GLASTONBURY WORKSHOP with Gregor & Monica

GLASTONBURY WORKSHOP
– with Gregor & Monica

Course Details

Ashtanga Yoga Glastonbury
West Pennard Village Hall
Glastonbury
United Kingdom

17th – 18th August 2024

Course Overview

Saturday August 17th

10am to 12.30 CARING FOR YOUR SACROILIAC JOINTS – Functional Knowledge to Preserve Our Sacroiliac Joints On & Off the Mat – Monica Gauci

“Our sacroiliac joints are the largest joint in our body and are designed to give us stability between our spine and pelvis. Unfortunately, they are often compromised during yoga practice and can cause low back, hip and knee problems when destabilized.
In this workshop you will learn how to practically assess SI joint problems and differentiate them from other sources of low-back and pelvic pain.
We will explore and practice important adaptations to seemingly benign yoga postures and hands on assists to protect and preserve our sacroiliac joints.
And you will learn specific therapeutic exercises for SI joint pain as well as practical tips on how to avoid injury both on and off your yoga mat.
*Each student will need one block and a yoga strap.
If you have a blow-up Pilates ball or a ~10cm soft ball, please bring it along.”

1.30 – 4.30pm Karma Yoga – How to Live Your Life’s Divine Purpose – Gregor Maehle

Do you remember a time when you knew that your life would be amazing and that you would live to make a meaningful contribution to life on Earth and the life of others? And then what happened? Somehow our education and the process of enculturation cut us off from this sacred knowledge and élan vital. We became cynics and “realists”.
Since time immemorial human societies were organized around the idea that the life of the individual and of society have divine purpose. This workshop traces this knowledge to indigenous cultures, to the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and the Yoga Sutra. Our loss of this knowledge is what has led to our environmental destruction and the 6th mass extinction of life as well as the current epidemic of mental disorders.
This workshop not only shows how we lost the knowledge that all life is sacred and purposeful, it also introduces layers of technique to lead us back to finding and gradually implementing our life’s divine purpose.
Also covered are:

• Our life’s divine purpose in relation to quantum mechanics, astrophysics and evolutionary psychology
• Connection to bio-symbiosis, brain development and homeostasis
• The practice & psychology of finding one’s life’s divine purpose
• Overcoming obstacles
• How do we know it’s the right voice?
• Daily cleansing regime of the subconscious mind
• Being in the zone and absence of internal dialogue
• Importance of forgiveness, gratitude, acceptance and surrender
• How to embody your life’s divine purpose
• Humanities collective divine purpose

Sunday August 18th

10am to 12.30pm GUIDED / LED ASANA CLASS – Monica Gauci

Monica will guide you through a modified version of the Primary series of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, which is accessible to an able-bodied student of any level.
Her focus is on inner alignment and core support that students can build strength, stability and resilience whilst enhancing joint mobility and tissue flexibility.
Monica’s style is explorative and educational. She uses techniques that encourage students to be fully present, to develop an astute awareness, working from the inside out to be a diligent student of their body and breath and, in this way, become their own greatest teacher.
Performing postures with precision and awareness makes them safe and efficient, enabling students to deeply explore the various asanas effectively and without unnecessary energy expenditure. This method also allows conditioning and emotions lodged within our tissues to be released, bringing ease, quietude and peace of mind.

1.30 – 4.30pm Bhakti – Yoga of Love – with Gregor Maehle

Bhakti is the yoga of divine love. In this workshop we will establish a definition of what the Divine is and what it is not. The Divine will be shown to promote intensity, creativity, novelty and co-creation with all life forms. We will also come to understand that the Divine is not a solid state but an ongoing process.

We will analyse various historical Bhakti movements and will attempt to learn from their strengths and weaknesses. We will also look at the psychological advantages and obstacles to practising a yoga of love. Finally a non-sectarian, 21st century approach to bhakti will be presented, including practices designed to improve our quality of life, happiness, contentment and the knowledge that each of us matters to the Divine. An important part of that is to learn to see the Divine in all those we struggle to understand.

The main source for Bhakti is the Bhagavad Gita, the Divine Song. The Gita itself presents a sophisticated mix of Jnana Yoga (yoga of knowledge), Bhakti Yoga (yoga of devotion) and Karma Yoga (yoga of action). We will learn to chant some of the important stanzas and then analyse the practical lessons for life that the Gita imparts.

The Raja Yoga of Patanjali is also described in the Gita. Whereas in the Yoga Sutra the focus is on Raja Yoga and Bhakti (here called Ishvara pranidhana) takes up only about 5% of the stanzas, in the Gita Ishvara pranidhana takes centre stage. In the Gita Ishvara is called Purusha Uttama (Purushottama), the Supreme Being. The definition of the Purushottama very much interdigitates with the description of Ishvara in the Sutra but friends of the Sutra can find a lot more detail in the Gita to increase their understanding of the Divine. To facilitate this further Gregor will not only analyse and juxtapose viewpoints from the ancient commentators on the Gita such as Shankaracharya and Ramanujacharya but will also integrate the insights of recent luminaries such as Shri Ramakrishna and Shri Aurobindo.

For more information and to book please click here