Out of Town Yoga Workshops

Our hands are extensions of the heart expressed daily with friends and family – holding, soothing, caring and cooking – and in our work, if we’re lucky enough to love it, too. Our hearts expand as the arms stretch wide, and hands spread even wider when greeting loved ones, the earth, the sky and all beings.

In yoga, we use hands to understand the ‘wonders of the living body’, as Thich Nhat Hanh exclaims, for self-support, grounding, energy stimulation, release and circulation. Join this session focused on the hands and reclaim a vibrant and sensitive part of the body, sometimes overworked, sometimes neglected, sometimes in discomfort, but always beautiful, strong, clever and curious.

Sunday, January 19, 2025, Yoga for Harmony, Windsor, Berks, 11:00am-1:00pm GMT, on Zoom, £22

For information, contact Julie Potter: info@yogaforharmony.co.uk, 07828 132 091, https://yogaforharmony.co.uk/events-and-workshops

Monica Voss has been a student and practitioner of yoga for over 45 years. She studied with Esther Myers, Vanda Scaravelli and Mary Stewart. In addition to co-owning and directing Esther Myers Yoga Studio in Toronto, Canada, Monica conducts workshops, retreats and teacher training internationally. She has been offering sessions in the UK since 1989.

We embody a variety of internal rhythms – the heart beat, digestion, lymphatic flow, etc – and dropping our focus inside will help us locate, understand and enhance wave-like spinal pulsation, one of our body’s most elusive rhythms, and one of the three foundational concepts in Vanda Scaravelli’s approach to Hatha yoga.  

In this introductory workshop, we’ll ground and rest, breathe, roll about, bounce and shake, circle and wiggle, all in serious fun, all as means of experiencing the rhythmic elongation of the spine. Everyone is welcome!

Monday, March 3, The South Hall, Galiano Island, 3:00pm-5:00pm, $25, joan.henriques76@gmail.com, 250-539-3016.

I admire how you weave playfulness into your teaching in such an intelligent way. Your ability to trust the process and create an open, exploratory space is obviously rooted in wisdom, experience, and a remarkably humble-confidence in yoga. Thank you for creating such a supportive and inspiring environment, where play and discovery are allowed to unfold. J. Newberry

Monica Voss began practising hatha yoga in 1978 and was a student of Esther Myers, Vanda Scaravelli and Mary Stewart. She takes inspiration from her studies with these three remarkable dedicated women, from complementary modalities, from her own interest in the body, and from the natural world. Monica is committed to an individualistic, personal, reflective approach to yoga based on the principles of grounding, breathing and the release of the spine. She co-owns Esther Myers Yoga Studio in Toronto, Canada, and continues to teach workshops, retreats and teacher training internationally.

Image: Waves, Vija Celmins, 1970

We embody a variety of internal rhythms – the heart beat, digestion, lymphatic flow, etc – and dropping our focus inside will help us locate, understand and enhance wave-like spinal pulsation, one of our body’s most elusive rhythms, and one of the three foundational concepts in Vanda Scaravelli’s approach to Hatha yoga.  

In this introductory workshop, we’ll ground and rest, breathe, roll about, bounce and shake, circle and wiggle, all in serious fun, all as means of experiencing the rhythmic elongation of the spine. Everyone is welcome!

Sunday, May 11, Morganstown Village Hall, Cardiff, CF15 8LG, £65, 10:00am-4:00pm, Diana O’Reilly, d-or@hotmail.co.uk, 07772 593 246, www.dianaoreillyyoga.co.uk

Monica Voss has been a student and practitioner of yoga for 45 years. She studied with Esther Myers, Vanda Scaravelli and Mary Stewart. In addition to co-owning and directing Esther Myers Yoga Studio in Toronto, Canada, Monica conducts workshops, retreats and teacher training internationally. She has been offering sessions in the UK since 1989.

Image: Breaking Wave, Lyme Regis, Fred Cuming

Tuesday, May 13 – Sunday, May 18, 2025, with Monica Voss

This retreat will offer yoga practice, relaxation, meditation and pranayama in a beautiful purpose-built roundhouse with underfloor heating. As well as the yoga, there will be plenty of space and time for personal reflection, writing, walking, socializing, resting and enjoying the peace and tranquility of both the estate and local area. You may participate in every session or take time out to relax or explore the beautiful countryside. Everyone, at any level of yoga, is welcome.
http://www.trefacwn.co.uk

Evening programme: Writer and curator, Frances Lord, will facilitate three (optional) spoken and written word sessions to complement Monica’s teaching. Participants will be invited to contribute an inspirational text or image to share with the group – for example a favourite poem, prose extract, song lyric or indeed, a sample of their own writing or visual work (painting, photography, drawing etc.). Frances will propose some broad themes in advance of the retreat to stimulate the imagination.

For more information and to register, contact Di O’Reilly, d-or@hotmail.co.uk  or Jo Bogacz, jo_bogacz@hotmail.com.  Alternatively, feel free to call Di at 07772593256, or Jo at 07966050826.

MONICA VOSS has been a student and practitioner of yoga for over 45 years. She learned from Esther Myers, Vanda Scaravelli and Mary Stewart. In addition to co-owning and directing at Esther Myers Yoga Studio in Toronto, Canada, Monica conducts workshops, retreats and teacher training internationally.

Hatha yoga, as taught by Vanda Scaravelli, was structured in groups of 4 postures, but over many years, our practice has evolved into the repetition of 3, 4, 5 sometimes 7 or 10 movements, again and again. There’s value in repeating something 3 times or 3 X 3 or 3 X 10. Sequences, series, chains and trains of exercises help settle the mind and teach acceptance of the body: how it is right now and how things change. The outcomes of repetition are kindness and release, reconciliation and understanding and the ability to see a new way forward – in other words, love.

We’ll study relaxation, loveable poses, breathing and meditation, lying down, sitting and standing. Join us! Everyone is welcome.

Wednesday, May 21, Oxford, Jo Child, 6-8pm, joannachild@gmail.com, 1865 242690, 07757212807, https://www.jochild.co.uk/workshops

Friday, May 23, Unit 4, Brighton, Pete Blackaby, 4-6pm, peteblackaby@icloud.com, 07505557721, https://www.peterblackaby.co.uk/yoga/classes/

Saturday, May 24, Jasmine Trust, Retford, Notts, Carolyn Clarke, 10am-4pm, info.jasminetrust@gmail.com, 01777 711770, https://jasminetrust.co.uk/events

Sunday, May 25, Yoga for Harmony, Windsor, Julie Potter, 2-4:30pm, £45, info@yogaforharmony.co.uk, 07828 132 091(mobile),
https://yogaforharmony.co.uk/events-and-workshops

Monica Voss has been a student and practitioner of yoga for over 45 years. She studied with Esther Myers, Vanda Scaravelli and Mary Stewart. In addition to co-owning and directing Esther Myers Yoga Studio in Toronto, Canada, Monica conducts workshops, retreats and teacher training internationally. She has been offering annual sessions in the UK since 1989.

Image: Composition in Blue Module, Saloua Raouda Choucair, 1947-51