Ashtanga Yoga Mallorca has the pleasure to invite you this workshop organized in Palma, at MOV Mallorca.

Ashtanga Guided Self-Practice 

A chance to work closely and in a small group, with one of the few KPJAYI Certified Ashtanga yoga teachers, who has learned the Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A and B Series directly from Sri K Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath. Following the traditional ‘guided self-practice’ method of learning/practising Ashtanga asana (where one posture is mastered by the practitioner with perfect synchronisation of tristhana, steadiness, ease, joy and safe physical/energetic alignment, before learning the next), you will have the opportunity to deepen and develop your asana technique and practice, whilst being guided through methods of approaching the more challenging postures.

From London, Philippa Asher is one of a few Ashtanga yoga practitioners in the world (and the only British woman), to be Certified by Sri K Pattabhi Jois, to teach the Ashtanga yoga method in his tradition.  She has learned the Primary, Intermediate, Advanced A and Advanced B Series directly from Pattabhi Jois and Sharath (at the Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute in Mysore, India) and shares the Ashtanga yoga system Internationally (in studios and on retreats) and also Online (Sanskrit Counted classes and One-to-Ones).

After a vocational ballet school training from age twelve and twenty five years of studying and teaching dance at universities and ballet companies all over the UK, Philippa randomly walked into an Ashtanga yoga class in London. It was a life-changing incident, that made complete sense.

From the late 1990s, she began learning/practising the Ashtanga yoga system, daily before work (in the media, film and music industries). For twenty years she has studied for several months each year at KPJAYI in Mysore (and on tour), practising under the guidance of guru Pattabhi Jois and his grandson Sharath Jois.

In 2006, Philippa established and ran Triyoga Soho’s Ashtanga self-practice programme in London. She taught there daily for five years before relocating to South India, to build her own shala (on a coffee estate in the Western Ghats). ASHTANGA NIRVRTA is a stunning homestay yoga retreat, which aims to bring Ashtanga yoga to all levels of practitioners, in nature, without distraction.

As well as teaching Mysore-style Ashtanga guided self-practice, led classes and workshops at ASHTANGA NIRVRTA, Philippa also leads guest workshops and self-practice residencies at studios in London, Europe and on retreats worldwide. Her approach to sharing yoga asana (from beginners to more seasoned practitioners) is serious, yet light-hearted and joyful. Her emphasis is on good technique, safe alignment, the synchronisation of vinyasa (Sanskrit-counted, coordinated moving/breathing sequences) with tristhana (alignment of breath, gaze points and movement), passing on the exact method as taught by Pattabhi Jois from the late 1990s and embracing the essence of Patanjali’s sutras on yoga and asana.

Philippa’s dedicated passion for Ashtanga yoga, background as a trained dancer and experience as a qualified teacher (Post Graduate Certificate in the Education of Adults), gives her an intuitive and sound understanding of bodies, yoga asanas, people and how they learn.  

Thursday 25th

07.00 Mysore Style - Guided Self-Practice 

08.30 Mysore Style - Guided Self Practice

17.00 Technique, Concepts, Q&A

In order to be grounded and steady in the asana practice and to encourage safe physical alignment, we need to learn how to connect with the floor and indeed our bodies. There are several key aspects in the Ashtanga asana system, which when understood and felt in the body, mind and breath, can make the impossible become possible.  Through mastering and synchronising  tristhana, vinyasa and safe postural alignment in our practise, we can develop tools which will invite the more challenging asanas to reveal themselves, enabling us to feel the state of yoga.  As well as refining technique, alignment and concepts of the method, practitioners will be  encouraged to ask questions and to deepen their understanding of the Ashtanga asana system.

Friday 26th

07.00 Mysore Style - Guided Self-Practice 

08.30 Mysore Style - Guided Self Practice

17.00 Workshop - Primary series Asanas

Saturday 27th

08.00 Mysore Style - Guided Self-Practice 

09.30 Mysore Style - Guided Self Practice

11.30 Workshop - Body Opening, Backbends & Finishing Sequence The Ashtanga asana method gives us the opportunity to make space in the mind, physical body, breath and energetic body, so that optimum health, openness, strength, steadiness and balance may be cultivated and enjoyed.  With openness, prana can move freely around the physical and energetic bodies. Firstly we will explore how to make space in the body, so that challenging asanas that require extreme levels of flexibility, may become achievable.  Having lengthened the spine and hip flexors, strengthened the legs and arms and opened the shoulders and chest, we will then delve into mastering backbends which not only stimulate the nervous system, but revitalise our energy levels and can make us feel exhilarated. Having stimulated the nervous system and revitalised our energy levels, our focus will move to inversions, which increase blood flow and oxygen to the brain and boost the lymphatic system.  The seated closing asanas guide us into a deep, calm state of concentration and slow breathing, so that we may attain the higher levels of Raja yoga through strengthening, opening and quietening the body and mind.

Sunday 28th

08.00 Sanskrit-Counted Primary Series, Pranayama

In the traditional Ashtanga asana method, the week culminates with a Sanskrit-Counted Led Primary Series class, where all practitioners follow the exact count of the teacher, move and breathe together and are adjusted when necessary. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn the Sanskrit asana names, the precise vinyasa counts and iron out any uncertainties within the asana practice.  The Led Primary Series class begins with chanting a few lines from the Yoga Taravali and Patañjali Invocation and ends with reciting the first verse of the Mangala Mantra.  After the asana practice, pranayama techniques such as rechaka, puruaka, kumbhaka and nadi shodhana will be explored, culminating in dhyana (meditation).

10.00 Philosophy, History, Q&A

The Patañjalayogaśāstra describes yoga, how to achieve the state of yoga, qualities that might be gained from mastery of the practice and the power of liberation. Whilst the Sutras offer pithy statements about the discipline of yoga and the Eight Limbs (ashta anga) which can lead us there, it is when we unpack their wisdom (allowing them to resonate with our lives today, 2000 years later, in a culture very different from where they were composed), that we can bring to light their significance and relevance. We will discuss broad philosophical aspects of yoga, how they relate to our daily practice and lives today, the evolution of the hatha yoga and of course questions/thoughts about the practise of Ashtanga yoga can be discussed.