Join us for this Embodied Nature advanced Yoga teacher training course Bali and transform your yoga from a practice that supports you and your students way beyond the mat and into something that you can celebrate, embody and that replenishes you around the clock… for the rest of your life!
This is much more than an advanced yoga teacher training, it is a much needed rite of passage that restores soulful and meaningful connection to yoga and modern day living.
Somah Journeys offers a radically transformative yet simple approach to an embodied practice. This program offers a unique, non-dogmatic, post-lineage lens to breath and movement practices, and a deep yearning to really teach a yoga which is relevant to daily lives. Our aim is to humbly explore some of the timeless practices drawn from yoga, medicine wheel teachings and other wisdom principles together with modern day mindfulness practices and advancements in neuroscience.
We will remember how to move in accordance with the natural rhythms of expansion and contraction which permeates the entire universe; from the cycles of breath, to the rhythmic pulse in our bodies, brainwaves and oceans, to the phases of the moon, transitions of the seasons, spiralling of the planets and, of course, to the human life cycles.
This advanced yoga teacher training moves beyond the limited binaries of feminine and masculine and of yin and yang, in the belief that life is not meant to be lived in opposition but in a constantly flowing and cyclical sacred balance. Simone and Bex’s years of experience in the yoga world has led them to understand a spiritual practice as one that supports a deeply human experience. They work to liberate and return yoga from a set and straight line (lineage), or physical postures and restore it to its original purpose of being a highly personal and radical social tool that responds to the inherent intelligence of body and Earth, and allows for the cultivation of prana (life force) or source energy and lasting connection and balance.
This immersion is an opportunity for you to slow down, to listen, to feel and embody the commonality of these ways. In ten days we will explore a range of practices which we have developed through our combined decades of personal practice and teaching to support us to embrace life. We call this our life support system: Which is essentially a way to embrace all that life gives – and all that life takes away. The aim of this immersion is to provide a space for you to reset, to renew, to take deep rest, shift perspectives and settle into the inner cycles and rhythms which already flow through you and around you.
- Flow state: Flow with grace through Natural cycles and the constant transition of Yoga & Life. Immerse yourself in change (without resistance!) and learn to work with energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment at the peak of any given cycle, while cultivating the ability to surrender with ease. Embrace the commonalities of expansion and contraction, how this relates to our own lives, our work, relationships and creative projects
- Medicine Wheel teachings & Life cycles: We have been gifted with an incredible wealth of guidance that lays buried within the land, plants, stories and guardians of wisdom around the world. Often these run contrary to the dominant globalised way of living. A great deal of power comes when we question what is really valuable in our lives. We will share ancient teachings from across different cultures that provide cycles of finding balance, healing and understanding the true nature of existence.
- Birth (birth – death – rebirth life cycles): Excursion to Bumi Sehat Birthing Clinic
- A Yogic and wisdom based approach to Death and Dying: Free yourself from abhinivesha (fear of death) and resistance to change to find your awakened Self for a new way of truly Living
- Seasons of breath & sustainable pranayama: Inhale, the feminine principles and receptivity, exhale, the masculine principles and giving back, kumbhakas, the pauses in between
- Authentic relating and leadership tools & exploration
- Giving & Receiving – Explore the art of balanced boundaries: guidance on setting personal and professional boundaries
- Sacred Menstruality consciousness & Womb Yoga: A radical reeducation and reclamation of personal and social power. Learn how to listen to and work with the wisdom within, energetic cycles and body intelligence and how this holds keys of understanding for both men and women. This innate cycle is a direct feed-back loop for our health and creativity
- Rest as the revolution that powers your life: Deep Rest and insight with expertly guided Yoga Nidra:
- Understand the significance of deep rest, meditation and cultivate effortless presence – expansive awareness & altered states of consciousness with Yoga Nidra
- Yoga Nidra practices – Yoga Nidra as a source of Shakti – a feminine, living intelligence and source of wellness and vitality
- Sankalpa – how to set and work with effective intentions
- Koshas: Exploration of the 5 layers of our being
- Integrating mindfulness and deep relaxation within savasana
- Dream work, visioning and trusting inner guidance
- The Art of Stillness & Lunar Rhythms: how to create Lunar flows incorporating Restorative / Yin and short Yoga Nidra practices (shavasana) into yoga classes
- Daily movement and breath led yoga practises to strength resilience and support the vital energy within and to hold a wonderful depth of feeling
- Develop lasting self care practices
- Krama sequencing with the Seasons: How to draw inspiration from nature in creative lesson planning and developing nature based yoga practices
- Working with personal, monthly, seasonal cycles within your practice
- Rhythmic, energising and sustainable Vinyasa and meditative Yin, Restorative and Yoga Nidra
- Yoga energetics
- Yoga Activism
- Presentations and Discussions: Time to dive deep into what matters including the relationship between birth and death, grief and love, retreat and social Activism
Somah Journeys offers an advanced 300 hour yoga teacher training program of your own design. By deepening your practice in 3 specialised areas through our range of 100 hour modules, in collaboration with Tina Nance
Yoga Therapy (TNYT), you can create your own advanced Yoga Alliance approved TTC.
In order to fulfill Yoga Alliance curriculum requirements, please contact us.
This immersion has been carefully created and scheduled to honour the energetic cycles of nature. We will follow the solar and lunar rhythms of the day with our physical and meditative practices, as well as working with personal, monthly and seasonal cycles to cultivate and embody naturally occurring intelligent source energy and flow.
Our schedule will vary depending on the needs of the group and with some days having additional ceremonies into some evenings.
06:30 – 09:30am Morning pranayama, mantra, meditation and asana practice
09:30 – 11:00am Breakfast
11:00 – 1:30pm Workshop / Outing
1:30 – 2:30pm Lunch
2:30 – 6:30pm Afternoon session / Lunar unwind with Yin, Restorative, embodied flow and Yoga Nidra
Opening circle: We will start at approx 3pm on October 17th
Closing ceremony: We will close by approx 8pm on October 27th
This yoga immersion is for you if:
You enjoy your yoga practice or teaching yoga and yet still find that you are stressed, overwhelmed, unfulfilled and exhausted with day to day life?
You are longing for lasting balance between effort and ease, action and rest?
You are ready to understand your deeper purpose and role in the “grand scheme” and live with true and lasting flow?
From this Nature Embodied Yoga program you will learn to:
- Live and inspire others through intuitive, nature embodied Yoga
- Listen and respond to the extraordinary intelligence of your body
- Be in harmony and communion with the natural world
- Work with personal, monthly and seasonal cycles within your yoga practice and develop inspiring nature themed flows and classes
- Synchronise your body, mind and soul with the natural rhythms of your inhale and exhale, of night and day, of the cycles of the moon and the season of the year to minimise stress and cultivate more authenticity and vitality
- Unlock the flow state and be able to adapt your practice and your teaching to be in full harmony with your inner cycles and the seasons and rhythms of nature
There is a pulse that runs through all of life. It is found in the expansion of each inhale, and the contraction of each exhale. It is present in each birth and each death. It is what gives impetus to heal, and also the power behind all that is returned. Perhaps the greatest gift we can give as teachers is to share a practice that can help others to embrace this flow.
Somah Team
SIMONE MACKAY
SOUL GUIDE
A nomadic Canadian raised and educated in Switzerland, Simone Mackay is the founder of Somah Journeys / School of Sacred Arts. Having been practicing and teaching yoga for well over 20 years Simone is a Yoga Alliance Professional and E-RYT 500 and so much more.
Simone embodies the Wise Woman archetype and spends intensive periods working in ceremony with plant medicines, as well as having completed several Vision Quests inspired by Native American traditions and Western psychology.
Simone also spends time sitting with an elder of the SikSika/Sauk (Blackfeet) tradition who’s Medicine Wheel / Sacred Compass teachings she shares with blessing and permission.
Supported by a Bachelor in Social Work, she has served as a crisis counsellor working with women affected by violence. It was here that she began cultivating her skill for ‘holding space’ – embracing the deepest wells of emotion with full presence to allow others to transform and heal. Simone is also a certified aromatherapist, holistic practitioner, mentor and entrepreneur.
BEX TYRER
YOGINI ACTIVIST
Scotland born and raised, and Oxford educated with a graduate degree, MPhil in Development studies, Bex is the founder of Freedom Through Movement which has run yoga activism projects in Kolkata, Kathmandu and Palestine as well as many immersions at her current home at the Yoga Barn Bali.
Bex teaches a range of contemporary styles including hatha, vinyasa flow, yin, restorative, power and acroyoga. Yet at the core, her gift is to simply share her intimate relationship with yoga, whilst helping to remind people that Yoga cannot be simplified into a set of postural cues or alignment.
Bex’s study of women in yoga’s history, as well as her years of observations in the studio has also led her to raise important questions as to the ability of contemporary yoga to support women’s health and self-esteem. Bex speaks to issues such as; social justice and activism, body image, trauma informed care, the inner yoga of menstrual cycle awareness an introduction to the history of yoga and yoga philosophy for the modern world.
Bex uses her platform to explore some of the critical issues of contemporary yoga (including issues of inclusivity, gender and the dangers of commodification) whilst working to ensure that postural yoga is supportive of women’s health as well as social and environmental justice.
EMMA LOVE
CELTIC YOGINI
Founder of Essential Nature Yoga, Irish nomad and Celtic Yogini Emma Lowe facilitates Yoga and Yoga Nidra practices which merge yoga and nature based wisdom. She has been Communications and Creative Director and assistant facilitator with Somah Journeys since 2018.
With a background in creative and performing arts, Emma engages music, song, folklore and story telling for the purpose of personal and cultural healing in her offerings. She is also a poetic writer, photographer and painter. Since childhood Emma has been engaged in using these mediums for the purpose of peace and reconciliation through various cross community projects in Ireland.
Similarly, Emma sees yoga as a vehicle for personal and social change and is passionate about practices that support women’s health including her popular Yoni Nidras.
Emma spends time working with the native plant medicines of the Amazon basin, including the ‘vine of death’ and has received medicine songs and red road teachings during her time in South America, which inspired her to study and share her own ancestral roots through Celtic spirituality and Celtic Medicine wheel teachings.
A close relationship with death, personal loss and a strong connection with the underworld led Emma to study varying end of life teachings and come to the realisation that death is a companion that walks the path with us from birth and when not feared can be the greatest teacher in reminding us how to truly live
