Intelligent Yoga Courses in 2024

Yoga Courses in 2024

Yoga CourseImmersion

June 4 – 9, 2024Gayles RetreatFristonEast Sussex

Yoga TeacherTraining Course

Sept 2024 – Sept 2025Central London& Online

Yoga CourseWellbeing

Oct 27 – Dec 8, 2024OnlineviaZoom

Yoga Course : Immersion

Immersion Course

Would you like to immerse yourself in your personal yoga practice?
To refresh and inspire your personal approach to yoga?
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If, like many of us, you feel the need to take time out, dive deep into your personal practice and replenish your energy levels, then join us for this year’s Scaravelli Inspired Yoga & Wellbeing Immersion.
For this yoga course, we’re focusing on feeling good. Exploring how and why yoga helps to lift our mood and downregulate our nervous system.
Each day, we’ll practice yoga, breathwork and meditation. We’ll walk across the Downs to the nearby beach for a swim, light a bonfire and watch the sun sinking into the sea.

Join renowned teachers Catherine Annis and Gary Carter
for this year’s Immersion Yoga Course.

Each year the Immersion yoga course evolves, focusing on a different aspect of how we approach our yoga practice.
The yoga is inspired by the pioneering work of Vanda Scaravelli, who encouraged her students to take an intensely personal approach to practice, responding to their own felt sense and intuitive understanding of the intelligence of the body.
For this Immersion yoga course, we’ll focus on our personal needs for space, time and rest. In this glorious retreat setting, we’ll take a deep dive to explore the rich potential of yoga to soothe our nervous system and consider how best our practice can support us during periods of stress and anxiety.
The Immersion invites a deep listening, providing a profound opportunity to develop awareness and a totally personal understanding of our practice, from the most simple movements to more subtle and sophisticated. Leave with a rich palette of material to inspire your movement and teaching.

During the Immersion yoga course we will:
• Investigate how yoga practice supports our autonomic nervous system, stimulating the natural restorative qualities of the parasympathetic
• Learn how we can work with the vagus nerve, on and off the mat, and how to harness its power to develop inner calm and quiet
• Explore the practical benefits of breathwork, particularly when working with Long Covid, post viral fatigue, stress & anxiety
• Develop a new understanding of the relationships between asana and connective tissue and muscles and fascia
• Learn fresh approaches on how to free the joints and discover a new sense of lightness in our body
• Dip your toe in the water … explore the benefits of cold water swimming
• Discover the interplay between effort and ease, and how creating a balance between them sustains healthy movements and strong bodies
• Leave feeling refreshed, uplifted and deeply rested

The Importance of Personal Practice
As teachers, we can only teach from our own practice. Our personal practice nurtures our teaching, providing energy and inspiration which sustains us as we teach and support our students.
The Immersion course is an opportunity for us to refine and refresh our own approach, helping us unpick our own approach so that we can pass it on with skill and clarity.
Each day on this Immersion we’ll look at a different aspect or approach to practice, so that you leave with some fresh inspiration and answers to your specific questions.
The Immersion is designed specifically for yoga teachers, yoga teacher trainees and anyone with a serious interest in exploring their practice who would like to refine their practice and approach to yoga.
This Scaravelli Inspired Immersion Course is an opportunity to expand the ways we teach yoga as inspired by the work of Vanda Scaravelli, and evolves each year in response to the most current thinking in bodywork and movement practices and requests from current and returning attendees.

Gary Carter
Once again we’ll be joined by Gary Carter, who will share his profound understanding of the body and his innovative approach to anatomy and the art and science of moving with ease.
He will present a full day of explorations and share with us his unique understanding including the latest discoveries from the world of fascia.
Including the profound effect the breath has with fascia focused practice, introducing a totally new way of looking at our anatomy, how to free the joints and demonstrate a deeper sense of lightness in our body.

Asana & Connective Tissue
Viewing the anatomy of the body from the perspective of fascia, rather than the more classical anatomy of bones and muscles, gives us a new understanding of the relationship between muscle and fascia.

Venue

The Immersion course is held at Gayles Retreat, one of my favourite venues, set in ten acres of land next to the Seven Sisters Country Park (an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), The National Trust Crowlink Estate and Friston Forest. The surrounding countryside is extraordinarily beautiful, and there are excellent walking opportunities all around.

Communal Spaces
With its open fire, high ceiling and refreshing artworks, The Stables is a beautifully converted 1930s stable which provides a warm and practical area for eating, chatting and relaxing. Immediately outside there is a large, decked, seated eating area which is wonderful for informal meals on warm sunny days.

Shared Accommodation
There are two dormitories providing comfortable and spacious accommodation for up to seventeen people. The Studio sleeps up to 8 people in 4 bunk beds and 4 singles, whilst the Playroom sleeps 4. Each room is fitted with sofas and tables providing space and comfort. Duvets, pillows, linen and towels are provided.

Single / Twin Rooms
In the main house, there are two further rooms – one single, and one twin, which is suitable for two friends (or a couple). Please note that if you book the twin room to share with a friend, there is one double bed and one double sofa bed.

Camping
If you choose to camp, you can either bring your own tent or use the tents provided by the venue. Campers will be provided with pillows and towels. Please bring your own bedding and sleeping mats. Campers have their own dedicated bathroom and the much loved “loo with a view”.

Food

Much of the food we eat is grown on site in the vegetable garden and it’s all delicious. Derry is our cook for the week and his inspiring recipes are in constant demand. Food is vegetarian and organic, made with much love and a highlight of our stay at Gayles.
If the weather is good, there is the option of eating out in the open on the terrace.

Dates & Prices

June 4 – 9, 2024
prices from £699
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Price Includes:
• Accommodation
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Evening meal
• All yoga

BOOK NOW or READ MORE

Intelligent Yoga Teacher Training Course

Intelligent Yoga Teacher Training (IYTT) is unique amongst teacher training courses. We offer an incisive, thoughtful and intelligent approach to yoga teacher training, driven by the most current scientific developments in anatomy and movement research.
Delivered by an elite group of senior yoga teachers at the top of their field, this yoga course offers a spacious, immersive modular structure which provides time and space for profound learning, integration and growth.
Each of the teaching team draws on decades of practical experience of yoga, including particularly the work of Vanda Scaravelli and somatic, embodied practices.
Described by some as radical and provocative, this approach to practice demands a fundamental shift in our practice and teaching.
Throughout the yoga course, we’ll investigate how our bodies move, how we respond to stimuli and how we can cultivate an atmosphere of authentic enquiry and exploration.
We’ll support and encourage you to gain a clear understanding of how you personally engage with yourself through movement and how you can use that knowledge to create new, healthier approaches to living and moving, for yourself and your students.

“The IYTT yoga coursehas radically liberated my movement practice and expanded the way I hold space for others.
The programme encourages deep attention to the realities of our bodies – to better support our ability to find freedom and facilitate our students to do the same.
The course offers a sophisticated approach to study, rooted in sensorial attunement, philosophical discourse and the most up to date research in anatomy.
It is a life changing experience, highly relevant for its insights into Yoga’s past and in its commitment to foster dynamic, curious teachers for the future.”
Ben Wright
Choreographer/Movement Artist/Teacher
Artistic Co-Director at Candoco Dance Company (2017-2020)
Lecturer in Dance Northern School of Contemporary Dance

Meet the Team

Our faculty have over 200 years of combined yoga experience.
With all this knowledge, wisdom and guidance, you know you’ll be in safe hands.
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Catherine Annis
Course leader
Originally a professional dancer, Catherine Annis has been practising yoga since the late 1970s. She has explored Sivananda, Iyengar, Astanga and various forms of Hatha yoga, and has been strongly influenced by the teachings of Vanda Scaravelli.
Catherine holds an MA in ballet studies, and is a qualified Thai massage therapist, and this interest in the body underpins her teaching.
As one of the leading teachers of Scaravelli inspired yoga, she’s taught on several yoga teacher trainings and continues to expand her personal interest in the role of yoga in working with stress and anxiety.
She created the Scaravelli Inspired Yoga Immersion Course – a six-day residential intensive for teachers and teacher trainees, which has been running annually since 2009, and teaches regular workshops and courses around the UK and Internationally.
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Gary Carter
Anatomy and myofascial connections
Gary Carter has been teaching and practising yoga and various other movement practices for 25 years. He has studied Shiatsu, Chi Ne Tsang, CranioSacral Therapy and in 1998 met Tom Myers and studied the Anatomy Trains theory in depth, completing the KMI Structural Integration training.
Over the past 15 years he has lectured in Movement Anatomy for Yoga, Yoga teacher trainings, Pilates teacher trainings and massage schools all over the UK. He has run the Science of Movement course at Middlesex University from 2007- 2011 and studied Dissection at the Institute of Anatomy in Vienna.
He ran his Natural Bodies centre in Brighton for over 20 years offering several yoga teacher trainings and continues to run his Anatomy and Yoga courses in England, Scotland and Ireland.
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Jody Barber
Introduction to anatomy
Jody Barber has been practising yoga since 1998 and has experienced several styles, Mysore Astanga, Yin, Hatha and Scaravelli and is a qualified yoga teacher.
Jody is also a Chartered Physiotherapist of 26 years and has a special interest in treating people with a neurological diagnosis. As a physiotherapist she is trained to an advanced level in the Bobath Concept, which is a specialist assessment and treatment approach for individuals with disturbances of function, movement and postural control.
The rationale of this approach is based upon present day knowledge of motor control, motor learning and neural plasticity, as well as a knowledge of biomechanics.
Jody works for the NHS and as a private physiotherapist and teaches yoga classes and workshops in West Hertfordshire. She has a passion for understanding the anatomy of the body and how it moves and how to restore normal movement when dysfunction arises. Jody has clinically supervised many undergraduate physiotherapy students.
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Neville Cregan
Yoga philosophy
Neville Cregan has been teaching the history and philosophy of yoga since 2003. During a trip through India in the 1980s, he accidentally ended up at an ashram, and the experience inspired his curiosity. On his return to the UK, he completed a Humanities BA focusing on Indian religions and philosophy.
He is interested in issues of cultural appropriation and exploring whether modern Western scientific knowledge is changing our approach to yoga. Neville is also an accredited British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) teacher, and a qualified Thai massage therapist and reflexologist.

“This is such a wonderful life-changing course. Challenging and hard work but incredibly rewarding.
Catherine and the other great tutors have given me so much confidence with their depth of knowledge and experience. The way the course is structured works really well and it has been working just as well now it has had to move online to Zoom. The fact that the course takes 18 months gives time to digest all the learning and properly research the home study elements.
I chose the course more to develop my own practice and learn more about yoga and was not convinced I would or could end up teaching. I feel very lucky to have found this course.”
Michael Spark
Yoga teacher

Supportive Mentoring

We believe in supporting all trainees throughout their training and beyond.
On our IYTT yoga course, you are never just a number, and we will stay in touch and continue to support you well beyond your time on the course. We have created a mentoring program for all trainees which includes structured 1:1 mentor meetings and group supervision meetings facilitated by the leading yoga teachers and there is an active Alumni programme.
Each module is supported by two teaching assistants who are both recent IYTT graduates. Our assistant teachers are available to offer advice and support throughout the course.
At the end of each IYTT programme, there will be opportunities for two graduates to join the teaching team as teaching assistants. This is a valuable chance to review the training from the other side, and to work closely with the teaching team, learning how to hold space and deliver a teacher training programme first hand.
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Our yoga course is a thought-provoking teacher training, which actively encourages a questioning approach to yoga practice and teaching. During the course, we will encourage you to develop a deeper understanding of your own embodied experience of yoga and how to adapt that to offer creative and inspiring yoga classes which are relevant to modern yoga students.
At IYTT we are inspired by the most current scientific research into anatomy and movement. We support your yoga practice and teaching throughout the course and beyond as you make the radical shifts and face the transformational changes which occur as you transition from yoga trainee to established yoga teacher.

Dates & Prices

• September 2024 – September 2025
• London and Online
• from £3,125

• with Catherine Annis, Gary Carter, Jody Barber & Neville Cregan
• fully accredited with Yoga Alliance
• Personalised mentoring programme

Intelligent Yoga Courses in 2024

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