Hatha yoga tuition and instruction on your holiday

Sunflower Retreats Holidays yoga classes are suitable for beginners as well as more practiced yogis.

We practise Friday through Tuesday each morning before breakfast, with some yoga classes throughout the week outdoors in spectacular surroundings when the weather is suitable.

Our Hatha yoga classes each last 90 minutes.

For those who would like the opportunity to practice more yoga, extra classes of Hatha yoga or meditation are optionally available throughout the week with Lucy Bremner or guest yoga teachers.

Your Sunflower Retreats Yoga Teachers

All of our teachers are required to have undertaken no less than 2 years training so that we do not rely on "fast track" yoga certification.

Lucy Bremner, born in London and co-founder of Sunflower Retreats, has been a holistic practioner in the UK and worldwide since 1988. She specialises in a wide range of body work, therapies and energy and spiritual balancing treatments such as Chakra Balancing and Reiki.

Lucy was drawn to the practice of Hatha Yoga and the yoga philosophy while studying holistic therapies professionally in London in 1989. In the late 80's and early 90's, then in her twenties, she travelled independently in Nepal, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Bali, Australia, New Zealand, Sudan and the USA, where she broadened her studies of yoga, Eastern philosophy and the healing arts, including the American Indian tradition and philosophy.

Lucy is a qualified Holistic Therapist and international yoga teacher, accredited with a distinction in her final examinations with Friends of Yoga - an international society and examination body for yoga in the UK and India. Over the last 20 years she has treated and taught hundreds of people healing therapies and yoga.

She loves to share and communicate the ancient knowledge of Western and Eastern traditions through the healing power of yoga and meditation within her classes and her treatments. She is a gentle teacher, encouraging and supportive in her teaching and holistic therapy work.

Lucy is available for one-to-one sessions at Sunflower Retreats.

Our guest teachers

Gabrielle Long is a certified yoga instructor, massage, polarity and holistic therapist. She also helps out with PR at Sunflower Retreats.

She began her yoga practice in 1990, and has lived in various cities in the U.S., where she has studied many styles of yoga. She received her formal training with Kim Valeri at the Yoga Spirit Studio in Boston. Gabrielle has a strong practice focusing on form and alignment that is reflected in the Iyengar style.

Gabrielle continues to grow in her studies through workshops and retreats with a variety of acclaimed teachers. She enjoys nurturing and assisting people in self-discovery, helping them gain awareness about their connection to their body, mind and spirit. She encourages breath awareness, opening to deeper releases of tension held in the bodies musculature and living in the present. Her personality is very joyful and fun. Students say that she is very encouraging and makes you feel comfortable.

Lucy Jones teaches with us from 2nd July - 2nd September. She is a qualified yoga teacher, certified through the international professional organisation Yoga Alliance.

Lucy's first introduction to yoga was at the age of twelve when she accompanied her Dad along to her first yoga class. Since that time yoga has always remained a part of her life to varying degrees, until its increasing significance made her decide to make it an integral part of her career. She went on to train in Vinyasa Flow yoga, which constitutes a strong dynamic and physically orientated practice. However, her experience over the years and exposure to many influences including classical Hatha yoga, Kundalini and Scaravelli have informed a style that has a strong emphasis upon the other key aspects of yoga including pranayama and meditation. Her work in other disciplines, especially energy therapy, very much informs an approach to yoga that is focused on both healing and activating the subtle anatomy as well as the physical body.

Her business, Prana Magic, is dedicated to bringing the benefits of yoga to people of all ages and backgrounds and demonstrating yoga's ever-increasing relevance to modern life. Lucy currently teaches both classes and private clients throughout London and, in addition to teaching yoga, practices as a life coach and holistic energy therapist working with a variety of disciplines including nutrition, herbalism, Vortex Healing™ and past life regression therapy.

Lucy says:
"I passionately believe in creativity and spontaneity in creating an inspiring and empowering environment in which people can nurture their individual potential and realise yoga as a profound opportunity for alchemical-like transformation."

Sherree Schaefer joins our teaching team for the weeks of September 3rd - 9th and 10th - 16th. She is a qualified yoga instructor, practising and teaching in the UK.

Sherree began her formal training in India, studying with the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre in Kerala and completed her teacher training qualification in 2005. She furthered her studies through the British Wheel of Yoga, the governing body for yoga in the UK, and holds a British Wheel Teachers Diploma. She has experienced of teaching classes and retreats in the UK as well as internationally.

Her style is a gentle but challenging Hatha yoga, building flexibility and strength through physical asana (posture) work but also teaching awareness of breath, meditation and relaxation. Sherree also teaches yoga nidra, a deep form of yogic relaxation, a technique which is beneficial for the reduction of stress.

Sherree's approach to teaching is informal and fun, her aim is to make yoga accessible to everyone. Her hands-on approach and instruction encourage a very individual practice for students.

Her study of yoga continues through regular attendance at seminars and workshops in the UK as well as returning to India each year to continue her spiritual practice.

Sherree says:
"My love and passion for yoga actually began in Casperia as a student of Lucy Bremner. This wonderful environment and teacher inspired me to study further and travel to India.
I feel privileged to return to Casperia many years later as a teacher and a friend of Sunflower Retreats."

Lisa Quish is a qualified teacher, certified through Yoga Alliance.

Lisa's mom taught yoga and she grew up in a household where it was part of life. In her teens she studied ballet and contemporary dance and when she later qualified as a yoga teacher it felt like all the pieces of the puzzle had come together. Yoga like dance is about movement of the body but also works to harness the breath creating a rhythm which allows the body to flow and open to grace. When the body is bright and healthy, the mind is clear and the spirit is full one cannot but engage with the world in a lighter way.

Lisa's style of teaching is Hatha flow with a strong foundation in correct body alignment. She continues to refine her own practice and teaching skills and has commenced a level two teacher training programme and regularly attends teaching workshops to expand her knowledge and bring her students the benefit of her learning.

As a busy business professional and yoga teacher Lisa brings a balance of reality, commitment and fun to her classes, ensuring that students get an equal amount of space and attention so they can discover the freedom and discipline that a well balanced and joyful practice brings.

Lisa says "If you can bring a little bit of yoga into everything you do then life just becomes lighter. Like any relationship, if you invest a little you gain a lot."

Our yoga deck

Outdoor yoga classes take place on our platform which is located in an oasis of green inside the village walls. Its a beautiful and serene environment, with dappled sunlight and the sound of birdsong all around.

Our yoga studio

When we choose to practice yoga indoors, we use our own professionally designed and restored 40 square metre studio, which has a wooden floor, a fresh water spring and an ancient cave as a bathroom. It has full central heating for use in the cooler months.

What your yoga holiday will cover - Hatha yoga which emphasises holistic and spiritual aspects

The classes taught cover the physical teachings of Hatha yoga with emphasis on the spiritual and holistic aspects of the yoga tradition in general.

Your yoga class includes:

■  Asanas (Physical Movements)

■  Pranayama (Breathing practices)

■  Meditation(Stilling and calming of the mind & inner self)

■  Relaxation (Complete mind, body relaxation)

Yoga mats are provided.

Individual yoga lessons

Individual tuition with one-to-one yoga lessons in Asana, Pranayama, Meditation and Relaxation are available.

Optional extra yoga classes

If you would like the opportunity to practise more yoga during your holiday, additional 1-hour afternoon yoga classes, costing €10 per-person, are available throughout the week.

We also offer workshops in yoga, meditation and other related subjects. The workshops last between 90 minutes and 2 hours and cost €15 per-person.