De-stress, unwind and take some ‘time out’ to recharge your batteries with our restorative weekend in the tranquil Glen of Immal, Co Wicklow.
Deirdre O’Connor will guide you through a restorative immersion that will take you back to the heart of yourself, leaving the busy world outside for a few days helping you find inner peace and balance.
The Restorative yoga process is all about ‘un-doing’ which, for many of us, is easier said than done. This vital practice calms the nervous system and encourages the exploration of total relaxation. Often supported by blankets, bolsters, and blocks, Restorative yoga allows the body to be completely supported, involving little to no muscular effort, creating space for a completely receptive state of being.
Our Somatic yoga release sessions will take us even deeper into this process of ‘un-doing’ using small mindful movements that heighten our awareness and dissolve the deeper layers of muscular tensions in the most effortless way. It will melt the toughest places of contraction in our bodies and take us into a place of quiet surrender.
Event Details
- Start Date: Friday 10th March 2017
- End Date: Sunday 12th March 2017
- Duration: 3 days
Schedule
Friday
5.00 p.m Take the time to arrive, get settled in your room, have a cup of tea and explore
7.00 p.m. Dinner and time to get to know each other
8,15 pm Restorative ‘up-the-wall’ practice. We’ll take the weight off our feet and practice some innovative poses to release tension from our hips, belly and lower back
9.00 Candlelit Yoga Nidra to lull you towards sleep-time
Saturday
9.00 a.m Breakfast
10.00 a.m Silent Walking Forest Meditation
10.30 a.m – 12.30 Restore Yourself – A complete restorative yoga session with lots of bolsters, pillows and soft blankets taking you deeper into stillness
1.00 p.m Delicious veggie Lunch followed by our own personal ‘dream-time’
Time for you: take a walk in the amazing Glen of Immal, soak in the Hot tub, have a cuppa and curl up with that book that’s been calling out to you lately – or just doze and dream in your cozy room.
5.00 p.m. Untying the Knots – this will be our first session of Somatic Release so be prepared for lots of playful release with the aid of soft, squishy balls of all shapes and sizes. We will elongate the spine and iron out even the most resistant tensions in our neck and shoulders.
7.30 p.m Dinner time
9.00 p.m A full-length candlelit Yoga Nidra followed by a bedtime story (cos we still love them!)
Sunday
9.00 am Light breakfast
10.00 am – 12.00 Somatic release restorative practice – infuse our bodies with oodles of nourishment through movement that is slow , delicious and which transforms patterns of tension that you didn’t even know were there. We will round off this letting go practice with restorative yoga and deep resting time.
12.30 p.m Farewell lunch and final goodbyes …‘Til the next time!
What's Included
- Two nights accommodation in a peaceful surrounding
- Guided yoga and meditation classes with full use of props
- All freshly prepared vegetarian meals provided, as per schedule
- Warming drinks throughout the day
Benefits
Benefits of Restorative Yoga
Brings a precision to your actions
By moving into and staying in poses while practicing mindfulness, you gain a certain precision in your actions.
Each movement is gentle and precise.
This helps you move more purposefully and deliberately in all areas of your life. You feel what it’s like for your body to move in alignment with your mind.
Increases Body Awareness
Most people have very little awareness of their body, but our bodies are the most sensitive instrument of perceiving. Next time you feel angry, check in with your body and see how it is reacting.
Restorative yoga helps us become aware of all the processes, feelings, emotions, and thoughts that run through us on a daily basis. If we do not become aware of these, they will rule our lives
Helps You Turn Inward
With the hustle bustle of life, we are constantly looking to external objects, people, and situations for our happiness.
Our internal atmosphere often gets completely ignored.
You’ll gain a greater ability to tap into the inner world, as well as the necessary time to truly look within. To inquire into who you are and what you’re doing here.
Calms Your System
Constant notifications, texts, Facebook updates, work stress, and family life can put your nervous system all out of whack. Restorative yoga can bring a deep calm into your system through working with the breath and synchronizing your movements.
You just might find you’ll sleep better than you have in a long time.
Time To Slow Down
Going 100mph at work? Got a new project you’re working on? Relationship or kids spinning you out?
Take the time to slow down and just be with the poses. You’ll be in a supported environment to allow everything inside and outside of you to just….slow…down
Balance Your Nervous System
Use a restorative practice to engage your nervous system and take your body into a state that allows for renewal and rejuvenation. Benefits include optimising energy flow to the organs, tissue renewal, and reduced “fight or flight” response
Quieten Your Mind
Restorative yoga can be a calming hug for an over=active mind
Over time, you will learn how to drop into a place of stillness and be content peacefully basking in the present moment
Prices
Twin Room €350 per person sharing
Shared Room €335 per person sharing (up to 4 people)
Deposit of 100 euro can be paid with the balance paid 24 prior to the start of the retreat.
Team
Deirdre O'Connor
Deirdre O Connor, Holistic Sleep Therapist, Yoga Dip, Craniosacral Therapist CST-T, CST Paediatrics DTR Movement Dip, and Advanced
For over 20 years, I have been exploring, training, teaching, and experiencing yoga – initially with the Bihar School of Yoga in India where I trained and lived for almost 3 years, exploring many different Yoga styles – Hatha, Bhakti, Jhana, and Karma Yoga.
I trained further in meditation and Buddhist Philosophy whilst living in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, Thai forest retreat centres, and Yogic ashrams in Rishikesh. During that time, I undertook many intensive 10-day silent meditation retreats, and wishing to take my practice deeper, I undertook three separate meditation retreats of over 3-months each, one of which was under the guidance of teachers of the Dalai Lama.
My own awareness in cultivating a deep sense of stillness and ease then grew exponentially through my 4-year advanced training with Dancing The Rainbow. This training formed the foundation for all my future work and taught me more about embodiment and being present than any previous training had up to that point.
Through this, I was lead to complete further training with Shiva Rea and Twee Merrigan, who both embody this way of teaching yoga – allowing movement to flow and emerge rather than focusing on a linear emphasis on alignment and structure (like other forms of yoga). This deepened my own experience and showed me many ways to encourage the body and mind to come to a place of calm and deep rest.
My current teachings are based on a merge of the traditional yoga teachings and the intuitive awareness of what our bodies and minds need to heal and replenish themselves. I have a strong basis in therapies that promote this awareness, having also trained in massage and homeopathy, and Craniosacral Therapy, a body-based treatment therapy that helps with emotional issues as well as physical issues.
Lately, I have been inspired by the teachings of Somatic Movement. Somatics has added a new understanding to how our psyche can hold patterns of anxiety and resistance in the body – and more importantly how we can release these old patterns. Hanna Somatics has been a life-changer for me, as it has allowed me to access deeper layers of tension that didn’t seem to be touched by my yoga practice.
In 2013, I created and developed my Deep Sleep Workshops and training. This was initially in response to my own experience of restless, sleepless nights, and wanting to find a way through them without resorting to sleep medication. After finding my own way back to restful, deep sleep, I decided to offer these solutions to anyone out there who was experiencing similar difficulties, and I developed tools that they could use in their own lives to enable a restful night.
