Evolutionary Yoga Retreat Portugal 2023
Whether you are an beginner or advanced practitioner, Join us (Senior Yoga Teachers Sue & Peter) at our yoga retreat center in Central Portugal to experience a practice that brings about peace and tranquility and better health and wellbeing. Our method of practice draws on the many branches of established Yogic practices. Evolutionary Yoga brings a rich and profound dimension to these ancient and modern day teachings that are thriving today. All of our teachings have withstood the test of time, but bringing these teachings together and making them accessible to everybody has taken many years of training to enable us to be in service to others. Join us on one of our many Evolutionary Yoga Weeks.
After the retreat has finished you will also be given login details for our website to allow you to follow a daily routine of one of our most popular forms of practice.
Vinyasa influenced style of posture practice
Vinyasa translates into English to mean “sequence” of movements or postures which encompass lots of different forms from, swists, balances, backbending, forward bending and inversions to help release tension from the body and mind. On our retreat week we will select sequences of postures to enhance, relax and rest the body. We start our practice with our fascia release sequence that is designed to open the different fascial meridian lines of the body and then move into beautifully choreographed sequences of forms.
Our sequences on our yoga retreats build strength, endurance and flexibility without being forceful. We invite and assist you to stay on the edge of the universe of sensation within the physical body, with the breath as the guide. This method allows us to experience the body as one moving unit, rather than creating separateness inside each posture. The ethos of Evolutionary Yoga is to help people see that they all have unique bodies and minds and what might helpful for one person could be unhelpful for another.
Yin Yoga
Although the name is relatively new Yin Yoga has been around for many thousands of years as the “Tha”(moon)in Hatha yoga. In the world today we primarily see the” Ha” (sun) part of the practice which is a yang approach which reflects the fast & hectic pace of life. Yin has resurfaced to redress the balance and is all about spending time deep inside your mental, emotional and physical bodies and being aware of the totality of your experience in the moment. We spend a long time in Yin Postures so that we can stimulate the meridians of the body to enhance organ health by gently creating tension and compression which releases deep blockages within the fascia of the body.
Mindfulness Meditation Practices
Mindfulness meditation helps to calm the mind and bring us into our current momentary experience, observing our body and mind and the thoughts, sensations and emotions that pass through our awareness at any given time. You will have the opportunity to learn the method of the practice and also how you can develop a little more kindness towards yourself by cultivating a helpful attitude. Once we learn the method and the attitude then we can move on to learning very helpful exercises that can be used to help restore balance and harmony into our everyday lives, when needed.
5 elements – Organ Health and Longevity Practices
On this week you will have the opportunity to experience postures and forms to open the body up and prepare it for the deeper more challenging yoga sequences. The style of Qi Gong forms we teach are dynamic and works directly with the physical, emotional and energy bodies to enhance our organ health and clear any blockages and stagnation that we might have. This type of practice is called 5 elements which incorporates five profound sequences based on the movements of nature. Sue & Peter have trained in the application of therapeutic practices to enhance the health of the Liver, Kidneys, Lungs, Spleen and heart. Practices that enhance our energy are incredibly dynamic and teach us to experience and direct energy movement using our minds and bodies, this is a fundamental priciple of practice. This then helps in everyday life to steady and support the body and mind allowing us to live a peaceful and happy life.
Shamanic Retreat Practice (We do not use any plant based medicine)
Shamanism is the foundational practice of all spiritual practices today, dating back some 100,000 thousand years and leaving an undying impression on human consciousness that is still all around us. You can find many different approaches to shamanism but the ones in our training are totally safe and do not rely on plant medicine for us to connect to Mother Earth and Father Sky to become closer to our spiritual essence. This method of practice teaches trust and innocence as well as self love and empowerment.
The shamanic practices on this week will include drum meditation or what we call journeying. The drum is known as the horse and we ride its rhythmic beat into a profound and thought provoking non ordinary state of consciousness. We will learn to journey to find our personal spirit guides and interpret their messages to find the medicine they can bring into our lives. We will also explore the healing modalities of the medicine wheel and understand where and how this simple yet insightful map of our consciousness can be integrated into our lives so we can make many beneficial changes.
Gong Healing
Peter will be working with planetary gongs, Earth,Mercury, Mars, Chiron and Venus on this week to bath you into a place of ultimate bliss.