Posture Playground Course
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What is the Posture Playground?
The Posture Playground course is a series of 5 in-depth workshops on Yoga asana (postures) in which you will learn to optimise your capacity in, and the benefit you get from, your Yoga posture practice. It is the result of our combined experience over the last 30 years of how to use Yoga as it was intended, as a means of staying physically healthy, emotionally stable, intellectually stimulated and spiritually joyful and compassionate.Paula and I are still learning every day, and this makes life so fascinating for us! What am I going to discover today? What new wonder will I be surprised by? Because life, even with all the turmoil in the world, is still a gift that we cherish and give thanks for, and our experience is that Yoga has enriched it beyond measure. And what we have understood over all these years of practice is that we have had to continuously renew, refresh and re-challenge ourselves, never resting on the past, but out of present awareness, creating the conditions for a happier, healthier future.
We would love to share what we have learned with you in Posture Playground, going back to the most accessible yoga practice, that of the body, but informing that practice with new insight and skills to make it a powerful means of transformation on all levels.
Who is Posture Playground For?
The short answer is, 'Posture Playground is for anyone who loves Yoga' - regardless of whether you have just started practising or have been practising for many years. This is because it doesn't matter how strong or flexible we are, or whether we can stand on one leg or not. At every moment in our life, we are a combination of our body, emotions, thoughts and sensations. When we practise Yoga, there is a 'perfect' posture for each of us in each moment, which reflects where we are right now. In Posture playground, we will learn to embrace this truth, and to allow ourselves to enter into 'our' particular perfect posture on each day. We will learn to allow the body to enter a pose from the inside, slipping into it as one would into a glove. In this way we grow to understand ourselves and develop the capacity to consciously create a better, healthier and happier experience for ourselves, on and off the mat. PLEASE NOTE: IN-PERSON or ONLINE? It is possible to participate in the Posture Playground online via Zoom. That said, wherever possible, we highly recommend In-Person attendance at the studio as the best way to experience the full fun of the Playground! A recording of Playground Essentials will be available to participants after the event. In summary, this course is for you:
Dates of Playgrounds
Each 3-hour Masterclass takes place on Saturdays from 11:00 to 14:00 on the following dates:
Why Playground?
When we were kids, we learned by exploring the world in play. All too early in life, the rigours of an uninspired education system and the conveyor belt progression from school to work, perhaps via college, suck the joy and fun out of growing and learning, making a struggle of life, rather than a journey of wonder. Even Yoga classes can become goal oriented and rigid – ‘achieve, achieve, good, bad!’ This is certainly not good for our nervous system and is not conducive to us having a positive experience of Yoga. In one of the early recommendations about how to make yoga a truly meaningful and beneficial part of our lives, we are told: ‘maintain practice over a long time, without big interruptions, and approach it with sincerity and enthusiasm.’ If our Yoga is not fun, if it doesn’t bring us joy, then we are never going to keep going for the long haul. On the other hand, if we approach with playful enthusiasm, as a child might, with a willingness to explore and discover what our bodies are capable of, then suddenly we will see the secret formula producing its results. Playfulness is a way to reconnect with ourselves, find happiness and enhance our lives with renewed creativity and emotional well-being. Posture Playground will help you focus to harness the incredible power of your body and mind - it will help you to reconnect to your essence through Yoga postures, fostering resilience and positivity.
How does Posture Playground work?
Posture Playground works by reconnecting us to our innate perfection, before stresses and worries, fears and illness. Nature is perfect, and when we learn to bring our full attention, body, mind and breath to our practice, we touch that perfection. In Posture Playground you will learn to ‘be’ in your practice rather than to ‘do’ it. When we learn to go inside, with the intention to release into our postures by letting go, rather than by striving to push the body to ‘get’ somewhere, when we engage our creative imagination to reconnect to our childlike flexibility, balance and resilience, then we unlock the accumulated patterns of holding, control and tension that restrict us, and tap into the infinite potential that is our essence, our true Nature. This is a complete reboot of our systems, going back to the energetic blueprint so to speak, which is our original condition. It requires a capacity to bring attention and intention to bear, without acquisitiveness, and while simple in theory, is not always easy in practice. Hence the need for guidance.
What does each Posture Playground cover?
Overview In each Posture Playground we will approach asana practice with the following principles:
Posture Playground 1 Heal Your Hamstrings - April 5th (Forward Bends) Ever feel you are hanging on for dear life? Learn to safely release and let go into forward bends.What pattern is being expressed if we are holding ourselves back?Learn how to free the back of the body, not just hamstrings, but calves, buttocks and back muscles too.Soothe the heart and lungs. Feel greater stability and strength.
Posture Playground 2 Open Your Hips - May 10th (Lotus Pose) One of the great symbols and archetypes of Yoga is the image of the meditating Yogi seated in Lotus Pose. Our lifestyle in the west has predisposed us not to find this easy or comfortable, yet it holds a fascination for many people. All too often, the struggle to ‘achieve’ it leads to injured knees and the polar opposite of what the posture is intended to bring to us. Disharmony, rather than unity and peace. We will teach you how to safely and progressively open your hips and how to find the same merging of the activities of both sides of the brain that comes with a comfortable lotus, even if you are not quite there yet, which itself will let the body finds its way to the pose.
Posture Playground 3 Love Your Spine - June 14th (Back Bends) In terms of Yoga postures, there is nothing more reminiscent of the joys of childhood perhaps than back-bending! As much as we need to free ourselves to be able to go forward, it is also necessary to have the flexibility to go back too. Imagine a tree that could only sway in one direction! In postures, as in physics, and in life, everything has its counterbalance. Having a strong and healthy spine is vital for our vitality and longevity. Back pain is one of the most common ailments to afflict people in the west, and osteopenia/osteoporosis of the spine can lead to debilitating postural impairment and fractures.In addition to the fun of being able to bend over backwards, there are massive benefits, emotionally and mentally, as well as physically. Opening our hearts and throats in deep back-bending is empowering and liberating, removing fear and anxiety and building confidence! If that isn't enough to convince you, it’s also great for our skin!
Posture Playground 4 Strengthen your Shoulders - Arm-balances (Sept 13th) Strength and agility are key components of a healthy body, and vital for bone health and to maintain muscle mass. Our shoulder joints are more neglected with our more sedentary lifestyles, and those heady days of handstands in the garden are long gone. But why should they be? Practising handstands at 65 is just as much fun as it was at 6 and a half! But it’s not just a question of throwing yourself up against a wall. We will teach you a progressive way of strengthening the arms and shoulders and, based on the foundations of the first three masterclasses, begin to play with arm-balances, including postures like bhujapidasana, ashtavakrasana, titthibhasana and ultimately towards the goal of full arm-balance.
Posture Playground 5 Invert Your World - Oct 11th (Headstand) For good reason, Headstand is known as the King of Postures in Yoga. It has profound implications for our wellbeing on every level of Being. It is significant in maintaining homeostasis and particularly endocrine system balance. It is important for the health of our brain and central nervous system. It requires us to literally find ‘a fine balance’ in every way. Too far and we fall over, not far enough we don’t get there. Just right we feel secure and light, effortlessly ‘feeling on top of the world’. Whoever you are there is a version of this, and indeed, of all the other postures, that is appropriate for where you are at on your personal Yoga journey. Our role is to guide you safely through the next steps, because we have been down this road before (many times!). With an experienced guide you can enjoy this path and relish each stage of the journey. It will be fun, and it will be transformative. And at the end of it, you will be a different person, with a different appreciation of yourself and what you are capable of. Getting back to the Playground is what we all need to do!
Applying for the Course
To apply, please contact David at david@yogavedaliving.com to ask about reserving a space.Places will be allocated on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis. Places are only confirmed on receipt of full payment of course fee or entering into the Payment Plan Agreement and paying first instalment, with commitment to pay the subsequent 2 instalments.Note: There are only 16 places available on this course.
3-Instalment Payment Plan Some students may prefer to space out payments over three instalments. These are:First Instalment of €500 to secure place (payable on being offered place), followed by 2 equal instalments of €325 (payable by 6th June and 5th Sept respectively).
The Course Fee is €995, payable in full as soon as a place is offered. See also the Payment plan option below. Please take note that the fee is Non-transferable and Non-refundable. Payment should be made directly by SEPA Transfer to:IBAN: IE60AIBK93367811916056BIC: AIBKIE2D
complete course fee
Terms and Conditions of Participation
IMPORTANT:
The course fee is non-transferable (either to another person or another course/year) and non-refundable, except in the case of cancellation by organisers.
Once the fee is paid, there can be no refunds of all or any of the fee, whether or not a student completes the course.
Taking up the Payment Plan Option of 3 Instalments is a commitment to pay the full fee, regardless of whether or not you complete the course.
Paula and David - Experts in the Playground
When you entrust yourself into the hands of a Yoga Teacher, who is going to be working with you physically, you really should be very sure that they are genuine experts at what they are doing. With Paula and David you can relax and be confident that you are in the safest hands. Both are dedicated yoga practitioners and teachers with over decades of experience. They run a full-time Yoga studio and have been teaching Yoga together for more than 20 years, during which time they have worked with many thousands of students and trained many hundreds of teachers. They bring their unique combination of skills to every student, helping them to discover their practice, their joy and health, with a sense of play and a passion for discovery. We often believe we are less 'able' than we are, and Paula and David have the experience and the care to help everyone to reach their true potential, and to have fun doing so. Paula is an Ayurvedic Consultant and Practitioner, running the clinic at Yoga Veda Living, as well as a Polarity Therapist. David has a Degree in Biology and has studied molecular genetics to Doctorate level. He specialises in Yoga Anatomy and Yoga Breathing techniques. They are both Authorised to teach traditional Ashtanga Yoga by Manju Pattabhi Jois, the world's most senior teacher of his lineage. Read more about Paula and David - CLICK HERE.