Christmas & New Year Satyananda Yoga week retreat
December 27th 2011 – January 2nd 2012
We have reduced the price of all our week long courses back to the 2007 prices
We realize that many people are having financial difficulties and now more than ever need to get away for a stress free week of yoga in the Burren.
Reduced to €690 (€650 unwaged)
For unwaged, please read
Unwaged further discountsPossible to book 4 days or less than whole week on this New Year retreat
The course begins with dinner on Tuesday 27th December 2011.
| Stay | Cost | Un waged Cost |
| Leave Friday | €440 | €420 |
| Leave Saturday | €540 | €510 |
| Leave Sunday | €640 | €600 |
| Leave Monday | €690 | €650 |
Description of post Christmas & New Year yoga retreat
This post Christmas & New Year yoga retreat is a lovely way to spend 6 days just after Christmas with refreshing and energizing yoga classes, relaxing yoga Nidra sessions and outdoor walks in the beautiful Burren. Not to mention the delicious vegetarian food.
Satyananda Yoga is suited to anyone who is looking for an integrated approach to their physical, mental, and spiritual development.
Emphasis is placed on working with one's awareness, rather than on focusing on one's physical capabilities.

Satyananda Yoga® classes are balanced between physical postures (asana), breathing (pranayama) and meditation practices. Working with the awareness is emphasized right from the start.Satyananda Yoga is suitable for people of all ages, sizes, and physical abilities.

This New Year retreat is reasonably gentle and includes
- breath work
- gentle postures
- salutation to the sun
- Yoga Nidra deep relaxation
- Meditation

The goal of the course is to ensure you have a genuine Satyananda yoga experience, covering a range of practices some unique to the Satyananda system with a view to using them, and benefiting from them in your life.

Some come along to this New Year to deepen their existing yoga practice, others will be starting out, and will simply wish to 'get away from it all'.
Tadhg’s clear approach is suitable for all. ‘Even if you are an experienced practitioner of a different tradition there will be plenty in this course to challenge and encourage you.’

One big difference between attending regular weekly yoga classes and going away on a week yoga retreat is that being in a yoga environment allows one break away from the normal life patterns and responsibilities which in turn allows one to experience the practices and their effects to a deeper level in more tranquil surroundings.
To get a good idea of what the week will be like, it is a good idea to see the 6 minute video on the home page
6 minute Video on our Summer Yoga holiday retreatsThere will also be organized outdoor trips into the Burren each afternoon, and this is a lovely way to bring in the New Year.
Many previous course participants have said that it was the most memorable and uplifting start that they have ever had to New Year.
Tadhg usually does a special evening coming together to bring in the New Year.
Cost of the New Year yoga course
The cost of the New Year course reduced to €690 and includes accommodation and vegetarian meals.
Unwaged further reduced to €650.
For unwaged, please read
Unwaged further discountsThe food is cooked by Paddi the gourmet vegetarian chef who ran Seventh Heaven the well known restaurant in Galway city.
A single room costs €120 extra.
Additional nights stay at the centre after the New Year yoga retreat
To avail of a cheaper flight you may like to stay an extra night or two. Cost is €35per night. No meals included.
Who is the New Year retreat suitable for
Suitable for beginners to intermediate.

It is suitable for all levels of fitness, and all ages.
Students engaging in the beautiful practice of Trataka - The word Trataka means ‘to look’ or ‘to gaze’.

It is both an uplifting meditation practice and a cleansing practice and it acts as stepping stone between physically oriented practices and mental practices which lead to higher states of awareness.

Instructor
Tadhg Ferriter is in his mid forties, and practiced from many yoga styles before discovering Satyananda yoga in the mid 90’s. Like many students of yoga he was first attracted to the relaxing benefits the postures brought to the busy lifestyle and demanding career path he found himself on.

Tadhg completed his training as a Satyananda teacher with Swami ShraddhaMurti and Swami ChetanMurti in Galway in the mid 1990’s.

Since then he continues to study with great teachers in Ireland and abroad taking courses in Meditation, Yoga Therapy and Ashram Life in France, Wales, India and Greece and the resulting clarity he has achieved in his teaching shows in the way he understands and connects with his own students.

Tadhg demonstrates the postures carefully, and gives instructions on the important aspects of the posture.

And then takes care that everyone is practicing them at a level suitable for their body.
You will have great fun on this post Christmas yoga retreat as well as learning some great yoga.
There is no competition or comparison between people within Satyananda yoga, and Tadhg ensures that everyone is comfortable practicing to their own level.

Some of the postures Tadhg teaches are reasonable gentle, while others are more challenging.

Some postures are gentle and relaxing, while others are energizing and invigorating.

Each class has a measured balance of postures, and also some classes include meditation or other specific practices for calming and taming the mind.

Tadhg works carefully and sensitively on the teacher – student relationship, and the practice it nourishes.
Tadhg also comes on the outdoor trips into the Burren each day, and it is very uplifting to spend time in the Nature of the Burren as we bring in the New Year 2012 together.
Balance practices are also useful for taming the mind.

With three young children and a distinguished career in management Tadhg has direct experience of integrating a successful vibrant personal yoga practice into a busy modern lifestyle. Much of his work as a teacher aims to facilitate others to reap the benefits of doing the same in their own lives.
Tadhg’s daily yoga practice, teaching and yogic lifestyle are guided by the principles of the Satyananda yoga system.

Tadhg’s class exploring and improving core strength and hamstring flexibility using a variation of Supta-Pawanmuktasana
Swami Satyananda describes yoga as
"a higher form of common sense, a pure and precise science which evolves from within. To live yoga is to be in harmony with oneself." 
Satyananda yoga includes meditation, Pranayama (breathing practices), mind focusing techniques, relaxation as well as the usual classical yoga postures.
Many people nowadays practice physical yoga, but many are seeking out good meditation teachers to introduce meditation to them, and to help them explore the heart felt practice of yoga to a deeper level.
Sitting together after asana practice - magical moments of total peace and tranquility in touch with your whole being, with only the sounds of the birds as a soft Burren back-drop.

For the meditation is it important to find a comfortable position and Tadhg helps you find a posture and the suitable props (meditation stool, meditation cushion, blocks, blankets) which work best for your body.
While asana (yoga postures) of appropriate strength for the each individual student are important for progressing, the use of Pranayama (work with the Breath) and meditation are also considered necessary to address the whole being from an early stage in the Satyananda system.

Satyananda yoga teachers are trained to the highest standard, with regular in-service training and assessment.

The teaching diploma is recognized by Yoga Federation Ireland (YFI), Bihar School of Yoga (Satyananda Yoga) and the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY). These qualifications are approved and recognized worldwide.
Tadhg includes information exchange about Yoga and also the wider philosophy and teachings of Yoga. Some New Year yoga retreats this includes information about the Yamas and Niyamas.... other New Year retreats may be about how to bring yoga from your Yoga mat into every minute of your normal daily life.

There is also a lightness and a sense of fun to Tadhg’s approach giving us an example of working through difficult things in life with ease, gentleness, softness. Not a being a pushover to others, but not confronting others and life like a concrete wall. When a teacher has a sense of authentic (not pretend!) fun about them, everybody can feel this. It sets everyone at ease. When we're at ease, it's easier to go inside, to be inspired by our own selves.

Tadhg specializes in the integration of yoga into everyday life and encourages students in an open and sensitive way to work with themselves as they are and in the situation they find themselves in.
Timetable for the New Year yoga week
Tuesday 27th December 2011 arrival
| Time | Activity |
| 6:00 - 7:00pm | Arrival & Registration |
| 7:00pm | Dinner by Paddi |
| 8:00 - 8:30pm | Karma Yoga |
| 9:00 - 10:00pm | Breath-work and relaxation |
Typical day timetable
| Time | Activity |
| 8:00 - 9:30 am | Satyananda yoga class |
| 9:30 - 10:00am | Breathwork and meditation (Intro for beginners) |
| 10:00am | Breakfast |
| 10:45 | Karma Yoga |
| 11:30 – 5:00pm | Outdoor trip into the Burren |
| 2:00pm | Lunch out locally |
| 4:30pm approx | Return to centre |
| 7:00pm | Dinner |
| 7:45 - 8:15pm | Karma Yoga |
| 9:00 - 9:30pm | Meditation |
Alternate days
Every second day, as well as the usual classes listed on the typical day's timetable above, we have an additional afternoon class.
| Time | Activity |
| 5:00 - 6:30pm | Satyananda Yoga class |
Sunday departure
| Time | Activity |
| 8:00 - 9:30 am | Satyananda yoga class |
| 9:30 - 10:00am | Breathwork and meditation |
| 10:00am | Breakfast |
| 10:45 – 11:30 | Karma Yoga |
| 12:00 noon | Depart |
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