Blue Skies 

by Enda Tweedy

My earliest memory of being introduced to yoga was by my father when I was a young child. He tells the story to this day of how he bought a yoga book at the age of eighteen, and through reading it, found so many things that helped benefit and change his life. Growing up I was into a lot of different kinds of sport, but my real passion for yoga grew with my first experience at the holistic health retreat camp Eden, deep in the beautiful rainforest of Australia’s Gold Coast some 10 years ago.

Through the wonderful people I met in camp Eden and the yoga I practised there, I discovered how yoga brought together body and mind; it gave me a greater awareness of myself and how the body and mind work as a complete whole. I was also amazed at the wonderful presence of the yogis, both their calmness and their energy all in one.

Having practised yoga for ten years by going to various classes, both at home and in the different countries I visited, I then decided to give myself a different challenge in my yoga journey by enrolling for the YTTC Level One Teacher Training Diploma Course. This I started last May with the YTTC in Cork, and through this I have learned so much and have met some amazing people. It has helped build my confidence and given me another purpose in my life.

That has led me to my new journey with yoga in that I am opening my own centre and hopefully giving something back because of all the beneficial experiences I have had. With the encouragement and support of my husband Bob, my kids and my parents, Bob and I started looking at and visiting locations around Waterford. We found the perfect location - a beautiful house opposite the People’s Park in Waterford. Once the location was set everything else fell into place. The high point for me comes in the form of one of the most amazing people I have met on my journey and his name is Neale Svenson Neale is a complimentary health practitioner who specializes in five elements acupuncture. He is gifted at public speaking, teaching and individualised treatments as well as being a qualified qigong instructor.

So with Neale wanting to come back to Europe, it was the perfect idea that we would open a centre together and give both our experiences and a sense of well-being back to the community. With the building we want to provide a place where people can come and experience yoga, qigong and have their treatments in an environment of positive energy, hence the name Enerqi. We plan to open in September so all the fun can really begin. Already I have a YTTC Teacher Training Diploma Course taking place. This Course will be directed and run by Nicole, who is both the director of YTTC Cork and my own yoga teacher. Nicole will be joined by her team of tutors from YTTC Cork. I am very grateful for all her help and guidance. So long may it all flow.

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A brief story of someone who had a passing Interest in Yoga

By Siobhán O’Connor

This is the brief story of someone who had a passing interest in yoga and ended up on a yoga teacher training course. 

I am relatively new to yoga, but I think it’s safe to say that I am fast becoming addicted. This addiction isn’t confined to my practice on the mat. Every spare minute I have is spent researching yoga on the internet, or reading yoga-related books, or working on my course material.

It was not until my second pregnancy that I really started to take the time to understand and learn about the practice of Yoga. I have always enjoyed keeping fit, yet I had lost interest in my usual “fix” - a trip to the gym. I met Nicole through the pregnancy yoga class and thanks to those classes; I enjoyed a relaxed yet active pregnancy. It was during labour that I developed a deeper understanding of the positive benefits yoga can bring to the mind & body

The decision to enrol on the Level 1 teacher training course coincided with another big decision in my life; to become a full-time stay-at-home mother.

 I am absolutely enjoying the course. Aside from the fact that the yoga weekends are an opportunity to indulge in some “me” time. It is time to learn, to understand and to develop an overall sense of self-awareness as we are guided through the different aspects of yoga. Be it asana practice, philosophy or anatomy. One thing is for sure, at the end of each YTTC weekend I have learnt so much and still have an enormous desire to learn more.  Long may this addiction last ......

 

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I thought someone was having a laugh

By Maurice Mullen

I thought someone was having a laugh, for the life of me I could not find anywhere on South King Street that looked like a yoga centre. My neck was sore from looking up and down all the buildings to find some ‘holistic’ symbol to point me in the right direction. As usual I had allowed myself plenty of extra time - just in case I got run over by a bus – and arrived 30 minutes early. At least I had 30 minutes to get to the right place but where...

I decided to act casual and hid in the shade of St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre hoping to spy a fellow yogi to tail. Time was ticking closer to 10am but there was still no sign of any yogis. Finally at 9:50 I spotted a bloke in shorts and sandals opening up a shutter – had to be a yogi. As I got closer I realised it was Roy (saw his photo on the website), I thought I would impress him by saying ‘Hello Roy’ however my worst fears were confirmed when he replied with ‘Howya Maurice’.

This could only mean one thing – I was the only bloke on the course.

So started what turned out to be an incredible journey for me (never mind the 300 mile round trip once a month for 15 months). The course was everything I expected and more - way more.

We quickly got stuck into the main asanas and before we knew it we were up in front of the entire class teaching. I was always eager to get up and teach and knew that the feedback I would get from Roy would be honest – might not be what I wanted to hear at times but it was the best way to learn.

Sunday afternoons were always tough for me, I was always exhausted after the weekend and also looking forward to getting the bus back to Derry, however several of these Sunday afternoons were spent listening to Michael McCann and anybody that knows Michael will understand it when I say I wasn’t in a rush to get to the bus.

My fondest memory has to be one of Suzy’s anatomy classes where we were learning about the pelvic floor. As ever with Suzy you can only learn by experiencing it so we made a pelvic floor using belts. I had the proud job of been an anchor point for one side of the pelvic floor and listened intently as Suzy named each part of the pelvic floor.

It was at the start of the last third of the course while recapping on what we had done to date that I realised that Roy was not just teaching us how to teach yoga but teaching us how to be a teacher as well. From then on I had a greater confidence in my abilities and when it came to teaching my first ‘official’ class I felt as though I had been teaching for years.

The assessment day with Kay Scorah was very relaxed, we had Kay teaching us for 2 days previously so we all knew what she was like – one of the nicest ladies you will ever meet.

I really enjoyed the course and have enjoyed even more so the teaching that I have been doing since I qualified and although my yoga journey has been a short one so far it has been a very steep learning curve. But, after 15 weekends, 30 days of classes, 4,500 miles and 120 hours at the mercy of Ulsterbus drivers my journey has only just begun.

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