and rediscover the natural capacity for efficient movement.

"I can help people to think about their body, how it breathes and moves, how the structure connects, to develop a level of awareness..... so they are not only powering away at stretching but also learning to feel and think their way to a stronger more supple body. A goal being to get into the imagination, to find a more subtle approach, to excite the feelings as well as to power the muscles" Ken Eyerman (c)

 

 

 
 

       

                            Updated 28/07/11