Retreats & Workshops

SEPT/OCT 2016

Join me for my 4-day yoga retreat in Sri Lanka this Sept 29th - Oct 2nd 2016!

This retreat is for people who want to explore movement and yoga with fun and friends. 

I will be teaching ways to use your internal power and energy to move gracefully and with ease, to move away from pain and towards free movement.

You will learn the importance of using active movements and how the key to better stability, mobility, and freedom is to learn how to firm parts that need to be firm and, significantly, relax what needs to be relaxed.  

In this retreat I hope to help you move closer to understanding and experiencing how this movement of energy will help every cell in your body to sing!

I have a lot of experience working with people with various injuries and I encourage you to contact me beforehand if you do have some sort of condition so that we can figure out if the retreat is appropriate for you at this time and how I might be able to help you.  

Because I am interested in you learning how to be your own best teacher, I will be offering sessions between the classes for questions and answers and for us to think deeply about particular issues or postures, so come along with some of your own ideas and questions and I can help make the retreat more personal for you. 

Check-in Thursday 29th Sept 1 pm- Depart Sunday 2nd Oct after breakfast by Noon

Venue: TalallaRetreat  http://www.talallaretreat.com/

Classes: Six 2 hour classes. First yoga class starts on Thursday afternoon at 4.30pm.  From then we will have 2 classes on Friday, 2 on Saturday, and 1 on Sunday.  

Aside from the usual yoga there is the opportunity to relax by the pool or at the beach, surf, get a massage, or just hang out.

Because there are limited rooms I am encouraging people to please consider sharing so that as many people can participate as possible.    Rooms need to be confirmed with full payment received by 29th August 2016.

The rate includes:

•   All yoga classes

•   Full board (tea/fruit before yoga; buffet style breakfast served at table; a la carte lunch (there is a menu to choose an item from), buffet style dinner)

•   Accommodation

You need to pay for any extra drinks or snacks you might have if the mega breakfast and dinner and light lunch still leaves you hungry!  

Normal timetable is as follows

6.30am                     tea/fruit (if desired)

7.00-9.00am         yoga

9.00                     breakfast

RELAX                  (have massage, swim, surf, read, have lunch around 1 or 2ish depending on how full you are after brekkie)

4.30-6.30pm         yoga

7pm                     dinner

The prices quoted below are based on 3 nights per person.   You need to find a person to share with if you opt for double or triple and Tilak can put you in touch with other people who may also want to share.  

Payment

Full payment is required by 29th  August.  You can make your booking directly with Tilak (tilak@antsglobal.lk +94-773-912-100) and pay Tilak directly or he can provide a Sri Lankan or Australian bank account details for you to transfer to if that is easier.

Retreat Rates are as follows:

Sri Lankan citizens or with those with a Sri Lanka Resident visa:

Single 3 nights                   Rs. 55,000/-

Double (share) 3 nights     Rs. 43,000/- per person

Triple (share) 3 nights       Rs. 40,000/- per person

Non-Sri Lankan citizens without a Sri Lanka Resident visa

Single 3 nights                   USD 670

Double (share) 3 nights     USD 570- per person

Triple (share) 3 nights       USD 540- per person

Look forward to seeing you!

Much metta,

Samantha

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com

www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com

MARCH-MAY 2016

Workshop: Groins Emerging

Good Friday 2016, 9-11am Queen Elizabeth Terrace by Lake Burley Griffin, $20

This is a fun workshop on spine lengthening backbends.  It is for anyone who wants to learn some more and varied approaches to back bending that can leave your spine moving freely. 

Check out this blogpost for a few thoughts:

http://yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/knees-away-groins-emerging.html

***

Retreat: Sri Lanka Yoga Retreat April 14-17 2016

More details:

http://yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/yoga-retreat-april-2016.html

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May Workshop with Master Yang, 6-8 May 2016

Master Yang is a true energy moving specialist.  With 50 years of practice, and following a family tradition dating back hundreds of years in health and healing, we are so excited that Master Yang is coming to Canberra to share this knowledge with us.  While this workshop is titled stress and anxiety, anyone who wants to move and feel good can join.  Booking and enquiries through me. 

***

PAST EVENTS

Sri Lanka Yoga Retreat October 1-4 2015

Join me in Sri Lanka again in October!

I'd love to see you at the retreat.  You can see full details of the Sri Lanka Yoga Retreat with schedule here: http://yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/sri-lanka-yoga-retreat-july-16-19-2015.html

Or, feel free to email me: samanthawhybrow@hotmail.com

DETAILS ON PAST WORKSHOPS & RETREATS

CORE STABILITY AND SPINAL MOBILITY WORKSHOP

(How I got a six pack doing normal yoga)

May 9, 2015, 2-4pm

In front of Waters Edge Restaurant, Lake Burley Griffin, $25

Come along and learn the secrets of how to develop a stronger core without needing to do crunches, sit-ups, or special 'core' workouts.  

Learn some of the secrets of my 'internal' yoga practice, which has helped me get a six-pack without needing to do anything extra.  

Come along with an inquiring mind and a smile!

The Arm Balance Workshop

August 30 2014

Still struggling with bakasana?  Want to learn how to come into easeful handstands?  This is the workshop for you.

This month I helped an amazing student into a handstand that felt so light she thought I was lifting her.  She won't mind me telling you that she is 70 years old!  She had learned the key activations for arm balancing that gave her the sense that she almost was not doing anything at all.  I have been doing this with students all year and so happy to share in their delight of finding ease in their postures.

So, if you are still struggling with bakasana, get wrist pain in arm balances, would like to learn how to progress into 'easeful' handstands or other arm balances, and would generally like to feel for yourself the 2 key activations that will bring lightness to your arm balances, then this workshop is for you.  I have spent some time experimenting with different techniques and approaches to teaching these activations so we will be exploring them and running through a modified class session as well.  

I am trying to stay true to my philosophy of the benefits of fresh air and this workshop will be outside beside the National Library.  There will be grass for us to do lots of practicing on and we might move to a nearby wall if we need it. You will need to dress for the weather.  If it is raining or very windy then we will have to be flexible and try the weekend after.  You do not need to book but perhaps let me know if you intend coming as I can send you an SMS or you can send one to me if there are any concerns about weather on the day.  We might be able to stay for a drink and chat session at the library after!

The workshop cost is $25.  

APRIL 2013 IS WORKSHOP MONTH!

April 13: Hip & Arm Balances

April 20: Hanumanasana

April 27: Backbends

I am very excited to be leading these three fun and challenging workshops in April.  I have had the chance to get away for some extended yoga workshops myself and I know the benefits a concentrated few hours on particular points can bring. 

We had a great workshop in March, part 1 of the hip and arm balance class.  Because they are tricky, I decided to carry over to part 2 where we will cover the basic 'tricks' of arm balancing with some new poses.  Hips are a focus because of the deep opening required for many of them.  

Who doesn't want to stretch their butt and hamstrings in these days of chair sitting?  Freeing up these areas will also help free your spine.  And so, the next workshop is about how to free yourself up to come into the splits.  

Finally, we have the spine.  The spine is important in all of these workshops and I will always be attending to it.  However, I know that backbends can be tricky for many people and since I have a genius backbending teacher I wanted to help you find freedom in your spine in backbends.  Even if you can get yourself into bridge, I hope to teach you ways to move and feel so that there is lightness without compression.  

Read more about these workshops below and please contact me with any questions!

HIPS & ARM BALANCES (Part 2): SATURDAY APRIL 13, 9-1130AM, $25

Some people think arm balances are about being strong.  But strength is only a part of the story, and a fairly small one at that.  In this workshop, learn some of the ‘tricks’ of arm balancing while exploring the depths of your hips as we weave our way through a sequence of fun and challenging poses all designed to bring greater freedom, strength, and stability to help us ‘lift off’ and take flight. PS, you don’t have to have done part 1 to come.

HANUMANASANA (SPLITS): SATURDAY APRIL 20, 9-1130AM, $25

Hanuman was a monkey who, the story says, leapt from India to (Sri) Lanka.  How did he stretch his legs out that far?  Come along to this workshop to find out. In this workshop we will break down ‘the splits’ into achievable steps so that you can see how the pose might just be possible for you! This workshop will help free your hips, hamstrings, quads, and lower back.  A great one for those who spend a lot of time sitting on their butts!

BACKBENDS—FREE YOUR SPINE: SATURDAY APRIL 27, 9-1130AM, $25

Backbends are one of the greatest things to free your spine.  But many people find them difficult or feel compression rather than freedom as they practice.  This workshop will help you learn some basic tricks of the trade to lengthen and free your spine so it feels like dancing.  I love backbending and I want you to as well!

ABOUT SAMANTHA

Samantha has spent the past 8 years living in Sri Lanka, studying & teaching yoga.  She has lead numerous fun (but serious) workshops, retreats, and regular classes for an international audience.  Her time in South Asia exposed her to some of the masters.  Thanks to those teachers and to her own thoughtfully analytic approach she is a skilled teacher able to guide every body through yoga.  Her aim is to teach you so well she does herself out of a job!  

All classes by Lake Burley Griffin behind the flags.  Precise location posted closer to the date.  Please let me know if you are coming and leave your number in case we have a last minute venue change.  Cost per workshop: $25

WHAT TO BRING

Bring a mat and a big beach towel (optional) for all classes.  For the backbend workshop you will need a very long non-elastic scarf/piece of fabric (about 1.5m) or a yoga belt if you have one.  We will be lying in savasana beneath the sun so a face towel to cover your eyes might be good.  Plenty of water, sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses would be helpful (if not essential!).