My workshops are never 'monkey see monkey do' affairs. I want people to become their own teachers; self-analysis is how we really progress in our practice, mentally, physically and spiritually. If you see a workshop in your area but would prefer something more specific please contact me to book a one to one or small group session.
Current Workshops:
Click here for current dates and locations
Click here for current dates and locations
Yoga Like Water: Connecting to Your Own Yoga Practice!
Dive deeper than ever before into the thing that we call yoga
In this workshop we will be exploring how to discover and connect more deeply to your own physical yoga practice and how it can open an entirely new world of yoga to you.
Dive deeper than ever before into the thing that we call yoga
In this workshop we will be exploring how to discover and connect more deeply to your own physical yoga practice and how it can open an entirely new world of yoga to you.
- Do you just go through the motions when practising or do you have a real connection to your body?
- Does it become a moving meditation or an exercise in endurance and keeping up?
- Is it your mind that leads your practice, your intuition or your body and which is best?
- How do you know what to practice and when to practice it?
Understanding Any Asana
For this one day intensive, Dan will be delving into his own system of understanding any asana.
There is nothing magical or mystical about seemingly difficult yoga positions. For the most part we are held back by one of three simple elements which Dan refers to as the M.A.P of yoga asana.
Underlying this MAP is the idea that if we understand certain principles about the body, the brain and alignment then we will approach our physical yoga practice much more logically and struggle far less.
In this day of investigation, using a range of teaching tools, theory and practical experimentation we will look at topics as diverse as motivation for practice; tensional integrity and alignment; muscle memory and proprioception and body proportions.
Prepare yourself to take an entirely new look at your yoga practice.
For this one day intensive, Dan will be delving into his own system of understanding any asana.
There is nothing magical or mystical about seemingly difficult yoga positions. For the most part we are held back by one of three simple elements which Dan refers to as the M.A.P of yoga asana.
Underlying this MAP is the idea that if we understand certain principles about the body, the brain and alignment then we will approach our physical yoga practice much more logically and struggle far less.
In this day of investigation, using a range of teaching tools, theory and practical experimentation we will look at topics as diverse as motivation for practice; tensional integrity and alignment; muscle memory and proprioception and body proportions.
Prepare yourself to take an entirely new look at your yoga practice.
'Finding Lightness in Your Practice ' - Core Stability and Bandha Engagement.
Exploring the essential understanding of core strength, core stability, the bandhas and how they can help us to float through our practise with ease and grace.
Have you ever looked at a well practiced yoga teacher or another yogi in class and wondered how they seem to move so gracefully between poses? How they seem to float though their transitions without any effort? Chances are that they understand the elusive skills of core stability and bandha engagement....and not only this but they know precisely how and when to activate them.
Just what is our'core'? What is the difference between core strength and stability? Between open and closed core? How does core stability relate to the bandhas? How can we isolate and strengthen our core muscles and how do we actually recruit them when we need them in our practice? So many questions and all of them and more will be answered in this session of tough but fun practice and exploration! Prepare yourself to take off into a new
style of practice. For all abilities
Understanding Handstanding!
This workshop is for everyone from handstand experts wanting to understand exactly what is going on, as well as for those just coming to the practice.
The yoga handstand or Adho Mukha Vrksasana is one of my favourite postures with good reason-it requires total concentration, commitment and complete body engagement; the breath is your only companion and awareness is your only intention. We need to overcome the fear of falling and failing, but we are well rewarded if we can push through these mental barriers and flip our worlds upside down.
In this workshop we approach handstands from a very yogic point of view, not two hours of acrobatic drills or 90 minutes of flow yoga to prepare – we don't need a huge build up to handstand.
We will look at:
By the end of the workshop expect to be seeing the world from an entirely new angle!
This workshop is for everyone from handstand experts wanting to understand exactly what is going on, as well as for those just coming to the practice.
The yoga handstand or Adho Mukha Vrksasana is one of my favourite postures with good reason-it requires total concentration, commitment and complete body engagement; the breath is your only companion and awareness is your only intention. We need to overcome the fear of falling and failing, but we are well rewarded if we can push through these mental barriers and flip our worlds upside down.
In this workshop we approach handstands from a very yogic point of view, not two hours of acrobatic drills or 90 minutes of flow yoga to prepare – we don't need a huge build up to handstand.
We will look at:
- our motivation for wanting to handstand;
- the physical and mental obstacles that hold people back from progressing;
- understand the muscles that we really need to engage and the alignment we need
- the important difference between getting into handstand and then holding the position.
- use of props and partner work as training aids to correct alignment and lack of stability.
By the end of the workshop expect to be seeing the world from an entirely new angle!
2 Hours to Forearm Stand
Pincha mayurasana or forearm stand is a posture that provides many challenges, mental and physical. The fear of having the face and neck in such an exposed position can be much scarier than for handstand. Physically the shoulders need to be both open and fully engaged in order to support the body weight whilst the core muscles have to support any imbalance at the pelvis. There is no denying that there is a lot going on!
But it isn’t as difficult as it might at first seem. With some adjustments to the traditional position and the use of a few handy props we can overcome a lot of the difficulties and feel much safer to experiment. In this workshop we will find some playful ways to develop the needed skills for forearm stand, to fall safely and most importantly to work with each other so that we can all be safe and make progress regardless of our current level.
Be brave enough to turn up and you might just find that a whole new world of poses is opening up to you!
Pincha mayurasana or forearm stand is a posture that provides many challenges, mental and physical. The fear of having the face and neck in such an exposed position can be much scarier than for handstand. Physically the shoulders need to be both open and fully engaged in order to support the body weight whilst the core muscles have to support any imbalance at the pelvis. There is no denying that there is a lot going on!
But it isn’t as difficult as it might at first seem. With some adjustments to the traditional position and the use of a few handy props we can overcome a lot of the difficulties and feel much safer to experiment. In this workshop we will find some playful ways to develop the needed skills for forearm stand, to fall safely and most importantly to work with each other so that we can all be safe and make progress regardless of our current level.
Be brave enough to turn up and you might just find that a whole new world of poses is opening up to you!
A Fine Balance: Discovering Stillness and Ease in Asana
ˈbal(ə)ns/ noun 'an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady'
Balance is not defined as a wobbly state held only by great physical effort! However, like most things in life if we don't have the right tools or understanding of the task, the job becomes very difficult and the results are poor.
Every balance is essentially made up of skeletal alignment, strength, flexibility and weight distribution; to manage these factors you need a certain amount of strength and flexibility but more importantly you need to actually understand where the strength and flexibility need to come from...they need to come from the right places.
In this workshop we will look at these commonly misunderstood elements of by exploring the working anatomy of a range of poses in a very functional way from hand balances such as crow through to standing balances and inversions - the principals of alignment and stability are the same for all poses once we understand how they work! Which muscles need to stretch? Which muscles need to contract? How can we recruit these muscles and how do we work out what muscles need to activate?
Which joints are affected and how can we align the skeleton to make life easier?
Be prepared to look at your balances in a totally new way and all of a sudden they might finally begin to make sense!
ˈbal(ə)ns/ noun 'an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady'
Balance is not defined as a wobbly state held only by great physical effort! However, like most things in life if we don't have the right tools or understanding of the task, the job becomes very difficult and the results are poor.
Every balance is essentially made up of skeletal alignment, strength, flexibility and weight distribution; to manage these factors you need a certain amount of strength and flexibility but more importantly you need to actually understand where the strength and flexibility need to come from...they need to come from the right places.
In this workshop we will look at these commonly misunderstood elements of by exploring the working anatomy of a range of poses in a very functional way from hand balances such as crow through to standing balances and inversions - the principals of alignment and stability are the same for all poses once we understand how they work! Which muscles need to stretch? Which muscles need to contract? How can we recruit these muscles and how do we work out what muscles need to activate?
Which joints are affected and how can we align the skeleton to make life easier?
Be prepared to look at your balances in a totally new way and all of a sudden they might finally begin to make sense!
The Art of Mindful Inverting:
A workshop for all abilities from beginner to teacher, delving deep into the alignment, physical and mental elements of headstand, handstand & forearm stand.
So you can balance to some extent on your arms and maybe on your hands, but do you actually know how you are doing it, or are you just trusting to luck?
This workshop is not about transferring knowledge and facts, instead it will help you to develop a real understanding of just how you are balancing; how to analyse your own practice and how to make it better!
Find out why you can't hold headstand for long; why you have to kick up twenty times to do one handstand and why your wrists are often aching after practice!
Learn the tips and tricks of balancing and going upside down in progressive poses such as handstand & forearm stand as well as looking at the solid basics of poses such as headstand and why these can teach us so much about more advanced poses. Don't worry if you can't do any of these...that's what the workshop is for. And if you are already busting out your inversions and balances I have endless variations to play with!
A workshop for all abilities from beginner to teacher, delving deep into the alignment, physical and mental elements of headstand, handstand & forearm stand.
So you can balance to some extent on your arms and maybe on your hands, but do you actually know how you are doing it, or are you just trusting to luck?
This workshop is not about transferring knowledge and facts, instead it will help you to develop a real understanding of just how you are balancing; how to analyse your own practice and how to make it better!
Find out why you can't hold headstand for long; why you have to kick up twenty times to do one handstand and why your wrists are often aching after practice!
Learn the tips and tricks of balancing and going upside down in progressive poses such as handstand & forearm stand as well as looking at the solid basics of poses such as headstand and why these can teach us so much about more advanced poses. Don't worry if you can't do any of these...that's what the workshop is for. And if you are already busting out your inversions and balances I have endless variations to play with!
Thanks to Sandy Greenaway, Prana Productions and Yoga For Syria for the Photo