Meet the Teaching Team
2013 to 2020
Our teachers are now required to have a minimum of 500 hrs training certificates
our team has a plethora of skills and qualifications in other areas. From NLP to physiotherapy.
The teachers design the workshop programs, making each retreat unique
Our teaching assistants are either in a training program or newly trained
Our new semi-private retreats.....
have been specifically designed to help us reconnect with others. We have all experienced a situation this year unparalleled in any way, it will take time for us all to reconnect and feel at ease among others. With this in mind we have remodeled our retreats:
1) Min 4 to a max of 6 guests.
2) Private accommodation
3) Social distancing, open air dining room.
4) Social distancing, open air mountain yoga shala
Price per person
Costs €679 per person, including all meals, yoga, workshops & equipment. Not including flights or transfers.
Reserve your place today with just €140 deposit.
designed for beginners to advanced levels
Iva Petranova
Namaste and hello, I’m Iva, a yogi, dancer, and food-enthusiast from Prague. I am here on planet Earth to share and care, indulge in a bit of traveling, a lot of music, dancing, singing, drawing, healthy food and tons of other things.......and I just love to share all that as much as I possibly can.
As a yoga teacher, I am always tender and a bit goofy. I believe in honest exploring, taking care and being with what is. When we do yoga together, you’ll get that safe space you’ve been craving for, plenty of time to explore, discover, listen, and then really listen, and then take care from the right place.
I got to yoga initially through dancing. I studied this beautiful art in Los Angeles whilst training to be a professional dancer, visiting Yoga for dancers classes. During one of these classes we were asked a question „What is truly worth your time?“ and immediately I thought „This. Doing this. Sharing this. This is it.“ and since then, yoga has absolutely turned my life around - my body, head and heart included.
I returned to LA 3 years ago to study my first Yoga Teacher Training and immediately fell in love with Iyengar and restorative yoga. I have always been drawn to helping people recover, feel better and find their own way to well-being. Since then, I have trained in India, one multistyle and one focused purely on Yoga Therapy. I have also studied Ayurveda and Trigger Point Therapy.
Yoga for me is a chance to get closer to our real self. Not the one we would like to be, not the one we're trying to be for someone else, but the true and genuine self that dwells within and connects us all together. Yoga is a practice, a path, a way of life, a tool, and in its deeper sense, it's a very internal experience of connection, rather than the usual illusionary disconnection with everything and everyone around us. I will always be there for you when you go looking for that connection. I will give you that time and space needed for that to happen.
Zazou teaching assistant
Hi, my name is Zuzana, but you can also call me Zazou :-)
I'm from Prague, but for nearly 10 years I was living in Greece and Cyprus, where I've experienced my very first yoga class on the rocks by the sea. It felt like I found a missing piece (and peace) and since then I've (almost) never looked back.
Apart from yoga I'm interested in neuroscience, self development and hypnotherapy. I'm an early riser and my favorite time of the day is the magical 5AM, when I usually salute the sun, write in my journal and read a book.
I absolutely cannot wait to meet you all in person on the mat!
Oskar Nery
My interest in yoga and meditation started in the late 1960s when my mother had me practice Hatha Yoga with her when I got home from school.
As time went by Astanga Vinyasa became the main focus, followed by an interest in the therapeutic aspects of yoga and meditation. I have studied with many different teachers over the decades and continue to do so. I have spend time in ashrams, and in Buddhist temples practicing with monks.The study of yoga is not only the physical practices, and the inner work but the academic, historical and socio- cultural aspects too. Then, how all that plays out in your own life. It is awareness of more than the self.
I have been fortunate to have lived in India, and Cambodia. Teaching yoga, being part of NGO programs using aspects of yoga as life skills training for young people. I have run studios, retreats, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training Programs. Living in Asia in both Hindu and Buddhist communities has given me a very authentic learning experience to understand how the varied practices of yoga and meditation have been used in daily life, how practice and ritual play out from the mundane to the huge. The practices that help to heal, and unify individuals and communities in understanding and acceptance. How to keep the glow of Compassion and Kindness at the fore front of every action and thought.
Alison Hawkins
I have been practicing yoga for more than 20 years, at first just in the gym as part of my regular fitness program but Yoga slowly became more and more important to me and I completed my first teacher training in 1999.
I have spent some time in Mysore, India practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa with Sheshadri, and also back bending with Venkatesh. I believe that continuing study is very important to my teaching and my personal practice so I continue to study with senior teachers including: Simon Low (Yin Yang Yoga), Jonas Westring (Anusara), Paddy McGrath (Dancing Spine), and Yoga Anatomy with Leslie Kaminoff.
I have lived for many years in Asia with my husband running our own Yoga studios teaching drop-in classes, workshops, retreats and teacher training. During our last year in Asia we trained a group of young Cambodians sponsored by the AZAHAR Foundation to be Yoga teachers and they are now running a successful Yoga studio as well as some outreach programs in the local community.
My main teaching styles are Vinyasa Flow, Yin Yoga, and Aerial Yoga. My focus being long term functional movement and overall fitness, making Yoga accessible to all body types within an empowering experience. I believe that Yoga can be enjoyable and beneficial to everyone and I endeavour to make all of my classes fully inclusive and accessible. Beginners will not be left behind and the stronger and more flexible among you will still be given a challenge.
I will be bringing one of my Aerial Yoga swings with me and hope to find a good place to hang it so we can all have a play with it and be able to experience being fully up-side-down without any strain or fear.
Iris teaching assistant
I trained and taught in jazz dance as a teenager and then added yoga in my early twenties. As my work involves a lot of travel, I have worked with many different teachers, mostly with an ashtanga focus. Whilst on the road working with online classes, I have long been a fan of Rodney Yee’s approach. I further worked on my self-practice, including both meditation and astanas, with the guidance of Oska Nery at Rustic Retreats in 2019. I continue to combine dance training with yoga and am looking for ways to go back to teaching. I also love long-distance walking/trekking.
Katie O'Byrne
I did my very first Yoga class 16 years ago, I didn’t know much about the practice only that it made me feel good. For years Yoga was just something I did as a hobby every now and again.
Almost 10 years ago it all started to change, slowly, so slowly I barely noticed my whole life being turned upside down. It was no coincidence that while all these changes were happening I had started a more dedicated yoga practice. Without noticing, everything I was learning on the mat, had started to seep out into my life.
In 2016 I decided it was time for more change, so I decided to travel to Rishikesh Yog Peeth, in Northern India, where I received my Hatha Yoga Teaching Certificate, and I made a promise to myself to teach Yoga as a lifestyle, not just to teach Asana (Yoga Postures). I immediately started to share what I had learned by teaching classes, workshops and Retreats.
Working out in Nature is a passion that I satisfy by leading Meditation and Hiking experiences, this has led me to working with the elements.
I am also a qualified Reiki Practitioner, which has helped me to understand that we are not just a physical body, but we are also an energetic body, and keeping our energies balanced through Yoga can keep us stay healthy and full of life.
Ellen teaching assistant
My yoga journey started in 2013, a few months after I moved to Dublin from my hometown of Sao Paulo Brazil.
Following my relocation I was going through some difficult times and everything changed when I was introduced to Sudarshan Kriya Yoga. SKY was the entry door to my yoga practice, it was the beginning of so many amazing experiences , so looking forward to meeting you all.
Josie Maya
Hi! I am from Manchester in the UK. I love glitter, orca whales, dancing and human rights law, and of course yoga! I teach yoga because I believe it makes the world a better place. As people are given space to reconnect with themselves, they are able to connect more deeply to others and the world around them.
I have practiced yoga for the past 5 years. I always loved the way a class made me feel, but it was only after going through a tough year I slowly awakened to its healing, restorative and life-giving magic! I had never been a particularly active person, always preferring to curl up in the corner with a book, but yoga was different. So, I trained as a teacher to share this gorgeous thing I had found with others. Yoga gives space for a person to be completely and unapologetic-ally themselves whilst working towards a deeper understanding of who that is, having loads of fun along the way!
Rosie Slay
Rosie started practising yoga 13 years ago with the aim of touching her toes, but when she got there she carried on going, realising that there was more to this than loose hamstrings. Yoga offered her a sense of perspective and peace, and she continues to return to the mat to nurture this.
In 2016 she undertook her first training in dynamic vinyasa flow, which affirmed her desire to share what she had learnt with others. Since then she has taught across London and undertaken additional training in pre-natal, post-natal and restorative yoga.
Rosie teaches a dynamic vinyasa practise, with creative sequencing, long holds and use of props to help us better access each pose in a safe and joyful way. Rosie’s classes are light-hearted and playful, with an invitation to deepen your understanding of your body and find a deeper sense of connection.
Katie Napier
I am a 200 hour Yoga Alliance Certified and Animalia Asana® yoga teacher. I trained in multi-style yoga in 2015, under the guidance and wisdom of Guru Mahinder Prasad at Siddhi Yoga in Dharamsala, India. In June 2018 I studied with Jenny Mace to become an official Animalia Asana® Yoga teacher. I teach Vinyasa Flow, restorative hatha-style and Yin yoga. With a keen interest in both yoga and the natural world I love to integrate nature and animal elements into my teachings. The way they fit together is so instinctive, and I feel this is a genuine way to inspire ahimsa - the practice of non-violence.
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